The United States remains the largest single art market in the world, accounting for 45% of the global art market in 2022, according to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2023. US collectors exert an outsize influence on the global market, their tastes and inclinations helping to form global trends. Franklin Melendez, who formed the New York-based art advisory service DM Office with Romain Dauriac in 2017, is well-placed to observe recent developments in American collecting habits. DM Office works extensively with US-based dealers and collectors to develop collections, support emerging artists, and collaborate on exhibitions around the world.

The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 found that high-net-worth (HNW) collectors are continuing to spend despite an uncertain global art market influenced by factors such as the war in Ukraine and the looming possibility of a recession in the US economy. ‘Collectors remain committed,’ says Melendez, echoing the findings of the survey. ‘Seasoned collectors understand the ebbs and flows of the market, and they know that there are opportunities, both in terms of buying and selling, and we deal with both. When opportunities arise, they know how to jump on them.’

Many of the collectors Melendez works with are focused on emerging artists, whose markets, he says, are less affected by larger macroeconomic factors. ‘That market is often untouched because it often has the highest yields,’ he says. ‘There’s always the thrill of supporting young artists, of discovery, of getting to something early.’

As the influence of the pandemic on travel has receded, American collectors have resumed in-person visits to galleries, fairs, and artists’ studios. ‘I’m back to scheduling studio visits and seeing things in person in the back rooms of art galleries, and it’s a great pleasure,’ says Melendez.

While art fairs can, in Melendez’s view, present an overwhelming visual experience for collectors, he sees in-the-flesh visits to exhibition halls is an essential part of collecting. ‘For clients with demanding schedules, who can only allot a certain amount of time, art fairs are incredibly efficient,’ he says. ‘At Paris+ par Art Basel, both this year and last, there were important conversations we started at the fair. Collectors can see, for example, that this is what an Alex Katz looks like in person, even if we don’t commit to that one. We try to reframe the art fair experience not as an immediate rush, but rather as the start of a conversation.’

Conversations started at Paris+ par Art Basel proved influential for months to come: ‘We work with high-profile Hollywood collectors, and we caught them at the right time in Paris, and that experience determined a lot of our buying patterns for the next 6 months,’ says Melendez.

Collectors, as revealed in the Survey of Global Collecting, buy for a variety of reasons: for self-identity, for investment, and for social reasons. ‘We work with collectors that are institutionally-minded – either as committed supporters and lenders to institutions or building towards their own foundations in the long term,’ says Melendez. ‘They’re collecting for self-identity, to curate a moment in time, and also for the fulfillment of supporting artists and discovering their practices. Having said that, investment is never too far away.’

Melendez says that at DM Office they prefer to use the word ‘value’, rather than ‘investment’: ‘If an artist has a series of critically affirmed museum shows, that holds and expands value. Collectors always want their investments to hold their value but that can mean cultural value.’

While just one in ten HNW collectors identify themselves as investors, many are actively trading in and out of their holdings. That’s only natural for established collections, says Melendez.

‘Once you reach a certain point as a collector, reselling as a way of pruning or streamlining becomes a natural offshoot of the activity,’ he says. ‘Your areas of focus shift. Collections are personally driven, and maybe you want to invest in something else.’

The Art Basel and UBS survey shows that American collectors are exhibiting a notable interest in French and Japanese artists and dealers. Melendez, too, has noticed among this among his collectors.

‘It so happens that most of the art I bought in 2022 was from Japan and Japanese galleries,’ he says. ‘At the same time, I recently received a delivery of a Marie Laurencin from a gallery in New York.’ He speculated that collectors may be seeking to give ‘depth or texture to their collections’ by ‘looking outside of artists in their 20s and 30s in New York.’

Does Melendez share the confidence in the market outlook expressed by the collectors surveyed by Art Basel?

‘The art market is resilient, but it’s not insulated,’ he says. ‘I’m not fatalistic about it, I think it’s just a moment where the bubble that we exist in is being disrupted by any number of world events that are impossible to ignore but will not unravel it. Collectors, no matter the circumstances, are bullish on good opportunities.’

‘A lot of high-net-worth individuals tend to be good businesspeople’ says Melendez. ‘They know an opportunity when they see one and they are quick to act on it. It’s not a moment of boundless growth but a great moment for savvy collectors.’

Download the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 here.

Brian Boucher is a writer and art market commentator based in New York City.

Published on November 28, 2023.

Caption for full-bleed images, from top to bottom: 1. Installation view of Cauleen Smith’s artwork in Morán Morán’s booth in the Meridians sector of Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. 2. View of Nahmad Contemporary’s booth at Paris+ par Art Basel 2023. 3. Installation view of Edgar Heap of Birds’s artwork in K’Art’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022.