Twenty-Somethings, It's Time to Buy Art

Twenty-somethings, it's time. It's time to roll up that poster of Muhammad Ali and that silk screen canvas print of the Eiffel Tower. It's time to rest something lasting on those blank white apartment walls. It's time to buy original art.

Why?

Many people think that buying art is a good investment. While art pieces often appreciate, such appreciation is hard to predict. Further, individuals who turn a profit from their art collections tend to have large art collections and large (financial) portfolios that allow them to "diversify" their collections by choosing "riskier" pieces that sell at high prices but may fall out of favor as trends and tastes change.

In short, you shouldn't buy art as an investment; rather, you should buy it to pull you up in the morning, to make you smile while eating dinner, to serve as a conversation-starter, to inspire you when you are in a rut. You should buy art that is pleasing, not trendy. You should buy art to support an artist you find interesting, whose Tumblr page you follow, whom you met at a coffee shop or poetry reading.

Think about it this way. You probably spend hundreds of dollars every month on clothes, meals at restaurants or drinks in bars. Take one month off. Take the couple hundred you've saved and buy one or two pieces of affordable art. It will last longer than drinks, a fancy dinner and even those skinny jeans collecting dust in your closet that never really fit perfectly anyway. 

How?

You'd be surprised how many places sell fairly affordable original art -- coffee shops, street festivals/fairs, artists' personal blogs, Tumblrs or websites, and even some indie clothing stores. Generally, you should buy art that strikes you, that resonates with you, that you want to look at, that fits well (size-wise and visually) in the space you envision it sitting. And it also helps to do a little background work on the artist. Has the artist had any shows? Does the artist have any work in a museum? Who else owns the artist's work? Is the artist someone you find interesting, lasting?

Here are a handful of places that sell art at relatively affordable prices. 

Two places that sell mostly original fine art through art dealers and galleries:

The Affordable Art Fair

ArtNet

Places that mostly sell art by independent artists (*Note: be careful to purchase originals, not prints):

UGallery

Artbreak 

Etsy

Image: University of Salford.