Archive for the 'Market Talk' Category
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Broad Injects Millions Into LA Art Institutions
Image: LA Times
This past week billionaire collector, Eli Broad, officially announced he will move ahead with plans to open a new contemporary art museum in Beverly Hills. The new 25,000 square foot institution will house the Broad Art Foundation and permanent collection, including seminal works by Jean Michel Basquiat, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Damien Hirst. The announcement comes less that a year after Broad gifted $56 million in funds to open the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Broad Contemporary Art Museum.
Broad’s philanthropic pursuits don’t stop here. This week he offered an additional $30 million to help keep Los Angeles MOCA afloat. As previously reported, the museum has burned up its funds and is is on the brink of financial disaster. In a Nov. 21 LA Times op-ed, Broad said, “I’d like to make a proposal to the MOCA board and to the civic angels of Los Angeles. I’ll step up if you do too. The Broad Art Foundation is prepared to make a significant investment in MOCA — $30 million…It is vital that the museum remain on Grand Avenue, keep its collection and continue its tradition of world-class exhibitions…This is not a one-philanthropist town…with a global recession that has hit every American’s pocketbook, charitable giving has declined…The philanthropic community must not turn its back on MOCA. We must make it one of our civic priorities.”
In total, Broad’s spending would represent a cash injection into Los Angeles’ art institutions in excess of $1 billion.
Sources: The New York Times / LA Times / Art Observed
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Christies Punk/Rock Rundown
Sex Pistols Promotional Poster, 1977.
Estimate: $2000-3,000, Price Realized: $6,250
Results are in for Christies Nov. 24th Rock/Punk auction. While the majority of lots consisted of music memorabilia, including show flyers, photographs, records and clothing, a somewhat random selection of art toys were thrown into the mix, perhaps in an attempt to introduce the genre to a wider audience. Here, we present you with a (biased) selection of some of our favorite lots. Read the rest of this entry »
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
MOCA Crisis
Image: Liz O Baylen / Los Angeles Times
It’s hard to feel bad about losses incurred by international auction house giants or millionaire collectors in the past few weeks, but it comes with heavy heart that we report the latest victim of the financial crisis – Los Angeles MOCA. The LA Times reports that with practically all of its remaining funds dried up, the museum is struggling to meet operating costs. While MOCA is seeking a large infusion from donors, it is weighing all possibilities, including a potential merger with another institution. Museum Director, Jeremy Strick says MOCA is in talks with several partners, but remained firm stating shutdown or takeover were not likely. “All the possibilities being explored involve MOCA retaining its identity, continuing its program, expanding its collection,” Strick said, adding, “I think it is time for this city to step forward and offer the kind of financial support commensurate with the work being done.”
Want to do your part? Take a few minutes to become a member, and then use your 10% discount on something from their museum store
Monday, November 17th, 2008
Christies Sued Over Forged Basquiat
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
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Dismal Results at Sotheby’s + Christies
Image: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
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
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
R.I.P. Riviera Gallery
After six years, Brooklyn’s Riviera Gallery is closing its doors. With the sad departure of Clementine Gallery earlier this year, this marks yet another loss to the NY gallery community that has supported up and coming and emerging artists. Join Riviera in its closing celebration, Thursday, Nov. 6th, 6pm – midnight.
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Market Watch::The London Barometer
Many collectors and investors have been keeping a close eye on London’s recent contemporary auctions, as a sign of how badly the market has been impacted by the ongoing global financial crisis. The Art Market Monitor has published an informative analysis, which indicates a few significant trends. Overall, net proceeds from contemporary auctions of the past year have experienced a significant decline, yet when compared alongside results from 2005 – 2008, the average price for works sold at auction has steadily risen. Lastly, the number of lots sold has continually fallen over the course of the past two years, with a more dramatic decline seen in recent months, between the July and most recent October auctions. Read on for more analysis. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Market Watch::Saturday @ Phillips
The Art Collectors will be keeping a close eye on tomorrow’s Saturday at Phillips auction lots. Here is a selection of interesting pieces on the block. We’ll report back with results and let you know how the sale fared in the wake of the anticipated art market slowdown and mixed results of the international auctions of the past week. Read the rest of this entry »
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Phillips de Pury Representing Annie Leibovitz
Image: AP/Mary Altaffer
All eyes were on Damien Hirst when the artist partnered with Sotheby’s for Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, the officially sanctioned auction and exhibition of over 200 brand new works that yielded profits of $198 million. Now Phillips de Pury and photographer, Annie Leibovitz, have taken the artist-auctioneer relationship one step further. In an unprecedented move, the auction house has announced it will serve as the official dealer for the artist’s work. Phillips will take responsibility for the sale of Leibovitz’s Master Set – 200 works spanning the artist’s career, individually selected by Leibovitz herself. Each large format print is priced at $37,000 (£ 20,000), and in stark contrast to the Hirst model, none will be sold at auction. The sale will coincide with two London exhibits – one at Phillips, from Oct. 23 – Nov. 22, and the retrospective, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990 – 2005, running Oct. 16 – Feb. 1 at the National Portrait Gallery.
The announcement comes in the wake of the recent buy out of Phillips by Russian luxury retailing powerhouse, the Mercury Group.
Sources: Art Info / The Art Newspaper
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Are Collectors Killing Art?
In the wake of London’s Frieze Art Fair, Sarah Thornton has written an interesting article for The Guardian on the hightened commercialization of art, its recent impacts on the market, and influence over artists’ creativity and art itself. With the global economic downturn and tapering off of rampant art speculation, this one’s well worth a read. Thornton has also published a new book, Seven Days in the Art World, an ethnographic look into the contemporary art world, viewed through the eyes of a cultural sociologist.
“If the work is free, is it art?’ – Sarah Thornton for The Guardian
Last Sunday night at the Old Vic theatre in London, the heavy hitters of the art world went to watch Drama Queens, a play by the artists Elmgreen and Dragset, in which five sculptures come to life and have an art-historical battle of egos. Tate director Nicholas Serota was there, as were Tracey Emin, Peter Doig and New York power critics Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith. On stage, Barbara Hepworth’s Elegy III flirted with Sol Lewitt’s Four Cubes, while Giacometti’s Walking Man glided about making existential comments.
But the self-appointed star of the show was Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, whose voice was delivered live from the balcony by Kevin Spacey. As the bunny zoomed out from the wings, he squealed, “Hey, hey! Look, look, a rabbit!” After several manic laps of the stage, he began to tire. “So much stress,” he complained. “I need to see my banker, my gallerist, my investment manager and my art editor. I need to see my AA sponsor. And I need to see my agent. There’s some sponsorship thing we’re trying to figure out. They want to fill me with helium and float me over Beijing.”
After nearly a decade of art-market expansion, this image of a shiny happy bunny full of hot air, soaring over a newly capitalist city centre, could hardly be more apt. When I started researching a book about the art world five years ago, it was a quieter, less crowded place. You could walk into swishy evening auctions without tickets. You could find a Venetian hotel room at the last minute for the opening days of the Biennale. You could buy art by a young artist from an east London dealer for less than £2,000. But over the past five years, people and money from around the globe have poured into the art world, making it spin faster and more lavishly. By 2006, dealers and auction specialists were talking with wide-eyed disbelief about the art world’s remarkable “liquidity”. Where all this money came from, nobody really knew. Given the current economic crisis, is it about to dry up? As Frieze art fair opens for business in London’s Regent’s Park, and with major auctions scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday, we shall soon see.
What doesn’t get much talked about is the effect all this money has on artists, and on art itself. Has contemporary art become decadent and status-fixated? Click through and read the rest here