Friends of Build Magazine

Creating Value: The Story Behind Luxury Art Appraisal with Shari Brownfield | Friends of Build Magazine #69

Episode Summary

Ted speaks with Shari Brownfield of Shari Brownfield Fine Art. As an art advisor and appraiser, Shari knows the ins and outs of the largest unregulated industry in the world. She joins us today to share the art of pursuing, acquiring, and managing fine works for the discerning client.

Episode Notes

Today Ted speaks with Shari Brownfield of Shari Brownfield Fine Art. Shari got her start in Vancouver before moving stateside and landing in Jackson, Wyoming. Always business-minded, she transitioned from being an artist to procuring and selling art.

Shari specializes in helping discerning clients acquire and build a collection that brings them joy, but can also tell a story in their home. She has a particular expertise in acquiring art before the value of the artist is at its peak – allowing her clients to sell for a hefty profit. 

Join us to hear how she got her start, the story behind the value of art, and how hard work pays off.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

• [1:45] From Canada to the US
• [4:50] Being a recovering artist
• [6:40] What makes art valuable
• [16:40] Why under-representation matters in art
• [21:30] How it all began
• [31:00] Most artists are poor
• [34:00] How to mix styles of art in different styles of homes
• [40:10] Generational changes in art taste
• [43:30] The Jackson Hole art scene
• [47:40] The arts in Israel
• [53:30] Art on yachts
• [54:15] Did you imagine you’d make it this far?

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KEY QUOTES FROM EPISODE

•  Value is a very tricky word in the art world. Value can mean it's valuable to you emotionally. Perhaps you connect with the artwork in some way. It could be a dollar at the thrift store, right? Then there's value all the way into the multi-multimillions. And those values have been established over a long period of time.
• Art is a language, right? And the art history books, the most famous art history book, Janssen's art history book is about a 700 page tome, and the first edition featured one female artist in it only. And the lens that a female artist brings to something, say a nude of a female, might be very different than the lens male artist brings, or a portrait of a family, an LGBTQ family, a black family. So the lens that the artist brings, it's not just purely about the aesthetics at the end of the day, which of course is the first thing that draws us in. But one group of artists may not have been able to create what another group of artists can create. So that's why it's really important that all the voices are heard. 
•  I remember that first job I told you about that I got where I was a salesperson. I heard a client say something, oh, this would be for my, I was in Vancouver and they said, this would be for our home in California or something. And the concept of having two houses to me was completely foreign. I did not understand. What do you mean you have a house also there and here? Like, it made no sense to me. That type of wealth was so foreign.