Inside the Fine Art Market

Speaker 1: [Music] hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the she builted experience with Melanie you're here because you want to experience the life and business that you crave join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech innovation magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in Janice Garner CLE president of jgc Fine Art New York is an art adviser curator and art historian with over 25 years of experience as a gallerist and a dealer in the primary and secondary art markets her relationship with private collectors corporations and institutions draws from her in-depth knowledge and experience with International impressionist modern postwar and Contemporary Art thank you for joining us Janice share with us more about who you are your early career experiences and what gave you the courage to launch jgc Fine Art I grew up painting and studied at the corkin School of Art in Washington DC when I was in high school and always knew that I wanted to pursue a career with art so whether the academic side or from the gallery side the beginning was just something that I loved I wasn't sure of the career paths at un Unity Barnard in New York I had the opportunity to uh work in galleries on the weekends when I was in college my junior year I lived in France at a at Columbia school called Reed Hall and studied history of Art and then my senior year worked at the the drawing Center which is a not for-profit exhibition space in Soo once I committed to working with art I pursued that in college studying history of Art and then you know as I had opportunities to work in the field I did it's so interesting how I think you know from a young age if you have that artistic ability and that creativity I have an 8-year-old daughter and her art has exploded out of her bedroom and so now she has a space in the garage where I said feel free to do whatever just don't get it on the car right right that's great for me I knew that I was passionate about art that told a story about the time it was made I've always been interested whether that time is the 18th century or whether it's contemporary art looking at art as both an object but also as something that says something specifically about the moment it was made so that's influenced my career and how I've worked the first Gallery where I was dedicated professionally was Wildenstein which was old master and impressionist painting but also they worked with Pier B Bernard who's a post impressionist and you know Pablo Picasso so we we had a broad range of materials we were working with so extraordinary paintings from really 17th century through early 20th century and then after that I pursued contemporary art at Maro Gallery so I was a director there for almost 10 years and that that's what we would call primary Market artists who are working with our Gallery were coming from the studio and helping those artists shape not only their careers but individual exhibitions and Publications and critical process of looking at their work it's so amazing how art is an expression of Who We Are art that we choose and how art can make a space come to life absolutely I'm working on two projects right now that relate to your observation very well so one is a home a house near the ocean the design of the house and also the ethos of the house is there for relaxation for to revive to have fun to feel like really fresh and so the art that we're choosing will reflect that also it's a house that has lots of sunlight because it's a contemporary home and it will have breezes and doors open and you know sand so we're choosing things that are beautiful and and by significant artists also reflect the feeling that the owner wants to have in the house a recent project was for Chef Danielle Balo we created a banal art program for his Michelin stard restaurant on 65th Street and there we have four large canvases by the American Master Alex cats and photographs by Robert Maple Thorp and we'll have work by Robert motherwell in a private dining room so there the goal is completely different that a beach house right so there the work is really really beautiful but also says something about the American experience and working with um American Masters Chef Danielle created his career although he's from Leon he really became a one of the most famous friend chefs in the world in America and in New York so the art reflects a relationship of American artists but also like mother well had a long relationship himself with France so those are like specific choices they look great in the space but also the concept behind them that's so beautiful that you can bring all of those elements together thanks it's a challenge but a great challenge I mean it's that's what gets me excited and motivated is to try to do a great match between the The Collector or the environment and the work that we choose what gave you the courage what was that moment where you said I'm going to start jgc Fine Arts after being in galleries for more than 25 years and I have done different elements of everything that one can do when you direct a gallery whether you're consigning Works Selling paintings organizing art fairs around the globe being involved in all the thousands of decisions that have to be made in running a business like that I needed to have some different kinds of experiences with clients and with artists and also with my family and that was a significant factor in be able to choose the timing it's important that we don't lose the precious childhood years because they're fleeting and uh my daughter's now 16 and reflecting on the fact that I really was not present for many of her early years because I was just on the road you know art fairs in Hong Kong take weeks to fly there uh work fly back and uh you know all of a sudden it's like two and a half weeks is gone by and you're like whoa so that was something that had to really be addressed for my own self but for the sake of my family so after having spent a long time working uh successfully in my field with great colleagues it it made sense for me to do that with my personal situation in mind first it was probably also wonderful for her to see a mom that was following her passions oh oh yeah that's pretty clear for her since I'm like 247 all about art so yeah she's like Mom not another Museum please so yeah probably a little bit tedious for her at moments but I do think she's the kid in in her school who knows the most about art so that's that's always good yeah what do you like the most about working in Fine Art and what do you like the most about what you do working with art by some of the greatest artists of our time is first of all a responsibility to the artist's Legacy and to we're talking about very valuable works of art you many millions of dollars so it's a responsibility to my clients who are the owners to the people that I'm me selling them to or four and also to the legacy of the artist and the object itself it really once it leaves the artist studio it has a life of its own there's scholarship that's really important about that making sure that we know where these paintings have been who's owned them where they've been exhibited uh is there literature are the reviews what is the state of conservation of these objects I mean it becomes you know part of our patrimony is in many countries in the world they they fight to keep these paintings in their countries like the Lou right now is challenging the purchase of a shardan painting which was bought by another institution and they're they're actually saying we're not going to let it go we may not let it go because we think this painting is too important to French art and to our culture so that really says something about how the imagination and history are transferred in objects and they they take on a life of their own like for example at Christie's 10 days ago or so they sold for you know great sum Sage blue Maryland by Andy Warhol from 1964 so that painting is beautiful very iconic picture people were fighting for that painting collectors were who had the funds to do that and they should because it's it's a really extraordinary painting that is one of the most recognizable objects in the world is a Warhol Maryland regardless of the color of the Maryland he did different colors but just like you would say that Mona Lisa is probably one of the most recognized paintings in the world I love that you say once the art Lees the artist it takes on a life