MAO on Collecting on artinfo.com

Bambino and I were quite pleased to get one afternoon on the beach in Miami after the fair, but we were bummed when we learned that extra day meant we might miss a young collectors panel discussion at Aperture, which included the ever-so-thoughtful and delightful MAO of Modern Art Obsession. MAO and Dr. Quiz were kind enough to invite us over for cocktails at their very comfy apartment with the drop-dead serious view of Miami during the Baselrama festival, and as always we learned so much about the contemporary photography scene and its players in talking with MAO, so I was particularly disappointed when our flight landed too late to make to the event.

Fortunately, artinfo.com's Caroline Kinneberg was able to make it and offers a summary of the discussion under the context of Seven Tips for Beginning Collectors:

Starting an art collection can be intimidating for a number of reasons: financial constraints, lack of a formal art background, or the attitude beginning collectors can be greeted with at certain galleries, a standard of customer service W.M. Hunt of the (friendly) Hasted Hunt Gallery describes as: “You could be set on fire and no one would give you a glass of water.” Last week, Hunt moderated a panel at Aperture Foundation’s gallery about the first steps to creating a photography collection. In principle, the advice applies to other sorts of art as well, though Hunt told ARTINFO, "Photography seems like a smaller field of dealers and auction houses. As overwhelming as it is, it's easier to negotiate and, at least in the past, the financial consequences weren't so huge." At the panel, Hunt talked to beginning collector Gael Zafrany, who works at Charles Schwartz Ltd., preserving and creating museum and personal collections; longtime collector David Kronn; Modern Art Obsession blogger [MAO]; and designer Todd Oldham about their experiences as fledgling collectors.

Among the pearls of wisdom MAO offered for younger collectors were:

Under "Be Selfish": [MAO], who works in finance in New York City, focused early in his collecting career on pieces that reflected his interests: industry and the city.
Under "Do your homework": Although some collectors buy impulsively, [MAO] called purchasing “a methodical process,” especially for collectors with limited financial resources who need to be selective.

He also had some comment under the heading of "Haggle" (i.e., negotiating with dealers for a better price) but, for some reason, I can't seem to get my copy-and-paste fingers to cooperate in presenting it here. :-)

Congrats to MAO. We're so sorry we missed it.