Art Investing for Beginners

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
How do you get into art investing?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:03)
So, you know, I used to get these big bonuses.
The Wine and Spirits business is a bonus-based business. And I would get these big bonuses, and I would buy a watch, buy a purse, buy all the toys.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:17)
The things.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:17)
The things, I like things. And I remember hearing a record, I think it was a J record, and he talked about art. And I was like, I have not bought that yet. You know, it like, it pricked my conscious.
And the first real piece that I invested in was a piece of art from South Africa from an artist named Nelson Macombo. He was an incredible artist. And the reason why I say invested in it is because it was literally half my bonus.
And I, and it was hard for people to understand. They were like, you're going to spend what? You're going to, what? What are you talking? That's a lot of money. Just because we haven't really been taught the value.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:55)
How much was it?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:57)
It was like $25,000.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:59)
And who educated you to know that that was something that you should buy?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:04)
Well, and with that purchase, I just loved it.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:07)
You just looked at it and just liked it.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:09)
I loved it. And I researched the artist. And it, I mean, it fell in line with just kind of me falling in love with South Africa too, you know, and I loved it. So I think the first thing that I always like to tell people is even though I invest in art, I only invest in what I love.
Like, if I don't love it, I'm not really going to spend my money on it. And so I've been really fortunate to get to know a lot of artists directly, buy from artists directly, so you circumvent the whole gallery and all that kinds of, and you're supporting the artist. Like, the artist is getting 100 percent.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:44)
How much is that worth now? You know?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:48)
I don't know.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:50)
That's interesting, right? I see it. I love it.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:53)
It's definitely worth more than what I bought it for.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:55)
I'm assuming that. Maybe it was Picasso, Baby, the J-song that might have sparked it. But does that now spark your love for art, or did it just transcend to South African art, right? Did you start studying American artists, artists throughout the world, and now this becomes a passion for you based on that one purchase?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:14)
Yeah, you know what I realized? Art for me was, I just got lost in it. I realized, I was like, I love this. I had just this genuine passion for it. I didn't grow up going to museums. I didn't grow up going to art exhibits. I didn't grow up in a house where there was art.
And so I think for me, I was like, oh wait, we belong here too. It was really that that fueled me. I was like, wait, this is a space that we belong in as well. And they're such an incredible art community. So I also was enjoying getting to meet people. And those people are involved in some cool stuff. So I think it was that definitely African art, black artists in general was something that I was like, okay, I love this. These stories are incredible.
And then it became like, yeah, I remember buying a piece. You asked about the value. I bought a piece for $12,000.
And I remember seeing an auction for the artists and her piece sold for $90,000.
And like, I have one of her bigger pieces, earlier works that I bought for $12,000. That's clearly gone up in value. So I then also started just to understand like, oh, okay, this is how that works. And then I think when you study really wealthy people, really wealthy people have a few things in common. They have real estate. A lot of them have a lot of investment in wine and they invest in art. And I was like, okay, this all kind of makes sense for me. You know, this is the space that I play in anyway.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:48)
So how many pieces do you have, roughly?

**SPEAKER_2** (3:51)
Oh, now I probably have over 40 or 50 pieces of art, and everything, not just, you know, I have sculptures, I have vases, I have, I mean, you know, I mean, a plate.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:05)
So where do you keep it all?

**SPEAKER_2** (4:07)
It's everywhere. I mean, it's in my bathrooms, it's on the floors.