The art market is heavily skewed towards a few artists who are good at networking, said Magnus Resch, Art Economist and Author.
“Twenty artists make up almost 50 percent of the total value of the contemporary art auction market,” said Resch. “If you want to make money investing in art, it’s very simple. Buy one of the big household names.”
Resch gave the examples of Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Damien Hirst as being household names. He added that when it comes investing in big names, there are nuances.
“A green Warhol sells for less than a red Warhol, and a Basquiat from 1981 sells for more than a Basquiat in his later days,” Resch explained. “It comes down to the little nuances and getting access to those prime works, the top of the top of the top.”
According to Resch, “99.999 percent of artists” are not a good investment.
Resch spoke with David Lin, Anchor and Producer at Kitco News.
NFTs
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are records on a blockchain, corresponding to assets. Often, NFTs are digital works of art.
The Merge, which depicts the orbit of two spherical planets, is the most expensive NFT ever sold, at a price of $91.8 million.
“The NFT world is bizarre,” said Resch, who authored the book, How to Create and Sell NFTs. “There is only one reason why people buy NFTs, and that is because they want to make money.”
Because NFTs are linked to a blockchain, their proponents claim that they are difficult to hack or counterfeit. Thus, NFTs have a built-in security feature that verifies their authenticity.
“[NFTs] are here to stay because the technology can revolutionize the art world,” said Resch. “When you buy an artwork in the secondary market… what they show you in order to prove its authenticity are invoices from the gallery that they originally bought it from. Invoices are paperwork, and that can be forged. NFTs can solve this. I believe that in the future, every artwork that leaves the studio of an artist will be registered as an NFT.”
Being a successful artist
For those considering a career in art, Resch’s research shows that social networks matter more than skill or training as an artist.
“If you don’t make it into this one central network within your first five to ten exhibitions in your career, you will not make it as an artist,” said Resch. “We looked at all the different other factors, such as colors of the paintings, subject, material, age of the artists, and so on. But what really mattered for the success of the artist is the network that he is in.”
Resch added that “there is only one network that leads to success, and that network consists of a few galleries and a few museums.” He specified that “nine of the top 10 institutions in this one central network… are in New York.”
To find out Resch’s predictions for the NFT network, watch the video above
Follow David Lin on Twitter: @davidlin_TV
Follow Kitco News on Twitter: @KitcoNewsNOW
