Tanya Baxter Art Advisor Interview

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

Can you tell us who your typical clients are? What kinds of collections do you help them curate?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

A lot of our UK-based collectors are looking for modern British, so from Hepworth to Patrick Heron to William Scott, and then we’ve got a very young group of collectors from all over the world that are more of the millennials and tech people, and they’re looking really for emerging artists that are very exciting on the international platform.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

And how do you guide clients in identifying the right pieces emotionally, aesthetically or financially?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

I never think it’s a good idea to push clients outside their financial zone of budget that they’re comfortable with. I think it has to be little by little. So if somebody says their budget is 50,000 or 100,000, we’re not going to push that.

We might be paying something half the price. It’s about finding the piece that speaks to them, that has an intrinsic value to them that they would enjoy living with, and it’s a long-term thing. We’re not looking to flip pieces.

We want our clients to really enjoy the space that art has transformed.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

What makes working with a professional art advisor valuable for collectors and institutions?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

I think it’s the research that we do, the due diligence. We make sure that the provenance is great, that the condition is great, that the work is suitable, that the marketplace is priced well. So we also negotiate on behalf of the client.

We make sure that the client has got a long-term view of this in terms of the results of the last 10 years, the results going forward. So we give an overview that is very balanced.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

With deep knowledge of post-war British and contemporary art, how do you assess whether a work has long-term value?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

I think long-term value is looking at artists that are museum-worthy, auction-worthy, that they’re always apparent in museums and in auctions, and that they hold their value. And that’s really very evident. You can just do that research very quickly.

And also that they’ve got a huge amount of provenance in exhibition history and academic background. I think that’s really important. And although modern British is taking probably a little bit of a hit this year, the recent recovery has shown that modern British will come back.

It’s robust. And I think when artists have spent their whole life, like Hockney, painting for 70 years, that stands for a lot. That is a huge amount of academic and skilled background.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

And how do art preferences differ between your clients in different regions, like London, Monaco and Hong Kong, for example?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

They are very, very different. So in Hong Kong, they’re very experimental. They do love to have the textbook greats, and they’ll probably go more for Picasso or Warhol.

In Monaco, it’s much more colourful. It’s a much more Riviera kind of theme. And they prefer Anish Kapoor and artists such like Annie Morris, works that are carved into the landscape that are very bright and upbeat.

And London is probably like New York. It has so much rich tapestry of artists’ textbook that people are looking for more the provenance, the story, the narrative, the exhibition history, the museum trail. I think that’s really important to them.

And for young emerging collectors, it’s about who is the hippest, who is doing big collaborations with huge museums and with designers, which is the new vibe.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

What trends or shifts are you currently noticing in the international art market?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

I would see that the age is a big thing, that there’s a big shift towards millennials and the Gen Z and this generation who’ve got huge assets generated from the wealth of tech, that that will make a big difference. And the type of art they’re looking at isn’t as figurative, it’s much more abstract, it’s much more interactive and conceptual and digital art, and so much more experimental across all mediums. And I also think that people are looking at probably a little bit more upbeat.

I think we’ve gone through a very difficult time economically and people want to be transported to a good place. So we’re looking at much more sort of transformative works that make you feel good.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

People often describe you as a combining flair with integrity. What personal strengths define your work as an advisor?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

Grit, I guess, because the art world isn’t easy. Needless to say, none of our children are going into the art world, because it takes a lot of guts and belief and it’s not something you are in it for the money, it’s a passion and you believe in it. But I think if you collect avidly, you collect passionately, and you’ve got all of your due diligence and research, and you know you’re buying well, I think that’s the most important thing.

Integrity for me is very important and my trust with collectors is probably the key thing, that they know I’m not out to throw a card. I want everything in their home or their office to really sing, to be part of their journey and to be a lifelong posterity.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

What advice would you give to new collectors who want to start building a meaningful and smart art collection?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

I would say, first of all, go to all the art fairs, go to all the museums, find out where your direction is, what is compelling for you, and then describe that to your advisor. Give very strict budget, give very strict guidelines, and then it’s up to the advisor to do the research, to really give you an intelligent, educated, pricey of what your options are at different price levels, and there’s no feeling of being compelled to buy things. You’ve got to have a freedom of choice and buy slowly and surely.

I don’t think you have to buy things in a hurry. If you’re decorating a house, you’ve got a budget that is like for 10 pieces, I understand that, but if you’re buying discerningly, just take your time and get to know the advisor, understand the projects they’ve done in the past and the projects that will be closely correlated to what you’re looking for.

[Nick Breeze – Artgal]

And finally, what does great art mean to you on a personal level?

[Tanya Baxter – Art Advisor London – Hong Kong]

Great art is being overwhelmed by the emotion that you feel, whether it’s something that propels you or delights you or literally transports you to another part of your brain that you feel uplifted, you feel energised and thoughtful, it should be provocative, it should actually ask questions and it should find a space that you don’t see every day. So it can be restful, it can be jarring, it should do one or the other, it should really move you to that space. And it can’t just be there for five minutes or a week or a month, it’s got to have longevity and integrity.