A Buyer's Guide
11 things you always wanted to know about buying art in a gallery (but were afraid to ask).
Is it OK to ask questions? Gallery workers always look busy behind their stark, white desks.
Yes, it’s recommended. “You have a wine tasting to build a frame of reference and eventually make judgments,” says Newbury Street gallery owner Howard Yezerski. “The same is true of art. Be as open as possible, ask as many questions as possible, and look at art as much as possible, and you’ll begin to build a frame of reference and have an understanding.”
What if I don’t understand – or like – the work? Can someone explain why it’s there?
“Absolutely,” says Randi Hopkins, co-owner of Allston Skirt Gallery in the South End. She’s <>Can I pay in installments?
“We want people to purchase the art, and we’ll help them any way we can,” says Hope Arden Turner, owner of Arden Gallery on Newbury Street. “Whether it’s payment on the spot or a two-year plan.”
Can I take a piece home to live with it before I buy it?
“Sure,” says Miller. “Some people just aren’t confident they can visualize in their own home.” Try-before-you-buy is only a problem, Miller says, if a piece is delicate, or if she thinks someone is buying for a specific spot rather than love of the art. “They’re decorating, not collecting. That’s a big difference.” Turner says her gallery will deliver a piece, install it, and let a potential client live with it for a couple of days. “We want a person to walk by the art and feel comfortable saying. ‘I love this work.’ ”
Can I return it if I change my mind?
“We hate when you do that,” says Hopkins. But it is worth asking for an exchange, she says, “because we don’t like to have unhappy customers.” Miller says that for regular clients, she’s usually able to accommodate returns. Otherwise, “we’d be happy to sell the piece for them and get their money back,” says Miller.
I am thinking about buying a beautiful nude, but I have no idea where I would hang it. Any advice?
“Don’t hang a nude in your bedroom,” says Miller. “That’s too predictable. It’s going to have more of an impact if you place it in a hallway or stairwell,” she says. Hopkins doesn’t recommend hanging any art in a bathroom because of the dampness. But try the powder room. “Nudes can be gorgeous and sexy in that setting,” says Hopkins.
I like the artist’s style, but not what I see in this show. Can I commission something?
It depends on the artist. Yezerski once represented an artist who had sold works to the Charles Hotel 20 years earlier. A hotel guest loved the paintings, and wanted to commission a new piece. The artist agreed “because she thought it would be fun to
revisit that phase of her career,” he says. Commissioned pieces usually cost 10 to 15 percent more than the artist’s going rate. Hopkins has another suggestion: Visit the artist’s studio. “There’s always a lot more available than what you see on the gallery walls,” she says. 