Why Collect Contemporary Art?

A contemporary art collection usually starts with the acquisition of one or two pieces that entertain or echo personal preferences. Owning newly curated artworks reflects a sensitivity to current artistic creation, as part of a larger societal adventure. Buying contemporary art is therefore an investment, although the use value of art through pleasure and intellectual stimulation prevails over its monetary value (which may evolve in a non-linear way over time). Since art must be produced and intermediated, it prosaically has a price and requires a budget, in addition to an adequate space, yet the economic extent of a collection is subordinate to its actual quality.

Hence a meaningful contemporary collection ideally should not prioritize highest-ranked names, which are often subject to financial constraints and waiting lists, and can be widely seen in art museums: Replicable collections of the most sought-after artists can become conventional or even tentatively boring. Instead, creating an original, personal, quality-conscious collection of established or recognized emerging artists from the primary market can be a source of endless spiritual and cultural satisfaction and inspiration. It may enable, as a side-effect, meritorious upcoming art makers to carry on with their work, and at collector level instill a nourishing sense of avant-gardist perception and understanding of today’s world.

Contemporary art connects the collector with the artist’s freedom of thought and action, which may differ from dominant social norms. This in turn broadens the collector’s imagination and creativity beyond familiar private or professional realms. Such immateriality should be the starting point of a purchase that may last and transcend a lifetime. Its potential decorative attractiveness should be duly considered when living on a daily basis with the artworks: Subjective beauty remains a valid aspiration, just as figurativeness has never ceased to be relevant. A careful aesthetic mix of different styles and mediums in dialogue may reflect the complexity and variety of life, its perceived difference, and cognitive subtlety.

A focus on ultra-contemporary diverse outlooks may respond, like geographical provenance, to issues of identity, experience, sympathy, and cultural cosmopolitanism, in addition to artistic appeal. New-generation art can contribute to positive social progress, as it has in previous periods of time.

In essence, collecting contemporary art is motivated by the love of art and the relevance of its propositions. A collection mirrors personality and personal growth; it equips the owner with singular interpretations to better grasp and live in the present as well as anticipate change. It upgrades a living space. It enables participation in the intriguing human venture of art making. It spurs renewed conversations about beauty, poetic mimesis, and ways of expression.