Over the last two years of the pandemic, life has changed for all of us. Especially for me in the art world more so than ever. I found a renewed way of working. I began to see a lot more art and my excitement of seeing young artists’ work came back to me manyfold. I could not resist the temptation of starting to buy artworks again. Many were inexpensive. It was sheer pleasure. I then realised that I was not the only one!
Many of my regular collector groups were also looking at the ‘sheer pleasure’ of art not worrying about who the artist was. Like me, they were used to looking at works, making the connection, engaging with the art, and reading the narrative of the visual imagery and ideology of the art. The decisions were spontaneous and immediate. Of course, this was true not only for young artists’ work but for the whole range, including the blue-chip amongst the art investor group. The passion continues with the investors and the auctions.
I have a rather frivolous phrase that describes the connection immediately... “art that makes my heart sing”. It is the art that uplifts me. With my exposure and experience, I connect with the art that deeply resonates with me. It does something to me. It is a bit like ‘love at first sight’. This was happening very often I have to admit. I was wondering if it was the state of the relaxed mind or the quality of art, or the opportunities. I strongly feel it was a combination of all these facts.
We were in a different mind-space for sure. It must be the same for many others too. If something speaks to more than a small group, it builds the collector base for that particular artist and artist groups. It is important to have the courage to live with what engages you. Yes, it is OK, absolutely OK to see art the way you want to!
The question is... Does the price tag and value of art matter? Not to someone who wants the pleasure of their own connection with the art. It is the confidence to go ahead with a completely personal choice. Enjoying art and investing in art for financial gains have a connection only in the long term and is a longer conversation of different aspects.
Last week, I was talking to a collector friend who told me she decided to bring out all her art from storage and fill her walls. She said the pleasure and joy of owning art were really to feel it, see it, and the interesting thing was, she told me, she bought works of completely unknown artists that she came across over these last few quiet months and added them to her collection.
This is a phenomenon that I saw with many collectors, old as well as new; they were seeing the art for the connection and not the price or the status or to keep up with the Jones’s. The confidence to look at art for art’s sake, the sheer pleasure of art, the joy of surrounding oneself with the comfort of art that resonates and makes “one’s heart sing” has come back to us again.
Sharan Apparao is a gallerist and curator involved in the contemporary art world. She can be reached at sharan@apparaoart.com.