Discussions about the abstract art market invariably centre one thing: return on investment. Consider the endless stream of market reports touted in the art media that focus exclusively on sales numbers. Or platforms like Artsignal, backed by Christie’s Ventures, the investment arm of Christie’s auction house. Artsignal has one purpose: to use AI to scrub the Internet to create a report telling potential buyers whether the artist whose work they are considering buying is a good or bad economic investment. Such ventures, and the stories reporters write about them, paint a picture of an art market that exists solely to encourage superficiality and greed. But in reality, most art sellers and buyers have little interest in whether the art they sell or buy will be worth more money one day. They understand that the market they are supporting has a much bigger role to play in the culture. Especially in the realm of abstract art, most key market players are in the space because of something deep, intellectual and connected to spirit.

Art dealer Hollis Taggart has a reputation as one of New York’s key supporters of contemporary abstract art. But abstraction was not always Taggart’s focus. “My gallery originally specialised in 19^th and early 20^th century American art — Hudson River landscapes, impressionism, still life, genre paintings, Taggart says. Over time we moved forward chronologically in what we began to exhibit, beginning with American modernism — O’Keeffe, Hartley, Dove, etc. — and little by little, we began to examine the bridges from modernism to abstraction.”

An exhibition the gallery organised in 2007 called “Pathways and parallels” solidified Taggart’s decision to focus his programme on Abstract expressionism — along with contemporary artists who are pushing the concerns of abstraction forward. That decision was not based on economics. It was rooted in what Taggart saw as abstract art’s ability to express emotion in a way that viewers can connect with quickly. “The essence of art is communication from the artist to the viewer, Taggart explains. The reason abstraction evolved as an art form is so that artists could express and communicate from a deeper personal level. For me, I am less analytical when assessing abstract works; I approach it more from a feeling level and how the work emotes a mood or feeling. So it is more emotional than intellectual for me. To the extent that the viewer feels the same emotions or mood that the artist felt when making the work, that to me is the measure of how successful the work is.”