May 30, 2024 • 24 mins
Meet the Nordic Art Partners, Jeppe Curth and Nicholas Robinson, Copenhagen based modern and contemporary art dealers and your guides through these episodes. Learn about the mechanics of the art industry, their exploration of under appreciated giants of modernist art and their various methodologies that enable wisdom in collecting and art acquisition.
Join us as our art expert, Nicholas Robinson, shares his infectious enthusiasm, invaluable knowledge and the insights of his 25 years of top level experience in London, New York and Copenhagen. Together with Jeppe Curth, former professional footballer turned art collector and entrepreneur, they unveil the Collector's Edge podcast. This is the intro episode which outlines their ideas for the pod, their methods for navigating the intricacies of a complex industry and how they reconcile the genuine passions of art appreciation and collecting with the rationality of astute market investigation. Our approach balances a love for art we buy with meticulous research to find undervalued artists who have had a significant historical impact but whose importance has perhaps not gained a wider reflection in the market. Whether you're a seasoned collector or just starting, you can enrich your own journey with The Collectors’ Edge.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeppe Curth (00:12):
Hi and welcome to the Collector's Edge from Nordic
Art Partners.
I'm your host, Jeppe Curth, andwith me today is our expert,
Nicholas Robinson.
In this introduction episode wewill give you an overview on
what our podcast is all about,who it's for and what you can
expect from future episodes.
Let's get started.
It is with Alex Rotter at 400million selling here at
(00:36):
Christie's.
$400 million is the bid and thepiece is sold.
Nicholas Robinson (00:43):
We've all heard about it.
Sometimes it's front page newsImportant works of art are being
sold for incredible sums ofmoney.
But can you get involved andbecome a part of the exclusive
club yourself, and how do youget started while avoiding
buying the wrong things?
That's exactly what thispodcast is about.
This is the Collector's Edgefrom Nordic Art Partners, a
(01:07):
podcast for those of youinterested in the mechanics of
the art industry, want adviceabout putting money into art, or
simply want to buy somethingfor your walls, to beautify your
surroundings.
Whatever your objectives, it ispossible to put money into art
wisely, to be consideredthoughtful and well informed in
(01:27):
your choices and actions.
Welcome to the art ofcollecting with an eye for
curated beauty and practicalvalue.
Jeppe Curth (01:39):
Hi Nick, hi Jeppe.
Nick, could you maybe start bytelling us a ?
Nicholas Robinson (01:55):
Of course.
Nice to be here with you, Jeppe.
My name is Nicholas Robinson,originally from England, now
living in Copenhagen via variousother places, most notably New
York, for about 20 years.
I am an art historian bytraining and a modern and
contemporary art professional bytrade and really by vocation.
(02:19):
I started off at Sotheby's inLondon.
I worked for some leadinggalleries in Europe.
I moved to New York in the late1990s and worked for an
(02:39):
important gallery there,becoming very familiar with some
of the iconic artists of thatscene Warhol, Basquiat, Harring,
Condo, um, the most notableones amongst many, many others.
Im also involved, uh, with thisgallery, um working on um,
representing the estate ofFrancis Bacon, which was
(03:02):
incredible to to learn about Um.
And then, after that, I set upmy own gallery representing
artists, having exhibitions,publishing catalogues,
travelling to art fairs, butreally enjoyed a sort of
specialisation in that, after atime, developing exhibitions
(03:24):
that were thematic shows, arthistorical sorts of shows, with
maybe a little bit more of amuseological emphasis, the only
difference being, of course,that works were available for
sale.
So that became a passion ofmine, much more so than
representing artists a passionof mine, much more so than
(03:48):
representing artists, um.
So getting involved in researchand historic artworks, um
created a sort of a naturalpathway to doing that all the
time.
So I worked in the last decadeor so privately buying for
myself, um, buying for myself,um using using art as a, as a, a
(04:12):
sort of a platform with whichto trade, buy and sell and grow
that as as a collection, butalso as an asset, um, and then
doing the same for some privatecollectors who had similar
passions, similar interests asmyself, um, and were happy to
sort of do some of the samethings that I was doing and
recommending to them, um, andthen bringing that kind of
(04:35):
experience and insight to, um,some private family offices and,
uh, some fine art investmentfunds.
So that's my background.
