Art Collecting

Jeppe Curth 0:12

Hi and welcome to the Collector's Edge from Nordic Art Partners . I'm your host , Jeppe Curth , and with me today is our expert , Nicholas Robinson . In this introduction episode we will give you an overview on what our podcast is all about , who it's for and what you can expect from future episodes . Let's get started . It is with Alex Rotter at 400 million selling here at Christie's . $400 million is the bid and the piece is sold .

Nicholas Robinson 0:43

We've all heard about it . Sometimes it's front page news Important works of art are being sold for incredible sums of money . But can you get involved and become a part of the exclusive club yourself , and how do you get started while avoiding buying the wrong things ? That's exactly what this podcast is about . This is the Collector's Edge from Nordic Art Partners , a podcast for those of you interested in the mechanics of the art industry , want advice about putting money into art , or simply want to buy something for your walls , to beautify your surroundings . Whatever your objectives , it is possible to put money into art wisely , to be considered thoughtful and well informed in your choices and actions . Welcome to the art of collecting with an eye for curated beauty and practical value .

Jeppe Curth 1:39

Hi Nick , hi Jeppe . Nick , could you maybe start by telling us a ?

Nicholas Robinson 1:55

Of course . Nice to be here with you , Jeppe . My name is Nicholas Robinson , originally from England , now living in Copenhagen via various other places , most notably New York , for about 20 years . I am an art historian by training and a modern and contemporary art professional by trade and really by vocation . I started off at Sotheby's in London . I worked for some leading galleries in Europe .

Nicholas Robinson 2:34

I moved to New York in the late 1990s and worked for an important gallery there , becoming very familiar with some of the iconic artists of that scene Warhol , Basquiat , Harring , Condo , um , the most notable ones amongst many , many others . Im also involved , uh , with this gallery , um working on um , representing the estate of Francis Bacon , which was incredible to to learn about Um . And then , after that , I set up my own gallery representing artists , having exhibitions , publishing catalogues , travelling to art fairs , but really enjoyed a sort of specialisation in that , after a time , developing exhibitions that were thematic shows , art historical sorts of shows , with maybe a little bit more of a museological emphasis , the only difference being , of course , that works were available for sale . So that became a passion of mine , much more so than representing artists a passion of mine , much more so than representing artists , um . So getting involved in research and historic artworks , um created a sort of a natural pathway to doing that all the time .

Nicholas Robinson 3:55

So I worked in the last decade or so privately buying for myself , um , buying for myself , um using using art as a , as a , a sort of a platform with which to trade , buy and sell and grow that as as a collection , but also as an asset , um , and then doing the same for some private collectors who had similar passions , similar interests as myself , um , and were happy to sort of do some of the same things that I was doing and recommending to them , um , and then bringing that kind of experience and insight to , um , some private family offices and , uh , some fine art investment funds . So that's my background . Now I live in Copenhagen and I do those things as one of the founding partners of Nordic Art Partners , and I am in partnership with you , jeppe . So why don't you tell us about your background ? You've come to the art world by an unusual route . Now , I know all about it , but maybe you can share a little .

Jeppe Curth 5:11

Thank you , nick . Yes , maybe a bit unusual , but I guess it started 15 years ag . I am a former professional football player , mostly in Denmark , but I was also a short period in the Netherlands . Then , during my career in Denmark , I have been studying and I have been building up other companies , which I have been exiting most of them . But I also become very interested in art and start buying art as a collector but when I had to do my master , together with my brother , we came up with Art land because there was a part of the master and before we knew , we started a company and run that for for seven years , which gave me deep insight and knowledge about the art industry and art market which I came from today and also where we met , which was great . And also because of that , we are now in Nordic Art Partners together . But I mean this podcast is also about we now are Nordic Art Partners together . But I mean this

Nicholas Robinson 6:34

That's what motivated you to suggest doing this , because I wasn't , you know , super enthusiastic at first . I just thought , you know , know , there's presumably lots of podcasts . What could we add um to this ? You know this long , long list of of things that one could potentially listen to about the art world , experts and whatever else . You know , yeah , why us doing this ?

Jeppe Curth 7:00

well . First of all , as you know , I love to pick your brain and understand many of the things that you take for granted and have knowledge about um , which I don't , so I love asking the questions and get new insights , information and and I thought also , you were very good on describing stuff . You're very good in words , you're a native speaker and you have a fantastic voice for podcasting , and I listen to a lot of podcasts .

Nicholas Robinson 7:33

A face for radio .

Jeppe Curth 7:35

You can say that a face for radio .

Nicholas Robinson 7:37

Thank you .

Jeppe Curth 7:39

And therefore I thought this will be a very good format for you to give some insights , give some explanation , because it will be mostly me asking the question and you answering them . Yes , good , so why don't we start by me asking a question and you can try to answer it ? Be my guest , Okay . So you just asked me the motivation of this and why we started or why I thought it was a good idea . What , what , what , what , what is your hope we will ?

