Buy art you have no connection to? 1 1

[Brian Peck]

Just received another piece I bought recently from a series I never read, Monarchy #3 cover by an artists I am not familiar with John McCrea. 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2017 by Brian Peck

[itviking]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 3:20 PM, Brian Peck said:

Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?

I personally think there's a bit of a disconnect between the thread topic ("Buy art you have no connection to?"), and the question. It centers around the meaning of 'connection'.

First of all, I think if you are buying something strictly based on your appreciation of the artwork itself, meaning that you know nothing of the artist or subject (etc), then you do still have a 'connection' to it. Probably one of the strongest connections possible, and one of the most valid reasons for buying art. It caught your attention and you like it.

On the other hand, if you know nothing of the subject, artist, and have no interest in the artwork itself, its really hard to imaging anyone buying such a piece. Even for someone who has no personal interest in the artwork and is purchasing strictly on speculation for a profit, you would need to know something about the piece, artist, or subject.

 

[Panelfan1]

5 hours ago, itviking said:

I personally think there's a bit of a disconnect between the thread topic ("Buy art you have no connection to?"), and the question. It centers around the meaning of 'connection'.

First of all, I think if you are buying something strictly based on your appreciation of the artwork itself, meaning that you know nothing of the artist or subject (etc), then you do still have a 'connection' to it. Probably one of the strongest connections possible, and one of the most valid reasons for buying art. It caught your attention and you like it.

On the other hand, if you know nothing of the subject, artist, and have no interest in the artwork itself, its really hard to imaging anyone buying such a piece. Even for someone who has no personal interest in the artwork and is purchasing strictly on speculation for a profit, you would need to know something about the piece, artist, or subject.

 

You are using logic

This not good.  Stop it! ?

[Panelfan1]

5 hours ago, itviking said:

Picked up this at NYCC . Never heard of the artist before.  Its the cover art for his personal sketchbook.  His name is Jon Somariva.  He was sitting next to yildray cinar. He's from Australia.  Loved the art for the arts sake.  Price was fair so didnt hesitate to get it.

[Brian Peck]

12 hours ago, itviking said:

I personally think there's a bit of a disconnect between the thread topic ("Buy art you have no connection to?"), and the question. It centers around the meaning of 'connection'.

First of all, I think if you are buying something strictly based on your appreciation of the artwork itself, meaning that you know nothing of the artist or subject (etc), then you do still have a 'connection' to it. Probably one of the strongest connections possible, and one of the most valid reasons for buying art. It caught your attention and you like it.

On the other hand, if you know nothing of the subject, artist, and have no interest in the artwork itself, its really hard to imaging anyone buying such a piece. Even for someone who has no personal interest in the artwork and is purchasing strictly on speculation for a profit, you would need to know something about the piece, artist, or subject.

 

I didn't know this was the english police board not one on comic art collecting.  I spelled out what I ment "Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?" . Guess I should have included "previous" in the title to the thread. I figured everyone would know what I was talking about, not having a previous connection to the art you purchased. Yes people do buy art for the artistic value but with comic art most people buy the art for other reasons beyond that. 

I look thru my collection of over 1000 pieces and I have less than 5% of my collection that I bought purely for artistic reasons and don't know the characters or artist that created it.

[itviking]

14 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

I didn't know this was the english police board not one on comic art collecting.  I spelled out what I ment "Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?" . Guess I should have included "previous" in the title to the thread. I figured everyone would know what I was talking about, not having a previous connection to the art you purchased. Yes people do buy art for the artistic value but with comic art most people buy the art for other reasons beyond that. 

I look thru my collection of over 1000 pieces and I have less than 5% of my collection that I bought purely for artistic reasons and don't know the characters or artist that created it.

 

Your 'spelling out' created more ambiguity than it did clarity for me, and I was simply pointing that out. No need to get upset. Yes, the word 'previous' does clarify things. Thank you for clearing that up.

I have an illustration that I purchased entirely based on the artwork itself. Now in fairness, I am huge Star Wars fan, and it is based on a scene from a Star Wars movie. But I'm not a big fan of this particular movie, don't collect items from this particular movie, and really... these could have been WWII fighters and I would love it just the same. So that didnt weigh into my decision to purchase it at all. As it happens, I love aircraft and spacecraft, real or fictional. My favorite part of any movie/video game involving aircraft/spacecraft are those 'scramble fighters' scenes. So the moment I saw this, and the price ($75), I knew I was buying it. I had no idea what it was. My initial assumption based on the price was that some homebased hobbiest painter created it and was simply selling their work on eBay.

After doing some research I discovered that it was painted by a well respected and prolific Disney artist (Paul Wenzel) as part of a commission for Lucasbooks, and it was published in a kids book called 'Save Naboo!'. I've since come to really appreciate his work and style in other pieces he's painted. So it was definately a case of the artwork itself speaking to me, and then leading me to greater appreciation of the artist. I love it so much I paid considerably more money to have it archivally framed.

Paul Wenzel worked for Disney for more than forty years, creating many movie poster images, and artwork for all manner of Disney licensed products. One of his portraits of Walt Disney was even used on a 1968 US postage stamp honoring Walt.

 

 

 

Edit: I posted these pics in another thread, so sorry for the repeat posting, but its one good example I have of buying artwork based on the piece itself and not a connnection to the artist or the publication.

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2017 by itviking

[The Shoveler]

On 10/13/2017 at 5:35 PM, Panelfan1 said:

Picked up this at NYCC . Never heard of the artist before.  Its the cover art for his personal sketchbook.  His name is Jon Somariva.  He was sitting next to yildray cinar. He's from Australia.  Loved the art for the arts sake.  Price was fair so didnt hesitate to get it.