Now I live in Copenhagen and Ido those things as one of the
founding partners of Nordic ArtPartners, and I am in
(04:57):
partnership with you, jeppe.
So why don't you tell us aboutyour background?
You've come to the art world byan unusual route.
Now, I know all about it, butmaybe you can share a little.
Jeppe Curth (05:11):
Thank you, nick.
Yes, maybe a bit unusual, but Iguess it started 15 years ag.
I am a former professionalfootball player, mostly in
Denmark, but I was also a shortperiod in the Netherlands.
Then, during my career inDenmark, I have been studying
(05:38):
and I have been building upother companies, which I have
been exiting most of them.
But I also become veryinterested in art and start
buying art as a collector butwhen I had to do my master,
together with my brother, wecame up with Art land because
(05:58):
there was a part of the masterand before we knew, we started a
company and run that for forseven years, which gave me deep
insight and knowledge about theart industry and art market
which I came from today and alsowhere we met, which was great.
(06:19):
And also because of that, weare now in Nordic Art Partners
together.
But I mean this podcast is alsoabout we now are Nordic Art
Partners together.
But I mean this
Nicholas Robinson (06:34):
That's what motivated you to suggest doing
this, because I wasn't, you know, super enthusiastic at first.
I just thought, you know, know,there's presumably lots of
podcasts.
What could we add um to this?
You know this long, long listof of things that one could
potentially listen to about theart world, experts and whatever
(06:56):
else.
You know, yeah, why us doingthis?
Jeppe Curth (07:00):
well.
First of all, as you know, Ilove to pick your brain and
understand many of the thingsthat you take for granted and
have knowledge about um, which Idon't, so I love asking the
questions and get new insights,information and and I thought
also, you were very good ondescribing stuff.
(07:22):
You're very good in words,you're a native speaker and you
have a fantastic voice forpodcasting, and I listen to a
lot of podcasts.
Nicholas Robinson (07:33):
A face for radio.
Jeppe Curth (07:35):
You can say that a face for radio.
Nicholas Robinson (07:37):
Thank you.
Jeppe Curth (07:39):
And therefore I thought this will be a very good
format for you to give someinsights, give some explanation,
because it will be mostly measking the question and you
answering them.
Yes, good, so why don't westart by me asking a question
and you can try to answer it?
Be my guest, Okay.
So you just asked me themotivation of this and why we
(08:03):
started or why I thought it wasa good idea.
What, what, what, what, what isyour hope we will?
Nicholas Robinson (08:08):
achieve with this?
Um, I don't know really.
I think it's an enjoyable wayto um develop discursive
situations, arguments aboutthings.
Um, it's uh, it's a way tocrystallize our own thoughts.
As you say, we spend a lot oftime talking through things
across our desks which we findinformative and helpful and
(08:31):
enjoyable to, to sort of bouncethings back and forth.
Um, so, in a way, why not makea distilled version of that?
Uh that we can share?
Um, so that was really the theidea.
Of course, if we can, uh, wecan help ourselves to, to
(08:51):
clarify our own thinking, tosort of interrogate and justify
our choices, um, that's, that'sa process that we go through
right process that we go throughright, yeah, always, and, and.
Jeppe Curth (09:08):
But maybe who do you think will benefit the most
from listening to thisconversation, this discussion
we'll have?
Nicholas Robinson (09:10):
well, yes, of course, I mean there's no
specific benefit to us umrecording it for ourselves, um,
but we have colleagues andfriends in in in different, uh,
geographical parts of the artmarkets across the world, and we
have clients and collectors andwe often, of course, are
(09:35):
communicating our rationales forwhy something is interesting or
why we wish to explore and getinvolved in acquiring works by
this artist or that artist.
So it's a way of yeah, it's away of of of providing this
information in this sort of easyto digest format where we,
where we can explain ourselvesand the reasons for why, why
we're doing what we're doing.
(09:56):
So that's really one onemotivation.
Another is is for you know,people that we have no
relationship with, but peoplewho are just interested in
listening to content that mightbe interesting to them.
Maybe people are out there whohave thought about acquiring art
(10:16):
, really would love to acquireart, have the means and the
motivation to acquire art, butperhaps they're intimidated by
what can seem a very opaque andimpenetrable industry and they
don't really know how tonavigate it, and they don't
really know how to begin.
