What was your first ever Art Purchase?

[iamzero]

Charming Baker Bird ii just before it got released at Jealous Gallery. Always a visitors favourite.

[Martin DK]

Great Faile story!

[Lroy]

All came after Exith Through The Gift shop.
When I had a flash in the first 5 minutes ( the dface tenner and Paris Hilton were great too ) of the movie, as the riff of God Save the Queen by the Pistols.
My history is not romantic at all as I just earned at the betting on horses racing , 24 k
So, i cant remember which one I bought first : one of these 3 for sure, the Insect target I guess. Then the Stik Canvas and the Petrol Bomb.
My Dream Was to Get a tenner ( I bought one on the bay for 550 quids lol ) and the Paris Hilton CD : niet. )

http://instagram.com/p/kpl51ZPmKM

http://instagram.com/p/49DZvHvmLd

http://instagram.com/p/BIA87xgj1Nj

[sakyamuni]

back in 2007, this shepard fairey, Stalin Lenin banner....



got it on ebay and i never understood if it was real or fake.... Bought Revolutionnary women a few weeks later and this one is real. I still have both.

[yoyosh]

This is a fun thread Silky, thanks.
My first purchase were the 2 signed Shepard Fairey "Man On The Moon" posters you see in my profile icon. I'm a huge Andy Kaufman fan, and in 1999 a version of these posters with "Andy Lives" on the bottom were all over Chicago. I wanted one, and saw a signed version for sale on a website I used to buy music at (DigitalGravel.com). At the last minute i bought both the "Andy" version as well as the "Tony Clifton" version. I had no idea what Obey was, who Shep was, etc. They've been on walls (in sh**tty frames) in various homes I've lived in since 1999.

[ed]

First purchase: Banksy - Weston Super Mare print.

Can't remember exactly when but bought it from the Greenleaf book shop in Bristol which closed in 2005 so before then!

This was in the time when F5 was an odd key on my keyboard that I'd never touched.

Nowadays I'd not get anywhere near a Banksy release unless it was a lottery. Back then I visited the shop a few times over a month or so trying to justify spending £50 when i didn't really have it to spare.

Can't post a pic of the one I owned as I sold it >.<

[docean]

My first art buy was this painting by Clifton Carleton. I was 12 years old at an estate sale with my grandmother.  I was digging through paintings in the closet and found this one in the very back, all mangled.  Picked it up for $2.75.  Turns out it was done in the late 1800's.  I still collect older work from time to time, but most of it never makes my walls which are covered in urban/contemporary work.

[Balboa]

My first art buy was a Banksy signed Jack & Jill from POW for £150. I dithered over it for a couple of days before pulling the trigger too. Those were the days.

[chrispa]

From Shep's first London show in 1999...how I wish I had bought more!

[met]

Jul 18, 2016 17:39:37 GMT 1 Amber Halo said:

My first art purchase was this Ana Teresa Fernandez canvass. I still remember her driving it to my house in the rain in her tiny hatchback, about 12 years ago now. (Time flies when you're getting old!)

She's still quite the active artist - with her work exploring race relations, and the role of women.

http://instagr.am/p/BHSic7Hg_9G

Great piece. Congratulations on your first purchase.

I'm very fond of the washed-out lighting, but especially the subject matter and apparent theme: Duality, even tension, between domesticity requirements and societal expectations of women when outside the home.

Separately, would you know if the abstract artwork depicted in the background is based on an actual painting or print? The style is reminiscent of Sonia Delaunay, with a hint of Terry Frost.

[nandaman]

My first piece - a Banksy Color Trolley Hunters. I had been wanted a Banksy for years, since living in London in 2002-2003 and seeing some stuff. I had no money then as a student. I finally was able to get my Trolley's piece (from someone on this site!) in 2008. It was the start of a slippery slope for me, now I have 5 Banksy prints and about 50 pieces of art in total! Such a fun community to be a part of!

[met]

Jul 24, 2016 13:13:30 GMT 1 met said:

Jul 18, 2016 17:39:37 GMT 1 Amber Halo said:

My first art purchase was this Ana Teresa Fernandez canvass. I still remember her driving it to my house in the rain in her tiny hatchback, about 12 years ago now. (Time flies when you're getting old!)

She's still quite the active artist - with her work exploring race relations, and the role of women.

http://instagr.am/p/BHSic7Hg_9G

Great piece. Congratulations on your first purchase.

I'm very fond of the washed-out lighting, but especially the subject matter and apparent theme: Duality, even tension, between domesticity requirements and societal expectations of women when outside the home.

Separately, would you know if the abstract artwork depicted in the background is based on an actual painting or print? The style is reminiscent of Sonia Delaunay, with a hint of Terry Frost.

