Michael Findlay shares stories of art collections and collectors

Since art dealer Michael Findlay published “The Value of Art” in 2012, technology has altered the playing field.

While most changes in the art world historically have revolved around new movements, the past decade’s transitions have stemmed from employing technology more, particularly during the pandemic when it became essential for galleries and art houses to show and sell pieces. One technological trend has included NFTs and crypto currency. Findlay has updated “The Value of Art” to delve into those specific topics.

He’ll discuss his work at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Explore Booksellers, and at 5:30 p.m. Thursday for cocktails and conversation as he discusses colorful collectors and art collections at Powers Art Center.

“NFTs and crypto currency, for a while at least, became a gold (rush) for parts of the art market that thought this was manna from heaven — that they could make money out of nothing,” he said in a phone interview.

His passion for art oozes both in his books and as he talks about the complex world, which has grown more diverse in terms of artists’ voices. He points out how art has always included political viewpoints and social commentary, but these days, “these issues seem to be dominating the conversation,” often in the form of “artist as agitator,” he said.

While “The Value of Art” reviews the financial and emotional value of art through lively examples, stories and illustrations, listening to, and talking to, Findlay is simply a delight. Without pretension or stuffiness, he discusses the core of art — its real value.

“It’s a communication between the artists and the viewers,” he said. “It needs active engagement of a viewer to become complete. That’s the essential thing, that it inspires curiosity, engagement and a desire to return to it in some form or another.”

He encourages people to put down their phones and spend “more than a few seconds and have their own opinion about it,” and then share what they liked and didn’t like with each other.

“This is what it’s about,” he said. “It’s not fodder for academics — nothing against academics. It’s a lived experience.”

He maintains that all art is based on play: “The play that a child does at the age of 2 or 3 or 4 that scribbles — that’s a play of total freedom and imagination you would say that is unschooled. The artist is someone who has never lost the importance of that as a kernel of looking for what they’re looking for. It’s play that requires discipline. That communication does not need labels, it does not need a person to say, ‘Well, what the artist means is …’ The artist means what they’ve done.”

While his expertise and deep knowledge shines through on each page of “The Value of Art,” his caring for art trumps everything. His resume is impressive: He was an early presence on the New York art scene curating major gallery exhibitions, became the head of the Impressionist and Modern Art Department at Christie’s, opened the Christie’s office in Shanghai in 1994 and is a recent past-president of the Art Dealers Association of America, but he’s interested in “the crucible of exchange between people about what matters that has nothing to do with money and nothing to do with power.”

He admits those conversations, and attitudes, are more rare than they were decades ago. He also thinks the bulk of 21 century art lacks fresh innovation, believing, rather, current artists tend to “produce mash-ups that are very slick and sophisticated (representations) of what has been done before,” he said. “(Artists) are making very beautiful images of the kinds of ideas that have been presented. It’s not new, (yet) the market doesn’t want new.”

Compared to paintings by the Old Masters, which have “much more measurable market history” and have become quite valuable due to their rarity, the internet allows artists to share and monetize their work in new ways (such as 10,000 subscribers paying $1 a month to view their process and artwork).

“Rarified objects are not what artists are going to be making in the future,” he said. “The market won’t like it because there won’t be a way of capitalizing on it because it’s not a physical object.”

While readers of “The Value of Art” will garner plenty of insight and understanding into the world of art, Findlay’s main advice lands simply on concentrating on what you see when you view art. He writes:

“While ‘beauty’ may be a currently outmoded word to describe the essential value of art, particularly contemporary art, I would argue that when it comes to choosing what you like, let alone what you might want to buy … go for what appeals to your senses, not your rational mind.”