Amid the current global Great Recession when scarcer personal resources are diverted toward "the necessities," it is a fair existential question if you do not place art in the category of priority.

But to view  it within those terms—in essence, to have to find a reason or an excuse one way or another— misses the point entirely.

Why Buy Art: Because as Curtice and Bob McCloy point out in our story True Patrons Without Peer, having art in a space with them is as important as making sure there is good air to breathe.

Live in a room with blank white, or worse, black walls, and shelves barren with nothing on them, and you will feel the void called sensory impoverishment. Prisoners in solitary confinement understand its effects.

That's why solitary confinement is called punishment.

Humans are a product of stimulation. The need is encoded in our DNA, and our evolving sentient awareness is a keystone of our species' development as a "higher" life form.

 
Studies show conclusively—and author Richard Louv's benchmark book "Last Child in the Woods" notes— that children deprived of settings which demand they use their five senses suffer deprivation.  TV and computer video games do not count.

The same rules hold true with wild animals forced into small spaces and captivity. 

Too few of us view art as an essential investment in our personal welfare, or as tools that help facilitate closer bonding with one another, or as forms of entertainment that keep on giving, or even as pieces of us that can be passed on to our next of kin, reminding them of what we wanted them to see. 

Most families, we reckon, don't think much about art, and if there is art on the walls, even a smaller percentage talk about it, or attempt to imagine what the artist was thinking or responding to.  You know, the fun stuff.

Indeed, there is something enormously satisfying about owning an original piece of art, even if it is the drawing your child made on the first day of school. Like land and property, it is one of a kind, and it speaks to our values that have little to do with money.
Moreover, unlike other material objects that require batteries like iPods and sports cars or things that are ephemeral like a night of entertainment or a decent meal, art is there as perpetual sustenance for us when we NEED it;  a companion that does not go away.

We live with art, as much as it lives with us.

I am reminded of an anecdote that appears in a story here at Wildlife Art Journal titled America's Shrine to Wildlife Art about the co-founders of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Bill and Joffa Kerr. It is repeated in our interview as a question for the McCloys.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art's first curator, Susan Simpson-Gallagher, relates the moving moments she shared alone with Mr. Kerr when they stood in front of a painting that moved him, a grown man, friendly but stoic, emotion welling in his eyes. It, in turn, caused Simpson-Gallagher to tear up. If only the artist knew.

Kerr himself talked with me about a painting by the American sporting artist Phillip R. Goodwin, which he has toted around with him for decades and which has served as his meditative "therapy."

Why buy art?

When we ask whether we can afford to have art in our lives, we are missing the point that, really, we cannot afford to live without it.  We owe art to our kids. And it need not break our banks.  I take delight in my young daughter's decision to purchase a poster of Claude Monet's painting, The Japanese Footbridge, after we visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Enjoy the story on the McCloys prompted by the release of their magnificent, must-have book titled Patrons Without Peer that features over 260 paintings and sculpture in a collection that includes artists such as the late Bob Kuhn and Wilson Hurley, living masters such as Richard Schmid, William Acheff, Ken Carlson, and Tucker Smith; the list goes on.

In addition, read a guest essay from gallery owner Curtis W. Tierney titled "Informed Collecting: Building An Art Collection" that bolsters the words of wisdom from the McCloys by offering eight tips to keep in mind, whether you're young and contemplating your first purchase of original art or are a seasoned veteran waiting to acquire the next big prize.

EDITOR'S UPDATE:  As of June 15, 2009, Wildlife Art Journal has heard from artists and readers in 35 countries.  Many of you have sent us images to appear at Gallery of the Commons in July.  For more information on submission,visit Gallery of the Commons under the Table of Contents.