MANILA, Philippines?If you have a sizable collection of ?blue chip? art pieces, hold on to them. With the regional art market currently in the doldrums, now isn?t the best time to unload any of your artwork.

Forget the bank. Don?t even think of parking your money on volatile stocks. If you have extra cash and are looking for more secure ways to diversify your investment portfolio, now is the best time to go shopping for art pieces.

Apart from being more stable than most traditional forms of investments, works of art are capable of educating and providing you endless hours of pleasure not even a posh villa or vintage sports car can probably match.

But not just any artwork will do. Despite their hefty price tag, it pays to invest in pieces done by renowned artists, either National Artists or those considered ?masters.?

Of course, there have been many instances when works of relatively unknown artists appreciate over the years. In such cases, you would have to rely on gut feel by selecting pieces that personally appeal to you.

And unless you?re just in it for the money, chances are you?d soon find yourself grappling with the dilemma faced by not a few investors-turned-collectors: whether to let go of a particular piece or not. Artworks, not a few collectors attest, have an uncanny way of growing on you.

Alternative investments

These were some of the points raised during a recent hour-long talk held at the Manila Contemporary, a gallery in Makati owned by Malaysian Valentine Willie.

Organized by BusinessMirror and dubbed as ?Art of Investment,? the first in a series of talks is designed to provide the public with useful information on alternative ways of investing in a time of global economic uncertainty.

Future topics are investing on jewelry, antiques and collectibles.

Apart from Willie, the panel was composed of Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez, writer and curatorial consultant of the Lopez Museum, and Sari Ortiga, avid collector of paintings and sports cars and owner of Crucible Gallery.

As investors, said Willie, your chosen pieces don?t have to necessarily appeal to you. So much the better if they do. That?s why he encourages the clueless to start exploring pieces they like.

?Art appreciation is very subjective,? he said. ?If you don?t know where to start, try looking for pieces that resonate with you.?

If you?re in it purely to invest, Willie advises first-timers to go for ?accessible? works?pieces that are skillfully executed and easily understandable.

?It?s easier to sell a piece later on that has broad appeal,? he said. ?Sometimes, it?s reduced to skill and not the content. You also have to consider the market.?

Since Southeast Asia is not yet as sophisticated compared to other markets, its buyers usually go for skill. Beautifully painted works sell well in the region. Then there?s also timing to consider.

Willie, an avid follower of Southeast Asian art, finds nothing wrong with collecting art pieces for investment purposes?a dilemma Ortiga initially found himself confronted with.

?When it comes to works of artists I like, the solution is simple,? said Willie. ?By buying two pieces from the same artist, I have the option of keeping one and selling the other.?

There was a time when he bought several paintings by relatively unknown Chinese artists sometime in the 1980s before selling them several years later. His initial investment of roughly $1,000 per painting earned him a hefty profit margin of ?3,000 percent.?

Part of Willie?s earnings enabled him to build a house in Bali and finance the expansion of his network of galleries in the region.

?Chinese art isn?t something I would collect. It doesn?t excite me the way Southeast Asian art does,? he says. ?But that didn?t stop me from buying Chinese art as a form of investment. You simply can?t ignore China.?

Enriching collections

And true enough, while his Chinese artworks appreciated at a phenomenal rate, their Southeast Asian counterparts didn?t even come half as close. He and Ortiga attribute this to the simple law of supply and demand.

Legaspi, granddaughter of the late National Artist Cesar Legaspi, would rather do it the traditional way. As an academic, part of her job is to recommend noteworthy pieces to certain institutions not as forms of investment, but as additional items to enrich their respective collections.

?Collecting is generally instinctual at first,? she said. ?You get things that catch your eye and mind. But if you?re going to be a serious collector, there?s no way to get around it without doing your homework.?

As you get exposed to more pieces, she added, it pays to be able to distinguish between mere technique and a work that explores ideas that can trigger other ideas, be they cultural or political.

But like beauty, technical ?sophistication,? she conceded, will always have its own excuse for being.

Being a collector as well as an investor has always been a tough balancing act for Ortiga. He?s been in business since the 1970s, but he still gets stumped whenever someone would ask if a certain piece is a good investment or not.

Art advice

?If it?s your first time to buy,? he said, ?go for a blue chip artist. They can either be National Artists or senior artists with impressive bodies of work. You can also buy the work of a master and take a risk on a younger artist.?

Unlike abroad, seeking art advice in the Philippines is relatively free, said Ortiga. You can narrow down your search by pinpointing artists you like and going to galleries known to represent them.

?If you decide to go for up-and-coming artists, it?s important to look for originality,? he added.

But not all works of National Artists are guaranteed moneymakers. Because of modern-day speculation, said Ortiga, owning one could sometimes even be a curse. That?s why it?s important to know what stage in his career a particular work was done.

?When rumors leak out from the market or Malacañang that a certain painter is going to be a National Artist, prices for his works start kicking following an artificial increase in demand,? said Legaspi. ?The sad story for many National Artists in this country is they find it quite difficult to resist demand.?

And, finally, don?t forget to invest in yourself while in the process of investing.

?When you?re buying art, you?re also investing in your knowledge, understanding and humanity,? said Willie. ?Living with art really makes you a better person. But you can also make money from it, and that?s nothing to be ashamed of.?