A lawsuit filed against auction giant, Christies, for consciously selling a fake Basquiat may proceed, concluded a ruling handed down by NY State Court. In 2001 Guido Orsi purchased the bogus painting from Tony Shafrazi Gallery for $185,000, after the gallery had acquired it for $242,000 from a 1990 Christie’s auction. The suite claims Christies passed off the painting as genuine, despite Basquiat’s estate identifying it as counterfit and requesting it be withdrawn from the auction. 

As stated in the suit: “If as plaintiffs alleged, Christie’s fraudulently misrepresented the Painting’s provenance, and published that misrepresentation in its catalogue, which Christie’s could reasonably anticipate would be relied upon by bidders at its auction, as well as subsequent purchasers, it may be liable to those who relied upon its misrepresentation.” 

Orsi had initially filed suit against Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Milan, but opted to withdraw and joined Tony Shafrazi in suing Christies in the United States.  Representation for Shafrazi and Orsi remarked on the significance of the decision, which ”allows third-parties who did not bid at an auction … to rely on the catalogues sold and distributed by [an] auction house as representations of authenticity,” permitting such parties to recover 

If successful, Shafrazi and Orsi will be awarded a total of $7 million - $2 million in damages based on the increase of Basquiat’s market value since the original 1990 sale, and an additional $5 million in “exemplary” damages.

Christies denies any wrong doing and “considers that the suit is without merit.”

Source: law.com

On View now at London’s Union Gallery, is The Destruction of Atlantis, a group show curated by Jesper Elg, of V1 Gallery, Copenhagen.  The group show features several V1 artists who use the legend of Atlantis as an analogy for erossion of modern society, and includes Steve Powers (ESPO), Todd James (REAS), Andrew Schoultz, Alex Lukas, Richard Colman, Peter Funch, and others. More pics after the jump

The Destruction of Atlantis w/ Ulrik Crone, Michelle Blade, Wes Lang, Julian Röder, Steve Powers, Todd James, Troels Carlsen, Andrew Schoultz, Jakob Boeskov, Kasper Sonne, HuskMitNavn, Matthew Stone, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang, Alex Lukas, Peter Funch, Jes Brinch and Richard Colman
Oct 1 - Nov. 29
Union Gallery
57 Ewer Street
London SE1 0NR
info@union-gallery.com

Steve Powers

Steve Powers

Andrew Schoultz

Andrew Schoultz

Richard Colman

Images via Union Gallery

Under the ambient glow of the orange moon and the smoke in the air from the SoCal fires, Roberts & Tilton opened the two man show by Ed Templeton and Matt Leines to an eager, thriving crowd. Shoulder to shoulder in the new space, wide support for the artists was clear. There is a broad offering of art that ranges from photography to mixed media to sculpture and, of course, Leines’ usual works on paper. Both artists delivered exceptional works that were appreciated by a noticeably diverse group. Stand-out pieces by Templeton included large sculputures and Leines continued to explore his voice with cut-out forms. Books by both artists are available through the gallery website.

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with glue? No, really, there’s no Elmer’s involved, but this group show is indeed one of the most cohesive Fall group shows in LA’s fragmented gallery landscape. CLOWNS!, previewed on Nov. 14 by invitation, opens to the public on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Culver City’s art gem, Corey Helford Gallery. The exhibition effort also involves London’s StolenSpace Gallery - with notable international artists such as D*Face submitting a seminal and brilliantly timely piece parodying the venerable (and recently fragile) US institution AmEx. Shag, Dave Kinsey, Gary Taxali and Paul Frank also contribute to the depth of the show.

CLOWNS! amounts to a curatorial statement, with focused, inspired artwork - the Corey Helford Gallery displaying why it is among the leaders in the ever evolving LA art scene.

