Post #34017 by ikitnrev on Tue, May 13, 2003 7:55 PM

It is nearly impossible to determine whether an artist's work will increase or decrease in value over the future. If you bought your Shag prints only as an investment, you might want to sell now and get a guaranteed profit - but you may regret it if the prints continue to rise in value.

Shag's work is definitely well-known within the relatively small tiki and Juxtapoz categories, and for these crowds it might seem that his work is at the saturation level -- Here a Shag, there a Shag, everywhere a Shag-Shag -- and for the investment minded of us, doomed for a potential downturn.

I would argue that there are entire new communities of potential Shag fans who have not been reached. I recently started subscribing to Dwell, a modern architecture magazine, and I can't recall any mention of Shag in the 3 issues I've received - and his artwork would definitely appeal to that audience. How many guitar players have only recently heard of Shag based on his artwork in the latest Fender guitar catalog? What about those people just discovering tiki this summer through Buffet's tiki tour?

Did Shag play with toy trains as a child? If so, and he incorporates trains into his new artwork, he could have a whole new source of buyers who have Lionel trains in their basements ..... not to mention what would happen if Shag ever suddenly developed a Harley Davidson fetish. Perhaps the next winner of 'American Idol' will be wearing a Shag shirt for their final winning performance. These latter examples may be a bit far-fetched, but one can never tell when a certain artist will suddenly appeal to a much wider audience.

I'm in the view that if the Shag prints add value to your life -- either because of the visual pleasure they add to your wall, or the potential selling cash you can make when you decide to sell - then hold on to them. If they start bringing displeasure (perhaps your future wife will hate them), or anxiety (that their value may drop), or even just plain boredom (that print has been hanging there for years!) then you might as well sell them.

I haven't come close yet to reaching my Shag-selling point.

Vern