Four Seasons Rancho Encantado is promoting an art-buying service led by Mike McKosky. The service invites us to examine the intermediary’s place between the visitor, the gallery and the artist.
A stay can open up time to look at works; it can also speed up a decision to buy. In its autumn programme published on 23 September, Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe promotes its Art Concierge, reserved for resort guests.
An itinerary built around the guest’s request
The programme is led by Mike McKosky, who opened InArt Santa Fe in 2006. According to the hotel, the itineraries are tailored to the style sought, the budget, the works desired and the length of stay. The service may include meetings with artists and visits that are private or outside the galleries’ usual hours.
Relying on an identified person makes it possible to situate the intermediation. It remains necessary, however, to distinguish several services: facilitating an appointment, explaining a body of work and recommending an acquisition do not carry the same responsibility. The press release does not detail the economic terms of each relationship.
Giving the eye time to form
For a visitor, the quality of the itinerary will also depend on being able to compare and to defer a choice. A meeting can be fruitful without leading to a purchase. Access to an artist would do well to preserve that freedom, as well as the time and working conditions of the person met.
The hotel can play a useful role by making these rules legible from the outset: who selects the addresses, what fees apply, what information accompanies the works? These questions do not presume a flaw in the programme; they make it possible to assess its promise precisely.
The Art Concierge thus places artistic discovery within the organisation of the stay. Its value will lie not in the number of doors opened, but in what the traveller has learned to discern behind them.
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