It is to my slight embarrassment that I didn't work out the answer to my question sooner:

Pablo Picasso, Girl Before a Mirror, 1932 — a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter

[Walter was also the model for Le Rêve, notoriously damaged in 2006 by Steve Wynn's elbow, just before completion of a $139 million sale to Steven Cohen.]

[Amber Halo]

Met, your art observations are impressive!  You've certainly honed in on the message behind the painting, and indeed all of the paintings Ana did for this set of work called "pressing matters."  Her statement about this series is linked here.  anateresafernandez.com/pressing-matters/

Quite candidly, I'm not sure what piece she based the abstract on but there are some clear similarities to Girl Before a Mirror, which is something I would have never independently noticed.  I'll have to ask her the next time I see her and report back.

In any event, the more art we buy over the years, I think we are bound to have some "regret" purchases in our collections as we develop our own eye and preferences.  But this one I will never regret.  It still brings a glow to the room in which it hangs after all of these years.    

[Standard]

Pair of canvas works by Russ Mills

[Coach]

I can't say that this was the first painting I ever bought, but it was bought more than 25 years ago.

[met]

Jul 26, 2016 18:22:41 GMT 1 Amber Halo said:

Met, your art observations are impressive!  You've certainly honed in on the message behind the painting, and indeed all of the paintings Ana did for this set of work called "pressing matters."  Her statement about this series is linked here.  anateresafernandez.com/pressing-matters/

Quite candidly, I'm not sure what piece she based the abstract on but there are some clear similarities to Girl Before a Mirror, which is something I would have never independently noticed.  I'll have to ask her the next time I see her and report back.

In any event, the more art we buy over the years, I think we are bound to have some "regret" purchases in our collections as we develop our own eye and preferences.  But this one I will never regret.  It still brings a glow to the room in which it hangs after all of these years.    

Thank you for the link.

Yes, do report back when you next speak to Fernandez.

I suspect the decision to reference Girl Before a Mirror was considered and deliberate. The subject certainly complements the artist's choice of theme for her Pressing Matters series of paintings.

[randomname]

I was cleaning out the garage and came across this. I bought it on a high school trip to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1993. Pretty sure that was my first. I have no idea who the artist is. 

[Aza]

Christ with Shopping Bags from POW.
Unfortunately I no longer have it

[Daniel Silk]

Aug 8, 2016 17:27:58 GMT 1 Aza said:

Christ with Shopping Bags from POW.
Unfortunately I no longer have it

In my opinion that was the worst quality Banksy print ever produced. The detail of the image was awful like it was printed using an old dot matrix printer, with pixels all over the place.

[Aza]

That's true, but I loved it all the same

[nubu]

This is from Fakir (http://fakirdesign.com/) from 2011 if I'm right

[Young Squire]

Eelus - Shat-At (blue) November 2005

Quality little print. Long gone unfortunately. To my disbelief the wife hasn't even seen star wars!

[yoyosh]

This is the most interesting thread on the forum these days...more senior forum members should chime in. We can get back to buying/selling/pricing afterwards

[T-Bro]

signed Monkey queen. followed by signed WSM, Signed Happy choopers...

[Black Apple Art]

First piece was this Peter Max "Delta" which has now been in storage for quite a bit. 

[Flashback]

Aug 8, 2016 16:21:16 GMT 1 randomname said:

I was cleaning out the garage and came across this. I bought it on a high school trip to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1993. Pretty sure that was my first. I have no idea who the artist is. 

Really nice. What does it say at the bottom? Thanks.

[pippyt75]

Random one this. When I was travelling round South America in 2006 I got chatting to a local guy called Juan in a town literally in the middle of nowhere in Ecuador doing some Graf. Made friends, got pissed and the next day he gave me this work that he did. When I queried how I'd carry it round he said no worries, he had a tube. He gave me a drainpipe.... Ended up carrying an industrial size drainpipe round South America for the next 6 months! To the point where I became known as Drainpipe Guy on the travelling circuit! Bought all the usual suspects since but this will always have a special place in my collection.

[tigerblood]

That's a great story pippyt75! Cool piece too

[randomname]

Aug 10, 2016 19:39:57 GMT 1 Flashback said:

Aug 8, 2016 16:21:16 GMT 1 randomname said:

I was cleaning out the garage and came across this. I bought it on a high school trip to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1993. Pretty sure that was my first. I have no idea who the artist is. 

Really nice. What does it say at the bottom? Thanks.

Thanks. My wife, who's Lithuanian but also speaks Russian, can only make out the second part. It says "Saint Petersburg." She thinks the first part in quotes is the title of the print. And the last part before the signature might be the artist's name. 

We're curios now that you brought it up. So she texted it to a Russian friend. We'll see if he can do a better job of translating.

[maurinquina]

First piece I ever got was a Ralph Steadman The Sheriff Pirate Edition as a high school graduation gift some ten years ago. Still one of my favorites, though most people can't stomach it.