I have had many people ask me why the sudden and relentless shift to Substack? I don’t blame them. It happened quick and I came on strong. There are so many reasons why I dove into Substack head first and with reckless abandon and am so, so happy about it.

The most important reason why I started a Substack is because I miss long-form posts about art and the art market. I started Art I Saw and Liked with longer posts about art I saw and liked. It was really that simple. But as my business grew, we came out of Covid, and life happened, my IG became something else and IG itself became something else. Reels happened. Gah, I hate Reels. The algorithm changed, or continually changes all the time, which leads me to the second reason why I joined Substack.

IG is hard to keep up with. It is hard to build a real community. And IG is no longer about the visual. I don’t really know what it is about these days but I know it is a time suck, a mood suck, a joy suck, a productivity suck, etc… You get the gist. It sucks. But it also does not really do all that much for my business. Outside of a handful of engaged followers who are really interested in what I have to offer, I am not sure how it really moves the needle for my business. That makes me sound like a capitalist pig, but I have to be choosey about how I spend my time and a key criterion is that everything I do has to be absolutely necessary or have very high impact, and that leads me to my third reason.

I want to use Substack as platform to reach many more people than I can under my current business model. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love that I do, which is helping novice art collectors find and collect art that speaks to their soul. I love watching clients discover an artist or work that brings them closer to a fuller expression of who they are. I really want to be able to do that on a larger scale. I currently work on a one-to-one basis and I will always do that. But I would love to add a one-to-many branch to my business. My hope is that my Substack becomes a place where many novice art collectors from across the country can go to access my eye, my knowledge, my network, and my expertise. I believe there is a huge group of people out there who want to live with fantastic art from real, working artists that inspires their minds, their creativity, their families, and great conversation but they just don’t know where to go to get it and don’t feel confident in their choices. Displaying art in your home and in the spaces you occupy makes you vulnerable. I have found that people want to make choices that make them feel safe, confident, seen, and understood, even if they are visually risky. It’s a weird balance and I want to help folks find it.

That is the purpose of my Substack newsletter. Spread the word. Share it with your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues. Please take a moment to forward this newsletter to one person who you think would enjoy reading it. And if you know of any great artists I should feature, please drop me a message!

And now on to some great art all under $10,000…

Benedict Sheuer (b. 1992, American)

I love these silk wall-dependent sculptures from Benedict Sheuer. They flutter when you walk by them. They are so gentle and graceful and vulnerable. I really want to hang a cluster, or dare I say, flock, of them asymmetrically on a large wall.

Corinne Slade (b. 1998, Montclair, NJ)

This new body of work from Corinne Slade deals with the act of deadheading—the practice of pruning flowers to encourage new growth—a powerful metaphor for personal renewal and transformation. Her new exhibition opens TODAY (!!) at COL Gallery in San Francisco. Slade is a young artist but has shown at Frieze London and Felix Art Fair, and the work is still under $5k!

Josh Callaghan (b. 1969, Doylestown, PA)

Josh Callaghan has recently come on my radar and I find his work so elegant in it engagement with the human-environment relationship. His Twig Index series takes us into the fourth dimension as it harkens to human evolution while his Root Ball asks us what future humans and future Nature might look like if we continue on our current trajectory. Callaghan’s work masterfully looks back and forward simultaneously to helps figure out what we should do in the now.

Well, the answer to the first question is easy. Use your eyes!! JK…sort of. On the one hand, looking at art is easy. Just look at it. But on the other hand, it is hard because you really should be engaging all of your senses and your imagination. Taste? Yep. Touch? Totally (well imagined touch. Don’t actually touch the art…unless you are instructed to do so.) Sound? You betcha. Smell? Yes sir.

Using your imagination to engage all 5 senses is one of the best ways to find your way into a piece of art about which you know nothing. I always tell people that they should stand in front of a work of art long enough to be able to say five things about it. (In case you missed it, that is the key takeaway from today’s lesson. Well that and don’t touch the art.) If after that, you are still not feeling it, then you can move on. But, a good way to get to 5 things other than listing the colors you see is to imagine what the scene might feel, taste, smell, and sound like. This even works with abstract art and takes you on a little non-substance-fueled acid trip. You should try it.