of its own it's so fun to think about art in that way and how we all interpret art differently oh absolutely art is a roar shock test in that respect you could have one painting in a room five different people all say something different about it we all experience the colors in different ways right I may say red you may say crimson someone may say burgundy when I'm working with collectors I think it's important to understand their own Visual History what goes into evaluation of a private collection and how might that differ among clients and projects it depends on the the goal of the evaluation say we have you know a Mr and Mrs Smith and they are looking at things that they own with an eye toward selling something in the future look at something for Value but then think about okay well what what's happening in art right now or are there any exhibitions where the artists will we could maybe put a painting include it in an exhibition through you know a curator who's a colleague by talking about shows that are coming up how can we add value to something if you're thinking about selling it in the future another thing would be maybe Miss Brown would like to you know upgrade her collection she owns a few things that are like works on paper or prints by an artist and now she feels like I really would like to get a painting by that person so the cost will be significantly different for work on canvas versus a work on paper and so does that mean we go we look either at the artist gallery or we look at secondary Market either in galleries or at auction to try to find something by that person and then once they've done that okay do you want to keep the original drawing you had like is that become something you want to have this artist something more than one of that person in your collection or is that something now you want to sell that and then use that money for something else so there are many different conversations to have and then there's the person who's literally just starting out a new property or decides okay well now I have X dollars that I feel comfortable spending on something that I want to look at every day so how do we frame a conversation about value about budgeting in that situation I like to look with people who are really fresh start to identify what they like visually and then when we decide what that is then when we know what the when they have like a budget that they've decided we can figure out like what is it that looks like the thing you love the most either by that artist or by someone else who relates to that artist that's you know actually affordable right say you'd love to have a Rothco painting but frankly you know a big canvas will be like $70 million most people don't have that that's just reality and that's totally fine because there are plenty of great artists who are working in um an abstract mode with color if that's what you're going for you like the feeling of that but you can't actually have a rth go there's plenty of other things to find that that can maybe communicate that that's so interesting how art blend the creativity with also the business side that blends those two oh absolutely I always encourage people to buy what they love that's the most important thing something you want to look at every day but at certain numbers you have to be conscious of the value of things from insurance and and from protecting it from light or humidity or different kinds of uh elements to then looking at in the marketplace where are things going in the future say kind of a third rate impressionist artist who maybe those things were selling well like in the 80s because everybody wanted impressionism now those paintings really have lost a lot of value so you know if you're if someone says oh what I really like to have somebody looks like that I'm like well to be honest I can see why you like that painting but if you at all care about the value of what you're spending right if that matters to you that this work you're going to buy can potentially hold its value then we have to redirect to something maybe that gives you the feeling of that but that is not going to frankly be losing value if if look at market trends and I love that you bring up the value your work involves negotiation what do you think is the most important element of negotiation that's a very good question in order to negotiate well you have to know the value of the object that's the subject of the negotiation negotiating for a painting or a sculpture or a house because people do that every day you have to decide the the threshold of your own as the purchaser Right Where You Will willing to go like how much how badly do you want that or how much do you love it and then when you're willing to stop people who are good negotiators go into negotiation knowing where it's going to end at auction we've just saw auctions that Christy said the be and Phillips do super well the prices that are happening for some of the younger artists for very what we would call like wet paintings literally painted in the last two years some of the prices are insane those are artists whose markets are hard to enter if you're not already a collector who's recognized so say you have an artist who's very desired but there's only so much output how many paintings are available and then the gallery won't sell them something or the waiting list is too long but they really want that artist if you have two people who feel that way then you're going to have a negotiation that escalates and in those instances ego comes into play and that's frankly what auction houses are are relying on they'll the first to tell you right they need at least two people bidding to make a really high price happen that's a little bit uh that's a different approach to I don't want to even say that's negotiating that's when you're at auction you're usually you know the price is going to go up not down it's a little different than negotiating with a gallery or secondary Market sale or at an art fair or something right and that has to bring it a little bit of fun I would think to the process absolutely is a thrill there's no question yes nerve-wracking for some people I don't know I I think it's very nerve-wracking but but yes it is especially depending on what side you're on yes exactly magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one tip that you can leave with us today about how you make sure to find and live your joy ah the pandemic has in many ways reshaped people's careers and lives for me it reinforced the value of IRL so in real life art maybe people were oversaturated with art fairs in 2019 and then we didn't have them for two years and everything we saw was in a BDF or online and boy is that tedious so I would much rather look at a painting in real life or sculpture there's no way to communicate the details and even sometimes the emotion of a painting let's go back to the Rothco example because he's a great one you could have three paintings by the artist and one of them will communicate in a different way to the viewer than another one will and the only way to know that is to stand in front of it a JPEG will not communicate that literally paintings have auras the soul and the mind and the spirit and the dedication of the artist who made it are in the object if you don't feel that then walk away so true and that's very subjective and there's nothing that like the the PDF is going to is going to tell you about that in real life and also seeing colleagues friends and colleagues and artists and spending time with it's very important to do that thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us today and bringing us into the art world my pleasure please tell us how and where we can find you my website jgc fineart.com net at Instagram Janice j n g cile j n s g c c i l you'll see my projects with je Masa Bas out material which has had been an amazing art historical journey and all these great drawings from my rock and roll client are going to two Museum shows next year so I'm very excited about that and then you can see my work with Chef Danielle Buu at restaurant Danielle and then we just did an installation at his new le which is downtown a restaurant called L which is fantastic and we have paintings beautiful floral Still Life by Mark Dennis who's a contemporary painter thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheil it on social thank you to my editor Rich stalino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave [Music]