The idea of collecting art is different to many people. Some people collect art for aesthetic purposes. Others collect art strictly for investment purposes. Alberto Mugrabi is a prime example of an art collector solely looking for a high return on his investments, or art. To him, art for aesthetic reasons and art as an investment seem like interchangeable phrases. The Mugrabis do not own a gallery or represent artists. According to the 2009 New York Times article linked below, the Mugrabis are private dealers who sell works in about 100 art auctions annually, or about one auction every three days. Alberto Mugrabi states, “We’re market makers. You can’t have an impact buying one or two pictures per artist. We’re not buying art like Ron Lauder – just to put it on a wall. We want inventory.” When he describes art like this, he is describing it in the way a hedge fund manager invests in commodities. A hedge fund manager will have a large holding in say, copper, to manipulate the price to appreciate.
Art has been a hot commodity on Wall-Street. The Bloomberg terminal, which Wall Street tycoons use for stock picking and economic analysis, actually has an art function where you could look up information on exhibits and artists. Finance majors use the Bloomberg Terminal in Siena College’s trading room to conduct analyses on various companies, commodities, economies, etc. The image below shows a snapshot of the computer image from the Bloomberg Terminal, showing recent information on the economic impact of art. Some people believe that the concept of art as an investment has gone too far. Others see it as an investment opportunity.
NY Times, Is Anybody Buying Art These Days?
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