Art advisor Jimmy Basile defines the criteria for what categorizes an artist or artwork as blue-chip in the fine art investment market.
Assertion Contradicted
Art stored in international freeports like Geneva avoids capital gains tax
“Artists considered immune from capital gains tax, okay? If you sell your shares in, in a stock, you're taxed. Sell your Picasso, untouchable. You go into another country, now you put it into Geneva into a Freeport, you're not taxed, and that's legit.”
Insight
Artists starting their careers after age 50 are unlikely to achieve success
“The artist that's already 50, 60, 70, that's just starting their career or has done nothing for 2030 years, they're probably never going to make it. That's just the reality. But no matter how fantastic they are, the techniques could be great.”
Opinion
Shepard Fairey is not a blue-chip artist because auction prices remain low
“Not yet in my opinion, but my opinion doesn't mean anything. I'm not an expert. I just know kind of what I like and what I can sell and what I put my clients into. Because his artworks don't go for enough money yet. And because he's, I just mentioned that, tha…”
Assertion Contradicted
Only a few global representatives have retail access to Kehinde Wiley artworks
“It's only a couple of reps around the world that have direct access and that sell them at retail.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Serious art investors sometimes send purchases directly to storage without unwrapping them
“Those clients already have a collection of art. They don't even hang the art. They buy the art. Sometimes they don't pick it up for months or they get it goes right into their storage and never even unwrap it. They know what they have. They consider it just li…”
Insight
Emerging art can quickly 20x, while blue-chip art appreciates 5-10% annually
“The emerging artists have the capability of increasing their value five, 10, even 20 X. Absolutely. Quickly. Not all of them, but they can. Whereas the more stable blue chip artists, you know, they increase every year, five, 10%, it keeps going up, slowly but …”