France-Lise McGurn, Blockbuster, 2023
Building a collection with Karen Boyer
Because the best advisory relationships are personal, Karen limits the number of people she works with at one time. Her process is thoughtful, hands-on, and tailored to each client.These relationships evolve over years, across homes, phases of life, changing priorities.
Karen’s clients include collectors and families in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and around the world. Her work focuses primarily on contemporary art and draws on decades of relationships with galleries, artists, collectors, and auction specialists globally.
Advisory
FOR CLIENTS BUILDING COLLECTIONS: LONG-TERM GUIDANCE AND TRUSTED ACCESSSome clients are buying their first meaningful work. Others are refining collections that already span multiple residences and decades. In both cases, the relationship starts the same way: conversation.
Karen takes time to understand how you live, what you respond to instinctively, what you already gravitate toward, and what kind of collection you ultimately want to build. From there, she becomes a trusted advisor throughout the process.
That can include:
Education and collecting strategy
Sourcing works tailored to your interests
Access to works before they reach the broader market
Private visits to galleries, art fairs, artists' studios, and auction previews
Market research, pricing analysis, due diligence, and negotiation
Collection management
Sales, donations, and legacy planning
Shipping, installation, storage, conservation, and insurance
Ongoing guidance as your collection evolves
For many clients, the relationship extends far beyond any individual acquisition. They might regularly walk art fairs together, visit artists’ studio, or plan for a new home. It can even encompass a museum donation or thinking through a long-term legacy plan.
Advisory begins with an engagement fee and continues through a commission-based advisory relationship.
Olafur Eliasson, The colour-current dilemma, 2022
Select Advisory
FOR EXPERIENCED COLLECTORS: A SECOND SET OF EYESSome clients already know the market well. They attend key art fairs, know the galleries, and buy independently—but still want an informed perspective before making significant decisions.
Select Advisory gives clients direct access to Karen's judgment without accessing a full advisory structure.
The client brings the opportunity, and Karen evaluates the work, pricing, market positioning, condition, terms, and timing—and tailors her best thinking to your needs.
Support can also include negotiation strategy and assistance, if needed.
Annual retainer, tailored to collecting activity and anticipated needs.
Private Previews
Before an art fair opens publicly, many of its important works have already been placed quietly through art advisors. Karen gives clients access to these through relationships built over years.
Studio Visits
Meeting an artist in their own space can change one's relationship to the work entirely. Karen arranges private visits with artists she believes in and with artists clients want to explore.
Art Fairs
Art Basel. Frieze. TEFAF. ARCOmadrid. Karen attends the fairs that matter and helps clients move through them with clarity—advising on where to spend time, what deserves attention, and which conversations are actually worth having.
Invitations
Collecting isn't only about acquiring art. It's also about becoming part of a larger conversation, from gallery openings and museum events to collection visits, artist dinners, curator talks and introductions to other collectors. Through access to events like these, clients develop a deeper understanding of the art world and the people who shape it.
The Long View
Collections rarely stand still. Over time they are moved into new homes, pass between generations, support philanthropic goals, and sometimes find their way into museum collections. Karen helps clients think through those decisions thoughtfully and strategically, ensuring that a collection continues to have meaning long after the initial acquisitions.
What Clients Experience
Karen has advised on acquisitions by artists including Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, Keith Haring, Joan Mitchell, George Condo, Alex Katz, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, José Parlá, Vivian Greven, and Jaider Esbell, among others.
A NOTE ON ALIGNMENT
Karen does not carry inventory or represent galleries or artists. Her role is independent, discreet, and fully aligned with the client. The relationships are long-term. Trust matters.
Have a conversation with Karen.
If you're considering building, refining, or simply understanding your collection more deeply, reach out.