Jeppe Curth (10:39):
Nick, could you explain how we approached the
intersection of art appreciationand collecting strategy?
Nicholas Robinson (10:48):
Yes, absolutely.
I mean we are.
Firstly, we are very open, andI think that means that we are
curious and ready to look andlearn and listen.
And so what we do, I mean we,we we're lucky that we work for
(11:09):
ourselves and we work in anindustry that has galleries in
great cities all around theworld and art fairs that take
place in places that you're veryhappy to visit.
Um, so we go out into the worldand we, we look, um, we look, we
look online, we read thevarious dispatches that one can
(11:32):
find in the art world, we studyauction catalogs to see what's
happening with artists that wefollow new artists that are
maybe coming onto the auctionblock that have not been part of
that world before?
Um not been included in thesekinds of things, that sort of
act as a, an endorsement for anartist's status within within
(11:55):
the art world, within the artmarket?
Um, so we're very open, we loveto, we love to be surprised, we
love to discover and we love tobuild on the understandings
that we already have.
So that's the, that's the firstthing.
Um, and then, and then we, whenwe see things that peak our
curiosity and our interest, thenwe bring to bear various
(12:20):
methodologies, professionalexperience on finding out more
and determining how to qualifythose things.
So we try and see where innatevalue, artistic value and a
certain kind of credential, wefind out where those two things
(12:45):
coalesce.
So it's a passion that then iseither endorsed or discredited,
debunked by a certain rationalinvestigation.
So that's really how we cansummarize how we go about doing
what we do.
Jeppe Curth (13:04):
Okay, so in your opinion, what sets us apart from
other arts advisors?
Nicholas Robinson (13:08):
Okay.
So, in your opinion, what setsus apart from other arts
advisors?
Well, I think that our clearidea is that we are not fixated
on any kind of style of art, anyparticular date attached to art
, any movement.
We are really completelyreceptive to finding out where
(13:33):
opportunities maybe can exist.
We don't get overexcited by newthings that become really
difficult to get.
We don't become intoxicated byfashions and trends and and and
become crestfallen by, you know,a fear of missing out.
We are much more interested inlooking at these artists that
(14:00):
inspire us and that we find thatsomehow their critical
reputation, their criticalreputation, their representation
in institutions, just theirgeneral historic impact on art
production, from whichevergeneration they come, why these
(14:23):
factors have maybe nottranslated into the kind of high
prices or commercial successthat we see with so many other
artists that, to our mind, toour eye, are maybe more, more
difficult to understand.
So so we we research a lot, uh,and we try and find the places
(14:48):
in the art market, in ourcollecting and acquisition
strategies, where we have allthe conviction in the world,
based upon a sort ofunimpeachable art historical
status, and where we feel themarket is yet to catch up with
that and to reflect that sort ofimportance that we feel is
(15:13):
inherent to that work.
Jeppe Curth (15:16):
How would you best summarize our activities in
Nordic Art Partners?
Nicholas Robinson (15:34):
Well, what we do is a few things.
Primarily, we buy art.
We buy art for ourselves, intoour company and privately and
jointly as collectors, buildinga portfolio of works that we
believe in, that we love to loveto have and think will have a
significant increased value inthe future.
(15:56):
And that's that's the firstthing that we do.
And then we because we're doingthis habitually for ourselves
all the time we we shareinformation that enables others
to sort of jump on the train, ifyou like, people that can share
in the information that weprovide and that can and then
(16:18):
can buy similar things from us,um, for their own collections,
uh, their own portfolios, ifthey wish to consider it as a
diversified asset, um.
So so we build value and webuild wealth for ourselves and
for others in this way, um, andthen we provide these advisory
services to also some sort ofcorporate entities, family
(16:42):
offices and also to some smallfine art investment funds.
So that's the main core of ourprofessional activities.
Jeppe Curth (16:55):
Okay, but please try to walk us through the
process of how we choose whichartists to spotlight, buy or
recommend.
Nicholas Robinson (17:02):
Well, how do we choose?
Well, you know, it comes backto the first sort of comment
that I made about being open toseeing things.
I mean, we live in a veryvisual culture and obviously
we're well versed in looking atart.
In all the places where artoccurs, be it in the physical
(17:23):
realm, in galleries and in artfairs or auctions we follow the
same, all the same things online, and we have associates and
colleagues in far flung cornersof the world that are constantly
sending us messages.
