Fine Art, The Classiest Investment Class
It’s a fact that Fine Art as an investment class has outperformed the S&P 500 every year for the last 10 years. In fact, 64% of private banks say that estate planning around art is a strategic focus for them. People invest in Oil & Gas and lots of other things, so why not art? It’s sexier!
According to the 2014 Deloitte Art & Finance Report, 75% of art collectors and buyers are purchasing art for collecting purposes with a view to investment — a large jump from 53% in 2012.
I’m working on an unusual art project with an amazing guy who more than 30 years ago put together two of the most influential icons in the fields of sport and art.
Frans Wynans is an international renowned art dealer currently living in Vancouver. When he was living in NYC he had a moment of brilliance when he put together two connections for a once in a lifetime commissioned art deal — Wayne Gretzky & Andy Warhol. Thirty-three years later, the story of these two unlikely icons is amazing.
Frans Wynans pictured with two Warhol Gretzsky’s
Warhol had gained worldwide recognition with his iconic images of Campbell Soup cans, images of Elizabeth Taylor and sports celebrities. Frans commissioned a portrait session with Wayne Gretzky at Warhol’s NYC art studio.
Gretzky, coming to the studio from Long Island, kept Wynans and Warhol waiting for three hours because of traffic congestion. When he arrived, the Great One, sporting his №99 Edmonton Oilers sweater and a fine ’80s mullet, failed to bring his hockey stick with him. Warhol said he couldn’t paint him without his stick. Looking out of Warhol’s studio, Frans saw a sporting goods store across the street and ran to it.
Frans asked the store if he could ‘borrow’ a hockey stick for the portrait session with Gretzky. The store manager laughed and didn’t believe the art dealer. Frans got on the phone to Warhol and within a minute Gretzky strolled into the store. Pictures and autographs ensued. Needless to say Frans was able to borrow a stick. The rest is history, six paintings were created which now sell in the $1MM range (originally sold for $35k) with Warhol’s 300 original prints of the paintings selling easily for $35,000 in todays market (original price $1500). One can easily say that this art investment was a good deal.
The Only Asset Class You Can Show Off in Your Living Room
When you consider art collection as an investment, it’s like any other asset class. When it performs well, more investors want a piece of the action. It doesn’t matter if it’s a stock, a piece of real estate or a work of art. The Deloitte report on art investment triggered great excitement, but in reality only a handful of artists and artistic periods will generate those big returns. Wynans has those artists under commission!
Wynans has lined up several world-renowned artists including Sir Peter Blake, David Hockney, Banksy, Gerhard Richter and Jeff Koons for an investment opportunity. He is offering a Limited Partnership offering memorandum investment opportunity. Original limited edition prints from these artists regularly sell for between $5–15,000 each. In fact, a Richter painting owned by musician Eric Clapton sold at auction in 2012 for a record-breaking $32MM and a Hockney painting selling for $64MM. With an investment, each participant in the offering gets original artwork equal to his or her investment. Imagine the potential!
This is not the first time Wynans has run this type of investment opportunity. Previous publishing projects include the creation of limited edition original prints by Canadian artist Jack Shadbolt, American Artists Roy Deforest, Frederick J. Brown, Leon Golub, Philip Pearlstein, Malcolm Morley and Donald Sultan, and British artists Sir Peter Blake and Michael Sandle.
The original fine art prints are considered ‘originals’ because as they are produced by silkscreen or engraved, each print is slightly different making each art piece unique and therefore more valuable.
ArtContent Publishing Limited Partnership is proposing to offer an investment in the partnership to a select group of investors. The Partnership is a fine art publisher that seeks capital appreciation by commissioning renowned international artists to produce unique works of art and original limited edition prints that the Partnership will sell to the global art market. The management of the Partnership believes that fine art is an attractive alternative asset class with a low correlation to other financial markets, providing diversification to the Investors‘ portfolios.
The offering is based on a maximum subscription amount of $10,000,000. The Unit price is $10,000. The minimum subscription is $10,000. The minimum before which a closing may occur is $1,000,000.
The investment of $10,000 will provide the investor with tax deductibility, artwork equal to the value of the investment and a 50/50 split of the sale of the balance of the artwork. Not a bad deal in any market scenario.
Deloitte’s 2016 Art and Finance Report says we can remain bullish on art as an investment. Wealth managers can be assured that high-end artists’ work like those of Hockney and Blake are less affected by macroeconomic fluctuations. According to Artsy, the global resource for art collecting and education, 51% of wealth managers see art as holding value rather than being a yield-oriented investment.
As an art collector myself, I agree with Artsy that the vast majority of collectors (72%) say their purchases are passion-led and investment-informed, while only 6.00% said they’re buying art purely as an investment. I don’t know about you but there is a distinct feeling on my part that I would prefer to see a world-renowned artist original print on my wall rather than a small pile of cash on an end table — Art is Sexier!
LEGAL DISCLAIMERS: CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS — AN INVESTMENT IN THE SECURITIES OFFERED IS SPECULATIVE. A POTENTIAL INVESTOR SHOULD PURCHASE SUCH SECURITIES ONLY IF THE INVESTOR IS ABLE TO BEAR THE LOSS OF THE PURCHASER’S ENTIRE INVESTMENT.
DISCLOSURE: Gary Bizzo is the VP, Investor Relations for this company
To join us for a presentation in Vancouver on investment in Contemporary Art please drop me an email
Originally published at www.equities.com.