"Red J" Sommariva's art is always lotsa fun!  It's always a blast to see the sketches he posts at his Instagram site: https://www.instagram.com/sommariva/.  And there's some great stuff in his sketchbooks!

[Rune]

On 2/10/2017 at 12:20 AM, Brian Peck said:

Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?

Here are three I have bought over the years.

Deadworld (1988) #19 - Emergency Only by Vince Locke.

 

 

 

 

 

Mouse Guard piece for the Baltimore Comic Con book by JK Snyder III

 

 

 

Odin and Thor, The Mighty Beaver by Jeff Pidgeon. Pixar Auction piece to raise money for CAM.

Ok, actually I may own a few pieces where I didn't "know the artist, read the comic/series" or knew "the characters featured". I have these pieces from books I never read and where I did not know the characters (much):

I did buy all the Prime books from Mile High Comics after getting the cover to #15, it was a fun read. And I bought the next cover without knowing anything about Firestorm - I just thought it was a cool cover, still haven't read the books 

And then Man from Atlantis - read all books after getting the following page, never knew that series existed before getting the page:

Of course I've read Creepy, Eerie etc., but I'm not sure I ever read Unexpected  Just thought it was an extremely funny cover - and an awesome situation to be in - if you're the ape 

Last, but not least, haven't read about the Specter for decades. I probably didn't have many conscious recollections about him just before buying the following piece, and yes the artist isn't unknown to me, but I primarily thought it was a great piece of comic art illustrating how to draw perspectives. I remember Barry Smith writing in a Conan the Barbarian #8 panel: "I must be mad to sit here and draw all these coins" - and I think Adams could have written something similar here, like "I must be mad to sit here and draw all these bricks" 

Guess the rest of my pieces actually do contain charaters that aren't unknown to me...

Edited October 19, 2017 by Rune

[Panelfan1]

Wondering if folks would agree - when it comes to buying art with characters/subjects you dont follow/know or by artists you aren't a fan of first - PRICE is a big factor.

I find that I am willing to spend considerably more on nostalgic pieces than on modern pieces even when the art quality is comporable and the subject/characters are similar.  

So for art that I have zero connection to (or possibly better way to say it - share no collecting history with) I am less likely to spend big on it.  This is art I would buy for purely artistic reasons. I love the scene and the technique the artist used in making it - but my zest to overspend is not there. 

Is that true for others?

 

[SquareChaos]

1 hour ago, Panelfan1 said:

Wondering if folks would agree - when it comes to buying art with characters/subjects you dont follow/know or by artists you aren't a fan of first - PRICE is a big factor.

I find that I am willing to spend considerably more on nostalgic pieces than on modern pieces even when the art quality is comporable and the subject/characters are similar.  

So for art that I have zero connection to (or possibly better way to say it - share no collecting history with) I am less likely to spend big on it.  This is art I would buy for purely artistic reasons. I love the scene and the technique the artist used in making it - but my zest to overspend is not there. 

Is that true for others?

 

I think what you're talking about is a low enough subjective cost for something to be somewhat of an impulse buy. Perhaps a more interesting version of the question is who has paid a high subjective price for a piece of art 'they have no connection to'.

[Panelfan1]

10 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

I think what you're talking about is a low enough subjective cost for something to be somewhat of an impulse buy. Perhaps a more interesting version of the question is who has paid a high subjective price for a piece of art 'they have no connection to'.

Exactly. I think it HAS TO BE an impulse buy.. nobody PLANS to buy stuff they never heard of or had a connection to in advance.  

Incidentally I have overspent impulsively at an auction before. Happy to report not doing that any more. 

[Rune]

18 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

I think what you're talking about is a low enough subjective cost for something to be somewhat of an impulse buy. Perhaps a more interesting version of the question is who has paid a high subjective price for a piece of art 'they have no connection to'.

When I was 9-10 years old I loved reading The Incredible Hulk, and Sal Buscema was - hands down - my favorite artist. Buying some of these pages would be true nostalgia to me - maybe also some Conan pages from John Buscema. But looking at these pages now, especially Hulk pages, I have a hard time justifying buying such art. The stories and the language feel childish, and I nearly feel some kind of nausea when considering buying my childhood favorite pages. Instead I love to find pieces I'd like to see on my walls as an adult, granted some pieces may have nostalgic value, and most are not bought impulsively (well, at least there're a few weeks to consider a piece before an auctions ends ;-) I think much of the art I've bought is like shopping at a gallery - you buy what you like or love. 

[JadeGiant]

6 hours ago, Rune said:

When I was 9-10 years old I loved reading The Incredible Hulk, and Sal Buscema was - hands down - my favorite artist. Buying some of these pages would be true nostalgia to me - maybe also some Conan pages from John Buscema. But looking at these pages now, especially Hulk pages, I have a hard time justifying buying such art. The stories and the language feel childish, and I nearly feel some kind of nausea when considering buying my childhood favorite pages. Instead I love to find pieces I'd like to see on my walls as an adult, granted some pieces may have nostalgic value, and most are not bought impulsively (well, at least there're a few weeks to consider a piece before an auctions ends ;-) I think much of the art I've bought is like shopping at a gallery - you buy what you like or love. 

I approve this message and appreciate that your tastes have changed. Please continue to admire Sal’s Hulk art and NOT purchase it. I think that all other collectors should share this approach to collecting this subset of art going forward as well.

[Panelfan1]

11 hours ago, JadeGiant said:

I approve this message and appreciate that your tastes have changed. Please continue to admire Sal’s Hulk art and NOT purchase it. I think that all other collectors should share this approach to collecting this subset of art going forward as well.