![\"LucyMcKenzie\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/LucyMcKenzie4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI included two pictures because it’s horribly difficult to photograph art with a digital camera (even a good one) and get the resulting photo to look semi-close to the reality.<\/p>\n I did the first photo with my Canon G16 and Photoshopped it to make it look brighter. The second photograph comes from a PDF which the artist’s agent sent me by email.<\/p>\n This is the description:<\/p>\n It’s not an original.The artist makes new ones from a stencil. She puts the colors in by hand, so not all look exactly alike, especially when examined closely.<\/p>\n Susan forbade me from spending $33,000 on it, though I did like it and the agent was willing to throw in the framing for free.<\/p>\n Why did someone else pay $33,000? I’m guessing:<\/p>\n + They liked it. I actually did too. It was my favorite piece among the several hundred I saw yesterday during our visit to the Frieze Art Fair on Randall’s Island, New York. You have to like what you own. It may sit on your wall for years before the time will be ripe to sell it for millions.<\/p>\n + You have to believe that someone will promote Lucy McKenzie to a point where she’s as known as Andy Warhol or Pablo Picasso. At that point, everyone will love their works and be prepared to pay up, making your piece worth millions and your IRR astronomical. Lucy is only 37 so she has some time to go before joining Warhol and Picasso.\u00a0 A long wait.<\/p>\n + Somebody actually believed that something is worth what they paid for it.<\/p>\n The little art we own we bought because we liked it and were happy to live with it. I was also impressed with the artist. They seemed to understand the value of self-promotion. Or were about to die. (One did.)<\/p>\n I have some friends who dabble in contemporary art — what modern art is now called. They all spend a lot of time visiting museums and galleries and learning what’s hot. They learn an artist and whether this or that piece is a “bargain.”<\/p>\n This photograph went for $20,000.<\/p>\n This painting went for $28.000.<\/p>\n \u00a0 This sculpture went for $165,000. (I don’t make these numbers up.)<\/p>\n The painting went for $38,000.<\/p>\n I asked one of the gallery owners why the prices were “so high.” She said the rent on her booth at Frieze was very pricey.<\/p>\n And so, I might add, was lunch for Susan and myself:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n