Investing in Contemporary Art

The week-long November Open Studios event has just started, running from Sat 14 to the following Sun 22 Nov, so it seems like a good time to talk about Investing in Contemporary Art.

Art and Money are two distinct subjects that have a crucial relationship when it comes to the artist creating their best work and the collector making the best investment.

Notice that I place the creation of great art first and I didn't say "the collector getting the best bargain". The truth is that if you manage to negotiate a 'bargain' from an artist then you've probably done both of you a disservice, because the artist will soon be worrying about money again and therefore not be in a position to make their best art (and develop their career) and this will diminish rather than increase the value of your investment.

I've got a very simple formula if you want to make a great investment in art:

Find Talented Artist + Put Money in their bank = They get Peace of Mind + Focus on creativity

So first you find a good artist, and look for someone with real talent, not just affordable prices. Visit Open Studio events and Gallery shows, read Art Magazines and explore online. Once you've found a talented artist give them the money they're asking for, so they no longer have to worry about paying the bills and can simply focus on their creativity. Most artists are willing to negotiate on price, but remember that your money is literally going to pay for their development - offer them too little and soon they'll have to waste time and energy chasing the next sale.

Part of the problem these days is that many people spend most of their time looking for 'bargains' and therefore miss excellent opportunities to invest in something truly great.

The only things I regret in my career as an artist are the times when I've sold my work too cheaply. It annoys me because I know that the buyer has greatly benefited while lengthening the times I was struggling. But I'm also aware of how lucky they are to have bought MY work because most artists who don't ask for what they really need eventually have to stop making art altogether.

I know the Art market pretty well now, and I can recommend several artists you could buy as a good investment. These are artists who are all very talented, will continue to grow in ability and have the right attitude to becoming very successful in the future. Their work ranges in price from a few hundred to tens of thousands of pounds, so there is a market for everyone.

What most people don't realise is how easy it is for the buyer to help make an artist successful, as a relatively small investment can do wonders for an artists career and greatly increase the value of your investment in them.

The most visible example of this strategy is Charles Saatchi, who basically buys art when it's relatively inexpensive (though he always pays enough to help finance that artists development ) then exhibits the work, which raises it's value, and eventually sells those works that have become the most valuable. A great example of this is with the artist Jenny Saville, as he purchased her entire post-graduate show and then commissioned her paintings for the next two years. She is now represented by the Gagosian Gallery, alongside the most successful artists in the world.

The most effective dealers and galleries understand that the best investment strategy is simple to find talented artists and then finance their development. This process often continues throughout the artists career, as when dealers bid for their own artists at auctions simply in order to maintain and raise their value. For instance, last autumn, at a time when the value of Damien Hirst's work was beginning to fall, his dealers were the 'under-bidders' on more than half of the works at his "Beautiful inside my head forever" auction.

The ability to literally create an artists career and then develop their market is only possible because the art market is relatively small - so you certainly don't need the resources of Saatchi or Jay Joplin to work this magic!

I can think of several artists where you would only need an an investment of between £4,000 to £10,000 to make a significant difference to their progress. A timely purchase or commission can literally kick-start an artists career. The reason is obvious when you think about it: an artist is only really concerned about one thing - focusing on making their best work - so the easier you can make it for them to do that, the more progress they'll make.

I know that to some people the prices I quote here will seem quite high, especially when you can buy so-called 'art' for a few hundred pounds, but I'm talking about what you need to spend in order to make a serious investment. I'm not talking about all those jobbing 'artists' out there who just churn out 'pretty art', I'm talking about serious practitioners who have made the commitment to dedicate their lives to creating meaningful art.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that buying art is much more fun and profitable (for everyone) if you know you've helped a genuinely talented artist to further their career.

The other thing you need to do is to avoid buying 'bad' art. There's a lot of bad art about these days because it seems that everyone thinks they're an artist, and galleries just want to make money! Many mediocre artists get away with making lazy and derivative work simply by calling it Conceptual or Post-modern or Impressionistic or Abstract, and Galleries have learnt that they can basically just tell us what we should think about their art.

Most artists fancy themselves as being talented (particularly when we start) but we all need to get honest feedback about our work from our peers. One of the things I enjoyed about Art College is that we had to explain and discuss our work with other artists, so you couldn't simply tell people how great you were and rely on their ignorance to get away with it.

