Commercial Consulting

When most people think of art consulting, they probably think of the private client art consultant - the man or woman who goes around with ritzy clients trying to find that next Picasso that completes their collection. But art collecting goes beyond the private home and in fact many of my clients are commercial entities like banks and law firms. 

Businesses use art as a way to brand themselves - that is to create a message about what it means to do business with XYZ, LLP or ABC, esq. In boom times, these entities have also used art as an alternative asset class. For a while, art was seen as a more stable alternative to stocks and bonds. According to the Mei-Moses index, art sales have kept up with or outpaced the S&P 500 for years and years (this may, as it turns out, be a bit biased since the Mei-Moses index only tracks works of art which have gone through public sales and if you're shopping around an expensive piece and you take it to public auction, you better hope it sells. Only the best, and most likely to sell, are ever taken to auction. The rest of these pieces often sit in attics for years). Banks and law firms or other companies with lots of capital tend to put their money in art both for investment and for decoration or branding. 

Depending on the size, scale and ownership of the business, budgets and aims differ widely. But these relationships can be more long-lasting than with private clients and often more lucrative because these firms often can afford and can hang more pieces of art than a private collector. Personally, I think corporate art consulting very challenging and invigorating. But it may also be more taxing as you have to learn to deal with committees and bureaucracy.