Art advisor Jimmy Basile discusses the exclusivity and difficulty of acquiring primary market pieces from prominent contemporary artists like Kehinde Wiley.
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 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
Any artwork selling for over $1 million qualifies as blue-chip art
“Blue chip can be really taken into two things. One, it's probably a million dollars and up is a blue chip artwork. Because if you're even a modern art or present day contemporary artists, but your artworks are selling for over a million, you're considered blue…”
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 …”