In the Art World it's equally important for artists to get feedback from other artists, and for potential buyers to discover what an artists reputation is among their peers. If you ask artists what they think of other artists you'll very quickly be able to tell what think of each other!

Basically though, if you cut through all the waffle and just look for talent, it's relatively easy to find brilliant artists worth investing it. And believe me, they need your support. Being an artist is one of the most challenging professions you can choose, artists sacrifice many things that most people take for granted, and we have to commit to something that has no guarantee of success.

Great artists have always needed patrons, from Rembrandt to Turner, and Picasso to Hirst. And it's their best patrons who amassed the greatest collections and had the most success. Many are still remembered as being instrumental in helping those artists at key points in their development. For instance, Picasso had Ambroise Vollard and Matissa had Sergei Shchukin .

Now-a-days you don't even have to be wealthy to be a patron. For instance, a New York couple, the Vogels have created one of the greatest collections of modern and contemporary art in the world, even though Herb was a postal clerk and his wife Dorothy, a Librarian.

If you're reading this I presume it's because you're interested in art. Well, we've got a thriving art scene happening in Bridport and you've got the opportunity to seek out several extremely talented artists here this week. So I recommend you come down, look around for some great art, and start investing now! Just make sure you visit me at St Michael's Studios...

The Bridport November Open Studios runs from Sat 14 to Sun 22 Nov, standard opening times are 10-5pm. Visit the Open Studios page at www.bridport.org to download a Map of the event.

Autumnal Painting

I've been having a busy time, and I've not been adding to this blog as often as I'd like, so I'm going to attempt to write this Blog more like a diary - time permitting. Hopefully it will give an idea of the 'bigger picture' of my life as an artist, including my personal projects, insights into some of the artists involved in the Bridport Art Scene, my experience of our Open events, what is happening at St Michael's Studios and on the St Michael's Trading Estate, and my thoughts about many artists I admire, as well as my own intentions for the future of the Art World.

I must say that after a really busy summer, I've been enjoying having a quieter autumn. One of the things I love about living in Bridport is how everything calms down after the tourist season. The local community is still buzzing around and all the locals are out and about, but everything feels more relaxed. I was out in the sun this afternoon and I bumped into a friend who has recently moved here from London. He still hasn't got his head around how laid back every one is down here, but that's one of the joys of Bridport. In London the energy can be really good because it motivates everyone, whereas in the country the energy is at a more 'natural' pace, so you really have to motivate yourself, but it's easy once you get the hang of it.

For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a life-size Drip Figure of a local woman. I just completed the second layer last night, and the painting is now drying flat on it's back. I use a very unpredictable technique for making my drip figures, so it's all about preparation and then working with paint that is literally falling off the canvas. The chaos involved in the process means that the results are always surprising, and this one is no exception.

My drip figures are really about creating the 'presence' of a person, and the drip techniques I use mean that the image has a sense of movement and transience, just as our bodies are never quite still, and changing from moment to moment. I also like the way that my drip figures confront the viewer rather than being purely voyeuristic in character.

Now that I've done the second layer I've got to wait a few days for it to dry before doing the third layer, and my thoughts have gone back to my landscape painting 'view from Leweston Hill'. I haven't touched the canvas today, as it's actually quite difficult to switch back and forth between my drip figures and landscapes ( since there's a very different dynamic involved in each of them) but I've been working out what to do when I get back to it.

The Leweston Hill painting is based on the view from the third in the long range of three hills that I've been painting that runs from Lamberts Castle (near Hawkchurch), through Pilsden Pen (near Marshwood) to Leweston (near Broadwindsor). It's an amazing hill, the highest in the region, and has a magical feel to it.

I'm painting these landscapes because I feel a deep emotional connection to the Dorset countryside. I grew up in North Dorset, next to a farm in the middle of nowhere, so my appreciation of nature feels very natural. Now that I've been to London and moved back to Dorset, my love of the landscape continues to grow. I have a great admiration for many landscape painters, particularly the pioneers of the genre - 16th Century Dutch painters like Ruisdael and De Koninck, as well as Turner, Constable, the Hudson River painters, and the great Romantic painters like Casper Friedrich, the Barbizon painters, and of course Cezanne. However, I've yet to see the landscape painted quite the way I feel and experience it, and so that is what I am going to do.

