Roll Call VII: Six Voices on Trust
Last updated: 19 October 2026
In short: Trust is what a buyer is really choosing. Art adviser Amanda Schmitt says "Relationships are everything," and Rachel Cole says collectors want to understand every step. Jordan Huelskamp notes people collect for reasons beyond decorating, Philip Hoffman trusts his own eye over the sales count, and Confucius asks how anyone gets on without truthfulness. Buying directly from a painter is one way to build that trust, one visible step at a time.
What does an art adviser say the job really is?
Amanda Schmitt, an art adviser with nearly two decades in the field, describes her work as choosing what is right for a client "not just for the year ahead, but for ten years ahead." What makes a horizon that long possible, she says, is trust: "Relationships are everything." Both remarks appear in Annabel Keenan's art-buying guide for Wallpaper*, published in October 2024.
A ten-year view is a relationship with time. Nobody quoted here promises a market; the point is that a buyer's confidence is built, and it is built by someone who answers the questions.
What do buyers want to understand before they commit?
Rachel Cole, an art adviser and the founder of Romulus.art, says what clients ask for: "Collectors want to understand every step, from initial interest to final purchase." Jordan Huelskamp, a collector and the founder of Salon, widens the frame: "People collect for reasons beyond decorating homes." Maria Vogel, an adviser and the founder of Club Rococo, describes the art world as a place of "the more the merrier." All three are quoted in the same Wallpaper* guide.
Together they describe a buyer who wants the steps explained, the reasons respected and the door left open. Understanding a process is a form of trust.
Whose eye do you trust when the sales are not the measure?
At Frieze London this month, Philip Hoffman, the founder of the advisory The Fine Art Group, told The Art Newspaper: "plenty of works had sold when I enquired, but there was no material that was fantastic." The remark was reported by Kabir Jhala and Melissa Gronlund on 15 October 2026.
An experienced adviser walked a busy fair and trusted his own judgment of the work over the count of sales. A buyer can borrow the habit: a sold sticker is information, and a long, private look is another kind.
Why did Confucius put truthfulness first?
In the Analects (2.22), in James Legge's nineteenth-century translation, the Master says: "I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on." He goes on to compare such a man to a carriage with no way of being hitched to its team: it may be well built and it cannot be pulled anywhere.
Buying art is a small version of the same arrangement. The work moves from studio to wall when the buyer and the maker can believe each other.
How is trust built when you buy directly from the painter?
By letting the buyer see each step. A commission here begins with a conversation about the wall and the light. A deposit secures the slot, and I paint two options at once, so the first reveal is a choice between two finished directions. Two rounds of revision follow. The studio sends multiple pre-ship videos of every finished work, commission or ready-to-ship, so the surface can be seen before it travels. Paintings go rolled to a framer near you, who stretches them, and they arrive ready to hang; float framing is available on request.
That is the adviser's long question answered from the studio side, as a second route alongside a good adviser's: you can ask the person who made the painting. Trust is not something a painting announces. It is built by the steps around it, and a painter who shows you each one is making a quiet promise.
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Frequently asked questions
How do you build trust when you buy art?
Ask to see each step. The advisers quoted here say collectors want to understand every step from initial interest to final purchase, and that relationships matter most. A maker who shares process, pre-ship videos and a clear order of events makes that trust easier to build.
Do you need an art adviser to buy a painting?
No. Advisers do real work, including the long view Amanda Schmitt describes, and many buyers also work directly with a painter. Either way, choose someone who explains each step and answers questions plainly.
How do you judge a painting for yourself?
Look longer than the first impression and ask why it holds you. Philip Hoffman's remark at Frieze London shows that even experienced advisers form their own view of the work rather than relying on what has sold.
How does a commission with this studio work?
It begins with a conversation about the wall and the light. A deposit secures the slot, two options are painted at once, and two revision rounds follow. The finished painting ships rolled to a framer near you, who stretches it, and it arrives ready to hang.