Joshua Liner Gallery has just relaunched their website. Take a moment and check out some of their exhibited and gallery artists, including Aiko, Crash One, Damon Soule, Josh Keyes, and Greg Simkins. Next up at the gallery are solo shows by Kris Kuksi and Pat Rocha, both opening Nov. 22

Reminder! Matt Leines and Ed Templeton’s new shows open this Satuday, Nov. at Roberts and Tilton. Both artists will be signing copies of their new books from 6 - 7pm, before the exhibit opening. More to come…

The latest returns from this season’s contemporary art auctions are in, and the less than stellar results reinforce the notion that this is a buyer’s market, with overall gains receding back to 2006 levels. The November 10th contemporary auction at Sotheby’s struggled to raise $125.1 million, far beneath the low estimate of $202.4 million. Out of 63 lots, 20 (32%) failed to find buyer, with Sotheby’s taking a hit and losing millions on several lots it had guaranteed to sellers. 

The November 12th sale at Christie’s did not fare much better, bringing in a total of $113.6 million, far below the low estimate of $227 million. Again, nearly one-third of the lots on the block failed to sell. Even the famed Basquiat, Untitled (Boxer), 1982 (a highlight of the auction due to its owner, Lars Ulrich of heavy metal band, Metallica, and inclusion in the Brooklyn Museum 2005  retrospective) only found two bidders. Ultimately, the piece sold for 13.5 million (including auction house commission), with an estimate of $12-16 million. Perhaps the most disappointing result was a self portrait by Francis Bacon. What was expected to be a focal point of the sale, estimated at $40 million, failed to find even one bidder.

With these results, one thing has become abundantly clear - the art market has not escaped the financial crisis. “It was a half-price sale, said one Sotheby’s buyer, ”who, In under 90 minutes, dropped more than $8 million (including fees) on works by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg and Donald Judd.

Source: The New York Times, Mixed Results for Contemporary Art Sale at Christies / A Dreary Night for Contemporary Art at Sothebys

Layered Days, Jose Parla’s latest exhibition and first solo show in New York, is on view now at Christina Grajales.  The show presents a new body of  paintings, adorned in layers upon layers of Parla’s signature abstract lettering and textures. Here, the artist’s graffiti roots combine with modern abstract expressionism, conjuring up recollections of both Cy Twombly and Jackson Pollock. In addition, a wall installation builds upon Parla’s themes of history and story telling, through an array of artifacts and photographs combined with original canvas, wood, and ceramic pieces. A hard cover catalog has been published to commemorate the exhibit, and Parla graciously decorated fan’s copies on opening night. Layered Days is on view till Dec. 20.

Jose Parla - Layered Days
Nov. 8 - Dec. 20
Christina Grajales Gallery
10 Green Street, 4th Floor
NY, NY 10013
christina@christinagrajales.com

Detail

Detail

Eric Beltz just closed his first NY solo show at Morgan Lehman Gallery. The Good Land, presented the artist’s meticulous graphite drawings, reminiscent of Colonial America, with a nice tinge of dark humor. Do yourself a favor and pick up the exhibit catalog for a mere $10 here, and if you missed Beltz this time around, Morgan Lehman will show a new body of  work at Pulse NY, March 5 - 8, 2009.

Campbarbossa is presenting a commission-only show for the European duo, Herakut, in London:

New Works by Herakut
28th Nov through to 7th Dec 2008
Preview 27th Nov 6.30pm - 9.30pm (RSVP info@campbarbossa.com)
22 Wellington Street
Covent Garden
WC2E 7DD

For the uninitiated, Herakut are unlikely collaborative German artists extraordinaire, the cunning confluence of aliases Hera and Akut and the finest artistic alliance of Frankfurt and Efurt the modern art world has to offer. It’s not like we’ve actually researched this part but if there’s a finer alliance we’d like to know. All the works on display are new, pre-commissioned pieces. So this is simply an opportunity to come along, hang out, have a fine time, admire Herakut’s increasingly bold, unique body of work—the strangely beautiful union of Akut’s photorealist spray paint and Hera’s distinctively scratchy, sexualised, everyday world.