Look at this, look at that, andyou know, some of those things
(17:45):
catch our eye and precipitatefurther investigation.
So, so, so there's no, there'sno formula to to.
You know how we find things?
The, the, the.
The formula is that we haveexperience in looking at lots of
things over many, many years.
Um, and so, if something looksinteresting, looks unique, looks
(18:09):
like something maybe we haven'tseen before, or reminds us of
the importance of an artist thatperhaps is sort of in the
recesses of our mind but maybewe haven't thought about, it
reminds us to think about and itgives us a reason to delve,
delve deeper, and then we,obviously we, we, we try and
(18:29):
understand all of the thingsthat, um, all of the criteria by
which we judge value, and thatwould be the, the artists
contribution to, you know, to,to visual culture, to art
history, the recognition thatthey may or may have received or
maybe did not receive from, uh,critics contemporaneous with
(18:53):
their, with their time ofproduction.
Um, what museums are?
Are these artists representedin?
What are the galleries likethat show the artists?
You know the, the representinggalleries?
What is the status, what is thequality of of the galleries?
Um, so, so there's lots of,lots of criteria that we can,
(19:17):
that we can use to assesswhether an artist is worth
pursuing for us.
Jeppe Curth (19:24):
Maybe you could give us a sneak peek into the
types of artists, and maybe alsoart movements, we're going to
explore in the next episodes.
Nicholas Robinson (19:34):
Yeah, absolutely it's a very diverse
group.
Yeah, absolutely it's a verydiverse group.
And, again, it would be verydifficult for me to put my
finger on why these particularartists came to the fore in our
thinking.
But the one thing they allshare in common is that we're
able to tick off many of thecriteria, selecting criteria,
(19:57):
sort of important credentialsthat I've described, uh, just
just a couple of moments ago.
Um, they're probably, um, youknow, interesting discrepancies
between primary market prices,secondary market prices, all
these kinds of things.
But some of the artists thatthat we, that we that we follow
and that we've gotten quiteheavily involved with
(20:17):
professionally, um, the Italianartist Salvo um is that we, that
we follow and that we've gottenquite heavily involved with
professionally, um, the Italianartist Salvo um is, is a is a
favorite of ours, um, and we'vedone a great deal of work with,
with his paintings Um, the thegreat German artist, um Heinz
Mack, one of the seniorstatesmen of uh mid-century
(20:37):
abstraction.
There's an American, I guess,essentially a landscape painter
she perhaps may not thank me fordescribing her this way Lois
Dodd, who's an icon of theNortheastern art scene in North
America.
Who, who else?
(20:58):
Um?
Chico de Silva, a self-taughtartist, um, who came to
prominence in Brazil in the1960s.
Self-taught um, reallyinteresting character, um, yeah,
I mean there'll be othersFriedrich Kunath, a German
painter, um, who's a mid-careerartist but also a contemporary
(21:19):
artist who's continuing to makewaves in his career and his
development.
And then there'll be othersthat I guess you discover if you
tune in along the way.
Jeppe Curth (21:29):
What key takeaways do we hope our listener will
gain from tuning into thispodcast?
Nicholas Robinson (21:36):
Well, I think that one of the things that I
hope that that people derivefrom listening to this is that
there's really a lot of thingsout there that one could buy.
I mean a lot, um, so it's it's.
It's firstly exciting to go outand look at lots of things and
(21:57):
learn about lots of things sothat you can really understand
the vast array of interestingopportunities that exist.
And the second thing, I think,is that it's not necessary, in
my opinion, to jump on voguishthings or be afraid of missing
out on things.
There is always something else,and for every time I've been
(22:23):
crestfallen by something, a sortof profound sense of loss for
not being able to acquiresomething.
It's a very fleeting sensation,and the very next day,
invariably, there's somethingelse that gives me exactly the
same feeling of exhilaration andexcitement as that which I lost
out on literally hours, daysbefore good, thank you, nick.
(22:51):
So I think, but actually oneother thing yeah, go apart from
that, obviously, that there's aworld of opportunity to explore
and become inspired by, thatit's possible to take those
feelings and to understand them,to sort them, to qualify them,
find out where the caveats are,find out where the pitfalls are
(23:15):
that I think you know.