Another strategy is to imagine why an artist made the decisions that they did. If you think about it, every mark, brushstroke, line, swoosh, splash, splotch (a technical term), crosshatch, gradient, the material, the size, every single aspect of a work of art was a decision made by the artist. Together all of these decisions coalesce to (hopefully) convey what the artist is trying to say. So maybe your 5 intelligent comments are imagining these decisions and why they were made. You could even take it a step further by asking yourself how the work might change if the artist had made a different choice. Would it be more or less effective? Would your perception of the meaning or message have shifted?

Let’s practice on this week’s artist recommendation! She’s so good and has a waiting list, but I’ve got the secret sauce…

Aniela Preston (b. 1998, Coventry, UK)

Picture this: You walk into an exhibition by an artist about whom you know nada. The images on the wall are at once familiar and foreign, whimsical and onerous, cheery yet eerie. What do you do? First, take a stroll around and drink it all in. Are there any recurring figures or symbols? Do you see a character show up in multiple compositions? What’s the color palette got going on? Do you feel uncomfortable? What makes you want to keep looking? How did the paint get to the substrate? Can you see the brushstrokes? Can you see piles, pools, or puddles of paint (impasto is the technical term) on the surface? Do the images remind you of anything else you have seen?

Here are my five thoughts:

1. The architecture and compositions definitely have an Early Renaissance feel to them, when artists were just figuring out linear perspective, but here the perspective is amiss. It is like she wants you to think of Renaissance perspective but also recognize that this is not that. This is not an attempt to render the world as accurately as possible as we see it, but perhaps it is the world as we feel it, experience it, or dream it. This is not physical reality but the metaphysical, emotional, experiential, or internal reality.
2. A lot of big cats. Why the big cats? They are not fearsome or aggressive here but symbolically they perhaps serve as a harbinger of danger.
3. The hexagonal pool and the style of the lillies and trees in Veil of deception giving me major Ghent Altarpiece vibes. The Ghent Altarpiece is a masterwork by Jan Van Eyck, the Northern Renaissance master who taught us everything we know about minute detail. Why does she want me to go there??
4. So many questions about the colors. Millenial pink e’er’where. I feel like I’m in Florida with all the turquoise and peach. But it’s working for me. I like the color palette because it feels calming in spite of everything else in the composition presenting a giant question mark.
5. There are “bodies of water” in each painting— a tub, the blue rug and turquoise carpet, that maroon situation with a night cityscape in the far distance, the pool, the water and ship—and I feel like there is a thread here. Perhaps some aspect of environmentalism?

Ok, here’s the takeaway: Even when you know nothing about a work of art or an artist, you can start to identify details and make connections that will help you understand it. Some works evoke more questions than answers, and that is okay!

Aniela Preston graduated with her Fine Art BA at the University of Leeds in 2021 after completing her Foundation Diploma at Central Saint Martins. In 2022 she was selected as a finalist for the Ingram Prize, and most recently, she has been selected as a finalist for the Royal Society of British Artist’s 2023 Rome Scholarship. Aniela’s paintings blend the contemporary with the classical in a hyper-realist style, offering both quiet glimpses into intimate moments and gesturing towards wider societal, political and environmental issues. Her paintings, therefore, not only provide social critique but draw on the concept of traditional formality that mythologises the mundane. Painting primarily in acrylic, she hopes her paintings are not just aesthetic objects but rather invitations to consider the impact of our actions.

She has recently had solo shows at LUPO Gallery in Milan and Black White Gallery in London. Her work will be show at the Westbund Art Fair in Shanghai in November 2024. (Most of the paintings are already sold out! Let me know if you are interested and I can connect you with the gallery.) Aniela Preston will graduate from the Royal College of Art in 2025.

First of all, congratulations on joining the expensive taste club. We are a fun bunch! If you spend enough time around great art, you’ll soon notice that it can be difficult to set limits on how much you are willing to spend on a piece you love. But there is a budget. There is always a budget. If you have found an artist you love but just can’t afford one of their signature pieces, there are some workarounds…

1. Consider purchasing a smaller work, a work on paper, a study, or a print (if the artist produces prints). Here is a gorgeous little ink drawing by Dora Maar up for auction next week and the starting bid is only $500…
2. Watch charity auctions on Artsy. Many emerging artists will donate works to charity auctions to support causes about which they are passionate and to help gain exposure to art-loving audiences. There are often good deals to be had.
3. Identify what it is about that artist that resonates with you and look for artists working along similar lines. Is it the theme? The colors? The artist’s story? This is a big part of what I do so feel free to ask for help.
4. And I know you don’t want to hear this…but you could always save toward it. It’s good to set goals!

