the art collectors

Archive for June, 2009

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Cinders Benefit Auction w/ Thomas Campbell, AJ Fosik, Brendan Monroe, Richard Colman + more

Cinders celebrates its five year anniversary Sunday June 28, with Love is Like Magic, a special one day, silent auction party to help support the gallery.  If you’re in the Brooklyn area, come down for a sidewalk BBQ, special guest DJs and a chance to pick up some great art for a good cause. If that’s not enough to convince you,  gallery owners Kelie and Sto have sent along the above  photo to further entice your philanthropic tendencies.

Participating artists: Richard Colman, Brendan Monroe, Thomas Campbell, A.J. Fosik, Matthew Feyld, Allyson Mellberg, Jeremy Taylor, Ali Aschman, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Diane Barcelowsky, Maya Hayuk, Josh Slater, Jessie Rose Vala, Noel Friebert, Mel Kadel, Kelie Bowman, Sto, Nick Kuszyk, Mindy Abovitz, Ryan Jacob smith, Suzanne Sattler, Sam McPheeters, Molly Colleen O Connell, and lots more!

Love is Like Magic – Silent Auction Fundraiser and Party
June 28, 3-9pm
Cinders Gallery
103 Havemeyer St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

KAWS & Sorayama’s ‘No Future Companion’ Sees Release

The collaboration between KAWS and Hajime Sorayama that leaked last month has been officially announced by OriginalFake. The fully poseable metal figure is set for relase at the Tokyo shop this Saturday, June 27 and will cost about $1,000.

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Contemporary Market Signaling Rebound

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

“USA Today” opens in Badajoz, Spain

USA Today: An approach to 21th Century Art in USA opened this past week at Sala Europa in Badajoz Spain and runs till July 8. The exhibit was organized by Contemporanea, a Granada based company specializing in the production of art editions and exhibitions, and focuses heavily on the Beautiful Losers camp of artists, with some worthy editions.

The full list of participating artists includes: Ray Barbee, Scout H. Bourne, Todd Bratrud, Kelsey Brookes, Thomas Campbell, David Choe, Larry Clark, Richard Colman, Matt Costa, Cheryl Dunn, Fernando Elvira, Brian Donnelly (KAWS), Shepard Fairey (OBEY), Mark Gonzales, Matt Gordon, Tommy Guerrero, Steven Harrington, Evan Hecox, Ben Horton, Jim Houser, Andy Howell, Cody Hudson, Caroline Hwang, Jo Jackson, Rich Jacobs, Todd James (REAS),  Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Andy Jenkins, Chris Johanson, Spike Jonze, Harmony Korine, Matt Leines, Thom Lessner, Chris Lindig, Ari Marcopoulos, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Ryan McGinness, Mike Mills, Andy Mueller, Neckface, Chris Pastras, Don Pendleton, Andrew Pommier, Steve Powers (ESPO), Clare E. Rojas, Mark Ryden, Andrew Schoultz, Jeff Soto and Ed Templeton.

USA Today: An approach to 21th Century Art in USA
June 18 – July 8
Sala Europa
Avenida Europa, 2
Badajoz, Spain
Hours: Mon – Sun, 11am – 2pm  and 6 – 9pm
info@contemporanea.org

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Deaccession Controversy Hits Orange County Museum of Art

California Impressionist Granville Redmond’s Silver and Gold was one of 18 paintings sold by the Orange County Museum of Art to an unnamed private collector.

The Orange County Museum of Art has fallen subject to scrutiny over their recent sale of 18 notable California Impressionist paintings to an unnamed private collector. OCMA’s situation is far different from recent controversy surrounding other institutions, such as the National Academy, whose deaccession was not linked to the funding of new art, and in violation of accepted museum standards put forth by the American Association of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors. In an interview with the LA Times, OCMA’s director, Dennis Szakacs, affirmed that the sale would only be used to support the acquisition of new works, adding that the relinquished pieces no longer fit into the museum’s new focus of post-1950s art.

So why all the controversy?  By arranging the quiet sale to a private collector, some argue that OCMA ignored its duty of keeping art in the public trust, and that other public institutions should have had an opportunity to bid on the works, either privately or through auction. In addition, the works sold for a total $963,000, far below their estimated worth. Some skeptics are questioning why the museum would agree to a sale so under market value, speculating a preferential deal. One LA gallery director told Artinfo that two of the paintings were worth more than $1.5 million, while the LA Times quotes two specialists’ estimates of  Granville Redmond’s painting Silver and Gold at $1 million alone.