Approach the situation withrigor, with an open mind, but
also with requisite caution andpreparedness to do the work to
make sure that you're able tomake well-informed decisions.
Jeppe Curth (23:31):
Great Nate, Thank you.
So thank you for joining us onthis introduction episode of the
Collector's Edge.
We hope you will enjoy learningabout art, specific artists and
their markets.
If you have any questions orwant to reach out to us, please
visit our website, follow us onsocial media or send us an email
(23:51):
on info at nordicartpartnerscom.
See you next time.
Hi and welcome to the Collector's Edge from Nordic
Art Partners.
I'm your host, Jeppe Curth, andwith me today is our expert,
Nicholas Robinson.
In this introduction episode wewill give you an overview on
what our podcast is all about,who it's for and what you can
expect from future episodes.
Let's get started.
It is with Alex Rotter at 400million selling here at
(00:36):
Christie's.
$400 million is the bid and thepiece is sold.
Nicholas Robinson (00:43):
We've all heard about it.
Sometimes it's front page newsImportant works of art are being
sold for incredible sums ofmoney.
But can you get involved andbecome a part of the exclusive
club yourself, and how do youget started while avoiding
buying the wrong things?
That's exactly what thispodcast is about.
This is the Collector's Edgefrom Nordic Art Partners, a
(01:07):
podcast for those of youinterested in the mechanics of
the art industry, want adviceabout putting money into art, or
simply want to buy somethingfor your walls, to beautify your
surroundings.
Whatever your objectives, it ispossible to put money into art
wisely, to be consideredthoughtful and well informed in
(01:27):
your choices and actions.
Welcome to the art ofcollecting with an eye for
curated beauty and practicalvalue.
Jeppe Curth (01:39):
Hi Nick, hi Jeppe.
Nick, could you maybe start bytelling us a ?
Nicholas Robinson (01:55):
Of course.
Nice to be here with you, Jeppe.
My name is Nicholas Robinson,originally from England, now
living in Copenhagen via variousother places, most notably New
York, for about 20 years.
I am an art historian bytraining and a modern and
contemporary art professional bytrade and really by vocation.
(02:19):
I started off at Sotheby's inLondon.
I worked for some leadinggalleries in Europe.
I moved to New York in the late1990s and worked for an
(02:39):
important gallery there,becoming very familiar with some
of the iconic artists of thatscene Warhol, Basquiat, Harring,
Condo, um, the most notableones amongst many, many others.
Im also involved, uh, with thisgallery, um working on um,
representing the estate ofFrancis Bacon, which was
(03:02):
incredible to to learn about Um.
And then, after that, I set upmy own gallery representing
artists, having exhibitions,publishing catalogues,
travelling to art fairs, butreally enjoyed a sort of
specialisation in that, after atime, developing exhibitions
(03:24):
that were thematic shows, arthistorical sorts of shows, with
maybe a little bit more of amuseological emphasis, the only
difference being, of course,that works were available for
sale.
So that became a passion ofmine, much more so than
representing artists a passionof mine, much more so than
(03:48):
representing artists, um.
So getting involved in researchand historic artworks, um
created a sort of a naturalpathway to doing that all the
time.
So I worked in the last decadeor so privately buying for
myself, um, buying for myself,um using using art as a, as a, a
(04:12):
sort of a platform with whichto trade, buy and sell and grow
that as as a collection, butalso as an asset, um, and then
doing the same for some privatecollectors who had similar
passions, similar interests asmyself, um, and were happy to
sort of do some of the samethings that I was doing and
recommending to them, um, andthen bringing that kind of
(04:35):
experience and insight to, um,some private family offices and,
uh, some fine art investmentfunds.
So that's my background.
Now I live in Copenhagen and Ido those things as one of the
founding partners of Nordic ArtPartners, and I am in
(04:57):
partnership with you, jeppe.
So why don't you tell us aboutyour background?
You've come to the art world byan unusual route.
Now, I know all about it, butmaybe you can share a little.
Jeppe Curth (05:11):
Thank you, nick.
Yes, maybe a bit unusual, but Iguess it started 15 years ag.
I am a former professionalfootball player, mostly in
Denmark, but I was also a shortperiod in the Netherlands.
