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How to Buy Art?

The Israeli art market is small. So small, that only a handful of galleries and a few auction houses manage the entire intersection of art and finance. One of them is Gordon Gallery, a highly established commercial gallery that has been dominating the Israeli art world since the 1960s. Among its impressive list of represented artists are Deganit Berest, Ron Arad, and Yair Garbuz, some of the leading names in Israeli art. In a non-formal conversation with Impact Collections' members, Amon Yariv, the Gallery's Owner and Director, discussed artistic potential and the "gut feeling" that leads him when deciding which artists to include in the Gallery's program. He stressed that when it comes to art, there's no "right" or "wrong", even in an established gallery like Gordon. There's potential, progress, and intuition. In Gordon's case, the artists' locality is also crucial. The Gallery, like most commercial Israeli galleries, focuses on the local market rather than expanding to the global art scene through art fairs and other global art events. This creates somewhat of a small "art bubble" that includes local artists, galleries, and buyers, all involved and invested (financially as well as emotionally) in Israeli daily affairs.

  • Photo Credit: Gordon Gallery

This World Archive, September 18, 1985

Gordon was also central to establishing the presence of art auction houses in Israel. During the 1970s, Amon's father and Gordon's founder, Shaya Yariv, formed the first auction house in the country within the Gordon Gallery. It was only in the 1990s that international auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's began operating in the region. Unlike his father – who was fond of the thrill and fast pace of auctions – Amon steered the gallery in a different direction, establishing close relationships with only a small number of artists. In a sense, Amon and Shaya represent two different approaches to the art market. While the father focused on the secondary market, working with collectors and dealers on projects that shift rapidly, his son prefers to work directly with artists over a long period of time as they develop their artistic language.
Whether it is on the primary or secondary market, the participants in the event came to a unanimous conclusion – art is about falling in love with an object and its beauty, and those should be the decisive factors for any art buyer.

Photo Credit: Gordon Gallery

Roni Gilat-Baharaff, Managing Director of Christie's Israel and International Senior Director at Christie's, was also part of the Impact Collections event. In a conversation with Amon, she explained why she believes financial incentives should not set the tone when it comes to purchasing art. Both Roni and Amon agreed that the art market is so unexpected that any financial reasoning behind an art purchase should be addressed cautiously. In fact, sometimes, it is the gallery that determines a work's price, while other times it is the market's inner logic – according to supply and demand – that affects auction houses and their pricing.
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