Here is 1 charity along with 4 artists who’s work sells for more than $10k (and in 1 case WAY more…) but their smaller works under $5k are just as wonderful, or might be even better, but definitely have something to offer…

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit Benefit Auction

The auction is live now on Artsy and lots will start to close on October 28 at 12:00pm EDT. Here are some favorites:

Lot 4

Lot 11

Lot 28

Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, NJ)

Yes, you read that right. THE Hank Willis Thomas of The Embrace in Boston Commons. His work, like his quilts and large sculptures, sells solidly in the 6 figures and he has blue chip representation but he has a print practice that makes his work really attainable. I typically am not drawn to overly political art, its just not my thing, but Hank’s elegant touch always gets me and I am so enthralled by his new series of monoprints (or as the studio is calling them, unique variations) that remind us all how important it is to protect our democracy. I like how the works can be read in a variety of ways and from multiple viewpoints, depending where on the spectrum the viewer falls politically. In the end, Hank reminds us that we all share a common goal and that is to protect our freedom. These are listed at $10,000 each, which falls slightly outside the scope of this newsletter, but they are too good not to share considering his work is often well into the hundreds of thousands. Here are 2 of the unique variations.

Gudmundur Thoroddsen (b. 1980, Reykjavik, Iceland)

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Gudmundur Thoroddsen’s show at Asya Geisberg in September. It was one of those shows that I saw first from the sidewalk and it beckoned me in to the gallery before I even realized what gallery I was entering. Once I realized I was in Asya Geisberg, I was not surprised as I always love her program. But I digress. This show was a knock out and these works whether small or large have such visual impact on a space. The paintings, while abstract, give the viewer a true sense of the Icelandic landscape in all its oxymoronic glory. The jagged edges of cliffs meet the soft moss covered rocks. The volcanic lava flows butt against icy glaciers. The island itself was formed from nothing into something but the beauty of the country stems from the fact that it is so untouched. You literally get the feeling that no one has ever been there before. I felt all of this standing in front of these paintings. The show closes in a couple of days but here are a few favorites under $5k.

Harminder Judge (b. 1982, Rotherham, UK)

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and sharing a meal with Harminder a few months ago in Cleveland. It was refreshing to hear him rave about our fair city, so I automatically liked him, but also hearing him talk about art was transcendent, much like his artistic practice, which is grounded in an extended exploration of pigmented plaster as an artistic medium. “His alchemical process involves layering pigments into pools of wet plaster. The plaster sets – freezing a record of its creation in time, and the surface is then worked, polished and slowly worn away to reveal layers of colour, texture and movement beneath. Culminating in expansive modular panels and ineffable shapes which seem to hover off the wall, colour, forms, and compositions are allowed to reveal themselves and intensify over time. The results are sensual and seductive, with surfaces appearing sleek and shimmering. They have an illusory quality, seeming to hover in front of the wall, suggesting depth, evoking the idea of a portal or doorway and inviting the viewer to stay with them in contemplation.” -from the artist’s CV and bio

Prices range from GBP 30,000+ for his most ambitious multi-panel works down to around GBP 4500 for the smaller panels and he is represented by London Gallery The Sunday Painter.

Saba Farhoudnia (b. 1987, Tehran, Iran)

Saba was born in the midst of war. Her paintings are monumental in scale and explore the challenges facing the human condition. Saba merges the art of drawing, painting, language, and verse, through brushstrokes, geometric forms, calligraphy, and gestural marks to evoke drama, pain, humor, and beauty. The forms are intended to plumb the depths of the grotesque and elevate the humor in beauty. Her work explores humanity poised on a precipice: facing an insecure present and an uncertain future. She is represented by Fou Gallery in New York.

So there you have it and this is just scratching the surface. It was hard to narrow it to just 4 artists to feature but stay tuned for more posts like this. And if you see something you like, let me know and I can share more details.

