Peter Goddard should know better

Howdy!

In today's Toronto Star he writes an advertisement that I think masquerades as an article about buying art. If you are interested in starting an art collection far better to read The Intrepid Art Collector by my friend and art blogger Lisa Hunter.
Some of the mistakes Mr. Goddard makes:

1. Implying that if you buy a painting by Kim Dorland its value will increase four-fold. In order for it to increase in value you must be able to sell it. Instead of knowing the price Jamie Angell is selling Mr. Dorlands paintings for, I'd much rather know how much Mr. Angell is buying them for. Then you'd be able to know if they have increased in value.
2. Implying that there are only three neighborhoods where you can buy art (and they all happen to be in Toronto, too!)
3. Stating that there are not too many galleries that will take work back in trade. If the gallery that represents an artist isn't going to keep an artist's price afloat, who will? There is a reason why you can get used furniture cheap. It should not be that way with art - but it appears that it is in Toronto.
4. If in one sentence Mr. Goddard writes "It's a terrific place to see an enormous range of what's available and what it will cost, with a range from around $200 to 10 times that – or more." It is not a good idea for him to write two sentences later, "Expect to part with from $1,000 to $2,000 to start a collection." And one sentence later quote Mr. Angell saying "You can get in the market for as low as $400, especially in the Queen St. area." Is it $200? Or is it $400? or is it $1,000? And wouldn't it be a good idea to mention if he were talking about paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints or something else? And what size?
5. Writing that Jeff Wall's work is going for more than $250,000, while technically correct, shows how far this article by Mr. Goddard is from reality. In the New York Times Magazine, Arthur Lubow wrote "(As for his own prices: While a large Wall photograph infrequently appears at auction, his dealer’s price — and remember, a gallery generally charges much less than an auction resale brings — is about a million dollars. The typical buyer is a museum or a major private collector.)"

And there are more, many more. (Ann Webb is not only a collector of videos, but also Reel Artists film festival organizer and acting executive director of the Canadian Art Foundation, which is the organization that publishes Canadian Art Magazine, which Mr. Goddard touted a little higher up in the advertisement that I think masquerades as an article.

Anyone who writes a line that reads: "Guaranteed, it'll be cutting edge again sometime soon." Sounds like they are a telemarketing huckster who would be better off working at Galerie Concorde. As I said at the top, go buy The Intrepid Art Collector by my friend and art blogger Lisa Hunter. (Besides if you click on the links here, and then actually buy it, Zeke's Gallery gets 4% of the price as a gift certificate good at Amazon.com!!)

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And just for the record, I normally like what Mr. Goddard writes, but this article just doesn't cut it for me at all.