Then, during my career inDenmark, I have been studying
(05:38):
and I have been building upother companies, which I have
been exiting most of them.
But I also become veryinterested in art and start
buying art as a collector butwhen I had to do my master,
together with my brother, wecame up with Art land because
(05:58):
there was a part of the masterand before we knew, we started a
company and run that for forseven years, which gave me deep
insight and knowledge about theart industry and art market
which I came from today and alsowhere we met, which was great.
(06:19):
And also because of that, weare now in Nordic Art Partners
together.
But I mean this podcast is alsoabout we now are Nordic Art
Partners together.
But I mean this
Nicholas Robinson (06:34):
That's what motivated you to suggest doing
this, because I wasn't, you know, super enthusiastic at first.
I just thought, you know, know,there's presumably lots of
podcasts.
What could we add um to this?
You know this long, long listof of things that one could
potentially listen to about theart world, experts and whatever
(06:56):
else.
You know, yeah, why us doingthis?
Jeppe Curth (07:00):
well.
First of all, as you know, Ilove to pick your brain and
understand many of the thingsthat you take for granted and
have knowledge about um, which Idon't, so I love asking the
questions and get new insights,information and and I thought
also, you were very good ondescribing stuff.
(07:22):
You're very good in words,you're a native speaker and you
have a fantastic voice forpodcasting, and I listen to a
lot of podcasts.
Nicholas Robinson (07:33):
A face for radio.
Jeppe Curth (07:35):
You can say that a face for radio.
Nicholas Robinson (07:37):
Thank you.
Jeppe Curth (07:39):
And therefore I thought this will be a very good
format for you to give someinsights, give some explanation,
because it will be mostly measking the question and you
answering them.
Yes, good, so why don't westart by me asking a question
and you can try to answer it?
Be my guest, Okay.
So you just asked me themotivation of this and why we
(08:03):
started or why I thought it wasa good idea.
What, what, what, what, what isyour hope we will?
Nicholas Robinson (08:08):
achieve with this?
Um, I don't know really.
I think it's an enjoyable wayto um develop discursive
situations, arguments aboutthings.
Um, it's uh, it's a way tocrystallize our own thoughts.
As you say, we spend a lot oftime talking through things
across our desks which we findinformative and helpful and
(08:31):
enjoyable to, to sort of bouncethings back and forth.
Um, so, in a way, why not makea distilled version of that?
Uh that we can share?
Um, so that was really the theidea.
Of course, if we can, uh, wecan help ourselves to, to
(08:51):
clarify our own thinking, tosort of interrogate and justify
our choices, um, that's, that'sa process that we go through
right process that we go throughright, yeah, always, and, and.
Jeppe Curth (09:08):
But maybe who do you think will benefit the most
from listening to thisconversation, this discussion
we'll have?
Nicholas Robinson (09:10):
well, yes, of course, I mean there's no
specific benefit to us umrecording it for ourselves, um,
but we have colleagues andfriends in in in different, uh,
geographical parts of the artmarkets across the world, and we
have clients and collectors andwe often, of course, are
(09:35):
communicating our rationales forwhy something is interesting or
why we wish to explore and getinvolved in acquiring works by
this artist or that artist.
So it's a way of yeah, it's away of of of providing this
information in this sort of easyto digest format where we,
where we can explain ourselvesand the reasons for why, why
we're doing what we're doing.
(09:56):
So that's really one onemotivation.
Another is is for you know,people that we have no
relationship with, but peoplewho are just interested in
listening to content that mightbe interesting to them.
Maybe people are out there whohave thought about acquiring art
(10:16):
, really would love to acquireart, have the means and the
motivation to acquire art, butperhaps they're intimidated by
what can seem a very opaque andimpenetrable industry and they
don't really know how tonavigate it, and they don't
really know how to begin.
Jeppe Curth (10:39):
Nick, could you explain how we approached the
intersection of art appreciationand collecting strategy?
Nicholas Robinson (10:48):
Yes, absolutely.
I mean we are.
Firstly, we are very open, andI think that means that we are
curious and ready to look andlearn and listen.
And so what we do, I mean we,we we're lucky that we work for
(11:09):
ourselves and we work in anindustry that has galleries in
great cities all around theworld and art fairs that take
place in places that you're veryhappy to visit.