Ever wonder why you walk into an exhibition and every single work already has a red dot? In the world of art, galleries like to make their best patrons feel very important. One way they do this is by offering exclusive access to new work by their artists before the rest of the lowly art-buyer-wannabes get to see it. Life ain’t fair, folks. If you patronize and support a gallery, they will love you back. This is one reason why having an art advisor behooves the novice buyer. An art advisor is basically a union rep for their whole clientele giving each client the collective buying power of the whole. That is certainly the case for my clients for a variety of reasons.

First of all, none of my clients are spending millions or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on art, nor do they have important last names (no offense y’all). And secondly, being new collectors, they have not necessarily found a gallery that they would want to patronize so heavily that they would gain exclusive access to previews. But when I combine the collective buying power of 10 to 15 clients, all of a sudden I gain access to everything they want on their behalf. See how that works?

The problem for me is that I have access to all of this incredible work that I would love to place, but with only 10-15 clients, not everything is for every taste. Honestly, this is the main reason I started this Substack. I am betting that there are TONS of would-be-art-buyers out there that do not even know this art exists, but if they did, they would love it, and they would buy it!

One such example is…

Heath Wae (b. 1989, Melbourne, AU)

Yall, I love Heath Wae. And I really, really love his new body of work that is opening in a cool new show at London gallery The Dot Project on October 23. The Dot Project is dedicated to emerging artists and the next generation of collectors. Their mission and my mission are essentially identical so I love them.

Using text in art is really hard, like really, really hard. It can so easily get cheesy or cheap-looking. Sometimes, when done poorly, it just feels like the easy way out for an artist to get their message across to the viewer. But Heath Wae uses text to great effect, eliciting a particular feeling in the viewer but not necessarily answering any questions or making the work’s meaning more accessible. With his words and phrases, he sets up a framework within which the viewer can meaner and explore. More labyrinth and less road map.

I would really love to see this whole body of work (except the one that is already sold, of course) stay together and hung down a hallway or in a cluster…Somebody do it please!

What do you think? Do these totally transport you to a different time and place? Let me know where your mind goes!

Exhibition promotional emails for 131 A Gallery’s current exhibition of Jess Bosworth Smith have hit my inbox a couple of times now and I like the work every time. Here is a favorite that happens to still be available.

Advertised price is R 38,000 or about $2100-2200.

I love 131 A Gallery’s program in Capetown, South Africa. They place emerging artists next to established artists and have a keen eye for high-quality work.

Have a great day!

(Banner image: Jess Bosworth Smith, I’ve Got Better People To Leave on Read (detail), 2024, gouache on board, 118 x 87.5 cm)

Yes, many of the great American artists live and work in New York City and Los Angeles. FACT. But, if you live in the middle of the country, aka not in one of the aforementioned coastal cities, you know that there are so many wonderful artists living and working across our great nation.

HOT TIP: NYC and LA costs of living are exorbitant so artists outside of these huge markets enjoy much lower COL, and thus their art is much less expensive, but often just as high-quality as what is coming out of the emerging market in NYC and LA. That was a run-on sentence but I don’t care. I digress.

So, let us turn our attention to CLEVELAND. Say it in an Oprah voice, “CLEEEVELAAAANNNDDD!!!”

Honestly, Cleveland is a really dang cool city. Unlike the radically dad-sounding previous sentence, Cleveland is dope and has lots of great, world-class, might I add, cultural institutions, including but not limited to the Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, SPACES, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, etc… While our big arts and culture organizations are fabulous, we have but just a handful of galleries in our small but mighty arts ecosystem. So many of the artists who live and work here have to seek representation outside the city or are independent.

But, we’ve got a guy. There’s always a guy, right? He has been in the art biz since he could crawl and knows everyone, like everyone, in the art world. And he has a phenomenal gallery that marries the best of our local talent with all-stars of the century like Alex Katz and Frank Stella. His name is Brett Shaheen. His gallery is Shaheen Gallery. And a few of the amazing local artists to whom he has introduced me and I am now sharing with you are:

Rose Haserodt

TR Ericsson

Neil MacDonald

Do you live in a city filled with amazing local artists? Let me know where you live and maybe I will feature your city next!

As always, thank for being here!