Pace Prints is a really great place to get started when looking into buying fine art for the first time. Prints are a good place to start in fine art because they are relatively less expensive by nature and covers a large range of technique; from etching to lithography to photography. Pace is cool because they have several floors with lots of work ranging from contemporary artists to the old masters that you can browse. If you go to museums or keep up even passingly with the art world, the works they have have a lot of name recognition: Chuck Close, Picasso, Miro, Dubuffet, Rauchenberg, William Wegman, Jim Dine, to name just a few. What I like most is that it's really easy to browse (tons of stuff to look through without having to ask anyone). There's lots of introductory materials (like fliers describing art terms employed), no pressure, friendly staff that are friendly and just not intimidating (unlike some upper east side places -- though it was a really nice upper east side gallery owner that sent me that way when I found myself in her lovely tony, but beyond my means, place). A good place to see art by artists you've heard of and to be gently introduced and educated in the art market. By the way, there are many other ways of approaching buying art, like going down to the Chelsea galleries or other gallery areas, checking out student work, work of friends, or other quality local work. So Pace Prints really is about a specific kind of market... I think, the one most shrouded in mystery (so you wanna get your first Picasso...).
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