Black Art, more than just a trend: The second half of the Black art market equation.
It is not a myth that the market for works by Black American artists grew by nearly 400% between 2008 and 2021, according to the 2022 ArtNet report. Most museums have acquired new works by Black artists to add to their collections and have featured more traveling exhibitions featuring artists of color, galleries have increased their representation of Black artists, and collectors of all races are following this trend. But is that enough to keep Black art from becoming just another diversity, equity, and inclusion trend? Representation in the fine art world is only half of the equation to keep the Black art market growing; the second is the importance and increasing new demographics of collectors and patrons to support the ongoing work of these artists.
Much like other Eurocentric institutions, the fine art world tends to be mysterious for newcomers of different demographics. Access to fine arts institutions has historically restricted potential patrons of color from engaging in the arts. In some cases, museums being in city centers in cities with inadequate transportation, the inability to afford tickets to experience museum traveling and permanent exhibitions, historical racial segregation, and the continued cutting of arts education in schools all lead to professionals having to start from scratch in learning what, when, where, and how to participate in the art world. Then, once they begin to expand their art world, they must navigate the mysterious world of collecting, learn how to start, learn what good art looks like, etc., all answers that seem more accessible to their white art collector peers through legacies and networks.
I am lucky my parents wanted us entrenched in the arts from a young age. My sisters and I were all trained in ballet. My father made sure to have memberships to all the local galleries and season tickets to all performing arts across the metroplex. No vacation was complete without a trip to a local museum or performance. And original art was always present in the homes of my parents and grandparents. So, I grew up with a love and passion for the art. Even with that background, when I began to collect fine art a few years ago, I was absolutely lost. I am once again lucky that by the point that I bought my first fine art piece, I had friends who were art curators, artists, writers, gallerists, and educators who were there to educate and guide me on this new adventure and teach me about the behind-the-scenes world of fine art. These were things that my time growing up exploring museums would never have taught me, though those years did help me form my strong view on art and collecting and helped inform my collecting philosophy. And without a safe space to ask what might seem like dumb questions to some experts, I know my first purchases would have been a very different story. But how can we open these resources to both experiencing art in traditional spaces like museums and creating a safe space for collecting knowledge to be shared to create a more robust pipeline of Black professionals who dream of collecting?
Museums have been working toward creating more equitable opportunities to explore and engage in their collections. The Dallas Museum of Art has made their permanent collections free to the public, and many of the major arts institutions, including the Nasher Sculpture Center, The Dallas Museum of Art, and The Modern Museum of Fort Worth, regularly have open museum days to allow guests to explore the traveling exhibitions at no additional cost. These events are usually full of guests wanting to explore the museums, but at the same time, only expose audiences to the art in their collections or on tour and not the process of how the works got from the artist to the museum, how many collectors owned this piece before the museum, was this donated by a collector or acquired by the museum, and most important the tides of the art market as a whole.
And galleries, though they are representing more Black artists, have not, for the most part, begun expanding their audiences to reflect the works and exhibitions now displayed on their walls. Instead, most rely upon the social media following of the artist they represent to draw a crowd of visitors who want to see the work to fill the room on opening and closing nights. However, those avid followers of the artists may not be collectors yet, causing galleries to depend upon their standard patron lists to make purchases. And though it has been successful as Black art has been all the rage, what happens if the artist doesn’t have a collector following yet or the tide changes and historical collectors move on to the next trendy thing to collect?
The subsequent growth phase for the Black art market depends on the continued education and accessibility of new audiences, most importantly Black audiences, to become patrons and collectors. Dallas/Fort Worth Black-owned galleries and a new community are making waves to encourage new Black collectors.
I am proudly a part of a group doing this very work. After a day of exploring galleries and continuing to be one of few or, in many cases, the only Black patrons, my cofounders and I launched a community to help answer how we create a safe space to learn about collecting. Black Arts DFW, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based organization, focuses on creating a community for the safe exploration of art in all its forms and demystifying the art collecting world. This organization is instrumental in creating more accessible spaces to explore and engage in Black arts and culture. It also helps build a more robust pipeline of art patrons and collectors to support the growth of the Black art market. Black Arts DFW has three significant initiatives to increase the patronage of Black arts within its community. The first is its compilation and posting of Black art events and exhibitions across the metroplex, providing a one-step guide for independent exploration of the Black art scene. The second is its commitment to curating Black arts event experiences, including art fairs, studio visits, gallery tours, performances, and private collection visits. The third focuses on demystifying art collecting through talks and workshops facilitating connections and sharing of uncommon knowledge, allowing individuals to carve their place in the art world and collecting. Through their work, they have partnered with local galleries and museums to bridge the gap between them and the Black professionals who want to become art patrons and collectors but might not know where to start. They have become a valued resource to the art community and are also trying to broaden their audiences.
In Dallas/Fort Worth, this work is also done by the Black-owned galleries, including Pencil on Paper Gallery and Daisha Board Gallery. Both galleries have audiences that might not find their way into other galleries across North Texas and have made it a part of their mission to serve as an educational space for their patrons through formal programming on collecting to informal mentorship for aspiring collectors to help them navigate through the purchasing their first pieces and narrowing down their collector philosophy, and creating culturally safe and relevant spaces with the artists and exhibitions that they represent.
Through the work of Black Arts DFW and Black-owned galleries, there has been a buzz of new collectors who might never have seen themselves as art collectors, looking to procure the first pieces of art and specifically looking for Black art. As the increased investment and acquisitions of Black art hopefully continue at the rate of today, I hope that galleries see the importance of them serving as educators and that other organizations continue to pop up to increase the second half of the Black art market equation to make sure that Black art is not a fad or a trend but indeed a permanent change in the market for the better.
