I have spent my entire adult life in the art world — as a student, an auction house specialist, a professor, a nonprofit board member, and for the past decade, an advisor to collectors at every stage, from brand new to nine figures.
It started in high school with a vision of owning a gallery in SoHo. That dream led me to art history at Case Western Reserve University, where I earned my MA — and eventually to the realization that what I actually love is not writing dissertations. What I love is looking at art, talking about it, and helping people find their way into it.
After college I went where the art market actually lives. I worked at Christie’s and at Hindman, two of the most respected names in the auction world. I learned how objects are valued, how collectors make decisions, and how the market really works — the parts they don’t teach in the classroom. I then returned to academia to earn my MA in Art History from Case Western Reserve University. That combination of market experience and academic rigor has informed everything I’ve done since.
I went on to build an advisory practice. Over the years I have worked on a team managing a collection worth nine figures. I have helped a first-time collector build a collection now worth over half a million dollars. I have guided clients spending anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 on a single work — and clients for whom $5,000 felt like a real leap of faith.
That last group — the new collectors, the ones just starting out — is why I built Art I Saw & Liked. I kept meeting people with real taste, real curiosity, and real budgets under $15,000 who couldn’t access the kind of guidance that wealthier collectors take for granted. The traditional advisory model doesn’t work at that price point. A 10% commission on a $5,000 painting doesn’t sustain a business. So I built something that does.
The art world has a gatekeeping problem. It is opaque by design, fluent in a language that excludes more people than it welcomes, and quietly contemptuous of anyone who admits they don’t already know everything. I find that exhausting — and more importantly, I find it unnecessary.
You don’t need to arrive knowing the right names, the right galleries, or the right things to say in front of a painting. You need someone who will meet you where you are, tell you the truth, and help you figure out what you actually respond to. That is what I have built Art I Saw & Liked to be.
The Collection — the curated database at the heart of the membership — is every work I would recommend to a new collector right now, all under $15,000, filterable by medium, size, and what you’re drawn to. I add 8 to 12 works every week. I have been doing this long enough to know what holds up and what doesn’t. And I have no financial relationship with any of the galleries or artists featured. My only interest is your collection.
I remain deeply embedded in the institutional art world. I serve on the boards of moCa Cleveland and The Sculpture Center, on the Leadership Circle at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and on the Contemporary Art Society in Cleveland. These are not honorary titles — they are working commitments to the health of the arts ecosystem I have spent my career inside.
My bespoke advisory practice, Casey Monda Art Advisory, works with serious collectors on acquisitions at every price point. Art I Saw & Liked is where everyone else can find me.