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(Joe Adams is Director of America. Oh. Yes! He is a writer, curator and owner of two folk art galleries and a longtime art collector and publisher of a newsletter. Folk Art Collecting, which focuses on emerging artists in the U.S.) Q.How do you start a folk art collection? A.Buy a painting. It's that simple. Most people learn about folk art as they collect. But if you're the kind that wants to educate yourself first. you should go see a lot of folk art --- in museums. in galleries, at events such as Folkfest. You can buy folk art books and catalogs. There are a couple of fine magazines and newsletters devoted to the folk art field. There are also festivals such as Kentuck in Alabama where you can meet many of the artists face-to-face. If you meet other people who collect folk art. they are always glad to show you their collection and tell you about the artists. But, my main advice to buy something and you're on your way. Q.How do I know I'm buying a good painting? A.If you like it, it's good. I wouldn't worry a lot about the quality of a piece of art unless your first purchase is something that costs thousands of dollars. Generally people start out collecting folk art by purchasing paintings or carvings that they like a lot. Except for master works by the country's leading Outsider Artists, most folk art is relatively inexpensive. You can find wonderful work even by famous artists like Mose Tolliver for under $500. For example. There are scores of emerging folk artists who are selling their work for $100 to $500. Q.But, is it a good investment to purchase the work of unknown artists? A.You need to remember that all artists were unknown at some time. Ten years ago, you could have purchased the paintings of Sam Doyle for $75-100. They now cost $10,000 and up! My personal advice --- whether it's fine art or folk art --- is not to purchase paintings for investment reasons. But even if you're concerned about the investment angle, it's fairly difficult to make a bad purchase in the folk art field. Unless of course you buy a counterfeit piece. Q: Are people counterfeiting the work? A.Absolutely. I don't think it's a widespread problem. Yet. But as the value of folk art soars, there are unscrupulous people who are going to try to copy the work of famous artists and pawn it off on unsuspecting people. Q: But how do I avoid buying a counterfeit piece of art? A.I wouldn't worry about counterfeit art unless I was buying artwork that's $5,000 or more. Nevertheless, the best way to avoid disappointment is to purchase art from respected dealers, from longtime collectors or from the artists themselves. Q: How do people decide what kind of folk art to collect? A.Many collectors try to find art that relate to things they already love. Some collect paintings and carvings of animals. Some collect the work of artists from one particular state. I have a client who buys women in bathing suits! Another collects Statues of Liberty. Many people collect only the work of African-American artists. Some collect religious art. A lot of collectors start out with a special emphasis or theme, but as they continue collecting they generally become very open to any type of highly creative self-taught artists. I have collections within my overall collection for example but I usually collect Southern artists. Q: What's the difference between contemporary folk art. Outsider Art and visionary art? The terms confuse me. A.It's essentially the same. Basically it's the art of self-taught people. Collectors and curators just haven't been able to agree on a single name. Some people feel that the term 'Outsider Art" has negative con notational that it's not an inclusive term. I'm sure people will be arguing for years over terminology. I think Contemporary Folk Art is a good term. It distinguishes the art from traditional forms of folk art from the 18th and 19th centuries when folk art was more utilitarian than art. Q.Why have collectors become so interested in folk art? A.As you may know. folk art has become one of the leading forms of contemporary art in the U.S. and has long been collected in other countries. There have always been people who collected eccentric art and artifacts. so folk art isn't a new form to them. But it became more popular when regional and national museums began exhibiting this type of art and adding it to their own permanent collections. Folk art began to gain a wider audience in the late 1980's. A time when many people felt that contemporary art had become spiritless and rather dull, to say nothing of being overpriced and over-hyped. Contemporary folk art emerged because it is filled with passion! It communicates. It speaks to people. It's storytelling with paints. A friend of mine says. "You have to look at it with an open heart, not just an open mind.' It's not cerebral. You don't need someone to analyze it for you; to criticize and intellectualize. With folk art you're either going to love it or hate it. But you're never going to forget it. Q: Maybe it's just a fad and it too will pass. A.Perhaps. but it's highly doubtful. It's grown from its own strength and from the belief that longtime collectors have in it. There's been no one out in the marketplace hyping this art. Collectors found it; some museums found it. You can be sure there has been great resistance to it from some curators, art historians. museums. art dealers, critics and art instructors. Even today. There are some state arts organizations that do not consider