Aspire Art CEO Marelize van Zyl breaks down the factors that shape an artwork’s worth

Stephen Grootes interviews Marelize van Zyl about her inspiring career journey as the CEO of Aspire Art, where she leads the company’s strategic growth and creative vision, specialising in modern and contemporary African art and expanding into collectable cars.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

For more than eight years, Marelize van Zyl has guided Aspire Art from a niche start-up to a recognised leader in modern and contemporary African art, while pushing into new collector segments that extend far beyond the traditional auction floor.

Her career started out in the advertising industry, but her passion drew her towards the art space, eventually quitting her day job in advertising in 2007 to become a curator of a newly opened gallery.

Fast-forward a few years, Van Zyl then joined Aspire Art at its founding in 2016, helping build its auction, advisory and valuation services from the ground up.

Today, the company’s expanding footprint reflects her blend of creative vision and commercial strategy.

Since becoming CEO of Aspire Art in April this year, she leads the company’s strategic growth and creative vision, specialising in modern and contemporary African art and expanding into collectable cars.

Her leadership has coincided with a shift in appreciation of the African art market, where shifting tastes, global interest and new categories of investment have created both volatility and opportunity.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Aspire Art CEO, Marelize van Zyl says there are various factors that drive up the price of an art piece.

"There is commonality, and that is what investors look for, or collectors. So it's a lot of talking, a lot of looking, but it's exactly those components of value. The artist, the date, the medium and then it's the aesthetic factors," says Van Zyl.

"We look at the market and see certain artists 10 years ago sold for this amount of money, what is the worth of that particular work now. There are different indexes that we follow. We follow Mutual Art, Art Price, Art Net. These are all data bases that literally draw all the information and all the auction results."

Van Zyl adds that her expertise runs deeper than just being the CEO of the company, but it's her knowledge of the art world that's vital in creating a career in the industry.

"My title, yes I am a CEO, but first and foremost I am a art historian and a specialist. So it's the same way people review books, or review movies and films. Concerts, music. It's the same. We've studied it for so long and we've followed it. For us, it's quite close to religion," added Van Zyl.

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