«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

FRAMED close-ups of two elderly men hang in Castlestone Management's London meeting room. One of the men smiles and looks away; the other sullenly faces front.These large photographs by Chuck Close - bought for $25,000 each - are of artists Robert Rauschenberg, who died last year, and Jasper Johns, 79. They are part of a new Castlestone art fund.The fund is designed as an anti-inflation shelter at a time when recession-busting stimulus packages are flooding the global economy with cash. To Castlestone, which has about $660 million under management, scarce art - by dead artists or by big names in late career - is as good as gold.As long as the value of money falls, the value of real assets will rise, says the founder and joint chief executive officer, Angus Murray, 39.

-Bloomberg
May 23 2009