Looking to Invest in Art? Here's an Insider's Take on What's Hot

Max Fishko runs a small business that produces contemporary art fairs all around the country. He constantly has his finger on the pulse of what kinds of art people are buying.

learn more about Catherine Clifford

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You've worked hard, grown a successful business, paid off expensive debt, and you're interested in buying art that doesn't come from the stockrooms of Ikea. So, what should you buy? What's popular?

Max Fishko has a suggestion or two. That's because he runs a Brooklyn-based art fair production business, Art Market Productions. He sees what people are buying all of the time, all over the country, and he says that one trend he's noticed is an interest in regional artists who work and live where a buyer does.

Related: Artists Are Job-Creating Entrepreneurs, Too.

"Collectors that are in a place like Houston, Texas or Seattle are going to take a special look at people who were educated there or people who are doing their work there, because it feels like a much more natural connection," Fishko says in a video interview with Entrepreneur.

Further, collectors are increasingly interested in buying from artists whose names they recognize.

Related: Art-Tech Startup Makes the Digital Picture Frame Super Classy

"There's an emphasis in brand-name art, more so than we used to have," Fishko says, attributing the shift to institutional galleries, the internet and corporate partnerships. "More people know the names of more contemporary artists than ever before."

For a peek into the trends in the contemporary art market, play the video embedded above.

Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

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