Kickstart Your New Year’s with Modern Contemporary Art

There's nothing like New Year's to get you thinking about the future. The resolution is the most popular way to do this - we decide to live healthier, prioritize our dreams, and work toward a better life. But apart from setting new goals, a new year is also a chance to rethink everything.

For many art lovers, the experience of bringing home a new painting, sculpture, or photograph is exhilarating. It helps you reimagine the places you live and work. And yet, between groceries and dinner plans and the daily commute, finding art that inspires you can often take a back seat to everyday life.

But what if you made 2022 the year you rejuvenated your connection to art? What if this year became the year you kickstarted your collection?

We've put together a guide to help you figure out exactly how to plan out this adventure.

Planning Your Contemporary Art Makeover

 

Whether you are a young person just getting into collecting or a veteran of art fairs and auctions, now is a good time to reassess what you have and what you want. 2022 could be an opportunity for you to completely change your approach to collecting, or it could be the push you need to re-engage your passion.

 

It all starts with a good plan. And discovering how to start (or restart) your art collection can be broken out into three steps:

1. Deciding what kind of art you are looking for

2. Finding the right places in your home or office for new work

3. Figuring out a budget

 

'The Heir' by Sriyadi Srinthil

 

Choosing a Direction for Your Art Collection

 

The great art collections often have a particular focus. When a collector has this, they become deeply acquainted with that section of the market. In time, they can achieve an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the field, just by regularly encountering artwork they love.

 

By choosing a focus, you also give your collection a cohesive feeling. The pieces begin working together, helping to tell a story that's greater than the sum of their parts.

 

When you choose a style, it's important to not keep it too broad or make it too narrow. You need enough restriction that the pieces flow together, but not be so restricted that you don't have room to play or explore.

 

There are plenty of routes you can take. You can distinguish the work you buy through the medium, style, subject matter, or some combination of the three.

 

The medium is a fairly broad category - if you choose to collect sculpture, that's an absolutely enormous category. When combined with a general style or subject matter, the medium can be a good part of planning your collection, but alone, it's typically not enough.

 

As for style, you have even more opportunities to define your collection. Maybe you want to focus on contemporary surrealism. This will fill your home or office with dream images from the artists that are reimagining how to express existence through vivid imagery. Or, you might be more interested in realism. The specific, the detailed, the well-crafted will become your calling card.

 

When you choose to build a collection around a particular style, you have the ability to pair many different kinds of artwork together. That makes it a frequent go-to parameter for collectors. For instance, if you focus on abstract art, you can easily bring together pieces from fine art photography, painting, and sculpture.

 

Subject matter is another way to go. Though this is extremely limiting, it can work in certain situations. It's especially popular when buying art for a specific space - like a living room or office. Though it's probably too narrow for an entire art collection.

 

'Hide and Seek' by Santhosh D. Andrade

 

Picking a Place

 

You know what kind of art you want, so now it's time to go through your home or office and find the areas you want to fill with all your new work.

 

By measuring available wall and floor space and getting a sense of what you'd like to see in those areas, you can have a very practical idea of what you're looking for. Combined with the collection's focus, you have all the information you need to find that perfect work of contemporary art for sale.

 

'Playful Childhood' by Bharathi Senthilvelan

 

Landing on a Budget

 

But before you run out to buy, you still have one very important thing to figure out: your budget.

 

A budget has to figure in the amount of money you can comfortably spend on art in total, and how many pieces you are looking to buy for that amount. For instance, if you have a budget of $5,000 and are looking to get 10 pieces, your average price will be around $500 per work of art.

 

With your budget, you don't want to get yourself in a financial bind, but you also don't want to low-ball your collection either. Consider the long term aesthetic and emotional value that a work of art brings you. It's worth putting some money into.

 

The budget will be different for everyone, and those who find themselves at the lower end should not be discouraged. There are a lot of ways to succeed in art collecting without having millions to spare. You can always search art sales, where great pieces are made available at lower price points. And you should make sure to check out what's available in print editions. These are both ways that you can maximize your budget.

 

'A Prayer For The Country' by Choirudin

 

Finding Contemporary Art for Sale

 

You have your plan in place, and now you get to put it into action. This is the fun part, because it means you get to look at a lot of beautiful artworks that you might take home. And when you find something you truly love, this is the time to go for it!

 

If you are looking to make 2022 the year you kick your fine art collection into high gear, contact Mayin Art's Advisory Service. We demystify the process, providing key insights into the art market and how to best match the contemporary art available with your space. It takes the guesswork out of collecting, and it'll get your year started on the right foot.