Art Buying for Beginners

One of the questions I frequently get is "Should I buy art?"

The short answer to the question is "Maybe".

As an artist and art lover, you'd think I would shout from the rooftops "OF COURSE, EVERYONE SHOULD BUY ART!" For me to say that would be as irresponsible as a dog lover saying everyone should have a dog.

Over the next few days, maybe weeks, I'll talk about the reasons a person should, and shouldn't buy art. We'll cover some of the myths and misconceptions about art collecting. Maybe we should call them Mythconceptions!

To name just a few...
Mythconception #1 Everybody should buy art
Mythconception #2 Art is a great investment
Mythconception #3 I don't know enough about art to buy it
Mythconception #4 "Art" is too expensive
Mythconception #5 I should collect lots of pieces by the same artist
Mythconception #6 I don't like "art"
Mythconception #7 Only rich people collect art
Mythconception #8 There is no place near me to buy "real art"
Mythconception #9 My designer told me to buy this, so it must be art (AKA "Designer Knows Best")
Mythconception #10 I have to buy pieces that go with my house (or sofa or whatever)
Mythconception #11 If he's dead, it must be good (replace "dead" with "famous", it still is a Mythconception, AKA, I hate it but I was told it was a good deal )
Mythconception #12 My house is old/modern/period therefore my art must match
Mythconception #13 My collection must have a "theme"
Mythconception #14 I'll buy it now and put it in storage until I have the room to display it
Mythconception #15 The person at the gallery told me that it would be perfect for me
Mythconception #16 I have to buy the piece the first time I see it
Mythconception #17 People will think I'm cool/smart/sexy/rich because I have art
Mythconception #18 I can buy anything as long as I like it and it will be art

You get the picture (pardon the pun)--there are a lot of mythconceptions about buying art out there. We'll tackle these one by one. Not necessarily in the order above--we creative types like to mix it up a bit you know...don't want to become too predictable! We might also throw in some other topics...like best breed for your lifestyle (continuing the dog-lover theme, in case you didn't get that), and care and feeding for your art.