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How do you get into art investing?
So you know, I used to get these big bonuses the the wine and spirits business is a bonus based business, and I would get these big bonuses, and I would, you know, buy a watch, by a purse, buy all of toys, the things, the things I like things. And I remember hearing the record, I think it was a j record and he talked about art and I was like, I have not bought that yet, you know it like it pricked my conscience. And the first real piece that I invested in was a piece of art from South
Africa from an artist named Nelson Macomo. It was incredible artists. And the reason why I say invested in is because it was literally half my bonus and I and it was hard for people to understand. They were like, you're gonna spend what you're gonna what where are you talking? That's a lot of money, just because we haven't really been taught the value. It was like twenty five thousand.
Dollars and who educated you to know that that was something that you should buy?
Well? And with that purchase, I just loved it.
Just looked at it and just like I loved it.
And I researched the artists and I mean it fell in line with just kind of me falling in love with South Africa too, you know, and I loved it. So I think the first thing that I always like to tell people is even though I invest in art, I only invest in what I love. Like, if I don't love it, I'm not really going to spend my
money on it. And so I've been really fortunate to get to know a lot of artists directly, buy from artists directly, so you circumvent the whole gallery and all that kind of and you're supporting the artists, like the artist is getting one hundred percent.
How much is that worth now?
I don't know.
That's interesting, right, I see it.
I love it.
Definitely worth more than what I bought it.
I'm assuming that maybe it was Picasto Babies a Jay song that might have sparked it. But does that now spark your love for art or did it just transit into to South African art?
Right?
Did you start studying art, American artists, artists throughout the world and now this becomes a passion for you based on that one purchase.
Yeah?
You know what I realized art for me was I just got lost in it. Like I realized I was like, I love this, like I had just like this genuine passion for it. I didn't grow up going to museums. I didn't grow up going to art exhibits. I didn't grow up in a house where there was art. And so I think for me, I was like, oh, wait, we belong here too. You know that it was really that that fueled me. I was like, wait, this is this is a space that we belong in as well,
and there's such an incredible art community. So I also was enjoying like getting to meet people, you know, and those people are like involved.
In in some cool stuff, you know.
So I think it was that definitely, you know, African art, art, Black artists in general, you know, was something that I was like, Okay, I love this.
These stories are incredible.
And then it became like, yeah, like you know, I remember buying a piece.
You asked about the value.
I bought a piece for like twelve thousand dollars, and I remember seeing an auction for the artists and her piece so for ninety thousand dollars, and like, I have one of her bigger pieces, earlier works that I bought for twelve thousand dollars that's clearly gone up in value. So I then also started just to understand like, oh, okay, this is how that works. And then I think when you study really wealthy people, really wealthy people have a
few things in common. They have real estate, a lot of them have a lot of investment in wine, and they invest in art. And I was like, okay, this all kind of makes sense for me. You know, this is the space that I play in.
Any way, So how many pieces do you have? Roughly?
Oh? Now, I probably have.
Over forty or fifty pieces of art and everything, not just you know, I have sculptures, I have vases, I have.
I mean you so, wait, where do you keep it all?
It's everywhere. I mean, it's in my bathrooms, it's on the floors.
But it ever get to a point because it's like, all right, you could invest in a variety of things, that art is some way where has to be kept, right, So after a while, it's like you can't really fully appreciate it. I don't think because you can't put it on your wall. You can't put fifty pieces of art on one wall, right, So it's like you could put it in your office, you can put it in different places.
But when you really start to get a lot of art, I'm always curious to know, like what are people doing with all of the art that they are?
They just hoarding it in the basement.
Takes Yeah, I mean listen, people, do you have you know, art storages that are specific for art, just like they have wine storages. For me, I'm working to sell a lot of wine so I could buy a nice, big house so I can have all my art up in it, you know.
I mean, now it's.
Because the art, the art storage that kind of I don't understand that. I used to go I used to go to art school when I was young. But I don't understand art storage because the point of artists to be appreciated, and if you're just storing it, I feel like it's actually disrespectful to the art form, right because now you've taken the beauty out of it, and now it's just become like a file cabinet.
And all things a double entendre. You use the word appreciate it while it's story, it is appreciatingiating.
But I get what you're saying.
Your art from an artist's standpoint, I understand the business, yeah, but art should always come first.
The business should come second.
Well, some people create galleries, right, they create their own galleries.
Which I mean, I know people who have bought the house is next to their house, and the house next to the house.
It's art the gallery.
It's just amazing. Right. So I'm with you like part.
And when you ask me like the buying, you know my rationale around buying only buy what I love because, like you, I want it up. I want to see it, I want to appreciate it. I also want to share it with people. So like when friends come over, they'll be like, your house is like a museum, and I.
Mean you feel so good, you know what I mean.
Like, I'm like, yeah, So everybody does it for a different reason. But what I could tell you is again, one thing I learned is that people that understand wealth they into art.
