I don’t have a romantic attachment to what could have been. If I had kept all the work I had ever bought it would feel like Kane sitting in Xanadu surrounded by his loot. It’s enough to know that I have owned and shown so many masterpieces of modern times. ~ Charles Saatchi ~  British art collector and founder of Saatchi and Saatchi ad agency.

Who’s the art world’s biggest spender? On the basis of recent acquisitions of Impressionist paintings, and works by Picasso and Bacon, among others, the most votes in an informal survey go to Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali al-Thani. He is a member of the Qatar royal family and has been on the list of ARTnews 200, as well as on the Top Ten. Sheikh al-Thani has reportedly spent several hundred millions of dollars on art in recent years.

The Top Ten art collectors of this year also include Hélène and Bernard Arnault, Debra and Leon Black, Edythe L. and Eli Broad, Halit Cingillioglu, Alexandra and Steven A. Cohen, Laurence Graff, Philip S. Niarchos, François Pinault and Emily and Mitchell Rales. Art is a passion for these billionaires, but it is also a valuable asset.
Serious individual art collectors are usually discreet when making significant purchases or sales related to their collections. At art auctions they often place anonymous bids for major artwork. Therefore, the whereabouts of most of the world’s most valuable artwork is probably unknown.
Charles Saatchi, the advertising guru, is famous for supporting contemporary British artists like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. He was a passionate collector of young artists and often could make or break an artist by what he purchased and/or sold. Still he said: “I don’t buy art in order to leave a mark or to be remembered; clutching at immortality is of zero interest to anyone sane.”
In the last couple of years while the recession put nearly everything into a freeze, the art world too stood still. An article in the September 2010 issue of Art Ltd Magazine that during the Wall Street wagering and cabalistic investment gambits, the contemporary art market was sizzling and the race to accumulate was on. Publicity around fast rising art prices both at galleries and auctions, particularly with regards to precocious young artists, triggered much of the binge buying.
Wantabe art collectors, it seemed, went into a spending frenzy. The simple fact is, we all kind of lost our minds noted Art Ltd. The good news-- certainly for collectors-- is prices have in many cases settled to more sensible levels. “The true dedicated, informed, lifelong art buyers have crawled back out from under their beds and are more than delighted to be back in the game. And even though the frenzy to accumulate is no longer quite so nuts, pretty much anyone will tell you that pragmatic reality isn’t all that awful, and that there’s plenty to be said for thoughtful buyers who know how to evaluate potential purchases, and who can intelligently dialogue with galleries about the art and artists they represent. “
Which brings us to our local art world and the numerous artists living and creating on the high desert.  Whether you’re an avid collector or just know what you like, we can help artists thrive by purchasing local art whenever you can. Our collections may not be worth millions but the sense of owning something cleverly crafted by a local artist is tremendously gratifying. It just may astonish you how rewarding it will be.