BOS 09

"Marshwood Clouds", oil on canvas, 48"x22", 2007-8

This year's Bridport Open Studios event was by far the busiest we've had, with about 750 visitors to St Michael's Studios over the three days. We were also featured on BBC Spotlight and Radio Solent, and had lots of features on us in magazines and newspapers.

It's been amazing for all of us to experience the growth of the Bridport Art Scene over the past few years. It's been a very organic process, led by the artists, and supported by both local people and keen collectors from across the country.

We also have to work very hard, both to maintain our visibility in the media and also to keep raising the standard of our work and justify the reputation of our art scene.

I also love the Open Studios events because this format has allowed me to focus on making the best work I'm capable of, rather than feeling compromised by the commercial requirements and time constraints of galleries and art fairs.

I now dedicate myself to realising my most ambitious ideas, working on most paintings for at least six months and often for over a year. When you look back at the great painters throughout history, you see incredibly accomplished works that would have taken months to achieve, and I now want to do the same. I want to create art that can stand beside the masters, works that demand my greatest skill and dedication, and paintings that push Art to the next level.

I've also become a lot more critical of much of the 'lazy' painting I see around. These are often mediocre artists who have been promoted by galleries who don't know any better, and encourage the idea that 'anyone can be an artist'. What rubbish, that's like saying that anyone can be a concert pianist - of course you can - if you practise for 10,000+ hours!

However, I've also noticed a gradual return to highly accomplished art works, both from artist friends that I respect and also many internationally recognised artists. I regularly go to London to experience the best art being made today from the likes of Glenn Brown, John Currin, Inka Essenhigh, Nigel Cooke, Ged Quinn, George Shaw and Peter Doig. These are all artists who create powerful and pioneering art, and they're not artists that need a gallery to explain or justify their work.

The Art Market is a strange entity because anyone with some money can establish their own gallery and claim to be an expert on contemporary art. This means that there are just a few very good galleries that do a brilliant job in promoting their artists, and then many bad galleries that treat their artists like an unruly production line.

The worst example of this is the awful Affordable Art Fair, that presents itself as a way to get contemporary art for a low price, but does so at the expense of the artists. The truth is that if you want to get good quality contemporary art that will continue to rise in value, then you have to find a way to support the artist, rather than buying from a low-price venue.

The fact is that you should never try to get a 'bargain' from an emerging artist, because it means you're depriving them of the means to make the work they're capable of. If you want to make a good investment in art, then you must invest in the artist, because the strength of their market will depend entirely on the quality and development of their work.

The ideal position to hold is as a Patron, which is something that all great artists have needed throughout history. A Patron is simple someone who is willing to believe in the artist and fund their work, and they also turn out to build the best collections of art because they fund the artists when they're creating their best and most pioneering works.

The Art Market is changing, and in Bridport we're doing our bit to bring the focus back to the artists, to remind people that this isn't about a few 'celebrity artists' but about supporting the hard-working artists who have the potential to be the next Cezanne, Turner or Picasso. These artists are in their studios right now, trying to work out how they'll pay the rent while they labour over a canvas that will one day be proclaimed as a masterpiece.

The Open Studios event is one of the best ways to discover and support these artists. You can visit them in their studios and discuss what they're working on, and unlike any other market, you can directly influence the progress of their career. One generous sale or commission can transform how much time an artist can dedicate to their work, and can be a spring board that brings their work to the attention of a good gallery and a growing collector base.

This is also the best time to invest in the work of many artists in the Bridport Art Scene. This is the beginning of the careers of many artists here, some are already gaining representation by London galleries, and a few will go on to exhibit at international galleries. Most of us offer payment by installment, which means people on a relatively low income can easily start collecting important contemporary art.

It's also been great to see "Wandering Through Wessex", an exhibition by Gallerist Charlie Caldecott. Charlie discovered the Bridport Art Scene while exploring Dorset Art Weeks last year, and he was immediately impressed by the calibre of art he found here. He's planning on bringing our scene to the attention of a far wider national and international audience.

I'd really recommend you visit the exhibition as soon as possible, as it's only on for this week (ends 12th Sept), and has an excellent mixture of artists including myself, Jon Adam, Claire Trenchard (you can see her wolves howling at the moon in my painting), David Cobley, John Boyd, Georgina Fermer, Judith Gait, David Kennard and Wendy Poole.