They interwine and they into really well.
One thing I learned about art is that if you put it in your office, is a tax right on.
It is a tax right off.
Yeah.
So I was saying, one of the places that we definitely know that your art is going to show up is the Smithsonian.
Yes, we'll talk about that.
I mean that's something that people will be able to frequent and you go down in history forever.
Right, Yeah, that's exciting. So myself and ten collectors got together. We've now acquired three pieces together and it's our way of you know, collective economics, and we purchase a piece, a Beisa Butler piece that we then donated to the Smithsonian Museum in DC. And so my name will forever be on the museum walls at the Smithsonian as a donor of the piece, and not even that little thing, right, Like we talk about like having the art in your
home and wanting to see it. I remember thinking like wow, donating to a museum. But that's really also a big part of you know, the art world, art collecting and also increasing the value of your collection. So my collection inadvertently increases in value because I own a piece in a museum. And people who are in the art world they know all these little nuances.
Do you see Because we talk about it in real estate, right, a lot of times, if people can't afford the property, let's have a collective. Maybe it's five people and we make the down payment. All right, we go into do.
You see that?
And is that something that happens in the art or often especially amongst our community.
You know, I don't want to misspeak.
You know, the collective that I'm a part of, that was the first instance that I had ever heard of it.
I'm sure people are doing it, I just don't know. You know.
The two pieces we bought, they were both one hundred and fifty thousand dollars each. They go together. It's Adam and Eve by Harmonia Rosales. So the total price of the work was three hundred thousand dollars. And when we all thought about it. We were like, I can't do that, but I could do this, and so ten of us got together and purchased it. Those two pieces have been on display at different museums. It's actually at the Spellman Museum right now, and so we're allowing the work to
just tour so people get to experience it. And once we did that one, we were like, all right, let's keep doing this. This is amazing. So I don't want to say that it does happen, but I don't want to say that it doesn't happen.
I just wasn't aware of it.
I know that when we had the opportunity to do it together, I said, come on, y'all, let's do this. Because it was thirty thousand dollars. But at the end of the day, I'm part owner of three hundred thousand dollars worth of art and that's just that one buy.
So what did like some best practices people that want to get in art, like, is it like always go through an art dealer, have insurance like you know, like when you buy a watch, right, like you can. It's best practices to go through authorized dealer as opposed to just a jeweler. Right, It's best practices to have insurance on the watch right, What are some of the best practices for art buying.
Yeah, I mean again, I've been really fortunate. I've been able to buy a lot of art directly through art through artists. And the reason why I say fortunate is because one, you get to know who you're buying the work from. I mean, this work is in your home. It's energy, right, A lot of these pieces have stories, these artists maybe going through different things while they're actually creating the work.
And so.
You know, I'm an advocate for people that want to get to know the artists if you can.
It's worked for me.
Secondarily, you know, I've gotten to know some galleries that I respect that I think are doing good by artists. So you know it doesn't hurt to have some galleries and your rep bet why, only by what you can afford. And so I would say that that's my biggest advice to people. You know, I've never financed any art, although you can. You know, there are financing programs for art, but I just like to think for good financial hygiene, buy what you can afford.
That's worked for me.
You absolutely have to ensure your art and you have to make sure that it's a reputable insurance that specializes in art insurance. You need to think about where the art is going to be in your home. A lot of light is not friends. It's not art's friends like light light. Yeah, so it ruins. It can, yeah it can.
So you know, making sure that the art is in a position in your home that it isn't getting damaged, making sure that you're framing with a reputable framer that's going to talk to you about UV glass versus museum glassman. This is all the stuff that goes into thinking about preserving your art. And then you know, I've not been someone who's gotten into the business of selling my art. I know people that are in that business of selling. I can't say that I would never do it for me.
It's legacy building. So this is what I'm going to leave behind for my son, my goddaughters, my grandchild, you know what I mean. Like this is really legacy building for me and wealth building for them. So I think it's just making sure you get educated, like you do in anything that you're going to be investing your money. And the last thing I'll say is the ten people that I invested in art. I respect all those people I expect, respect their portfolios, right, what they've done with
their money. I would have never just gotten with ten people and bought some art that I didn't know I felt were a good fit in what I was trying to do, because that's a relationship. You're getting into a business relationship with them. But I think the biggest thing is by what you can afford and do all the due diligence, the insurance and all that kind of thing to make sure you're protecting your asset.
When it's touring.
Museums are paying to have it on display.
How does that work?
Yeah, so sometimes you will get paid by museums to have the work. Sometimes it's that you're donating it because you want the connection. You want to lean into the equity of the of I think the institution, right, A lot of these institutions have incredible equity. Smithsonian, for example. I mean for me to say that I've been collecting for five six years and I already have my name in the most Smithsonian Museum is like a big deal.
So you know it's it's a mix.
But yeah, there are times where institutions will pay you to actually have your art and their exhibits.
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