Nicholas Robinson 8:08

achieve with this ? Um , I don't know really . I think it's an enjoyable way to um develop discursive situations , arguments about things . Um , it's uh , it's a way to crystallize our own thoughts . As you say , we spend a lot of time talking through things across our desks which we find informative and helpful and enjoyable to , to sort of bounce things back and forth . Um , so , in a way , why not make a distilled version of that ? Uh that we can share ? Um , so that was really the the idea . Of course , if we can , uh , we can help ourselves to , to clarify our own thinking , to sort of interrogate and justify our choices , um , that's , that's a process that we go through right process that we go through right , yeah , always , and , and .

Jeppe Curth 9:08

But maybe who do you think will benefit the most from listening to this conversation , this discussion we'll have ?

Nicholas Robinson 9:10

well , yes , of course , I mean there's no specific benefit to us um recording it for ourselves , um , but we have colleagues and friends in in in different , uh , geographical parts of the art markets across the world , and we have clients and collectors and we often , of course , are communicating our rationales for why something is interesting or why we wish to explore and get involved in acquiring works by this artist or that artist .

Nicholas Robinson 9:41

So it's a way of yeah , it's a way of of of providing this information in this sort of easy to digest format where we , where we can explain ourselves and the reasons for why , why we're doing what we're doing . So that's really one one motivation . Another is is for you know , people that we have no relationship with , but people who are just interested in listening to content that might be interesting to them . Maybe people are out there who have thought about acquiring art , really would love to acquire art , have the means and the motivation to acquire art , but perhaps they're intimidated by what can seem a very opaque and impenetrable industry and they don't really know how to navigate it , and they don't really know how to begin .

Approaching Art Appreciation and Collecting

Jeppe Curth 10:39

Nick , could you explain how we approached the intersection of art appreciation and collecting strategy ?

Nicholas Robinson 10:48

Yes , absolutely . I mean we are . Firstly , we are very open , and I think that means that we are curious and ready to look and learn and listen . And so what we do , I mean we , we we're lucky that we work for ourselves and we work in an industry that has galleries in great cities all around the world and art fairs that take place in places that you're very happy to visit .

Nicholas Robinson 11:23

Um , so we go out into the world and we , we look , um , we look , we look online , we read the various dispatches that one can find in the art world , we study auction catalogs to see what's happening with artists that we follow new artists that are maybe coming onto the auction block that have not been part of that world before ?

Nicholas Robinson 11:47

Um not been included in these kinds of things , that sort of act as a , an endorsement for an artist's status within within the art world , within the art market ? Um , so we're very open , we love to , we love to be surprised , we love to discover and we love to build on the understandings that we already have . So that's the , that's the first thing . Um , and then , and then we , when we see things that peak our curiosity and our interest , then we bring to bear various methodologies , professional experience on finding out more and determining how to qualify those things . So we try and see where innate value , artistic value and a certain kind of credential , we find out where those two things coalesce . So it's a passion that then is either endorsed or discredited , debunked by a certain rational investigation . So that's really how we can summarize how we go about doing what we do .

Jeppe Curth 13:04

Okay , so in your opinion , what sets us apart from other arts advisors ?

Nicholas Robinson 13:08

Okay .

Nicholas Robinson 13:10

So , in your opinion , what sets us apart from other arts advisors ?

Nicholas Robinson 13:13

Well , I think that our clear idea is that we are not fixated on any kind of style of art , any particular date attached to art , any movement .

Nicholas Robinson 13:25

We are really completely receptive to finding out where opportunities maybe can exist . We don't get overexcited by new things that become really difficult to get . We don't become intoxicated by fashions and trends and and and become crestfallen by , you know , a fear of missing out . We are much more interested in looking at these artists that inspire us and that we find that somehow their critical reputation , their critical reputation , their representation in institutions , just their general historic impact on art production , from whichever generation they come , why these factors have maybe not translated into the kind of high prices or commercial success that we see with so many other artists that , to our mind , to our eye , are maybe more , more difficult to understand . So so we we research a lot , uh , and we try and find the places in the art market , in our collecting and acquisition strategies , where we have all the conviction in the world , based upon a sort of unimpeachable art historical status , and where we feel the market is yet to catch up with that and to reflect that sort of importance that we feel is inherent to that work .

Jeppe Curth 15:16

How would you best summarize our activities in Nordic Art Partners ?

Nicholas Robinson 15:34

Well , what we do is a few things . Primarily , we buy art . We buy art for ourselves , into our company and privately and jointly as collectors , building a portfolio of works that we believe in , that we love to love to have and think will have a significant increased value in the future . And that's that's the first thing that we do . And then we because we're doing this habitually for ourselves all the time we we share information that enables others to sort of jump on the train , if you like , people that can share in the information that we provide and that can and then can buy similar things from us , um , for their own collections , uh , their own portfolios , if they wish to consider it as a diversified asset , um . So so we build value and we build wealth for ourselves and for others in this way , um , and then we provide these advisory services to also some sort of corporate entities , family offices and also to some small fine art investment funds . So that's the main core of our professional activities .