Um, so we go out into the worldand we, we look, um, we look, we
look online, we read thevarious dispatches that one can
(11:32):
find in the art world, we studyauction catalogs to see what's
happening with artists that wefollow new artists that are
maybe coming onto the auctionblock that have not been part of
that world before?
Um not been included in thesekinds of things, that sort of
act as a, an endorsement for anartist's status within within
(11:55):
the art world, within the artmarket?
Um, so we're very open, we loveto, we love to be surprised, we
love to discover and we love tobuild on the understandings
that we already have.
So that's the, that's the firstthing.
Um, and then, and then we, whenwe see things that peak our
curiosity and our interest, thenwe bring to bear various
(12:20):
methodologies, professionalexperience on finding out more
and determining how to qualifythose things.
So we try and see where innatevalue, artistic value and a
certain kind of credential, wefind out where those two things
(12:45):
coalesce.
So it's a passion that then iseither endorsed or discredited,
debunked by a certain rationalinvestigation.
So that's really how we cansummarize how we go about doing
what we do.
Jeppe Curth (13:04):
Okay, so in your opinion, what sets us apart from
other arts advisors?
Nicholas Robinson (13:08):
Okay.
So, in your opinion, what setsus apart from other arts
advisors?
Well, I think that our clearidea is that we are not fixated
on any kind of style of art, anyparticular date attached to art
, any movement.
We are really completelyreceptive to finding out where
(13:33):
opportunities maybe can exist.
We don't get overexcited by newthings that become really
difficult to get.
We don't become intoxicated byfashions and trends and and and
become crestfallen by, you know,a fear of missing out.
We are much more interested inlooking at these artists that
(14:00):
inspire us and that we find thatsomehow their critical
reputation, their criticalreputation, their representation
in institutions, just theirgeneral historic impact on art
production, from whichevergeneration they come, why these
(14:23):
factors have maybe nottranslated into the kind of high
prices or commercial successthat we see with so many other
artists that, to our mind, toour eye, are maybe more, more
difficult to understand.
So so we we research a lot, uh,and we try and find the places
(14:48):
in the art market, in ourcollecting and acquisition
strategies, where we have allthe conviction in the world,
based upon a sort ofunimpeachable art historical
status, and where we feel themarket is yet to catch up with
that and to reflect that sort ofimportance that we feel is
(15:13):
inherent to that work.
Jeppe Curth (15:16):
How would you best summarize our activities in
Nordic Art Partners?
Nicholas Robinson (15:34):
Well, what we do is a few things.
Primarily, we buy art.
We buy art for ourselves, intoour company and privately and
jointly as collectors, buildinga portfolio of works that we
believe in, that we love to loveto have and think will have a
significant increased value inthe future.
(15:56):
And that's that's the firstthing that we do.
And then we because we're doingthis habitually for ourselves
all the time we we shareinformation that enables others
to sort of jump on the train, ifyou like, people that can share
in the information that weprovide and that can and then
(16:18):
can buy similar things from us,um, for their own collections,
uh, their own portfolios, ifthey wish to consider it as a
diversified asset, um.
So so we build value and webuild wealth for ourselves and
for others in this way, um, andthen we provide these advisory
services to also some sort ofcorporate entities, family
(16:42):
offices and also to some smallfine art investment funds.
So that's the main core of ourprofessional activities.
Jeppe Curth (16:55):
Okay, but please try to walk us through the
process of how we choose whichartists to spotlight, buy or
recommend.
Nicholas Robinson (17:02):
Well, how do we choose?
Well, you know, it comes backto the first sort of comment
that I made about being open toseeing things.
I mean, we live in a veryvisual culture and obviously
we're well versed in looking atart.
In all the places where artoccurs, be it in the physical
(17:23):
realm, in galleries and in artfairs or auctions we follow the
same, all the same things online, and we have associates and
colleagues in far flung cornersof the world that are constantly
sending us messages.
Look at this, look at that, andyou know, some of those things
(17:45):
catch our eye and precipitatefurther investigation.
So, so, so there's no, there'sno formula to to.
You know how we find things?
The, the, the.
The formula is that we haveexperience in looking at lots of
things over many, many years.