the work of self-taught people as a legitimate art form. But you shouldn't worry that it might be a fad. Our first national museum of self-taught art opened last year in Baltimore (The American Visionary Art Museum). It's an incredible museum destined to become one of the major museums in the world. The Smithsonian has a large and growing collection. Membership in the American Museum of Folk Art and the Folk Art Society of America has never been higher. Major auction houses are including folk art in their Americana auctions. It's on record album covers. It's here to stay. Q.What kind of people collect folk art? A.It would be impossible to put together a definitive profile of a typical collector. Most are well-educated. All are self-assured; they don't care what their neighbors or friends think about their taste in art. Many are young because folk art is still very affordable. Most collectors I know are passionate about folk art and about life. They enjoy their art. Collecting folk art seems to be somewhat addictive. I have friends who literally have warehouses filled with folk art. Q: How many pieces do you have? A.More than my wife wants me to have. I keep swearing I'm not going to buy anymore but I'm like human flypaper or walking velcro. I walk by folk art and it sticks to me! Q.What makes the prices of a certain artist's work go up in value more than others? A.Some folk artists are very prolific, so while they are alive and producing work, prices sometimes stabilize. Some folk artists only created a small body of work before they died, so supply and demand take control and prices rise. Their notoriety is another factor. If an artist's work has appeared in major exhibits and been featured in folk art books. it tends to go up in value. And, I would add. a lot of it has to do with whether the artist is dead or alive. Generally speaking. The early work of a folk artists becomes the most treasured. That's one reason that serious collectors are always out looking for the work of new and emerging artists. One man I know calls it 'bottom fishing'. He wants to get the work while the prices are low. Q.I'm worried because this is not exactly the kind of art that goes with my couch. A.Then maybe you need to get rid of the couch! Sell the couch. Then you can buy five nice pieces of folk art. You can always sit in the kitchen. Q: How much would it cost to put together a great folk art collection? A.Well, people don't generally put it together overnight. Usually the art is acquired over a number of years and it becomes "great" because many of the artists become better and better known. But if you wanted to put together a good collection including known 'masters" and a group of up-and-coming folk artists, you could probably acquire a fine collection of lee pieces for $50-60,000. Considering the fact that people pay far more than that for a single painting of relatively unknown fine artists. you can see why folk art has attracted such a broad spectrum of collectors. Q: A friend told me I would be better off dealing with large folk art galleries in urban areas. Do you agree? A.Well. in spite of the fact that we have a gallery in Washington, D.C., I don't think it makes any difference where you find your art as long as you get it from a reputable source. I think there's an elitist kind of movement underway by a handful of urban galleries to make people think they would be better off dealing with them. But it makes me laugh. Because most of the art they sell comes from "pickers" and smaller galleries. When I go to the Sanford Smith Outsider Art Exhibition in New York, the vast majority of the art there comes from smaller galleries all over the country. I think people should be more concerned with the dealer's passion and commitment to the art than where they are located. I buy most of the art for my own collection from other dealers or at auction. There are more than lee galleries in the country now and an equal or greater number of private dealers. A number of museums are even selling the work. Q: Should I ask dealers for a "better price'? A.We're always interested in giving you a better price. If the artwork is priced at $150. we will gladly sell it to you for $200! Now that's better. I don't mean to be flip but we're not selling used cars. People should be ashamed to ask for deals on art. For God's sake. If your doctor gives you a discount, I'm more than willing to give you one. But the truth is, most dealers make very little money in this field; most of the artists make very little money. If we get in the habit of always trying to find 'a deal", then it simply causes dealers to overprice the art so they can offer a potential customer a "discount". A lot of dealers I know are more than willing to give attractive prices to collectors who buy from them on a regular basis. I've given art to collectors who have a passion about this kind of art simply because I want them to have the art of a certain person. Q.What do you like most about folk art? A.It's spiritual. It's honest. It has the same kind of innocence that you see in children's art, for example. I'm not a scholar and my personal view is probably over simplistic, but I think that art is art. It's a visual experience and folk art speaks loudly and clearly. it makes us feel; it makes us laugh. It's more about the Creative Spirit that dwells in each of us than it is about art. Having folk art around reminds us to listen to our hearts . . . to follow our hearts. |
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