Szakacs contends that OCMA did make the most financially and ethically sound decision, noting that the realized price was favorable in the current down market and that ten of the works are already on view at the Nevada Art Museum, demonstrating the importance of selling the collection to one private enthusiast, rather that splitting up the pieces at auction.

Meanwhile, Artinfo notes that Bolton Colburn, director of the Laguna Art Museum, is attempting to seek out the unknown buyer in an effort to buy the paintings for approximately $1 million, little more than what was paid.

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Design Miami/Basel Expands to Seoul

Image: Design Miami/Basel

Design Miami/Basel has reached an agreement with officials in Seoul that will bring the fair to the South Korean city’s future design museum and convention centre as early as 2012.  The news of this expansion comes shortly after the opening of the fair’s Basel exposition last week, which, only in its second year, has relocated to a larger venue. The two year old venture is a partnership between its founder, Miami real estate developer Craig Robins and Art Basel owner Messe Schweiz Group.

More at Artinfo and The Art Newspaper

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Barney + Peyton Collaboration Surfaces

Blood of Two, the highly secretive collaboration between Matthew Barney and Elizabeth Peyton, was unveiled this past Tuesday as part of the inauguration of Deste Foundation’s Slaughterouse, a new satellite exhibit space located on the Greek island of Hydra. At dawn, a largely notable crowd gathered seaside and watched as local fishermen pulled a glass sarcophagus containing Barney and Peyton’s artifacts from the water, and slowly ushered it up the cliffs to its final resting place within the former slaughterhouse. As expected of Barney, the rest of the ceremony was drenched in cryptic symbolism, including a dead shark and goat herders. Check out The Moment for the full recap.

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

FAILE for Sale

FAILE quietly dropped three new prints today, as well as a few originals and a bronze edition. All three prints are editions of 20, measure 25 x 38 inches, and were still available at the time of this posting. Despite measuring only a few inches, the two available small Bronze Bunny Boys (9+10 of an edition of 10) went quickly at $4,000 each, while three originals based off the same images as the new prints were still available for $8,000 each.

Thanks to TWBE for the early tip-off.

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

London Contemporary Art Auctions

Estimated far below similar works sold just one year ago, Richard Prince's Country Nurse is scheduled for auction June 30th, during Christie's Postwar+ Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London.

The big three auction houses are gearing up for their annual summer Contemporary Art sales in London. Day and evening sales kick of with Sotheby’s on June 25th and will be followed by Phillips de Pury on June 29th and Christie’s on the 30th and July 1.

With an estimate of £1.5-2 million at Christie’s Postwar + Contemporary Art Evening Sale on June 30, Richard Prince’s Country Nurse (pictured above) is telling of the increasingly conservative methods auctioneers are using to minimize risk in an already diminished market. One year ago a similar piece from the Nurse series was estimated at £4-6 million and sold for £4,241,250 at Sotheby’s July 1 London Contemporary Evening Sale.

Follow the links below to browse auction catalogs:

Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction, London – June 25

Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction, London – June 26

Phillips de Pury Contemporary Art Day + Evening Sale, London – June 29

Christie’s Post War + Contemporary Art Evening Sale, London – June 30

Christie’s Post War + Contemporary Art Day Sale, London – July 1

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Christie’s Pop Culture Auction

Poster for the Exploding Plastic Inevitable Live!, Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground and Nico at The Dom, New York City, April 1 – 30, 1966. Collection of Moe Tucker. 14 x 22 in. Estimate: $7,000 – 9,000.

Christies will conduct its Pop Culture auction, June 23 in New York. The sale consists of a broad cross section of  punk, rock, hip hop, film and street art memorabilia from the 1960s forward, which collectively challenge accepted notions of fine art. As noted by Johan Kugelberg in the auction catalog’s introduction, “young artists (and collectors!) increasingly refuse to play the game of hi-brow verses low-brow, having replaced said such with something that we can now coin as uni-brow. Point taken, but we can only hope the phrase doesn’t catch on. Browse the full catalog here