Walk: Trader Joe's
Distance: 4 miles, yoga
So a friend sent Ciwt an article profiling some current high profile Art Advisors, and it put her in mind of a member of that unregulated, wide open field from her past.
One day years ago Ciwt was working as manager of an art gallery when a newly divorced woman with a large settlement from her doctor husband came in. She did not know one thing about art - pink from purple, Manet from Michelangelo, etc. so Ciwt and the two owners spent a few hours informing her as best we could. It is doubtful she retained much as she just kept exclaiming "Art is so wonderful!". Other gallery owners we learned had had similar experiences and we all shook our heads.
Well, two weeks later the woman showed up again - with a client!! She shamelessly and brashly paraded this unwitting client through the gallery regaling her with complete but authoritative nonsense about the works before her. The owners and Ciwt stood by with our mouths agape at this ego and ambition. Ciwt doesn't remember if the newly minted Art Advisor sold her client anything that day, but she does know that advisor is still in business 40 years later.
The topic of Art Advisors is complex, and there is a lot to talk about. Certainly somewhere in the conversation would be : Collectors be advised! The 'business' of art is wild and often not particularly pretty.
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