Um, and so, if something looksinteresting, looks unique, looks
(18:09):
like something maybe we haven'tseen before, or reminds us of
the importance of an artist thatperhaps is sort of in the
recesses of our mind but maybewe haven't thought about, it
reminds us to think about and itgives us a reason to delve,
delve deeper, and then we,obviously we, we, we try and
(18:29):
understand all of the thingsthat, um, all of the criteria by
which we judge value, and thatwould be the, the artists
contribution to, you know, to,to visual culture, to art
history, the recognition thatthey may or may have received or
maybe did not receive from, uh,critics contemporaneous with
(18:53):
their, with their time ofproduction.
Um, what museums are?
Are these artists representedin?
What are the galleries likethat show the artists?
You know the, the representinggalleries?
What is the status, what is thequality of of the galleries?
Um, so, so there's lots of,lots of criteria that we can,
(19:17):
that we can use to assesswhether an artist is worth
pursuing for us.
Jeppe Curth (19:24):
Maybe you could give us a sneak peek into the
types of artists, and maybe alsoart movements, we're going to
explore in the next episodes.
Nicholas Robinson (19:34):
Yeah, absolutely it's a very diverse
group.
Yeah, absolutely it's a verydiverse group.
And, again, it would be verydifficult for me to put my
finger on why these particularartists came to the fore in our
thinking.
But the one thing they allshare in common is that we're
able to tick off many of thecriteria, selecting criteria,
(19:57):
sort of important credentialsthat I've described, uh, just
just a couple of moments ago.
Um, they're probably, um, youknow, interesting discrepancies
between primary market prices,secondary market prices, all
these kinds of things.
But some of the artists thatthat we, that we that we follow
and that we've gotten quiteheavily involved with
(20:17):
professionally, um, the Italianartist Salvo um is that we, that
we follow and that we've gottenquite heavily involved with
professionally, um, the Italianartist Salvo um is, is a is a
favorite of ours, um, and we'vedone a great deal of work with,
with his paintings Um, the thegreat German artist, um Heinz
Mack, one of the seniorstatesmen of uh mid-century
(20:37):
abstraction.
There's an American, I guess,essentially a landscape painter
she perhaps may not thank me fordescribing her this way Lois
Dodd, who's an icon of theNortheastern art scene in North
America.
Who, who else?
(20:58):
Um?
Chico de Silva, a self-taughtartist, um, who came to
prominence in Brazil in the1960s.
Self-taught um, reallyinteresting character, um, yeah,
I mean there'll be othersFriedrich Kunath, a German
painter, um, who's a mid-careerartist but also a contemporary
(21:19):
artist who's continuing to makewaves in his career and his
development.
And then there'll be othersthat I guess you discover if you
tune in along the way.
Jeppe Curth (21:29):
What key takeaways do we hope our listener will
gain from tuning into thispodcast?
Nicholas Robinson (21:36):
Well, I think that one of the things that I
hope that that people derivefrom listening to this is that
there's really a lot of thingsout there that one could buy.
I mean a lot, um, so it's it's.
It's firstly exciting to go outand look at lots of things and
(21:57):
learn about lots of things sothat you can really understand
the vast array of interestingopportunities that exist.
And the second thing, I think,is that it's not necessary, in
my opinion, to jump on voguishthings or be afraid of missing
out on things.
There is always something else,and for every time I've been
(22:23):
crestfallen by something, a sortof profound sense of loss for
not being able to acquiresomething.
It's a very fleeting sensation,and the very next day,
invariably, there's somethingelse that gives me exactly the
same feeling of exhilaration andexcitement as that which I lost
out on literally hours, daysbefore good, thank you, nick.
(22:51):
So I think, but actually oneother thing yeah, go apart from
that, obviously, that there's aworld of opportunity to explore
and become inspired by, thatit's possible to take those
feelings and to understand them,to sort them, to qualify them,
find out where the caveats are,find out where the pitfalls are
(23:15):
that I think you know.
Approach the situation withrigor, with an open mind, but
also with requisite caution andpreparedness to do the work to
make sure that you're able tomake well-informed decisions.
Jeppe Curth (23:31):
Great Nate, Thank you.
So thank you for joining us onthis introduction episode of the
Collector's Edge.
We hope you will enjoy learningabout art, specific artists and
their markets.
If you have any questions orwant to reach out to us, please
visit our website, follow us onsocial media or send us an email
(23:51):
on info at nordicartpartnerscom.
See you next time.
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