I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like. – Gelett Burgess

“I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like” .. ..  Its a phrase we hear often at the Gallery.  Its not a bad thing at all, clients who say this proceed to enjoy and purchase beautiful artworks using their instinct rather than intellect.  Thinking with their hearts and not their heads. These clients leave with a piece that speaks to them and fills a space in their homes and on their walls.

Red Hill Gallery Director, Margaret Campbell-Ryder collects this way also.  You often hear her cite stories of artworks in her home. The beautiful Loretta Blake floral that hung in the room her mother slept in always brings such fond memories of how her mum loved to wake up to this soft and gentle painting.  Or how her naughty kitten Matisse loves to do his workouts at  night, leaping from beautiful Stephen Glassborow bronzes, narrowly missing gorgeous Keith Rowe glass to land in a cheeky heap on the floor.  And I am sure her recent purchase of a painting of two cats, painted by the members of the Cerebal Palsy League, will always remind her of a fun night of art, fashion, champagne and laughs at the Arts for Artsake 2011 event. 

Of course there will always be people like us who love to learn more about what motivates an artist to create, how people react with colours, the history and theory of art, and explore it on all levels, but even then, what it all boils down to is listen to your heart and “buy what you love”.