We're now preparing for an Open Studios event to coincide with the Bridport Literary Festival in November, so watch this space!

Redevelopment Result

First of all, my apologies for not writing this post for a couple of weeks, as I know some of you have been waiting to hear about the redevelopment threat to St Michael's Studios...

We've actually had the most incredible couple of weeks - First we managed to get the 2nd 'redevelopment' proposal rejected, and last weekend was our most popular Bridport Open Studios event ever.

On Thursday 20th August hundreds of local people turned out in force for the 'southwest quadrant' planning decision meeting at the United Church Hall on East Street, and 30 speakers (27 of whom were opposed to the development) pushed the meeting to 3 hours of high drama before the district councillors voted 5 to 4 to reject the 2nd proposal.

Councillor Ros Kayes summed it up when she said “What you are therefore faced with today is a moral decision – to support the profits of a private developer or to recognise the special qualities of an area of unique historical and economic significance to Bridport."

It was an amazing event that all those present will remember, and it was the main conversation about town for the following week. It was as if local people had woken up to the fact that what they most loved about the town was threatened and they had to do something about it. After the committee’s decision Bridport Town Council leader Dave Rickard said: “I don’t think I have ever been more proud of where I live than last Thursday. "

You can read the Bridport News coverage of the event here, as we wait to see what the West Dorset District Council will come up with next...

Naturally we were very happy that we were able to return to work at St Michael's Studios, but there was also a strong feeling of anger over the considerable time we've all had to spend in order to save what is now recognised as an important asset to the town. Many of us are extremely disappointed that the WDDC has continued to try to push unsuitable redevelopment plans onto our town, without a genuine consultation with local traders, and to waste our valuable time as we've had to defend our jobs and community.

You would think that they would be trying to support the many self-employed tenants of the St Michael's Trading Estate, since Bridport is still a low-income working town that needs more jobs and employment, not more housing estates. The WDDC should be pleased that we still have a thriving trading estate in the heart of the town, and we would love them to ask US how they can help us build on our success.

Before the meeting, Town and district Councillor David Tett had urged members to "support the planning officers’ recommendation to go ahead and tidy up the area before it fell further into decay." This is a totally inaccurate and misleading thing to say. The fact is that every available space is being used on the trading estate, and there is always demand for whatever spaces become available. We agree that certain areas are run down, but that is only because just the minimum amount of money has been invested by the landlords to keep the estate going. We haven't complained because this has also kept the rents low, which is exactly what has allowed the area to flourish.

I said at the meeting that we actually have a great relationship with our landlords, since they do a great job in providing low cost studios for the creative industries and allowing many small businesses the opportunity to start-up without high operating costs. I hope that we can now all go forward with an appreciation for what the area brings to Bridport, and learn to work together in the future for the greater good of the town - all of us - tenants, traders, landlords, town and district councils.

I'll tell you about our amazing Bridport Open Studios event on my next blog...

Protect our Creative Communities!

This whole redevelopment nightmare has made me even more aware of the importance of protecting our culture and community from greedy developers, like those who have already ripped the heart out of hundreds of towns across the county, destroying the unique character of historic towns and breaking up the communities that allow us to care for, support and help one another.

Many of these redevelopment projects start as apparently well-meaning schemes that use words like "regeneration" but they are really about a small number of people making a quick profit at the expense of the community as a whole. They are essentially selfish in nature, and inevitably lead to a widening economic divide, the fragmentation of different cultures, and the eventual disintegration of society.

When we find a town where we've managed to keep a sense of community alive, it's vital that we protect it from these greedy and short-sighted interests. There are obvious parallels to the amazon rain forest, which apparently contains potential remedies for most diseases, but are instead cut down and made into farm land in order to satisfy short-term economic interests.

The St Michael's Trading Estate is now home to dozens of eclectic businesses that make the area feel vibrant and inspiring, and the area has now affectionately become known as the Artistic Quarter of Bridport. The creative industries have flourished here, and there are many businesses that use traditional skills including upholsterers, carpenters, sculptors, masons, designers, illustrators, sign-writers, architects and artists.

But the great thing about the trading estate is that alongside the artists and artisans, many other types of businesses are thriving. Clipper Teas and Top Gear, two nationally recognised businesses started here, alongside an indoor bike park, a waste-management centre, a recycling and bio-diesel centre, a local food centre that provides food for local schools, a discount wood store, a glass and tile shop, a wine shop, an electrical goods centre, a window-blinds shop, and dozens of other small businesses.