Jeppe Curth 16:55

Okay , but please try to walk us through the process of how we choose which artists to spotlight , buy or recommend .

Nicholas Robinson 17:02

Well , how do we choose ? Well , you know , it comes back to the first sort of comment that I made about being open to seeing things . I mean , we live in a very visual culture and obviously we're well versed in looking at art . In all the places where art occurs , be it in the physical realm , in galleries and in art fairs or auctions we follow the same , all the same things online , and we have associates and colleagues in far flung corners of the world that are constantly sending us messages . Look at this , look at that , and you know , some of those things catch our eye and precipitate further investigation .

Nicholas Robinson 17:49

So , so , so there's no , there's no formula to to . You know how we find things ? The , the , the . The formula is that we have experience in looking at lots of things over many , many years .

Nicholas Robinson 18:03

Um , and so , if something looks interesting , looks unique , looks like something maybe we haven't seen before , or reminds us of the importance of an artist that perhaps is sort of in the recesses of our mind but maybe we haven't thought about , it reminds us to think about and it gives us a reason to delve , delve deeper , and then we , obviously we , we , we try and understand all of the things that , um , all of the criteria by which we judge value , and that would be the , the artists contribution to , you know , to , to visual culture , to art history , the recognition that they may or may have received or maybe did not receive from , uh , critics contemporaneous with their , with their time of production . Um , what museums are ? Are these artists represented in ? What are the galleries like that show the artists ? You know the , the representing galleries ? What is the status , what is the quality of of the galleries ? Um , so , so there's lots of , lots of criteria that we can , that we can use to assess whether an artist is worth pursuing for us .

Jeppe Curth 19:24

Maybe you could give us a sneak peek into the types of artists , and maybe also art movements , we're going to explore in the next episodes .

Nicholas Robinson 19:34

Yeah , absolutely it's a very diverse group . Yeah , absolutely it's a very diverse group . And , again , it would be very difficult for me to put my finger on why these particular artists came to the fore in our thinking . But the one thing they all share in common is that we're able to tick off many of the criteria , selecting criteria , sort of important credentials that I've described , uh , just just a couple of moments ago . Um , they're probably , um , you know , interesting discrepancies between primary market prices , secondary market prices , all these kinds of things .

Nicholas Robinson 20:12

But some of the artists that that we , that we that we follow and that we've gotten quite heavily involved with professionally , um , the Italian artist Salvo um is that we , that we follow and that we've gotten quite heavily involved with professionally , um , the Italian artist Salvo um is , is a is a favorite of ours , um , and we've done a great deal of work with , with his paintings Um , the the great German artist , um Heinz Mack , one of the senior statesmen of uh mid-century abstraction . There's an American , I guess , essentially a landscape painter she perhaps may not thank me for describing her this way Lois Dodd , who's an icon of the Northeastern art scene in North America . Who , who else ? Um ? Chico de Silva , a self-taught artist , um , who came to prominence in Brazil in the 1960s . Self-taught um , really interesting character , um , yeah , I mean there'll be others Friedrich Kunath , a German painter , um , who's a mid-career artist but also a contemporary artist who's continuing to make waves in his career and his development . And then there'll be others that I guess you discover if you tune in along the way .

Jeppe Curth 21:29

What key takeaways do we hope our listener will gain from tuning into this podcast ?

Nicholas Robinson 21:36

Well , I think that one of the things that I hope that that people derive from listening to this is that there's really a lot of things out there that one could buy . I mean a lot , um , so it's it's . It's firstly exciting to go out and look at lots of things and learn about lots of things so that you can really understand the vast array of interesting opportunities that exist . And the second thing , I think , is that it's not necessary , in my opinion , to jump on voguish things or be afraid of missing out on things . There is always something else , and for every time I've been crestfallen by something , a sort of profound sense of loss for not being able to acquire something . It's a very fleeting sensation , and the very next day , invariably , there's something else that gives me exactly the same feeling of exhilaration and excitement as that which I lost out on literally hours , days before good , thank you , nick .

Nicholas Robinson 22:51

So I think , but actually one other thing yeah , go apart from that , obviously , that there's a world of opportunity to explore and become inspired by , that it's possible to take those feelings and to understand them , to sort them , to qualify them , find out where the caveats are , find out where the pitfalls are that I think you know . Approach the situation with rigor , with an open mind , but also with requisite caution and preparedness to do the work to make sure that you're able to make well-informed decisions .

Jeppe Curth 23:31

Great Nate , Thank you . So thank you for joining us on this introduction episode of the Collector's Edge . We hope you will enjoy learning about art , specific artists and their markets . If you have any questions or want to reach out to us , please visit our website , follow us on social media or send us an email on info at nordicartpartnerscom . See you next time .