Australian art dealer and former journalist Michael Reid has an interesting take on selling art today. It’s a bit of a wide-ranging conversation about Australian art and the art market there. But the perspective ought to be interesting to dealers and collectors alike. In this Creative Tension podcast with The Australian’s Michaela Boland, he is asked,
What is it that sells a work to a collector? Do they need to be confident of the value of it?
I think we’ve gone beyond selling, actually. I seriously believe we’ve got into a world now where the work has to connect to an individual. And if it connects, I facilitate the deal. But I don’t sell anything anymore. I don’t have to; and I don’t think I can…in really loose terms.
So how does a work get off the wall?
I broadcast it to an audience who come to me because they like what I do.
How do you broadcast it?
Traditionally, like every other way starting from a phone to a letter to an email to Facebook to LinkedIn to Instagram to YouTube.