Investor Insights

March - 2021

Not just a buzzword anymore, Sustainable Art is here to stay!

This month, let’s explore how Sustainable Art plays an important role as an investment and in the World of Art.

Do you believe Sustainable Art can be a choice anymore? We think that with growing awareness and magnified by many investment choices, such an art makes a positive and extended impact, especially considering one’s social and environmental preferences. Not to forget, its aesthetic value.

Global ‘Investments of passion’ – Art is No. 1

Art signifies an object of desire. Its possession is more to do with our hearts than brains. Human beings are passionate about nature. Therefore, investing in Art is viewed as a safe option. Its value is only seen as appreciating as the years go by. As history may be witness, all great Art pieces are priceless and less volatile to market conditions.

In its 2021 Wealth Report, Knight Frank identifies Investments in Art as the top luxury investments in all regions of the world except Africa and Asia, where it is ranked as number 2. In the same report from Knight Frank, it is revealed that around 49% of family offices are more interested in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments than they were a year ago (article).

A revealing graphic from Visual Capitalist illustrates the importance of Art in luxury investment (article). While Larry Fink of BlackRock told at a Singapore conference that contemporary Art is “among the greatest stores of wealth internationally today . . . and I don’t mean that as a joke, I mean that as a serious asset class” (article).

Owing to the above facts, this means that contemporary artists now account for 15% of the global Art resale market. In 2000, it was only 3%.

A growing interest in Sustainable Art

Sustainable Art is not new, but it is definitely the focus for artists and connoisseurs who are rooting for ‘Green Earth’. The message for sustainability can be leveraged through powerful medium such as Art, thus creating inspiring social and cultural changes.

At the ‘We Make Tomorrow’ conference in London recently, artists and others discussed what the Art world could do to mitigate climate change.

One approach is through environmentally-themed exhibitions of Art and other works.

“Art has a way of getting ahead of the general discourse because it can convey information in new ways. By calling something ‘Art’, you are allowing an institution to support it,” said one of the speakers at the conference (article).

Sustainable Art investment for a greener future

We say, of course! When influencers can bring about a change, why not the Art depicting them then? A case in point – New York has committed to a climate-conscious future (article) for its galleries and Art Basel Miami tackled the climate crisis featuring a huge floating sign featuring Greta Thunberg’s famous ‘How dare you’ statement to the UN (article). This has secured investment flooding into the contemporary Art scene, and Sustainable Art is gaining ground. Those who possess these arts have the power to change the future for the better. Financial advisors must realize the role Art plays to a holistic asset management approach. Clients want deeper personal or emotional connections with their investments, and Art is a terrific asset class in that regard (article).

Know your Sustainable Art

As artists continue to raise awareness such as pollution and climate change and discontinue harmful materials in their canvas, Sustainable Art is taking on various forms depending on the materials used and the purpose behind the piece.

These may include:

Ecological Art – making a statement about ethics, civic responsibility, or social injustice.
Upcycling Art – created from previously deemed unusable or broken materials. Artists use materials that would be otherwise discarded on the landfills.
Land Art – materials derived from Mother Nature to create work woven into the land’s fabric. Often created in remote locations to further emphasize the power and beauty of nature.
Renewable Energy Sculpture – producing power from renewable sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal. Such an Art is utilitarian as well as aesthetic (article).

Why invest in Sustainable Art?

With increased awareness on ‘Saving the Planet’ and creativity, the role of artists as leaders and changemakers have become more prominent. This means there are more reasons to invest in Sustainable Art than most other investments.

A store of value: Buy, hold, sell, profit – like any speculative investment. Some contemporary pieces have sold for impressive prices after a modest purchase price.
For the aesthetic value: Do you like it? Does it intrigue you, or inspire?
For public relations: Buy it and show it as a representation of you/your firm’s attitude on matters such as climate change, waste, pollution.
For the ‘feel good’ factor: Stand up for your ideology.

Map your Sustainability mission

How does this map to your sustainability mission, you may ask?

Combining the interest in ESG and the important place of Art in investment leads us, inevitably, to Sustainable Art – the focus of our newsletter this month as we head towards Art Dubai – one of the most important events in the global arts calendar – now opening at the end of March.

The artists we are promoting are represented by Andakulova Gallery in Dubai. Andakulova Gallery is an end-to-end Art platform focusing on contemporary Art from Central Asia.

Sustainable Artists

Saule Suleimenova

A visual artist from Kazakhstan, where her views of the Kazakh society are reflected in her upcycling of plastic, polycarbonate, and cellophane about people of different countries, backgrounds, and life stories. Her Art aims to demonstrate the inorganic and bounded space in which people are constrained. While the materials she uses are not usually associated with Art, you may feel that the result (examples below) are more than aesthetically pleasing but also carry an important message.

Almagul Menlibayeva

Almagul Menlibayeva is a globally known photography and digital artist whose thoughtful works illustrate the ecological crisis of modern civilization. Her subjects are around the Aral Sea, which was once the fourth largest lake in the world but is now almost completely dried up since the feed river sources were diverted for agricultural irrigation (which uses some 70% of the world’s freshwater resources, often to produce crops that are totally inappropriate for the location). In completing her pieces, she uses archival paper and acid-free board framed with glass.

Vyacheslav ‘Yura’ Useinov

One of the current crop of artists who are using the medium of textiles to great effect. He continues to explore the possibilities of the textile as a rich utilitarian medium, conceptually, and process. His versatility allows him to work in different textile techniques such as tapestry, Chinese chi, and quilting, often incorporating traditional embroidery, carpet, and architectural ornaments into his textile artworks. His artwork is made of upcycled materials – such as silk, tapestry, mixed media, wood, ropes, glass, and clay. The effects can be seen below.

Where to next?

As the pandemic ‘forces’ us to stay home, the materials with which we surround ourselves have taken on a new significance, leading to a greater appreciation of art and materials.

At the same time, the global fears about climate change have heightened the role of artists and others who are helping to spread the message that we must not continue in the same old wasteful way. Governments and companies around the world are taking action – from reducing fossil fuels to dropping old-style power plants in electricity generation units and cars.

Join the movement by investing in Sustainable Art and let your investment make a strong statement about you and your firm. Talk to us today!