This roundup of things we liked this week originally appeared in the February 8, 2024, edition of the Secret Strategist newsletter, a weekly email where we share the stuff our staff — plus a rotating cast of writers, design-world people, and various others with very good taste — would otherwise keep to themselves. If you want to get our picks straight to your inbox each week, sign up here.
Where do people find this stuff, we often think, observing our friends’ wall-fulls of tasteful, specific-to-their-personhood framed posters and prints. If you haven’t inherited a ton of art, and you’re not the kind of person who would be satisfied calling it a day with a Matisse cutout, filling big blank walls can feel horribly intimidating. So we turned to an expert on this exact subject, Garrett Colton. He writes a Substack called ArtStuff, where he interviews artists he loves. And he helpfully agreed to talk us through starting a collection. — Katy Schneider & Simone Kitchens
Posters and prints
* I saw this today and love it … a Richard Prince poster on his books. The most underrated edition out there in my opinion is the White Columns print set it offers annually: I understand that $1,500 is a lot, but these are top-of-the-top artists participating, and I don’t think you will be able to find a print by an artist like Harold Ancart anytime soon for $400. This set breaks down to $250 per print, so it’s an absolute bargain. Perhaps go in on it with a friend and you each pick three.
* If you are just wanting design or poster-type stuff, I love Left Bank Books and the work they offer. I also think Modernism 101 is great, and it has some great mid-century posters for sale (like this one and this one). I also really like LELLI and its print offering.
* Matt Connors is one of my favorite artists, and his book imprint, Pre-Echo, is incredible. I can’t believe this has not sold out, but he did a book on another one of my favorite artists, Sanou Oumar, and there is a special edition for $400 where you get both the book and the print. Amazing deal. Bonus: Pre-Echo just released the Book of the Year on the incredible Miyoko Ito. This will 100 percent be a collector’s item — Ito is an incredible artist and now will be known about by many more thanks to Matt and Jordan Stein.
* I think going to sites like Gagosian and looking at its prints-and-editions page is great for reference. Yes, most are expensive but I like how it also offers posters of current shows for $20. Another favorite is Karma Gallery; its bookstore does amazing work. It offers prints from some of the best artists around for very reasonable prices. DIKE BLAIR FOR $300? Yes. It even takes it a step further, which I think is so cool, where it does a book publication for a show and then does a special release where the artist will make an artwork for the cover of the book. I love this Tabboo edition.
* I also love what Kol-Bee is doing. I bought one of those. If you are into beach/surf/feel-good, I love Ty Williams’s work. I also can’t believe this hasn’t sold out: $84 for the Paris Photo-Aperture Photo Book of the Year by Carla Williams — you get her incredible book signed AND you get a four-by-six-inch print??!! That’s amazing. Get that framed and you have an awesome print by an amazing artist. $84!!!!!!!!!! No excuses, people.
Paintings and ceramics
* I just wrote about James Inscho — his paintings are great! They are $1,200 through TOPS Gallery. I love Tierra Del Sol Gallery, which works with artists that have disabilities and was founded in 1971. I came across Dylan Thadani’s work through Instagram, and he has a great show up at Michael’s, the restaurant, in L.A. The works were under $1,800. Emily Marchand is this great ceramics artist in L.A. whom I have followed for a bit now. She was doing this studio sale over the holidays where she made these awesome oversize ceramic cigarettes that were less than $500.
Estate sales
* My thoughts personally on Live Auctioneers is that it’s a bit blown out and annoying. Everyone knows about it, so it’s not a secret. After you have bought something, which most often others have bid on, and you get that final amount, you aren’t done yet because then you have to coordinate shipping with the auction house to get the goods, and that’s costly. So by the time it’s all done, you would have been better served buying something from a gallery or directly from an artist.
* Because the Secret Strategist doesn’t gate-keep, neither will I. So here is a tip: Go to estatesales.net. It’s basically the Craigslist of estate sales, and you can search by city or Zip Code and it will turn up estate sales for the next couple of weeks. You can typically get a good sense of whether the sale will be worth your time through the images you see. I will search for brands that I like (for example, Eames, Knoll, Cassina, etc). I also will search terms like architect or photographer because those are the absolute BEST SALES. I have had great luck with those. You can also search “Picasso” or something like that because there are quite a few sales out there where there is a Picasso print/poster, and if they have that, chances are there are some good furniture/other art/books, etc. Shipping, of course, is dependent on the actual estate-sale company. Some are nice and will assist; others basically tell you to figure it out. I will research a local shipping spot near the sale and see if I can coordinate a pickup.
Framing
* NEW YORKERS: East Frames. Haruo, the founder, is the best. He is absolutely fair in his pricing, and the detail of his work is great. And I just ask him what he thinks and how the work should be framed, and he nails it every time. Support him!! I am lucky to also have a great local framer and overall art man, Imagine Fine Art Studios. They do great print work, framing, and support regional artists here like Ty Williams and Walter Coker, who offer great work at affordable prices. When buying work from an artist or gallery, I always ask how the artist recommends the work be framed and go with that. The artist truly knows best. If you live in a smaller city, I advise Googling frame shops nearby to see which ones have been around the longest. There is a reason. They do good work.
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
