THE EXTRA January 15th 2009
INVESTMENT IN ART PAYING OFF
By David Oliver
EVERYONE's pocket has been hit by the credit crunch.
Be it the
collapse of a popular high-street brand, the loss of money through bank
collapse, or just the soaring cost of living.
Well, except one young Newton Mearns man.
Artist Frank To has seen the price of his work escalate - despite the apparent
tightening of purse strings.
He's threatening to go from strength to strength, all on the back of economic
instability.
Frank (26) explained to The Extra: "Last year I donated two paintings to
the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice. At the time they were worth about
£750 each and bidding started at £200. Now prices, for the same pieces just a
few years on, are more than £2,000 each.
"I've been exhibiting for eight years now. When the markets were quite
stable, my work was selling for £300 max, now it's more than six times that and
more and more galleries are looking to pick up my work.
"People are always on the lookout for the next set of Glasgow boys, the
new generation of up and coming artists."
With bank savings only guaranteed to £30,000 investors need somewhere safe to
stash their cash during a recession. Frank believes that the economic downturn
will benefit to the new batch of artists as more investors cut their losses in
the stock market and look at alternative uses for their cash.
He added: "Until the last recession, Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin were
unknown, then, at the end of the 80s they rose to fame. It's the same this time
around. No-one in there right mind would put more than £30,000 into a bank in
case it went bust. So what else is there with a stock market in collapse?
"More and more people are viewing art as an investment. Damien Hirst's
Shark was initially valued at £25,000 - now it's selling for more than
£1m."
So, as painting and economics come to an unlikely collusion, what other
financial advice does Frank have for would-be investors?
"When people ask me about buying paintings I always tell them, it's more
important to buy something that you enjoy. There's no point in wasting a piece
of art you don't like by spending a lot on it, for it not to be
displayed."