L. Kent Wolgamott: Art for the holidays
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Craig Roper has one simple rule if you’re planning to purchase artwork: “Buy what you love.”
That’s good advice to follow if you’re out looking at art in local galleries, most of which are having multi-artist shows aimed at holiday purchases during December.
Roper’s advice comes from a unique perspective for Lincoln. He’s an established artist whose work has shown in galleries and museums, he’s a gallerist himself now running the Project Room and he’s a longtime collector, who just parted with pieces by the likes of Kara Walker and Vic Muniz to generate funds to keep his gallery going.
Once you’ve found a piece you like or want to know more about, Roper says, don’t be afraid to ask questions — questions of the gallery owner and, if possible, the artist. They’ll be happy to talk to you.
Don’t worry if you feel like you don’t know anything about art. Formal knowledge and familiarity with art world lingo is not a requirement for loving and buying art.
At least in Nebraska, you’re not likely to run into a snooty gallery girl in her little black dress who won’t speak with you unless you’re prepared to part with tens of thousands of dollars.
In fact, the opposite is true here.
“Looking at art and buying art should never be an intimidating experience,” Roper said. “It should be a fun experience … done with wine.”
Beyond that, Roper said, determining what is “good art” is easier seen than talked about.
“I absolutely can’t pinpoint it,” Roper said. “Sometimes it’s craftsmanship. Sometimes it’s the idea. Sometimes it’s a relationship you have with a piece that just reaches out and grabs you. It’s so subjective. That’s what I like about art, too. That you can’t pin it down.”
One of my operating art-buying rules is that “great or even good art doesn’t match your couch.”
Designers would quarrel with that view. But Roper agrees with that thesis.
“As a broadminded collector/art appreciator, I don’t give a damn if it matches anything in my house,” Roper said. “I want it to overwhelm my house, to be more sophisticated, more exciting than the couch or the TV.”
My second rule — “Don’t buy art as an investment” — got a more nuanced response from Roper.
“Nobody’s going to buy a $300 piece out of the Project Room, and 10 years later it’s going to be worth $3 million,” Roper said. “That’s not going to happen. But I hope it holds up. If it’s good, if it has charm, if it has likeability, I like to think it appreciates.
“Six months ago, people were probably buying blue chip artists for millions of dollars as investments. That’s fallen flat for them. But I do like to think good art is an appreciable asset, not something you hang on your wall, and 10 years later your kids sell it at a garage sale.”
One thing we do agree on is that art here is, in comparison with major markets, inexpensive. But the work can be just as high quality as what you can find from artists of a similar level in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas or Kansas City.
“It’s shocking what you can get here,” Roper said. “I go into Tugboat or look at some of the things I’ve had in the past here, and it’s so affordable compared to every place else. It’s amazing. You get what you pay for in Lincoln and Omaha. Who knows if an unknown artist who shows in New York has work worth $12,000. But here, that same work is probably going for one-tenth of that.”
A final point that Roper makes comes from the artist’s perspective, and it’s something that we who buy a piece or two a year don’t always think about.
“One purchase from one artist really gives them such a boost,” Roper said. “You can’t believe it.”
So make an artist happy and buy some original art work this year. Don’t worry if it doesn’t match your couch.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
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