Own a piece of artwork

“A short email thread with the artist, a few clicks in my online bank account, and a tracking number later, the package was at my door. No stress! No gauntlet of questions to prove that I was a real collector, and not some imposter! No inquisition into why me, of all people, would buy this! Oh, it was better than I’d ever dreamed. I was shaking when I opened it! It’s beautiful, more beautiful than any of the pictures or prints could have ever made it out to be. This isn’t an investment piece. This isn’t the start of a nest egg. It’s a piece of art that I bought for me, and it’s beautiful. It’s been weeks since it arrived and I’m not over the awe of it. I’ll be in the middle of some mundane activity, even just folding laundry, and I’ll walk over to stare at it. I can’t believe it’s mine.”

“The first time I got involved in art collecting was when I entered an auction house eight years ago and there was an exhibition preview. That was the first time I touched Song dynasty porcelain. I will never forget the shock I had that day, that the ancient Chinese people from a thousand years ago had created something so elegant. [...] I remember that when I held the porcelain in my hands, I felt for the first time the unique aura conveyed by the objects, which is actually what we call Song Yi (“the spirit of Song”). [...] It was with that one chance encounter with Song porcelain that collecting entered my life. I was also fortunate enough to collect my first porcelain piece, a numbered Jun jardinière in a purplish glaze.”