Dear all
This is one of THE best websites on the earth !
It's a free country and this place reflects that . The country is full of all sorts of people both good and bad and this forum is a small version of it.
Silky bless him set this up as a place to discuss art and for people to safely express THEIR opinions .
No doubt when this site started it's membership was 99.9 % comprised of people who just loved the art.
But as time has gone on and the country becomes a massive everyman for himself bundle people look to make a few quid so the focus has shifted away from , " What do you think this piece represents " and " I wonder what the artist is saying here " to " I wonder if this is going to be worth a few quid " and " I have this for sale , PM me "
There will always be flippers in any field , just look at ebay .Before ebay it was not maybe quite so rife but it's always gone on .
It's annoying to miss a piece you really want and even more annoying to see it on ebay 10 mins after it sold it knowing that the seller will probably not even bother taking it out of the tube .
Unfortunately there is sod all we can really do about it so maybe it's time to just go back to basics and chat about a new piece we've seen on the street or for sale and leave them to it . The only tool at our disposal is to not bid anything up straight away but to fight the urge and wait for prices to drop as BIN auctioneers undercut each other - and they always do .
New Years resolutions for 2008 maybe
1, Don't neg people for not sharing your opinions
2, Ignore flipping as best you can - or at least lets discuss it a bit less
3, Don't ask for PM's - nobody likes doing it . Things will sell better if you give a price.
4, Appreciate that not every piece of art sold on here or ebay is being flipped . In many cases someone will simply be trying to raise funds to buy another piece. - Look at it as your chance to get something you missed first time .
I really enjoy checking this site each day and although i may not personally be as " arty " as some I know what i like . In just over a year I have had my eyes opened up to a lot of art that i never knew existed before . Some good, some great , some amazing and some Mmmm not for me thanks .
Anyway - that's enough waffle from me now .
Thanks from me to everyone for sharing their views this year , I look forward to much more in the future
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to ALL of you