Go for the best of the best art, advice and satisfaction at the Auckland Art Fair – NZ's premier art event for collectors and the merely curious

The best place to find and buy art is a professional gallery. Galleries not only have the best selection of work they also play a critical role in the development of an artist’s career and their reputations hang on the quality of their selections.

You’ll find 40 of Australia and New Zealand’s leading galleries exhibiting a range of their 200 best artists and 600 of their best works at the Auckland Art Fair from August 4-7 2011 at the new Viaduct Events Centre.

“Art is being promoted by such a multitude of means now. You can buy art from auction houses, school fundraisers, virtual galleries, online, Trademe etc. It must be completely bewildering to anyone interested in starting a collection. Where do you begin? How do you know what’s good? The answer is simple: go to a professional gallery.” That’s the advice from Auckland Art Fair Director, Jennifer Buckley, one of the founders of the biennial fair, which brings together the top galleries from both sides of the Tasman to showcase leading artists and their works in a spectacular Big Day Out for Art Lovers.

“We want people to see there is a community of approachable, knowledgeable gallery owners who welcome questions and most importantly have a personal relationship with the artists they represent, an intimate knowledge of the whole body of their work and can therefore be genuinely helpful in finding an artwork that fits the buyer.”

Galleries form the primary art market where an artist’s work is first sold, but they do more than just sell work. They represent artists throughout their careers, not just during the profitable times, and provide both financial and emotional support in what often grows into life-long friendships.

“A gallery is not a drop off shop for art. If you represent an artist it is all encompassing. You, as the dealer, can help take the artist’s career to another level so your relationship becomes very close indeed. We work together in planning a show, identifying the best way to present the art, sell it and promote it to collections and collectors. This doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a process in placing works,” says Jenny Todd of Two Rooms in Central Auckland who also ran the Todd Gallery in London.

Emma Fox, director of Fox Jensen Gallery in Auckland’s Newmarket sees the role of a dealer who uncovers an artist as one of a mentor.

“It’s a huge responsibility. There has to be a mutual respect, a work ethic and unbridled enthusiasm to help the artist achieve,” she says. “That requires talent and acumen to ensure that you get the pitch just right. You can’t push too hard or too fast or it could bring ruination like the warehouse full of unsold Damien Hirst work when the ploy to make him very available backfired at Christies.”

Melissa Loughnan, the hip, young owner of Utopian Slumps in Melbourne, whose opening parties are legendary, only recently turned her non-profit enterprise into a commercial gallery, likes selling art and working closely in helping develop artists’ careers.

“I now have eleven artists under my wing who are doing well, kicking goals, winning prizes and residencies, getting grants or being bought for collections, but I’m still committed to curated group exhibitions and projects,” says Melissa, who continues to give back to the Melbourne art community through her charity - USSR (Utopian Slumps Second Round) it will present public art, offsite and published projects with no commercial outcome.

Melissa, bubbly and unpretentious, follows her gut instinct when she selects artists – and art works.

“I want to be inspired, moved or provoked in some way,” she says. “Work doesn’t have to look like anything recognisable so long as it is memorable. I look for originality and a new experience.”

Mark Hutchins Gallery in upper Willis Street, Wellington, represents some of New Zealand’s most distinguished contemporary artists from abstract and modernist painting to sculpture in a wide variety of materials, digital photography and moving image.

“Because my name is above the door the work I show has to engage me and move me,” says Mark Hutchins.

Martin Browne, from the eponymously named Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney, joins other dealers in advising new collectors to buy work that appeals to them rather than just what they have heard is an ‘investment’ but to also do some homework.

“You wouldn’t buy shares or invest in something you hadn’t researched or sought professional advice about. But often with purchases of more expensive art, common sense flies out the window and purchasers seem genuinely surprised when the painting they bought for thousands of dollars does not have any resale value and the auction houses are not interested. The reality is that in both New Zealand and Australia there are perhaps only a couple of hundred artists out of hundreds of thousands of self-described artists who will make art that appreciates in value.”

Galleries from around New Zealand and Australia view the Auckland Art Fair as a premium event and opportunity to meet clients and demonstrate how their professional knowledge and relationships, especially with the artists they represent, provide genuine benefits and value.

Participation is by invitation with a selection of local, national and international galleries asked by the fair organisers to make submissions. These are reviewed by a panel of arts professionals including members of the Art Fair board, leading gallerists and curators from major institutions across New Zealand. Exhibitor submissions are assessed against a variety of criteria. As there are more exhibitor submissions than there is space to accommodate them, inevitably some galleries are disappointed.

“Our aim is to create a high quality boutique fair,” says Jennifer. “So bigger isn’t necessarily better. The Art Fair is a magnet to pull people into the art world and give them the excitement and confidence to visit galleries and exhibitions and even start their own collections,” she says. “The Auckland Art Fair is helping build a real fraternity between artists, gallerists, collectors and the curious.”


The advantages of buying from a gallery
-You can look at a work for as long as you like without the price going up in front of your eyes while you’re looking
-You can view an individual work and the other works that form the collection or series in context - like hearing the whole song not just the chorus
-You have expert advice and answers to your questions on call and help in uncovering what you like, are looking for and wanting to get from an artwork
- You can find out the back story of an artwork and get to know the artist
- You can build a relationship with the gallery who will be on the look out for what might appeal to you
-You can have confidence in your choice because the gallery stakes its reputation on the quality of its own selections
-You are supporting the artist, not lining the pocket of an anonymous vendor on-selling the work for a profit
-You are not competing against other bidders and the price doesn’t change just because someone else likes it too
-If you can’t afford it in one go, you can usually arrange to pay it off over a couple of months.

The advantages of buying from an art fair
-Art fairs are excellent ways to see the work of up and coming artists alongside some more established names
-You can enjoy looking and learning with no pressure to buy at a fair
-There is expertise on hand from the galleries representing the artists
-You can often meet the artist in person
-You can often take the work away then and there - instant gratification!
-There are public forums and lectures to get to know more about how it all works
- The place is teeming with people to talk to, from seasoned collectors, critics, gallerists, artists and newcomers
-You can make the connections and build relationships.

For more information check out: www.artfair.co.nz
For tickets to Auckland Art Fair: www.iticket.co.nz