The St Michael's Studio complex now provides studios for over 25 artists, and many of us rely on our quarterly Open Studio events for our income. To take away our studios also means taking away our gallery space, so even if our studios are relocated, we would lose the use of a high profile venue that we've devoted ten years to develop.

We also know what immense value we bring to the area, because of the direct feedback we receive from hundreds of visitors to our Open events. Many of our visitors simply can't believe a venue like ours still exists, since government legislation and bureaucracy make it very hard for these genuinely authentic creative havens to survive.

There's still time to help! Please submit your objections to the redevelopment proposals at this website. Simply select 'Submit Comment' and let your voice be heard. Because the louder the public shout, the more the councillors will have to listen, and if they know this is an unpopular project then they are less likely to put their names to it.

Please support the artists

Well, Bridport Open Studios is upon us very soon, in fact under two weeks, so all the artists here are busy getting ready. The worrying thing is that the West Dorset District Council meeting to decide whether the studio gets 'redeveloped' happens next Thursday, 20th August. So at the time when we should all be focused on showing off this brilliant venue, instead we're concerned whether we actually have a future, and distracted from continuing to develop something that has become a huge asset to the town.

We've now got the full support of Bridport Town Council, of the majority of the public, and key local figures, but the final decision still lies with the planning committee of the Dorchester based District Council. The problem is that people in Dorchester have the power to decide Bridport's fate, and yet that town is very different from Bridport.

While Bridport is rapidly growing a national reputation as a vibrant creative town with a unique bohemian atmosphere created by its diverse and eclectic community, Dorchester has now got very little to show for itself, apart from Prince Charles's widely derided 'Poundbury' housing estate on the outskirts.

The fact is that Bridport has grown mainly because it HASN'T had the interference of government, and hasn't yet been victim to those greedy 'redevelopment' and 'regeneration' projects that have ripped the heart out of most of our towns.

Bridport has become an example to the country through the initiative, imagination and enterprise of courageous individuals, rather than government guidelines and rhetoric. In fact, it's time for government to listen to the people once again, rather than attempt to push through another short-sighted building project that benefits a small group of people while destroying a bustling local economy and its supportive community.

I ask all those Councillors who have the power to decide Bridport's fate to visit the St Michael's Trading Estate, to come and meet the businesses, traders and artists. Come and look round our studio complex that provides affordable studios for 25 artists and delights hundreds of visitors at events throughout the year. Visit the designers and architects, the sign-writers, masons, carpenters, upholsterers, the sculptors, painters and illustrators. Visit the antique shops and 2nd hand stores, the local food centre that provides the local school meals, the recycling centre, the bio-diesel centre, the discount furniture centre, the indoor bike park, and the dozens of other businesses that have made this historic rope-making estate into the heart of Bridport.

I want to be an artist again, we all do, rather than having to fight to save our studios. Please show your support for our campaign by attending the Emergency Public Meeting at which the planning decision will be made. The meeting will be held at 2:15pm on Thursday the 20th August at the United Church Hall in Bridport. We would appreciate your presence. Thank you.

Save the studios!

The St Michael's Studios complex is threatened by a massive redevelopment project on the historic trading estate on which we're based. We won't let this happen. We now provide studios for over 25 artists, and we've become an important cultural destination in the South West of England.

I started the studios exactly 10 years ago in 1999, when all I had was a bikers bar next door, and a discount furniture store at the other end of the building. Gradually more artists began to arrive, until we've now taken over the entire 1st and 2nd floors of this beautiful Edwardian, former rope-making building.

We now do quarterly Open Studio events that attract hundreds of people - the next one is this coming August Bank Holiday weekend - and we've realised from the feedback we receive that we're offering a really wonderful and rare experience. People simply aren't used to the sense of community and casual creativity that they experience here. It's obvious that our 'bean-counting' society is gradually weeding out the genuine creative outlets, destroying them with legislation and bureaucracy.

It's important that we do something about this now. We must 'draw a line in the sand' and put the quality of our communities above the greed of developers. I've already lost two studios to developers (in London). Help us to stop yet another developer ripping the heart out of one of the few 'genuine' towns we have left.

Please go to this page and click on 'submit a comment' and express your objection to the current redevelopment proposal.