Want to know how to sell a top-niche home? Or how to make your next investment all the more inviting so that visitors will be wowed? Hang a Picasso, Warhol, or some striking original on your wall.
Various reports reveal that developers commission fine art pieces to add that je ne sais quoi to the walls of luxury homes. It can be luminescent sculptures with neon tubes that are curved in the walls, as in a spec home in Beverly Hills. This was called “light and space” art. Or modern paintings of toilet paper rolls for the bathroom from Retna, a Los Angeles native who got his start in graffiti.
In Miami, for instance, developers commission outstanding art from some of the top contemporary artists in the world.
A Ross Report by the Audrey Ross Team in Miami Real Estate says, "A personally commissioned piece of art by a world-renowned artist is a finishing touch that aligns with the demands of today’s luxury culture… High net worth buyers have high standards. With buildings designed by some of the world’s most outstanding architects, it just makes sense, and the trend takes luxury to the next level. It turns these homes in the sky into seamless places that combine the natural pristine beauty of Miami with haute design and some of the finest creations of the world’s living artists. It creates beautiful spaces designed that meet the demands of 21st Century living. It’s the couture version of architecture."
Developers call it the “artification” of Miami’s most expensive condos, according to the report.
Throughout the United States and in some parts of Europe, high-end developers, brokers, and stagers coordinate with museums and galleries to display high-end original art during home showings. Like the houses themselves, the art is for sale.
Jaman Properties, for example, enhanced the former estate of President Ronald Reagen in Pacific Palisades with sketches from Picasso, works by Hockney and Sutan, and two drawings from Ethan Murrow. A spec home conceived by the fashion designer Charles Park featured more than $6 million worth of art by figures as familiar as Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, as well as other artists.
Although the loan is free, stagers or developers pay for costs that include insurance, professional art packing, transporters, installers, and security. Costs total, but developers value results.
The profit works both ways. For the stager, the art may make the home feel more luxurious and one-of-a-kind. For the museums and galleries, it serves as wonderful exposure to well-heeled potential clients. Some visitors buy the paintings rather than the homes.
More importantly, the art has to be real. Janus Cercone, principal for Los Angeles-based Jaman Properties has been offered art reproductions with the suggestion that no one will be able to tell the difference.
"But we believe our buyer will absolutely know," he says. "If we put ourselves in their position, we'd have to ask: If there's fake art on the walls, what else isn't authentic?"
Images courtesy of Harvey Kalles Real Estate
