Where Should An Artist Have Studied

Interestingly enough the training an artist receives

through various avenues and schools is not all that

important. In our day-to-day lives, we tend to think a Yale

graduate has more ability than one who graduated from a

state college, but in the art world no one is looking for

certificates on a wall. They're looking for the artist who is

reaching you and ten thousand other people.

On the other hand, lets say you're traveling to a

paradise island and a native artist catches your eye, but this

is the only gallery carrying their pieces; then the prices

should reflect this. If you see originals by a native in one

gallery for 20-40 thousand dollars, I think you are looking at

a very unreasonable value. My experience in the art market

tells me this artwork should be worth 4-12 thousand dollars

depending on the size and volume of the work.

Of course if the thing is 40 feet long, you can make

your own judgment. But `Walrus on Beach at Noon' by an

artist who admittedly works out of a garage and was once a

chiropractor, should have a fair value $3-4 thousand dollars

tops.

When I moved to Sedona, AZ and before opening my

own gallery, there was a piece with a similar name being

sold by a local art dealer. `Bear Chasing Eagle' it was titled,

and it was done in a southwest motif, with an asking price of

approximately $38,000.  Asking this kind of price for an

artist who has never been seen outside of one local gallery

puzzles me profoundly and still does. It's just too insane

to make any sense whatsoever!