“Man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry or money”  Ernst Levy

     Contrary to what many think, art does not have to be intimidating. However, even if its aesthetic elements prove daunting, consider art's other side. Throughout millennia, the economic environment has always been important for art, prompting its use throughout history as an asset.  Arts' proven low correlation with the stock and bond markets make it an ideal diversification tool, and cement its value as part of a capital preservation and volatility reducing strategy. Add to these factors its positive role as a hedge against inflation, and the fact that over the past 50-years art has outperformed the S&P 500, and been particularly strong during rapid and sustained downturns, and suddenly its economic appeal overwhelms all else. 

     Several ongoing structural changes increase the likelihood that arts' acceptance as an asset class will continue to grow, including the presence of a new, younger art-buying demographic. Composed of a burgeoning worldwide middle class, this group's decision-making process almost always includes a nod to the importance of design and is powering the embrace of art and design. As Patricia Martin writes in her book "RenGen," we are now shifting toward more of a 'deregulated market for art and ideas,' particularly as those things so long accepted as valuable are called into question. Simultaneously, the availability of heretofore secret pricing information via the internet is informing the public and removing an important layer of power from the dealer class. As a result, artists are increasingly going directly to auction, circumventing the inefficiency and bias inherent in the long-standing dealer/gallery model.

     This shift of power toward the producers and away from the middlemen is birthing a new degree of efficiency, and augmenting the acceptance and availability of this alternative asset just when the world needs it most.