The Art of Making Money

Art and money have always been cosy bedfellows, with the amount someone is prepared to pay for a work of art generally providing a pretty good indication of the esteem in which that artist’s work is viewed. But Anthony White has further cemented the link over recent years with paintings that play with the concepts of value and artistic currency, and that are inspired by his previous incarnation as a stockbroker at ABN AMRO Morgans and Credit Suisse First Boston.

White’s certainly come a long way since he swapped stocks and shares for paint and brushes. He first got interested in art during his time at university (“I didn’t have much money, and going to an art gallery was a fairly inexpensive date and could still make you look sort of cool and intellectual”) and was encouraged to take up painting by a former girlfriend who suggested it might help with his work-life balance. “I was broking during the week and renovating properties on the weekend, so I was pretty much working 24/7; she thought that getting back into art would be a good way of achieving some balance,” he says. “So I started painting about the thing I knew most about – money. I don’t think she was too happy about that; I think it just proved to her that I was focused on money all the time.”

He subsequently found he was spending more time painting than he was at work – to the extent that he was taking brushes and canvases to the office, closing the door, pretending he was with a client, and painting. “I knew I couldn’t keep it up – having my mind focused on producing and selling more artwork while working as a stockbroker at the same time – so something had to give,” he says wryly.

But what really provided the impetus to concentrate full-time on painting and convinced him that he could make a living out of art was the realization that the internet was rapidly opening up new opportunities for emerging artists. “The internet is an integral part of my work,” confirms White. “I see that the artists of tomorrow are the ones that are developing an internet presence today. It’s changed everything; it gives people the opportunity to promote and display their work to new audiences, often bypassing traditional galleries in the process. Just as it has revolutionized other businesses, the internet is now transforming the way people buy, sell and exhibit art.”

As proof of this newfound power, his Money Series – paintings of currency amounts that sell for the figure painted on the canvas – has sold over 500 paintings in one year to private collectors in California, New York, London, Switzerland and Europe. “The concept behind the money series was about the relationship between money and art,” he says. “It shows that people don’t just paint for visual pleasure; they also paint for financial reward as well. When an artist is starting out, their paintings typically don’t sell for a lot of money; then, as they get better known, their art increases in value over time. I think it just sort of explained how the art market worked. From watching shares go up and down, I found there was always an explanation behind the share market. I guess I was just trying to find something that could better explain the art market.”

The US$ version of the Money Series, for instance, starts at US$1 and continues up in US$1 increments. When White sells a painting for the dollar amount on the canvas, he then works on selling the next painting in the series (the last painting plus one). Paintings are only sold in numeric order; however you can reserve a number in advance. In theory, as White’s fame and artistic ‘value’ increase, so too does the real value of his work. White clearly has his fingers crossed that his popularity will continue to grow: he already has reservations for the US$250,000, US$500,000 and US$1 million paintings in the series. “One thing I didn’t anticipate when I did The Money Series is just how attached people are to certain numbers or what numbers mean to them,” says White.

It’s a theme he’s carried into his latest project, which consists of painting public ticker symbols on canvas. “The Money Series was about how money related to art. In stock brokerage and life, I have dealt with a lot of numbers but none of them ever meant much to me. However, there are a lot of stock codes that mean a great deal to me. Some people choose to paint landscapes. Some do portraiture. Others do still life. People paint what’s relevant to them. I see stock symbols and the ticker code as part of our modern lifestyle. They’re everywhere; some people spend more time researching stocks and shares then being with their own family, so they’re certainly important to a lot of people.”

It’s certainly a topic close to White’s own heart, and one that draws upon his past experiences dealing in financial markets. “I’ve got plenty of memories of stock codes,” he admits. “The shares that doubled, the ones that quadrupled, the ones that have disappeared, the ones that have been taken over – the good, the bad and the downright ugly. I’ve certainly got heaps of memories of stock codes and trading in shares.”

And he’s not the only one. The ticker symbols clearly strike a chord with the buying public, too. “One of my buyers made so much money out of [European budget airline] easyJet that they really wanted to buy the stock code as a memento. Others buy the paintings because they feel they have some sort of affiliation with the company – perhaps they’ve worked there, or admire the way it operates. The woman who bought the Babcock & Brown ticker, for example, really liked the chairman and the work that he was doing. She liked his morals and thought it was great that someone could earn a lot of money and still have strong morals as well. So there are lots of different reasons.”

So is art really a good investment? “I certainly hope so,” laughs White. “When I was a stockbroker it was always my number one goal to make the clients money and I still feel that sense of responsibility with my artwork. When someone buys my paintings I want to make sure that it is a good investment for them and I do feel responsible for that. The good news is that nobody who has bought my artwork has ever lost money – and as a former broker, that’s something I’m very pleased about.”

Going, going, gone

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