Art in America - Most Recent The Market Posts

Singapore Art Fair Lacks Major Sales, Takes Baby Steps

Katherine Don — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:45:00 +0100

The Art Stage Singapore fair embodies the country's aspiration to be an international hub for Asia and a cultural bridge between East and West. This year in its second edition [Jan. 12-15], and with the theme "We are Asia," Art Stage provided a solid overview of Southeast Asian art, as opposed to its primary rival, Hong Kong's ArtHK, which predominantly presents Chinese artists and global brand names. Ingrid Dudek, vice president and senior specialist of Asian contemporary art at Christie's, told A.i.A. "What is most distinctive about this fair is the obvious diversity of the different regions that make up Asian contemporary art. The focus is not just on China anymore."

Forte Collection’s Old Masters Fly While Others Flounder at Sotheby’s

Eric Russ — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0100

The old masters' rocky performance at Christie's on Wednesday was repeated yesterday with a halfhearted showing at Sotheby's. Nearly half the lots, 141 of 350, failed to sell. The highest-priced offerings did well, helping to bring in a decent $62.1 million total and setting auction records for several artists, including Fra Bartolommeo, Simone Martini and Charles-Antoine Coypel.

Roving Eye: Tropical Realism

Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0100

My first meaningful experiences with the Dominican Republic came via New York—or Parlin, New Jersey, really—the home of Junot Díaz's frequent narrator, Yunior de las Casas. But he belongs to the DR during the Era of Trujillo and to its diasporas. Never mind that it's fiction.

Moss to Shutter Soho Shop

Stephanie Cash — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0100

The cult design emporium Moss in SoHo will close on Feb. 17. Opened by Murray Moss in 1994, the store elevated product design to high art through museum-style displays and thematic exhibitions. The store's website says, "The shop intentionally looks and feels like a museum, with everything locked behind glass or raised onto platforms. It's cold. It's white. The music is tense. The selling staff wear dark monotone clothing."

The Lookout: A Weekly Guide to Shows You Won't Want to Miss

AiA Staff — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0100

This week we check out abstract paintings by elder stateswoman Sonia Gechtoff at Nyehaus, Enrico Castellani's monochrome reliefs and installations at Haunch of Venison, and Klara Kristalova's fantastical glazed ceramics at Lehmann Maupin.

Faux-Finished to the Core: Q+A With Nick Van Woert

Brienne Walsh — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0100

Nick Van Woert's cavernous studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is filled with all manner of good, clean fun, including a foosball table and a work surface that converts to a ping pong table. Walking through the studio, the tone becomes serious, littered as it is not just with wooden statues of religious figures but a cage modeled after a solitary confinement cell in a Supermax prison and the personal belongings of Ted Kaczynski, which he bought at an auction and has spread neatly on the floor like finds in an archeological dig. With such objects he explores the transcendentalism of Henry David Thoreau, the anti-industrial guerilla tactics of the Luddites and the homemade bombing techniques of the Monkey Wrench Gang.

Dara Mitchell Leaves Sotheby's After 26 Years

Sarah Cascone — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:30:00 +0100

Dara Mitchell, Sotheby's longtime American painting rainmaker, will retire at the end of the year. She worked for the house for 26 years, first as a senior cataloguer for the American paintings department, and as its director since 1993.

MACBA Banks on History

David Ulrichs — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:00:00 +0100

In cooperation with the private contemporary collection of Spanish bank La Caixa, Barcelona's MACBA last week unveiled an exhibition of some 350 artworks, titled "Volume!" [through Apr. 23]. The combination of work by local stars with international ones resulted in a neat historical overview intended to appeal to a wide audience. MACBA director Bartomeo Mari told A.i.A. that he wished "to dispel the myth that contemporary art is difficult to understand." But some art cannot be tamed. Before a beautifully installed Robert Morris felt sculpture, House of Vetti II (1983), a pleasantly surprised banker informed me, "It looks like a vagina," before shuffling along.

Performa Playbill: The Final Run

Paul David Young — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0100

But first: where else could you see not one, but two shows that imaginatively incorporated voguing into traditional theater? iona rozeal brown's exuberant, smoothly executed, Kabuki-inspired extravaganza battle of yestermore, at Skylight West, featured crazily patterned but sophisticated adaptations of kimonos by costume stylist Brent Barkhaus.

An e-Art Collection for your iGadget

Stephanie Cash — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0100

A new London-based website launching today lets you buy art on the cheap and take it with you wherever you go. Cleverly named s[edition], the upstart seditionart.com, is the brainchild of Harry Blain, cofounder of Haunch of Venison and partner in Blain|Southern, and Robert Norton, former CEO of Saatchi Online.

A Kinder, Gentler Art World When Galleries Share?

Stephanie Cash — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:00:00 +0100

Amid the gossip of this artist leaving that gallery, or that dealer snatching away this hot young artist, a kinder, gentler trend has quietly emerged. Galleries are jointly representing or mounting exhibitions of a single artist Currently, works by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky can be seen at New York's Howard Greenberg Gallery, on 57th Street, and Bryce Wolkowitz, in Chelsea.

Roving Ei: The Avant-Garde Crowd

Eileen Myles — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0100

My art week was minimal and partial. By the end it turned out grand. I had hundreds of errands to do and only one date circled on my calendar, or clicked, whatever, and it was to get to MPA's performance at Leo Koenig. In September she did the first part of "Directing Light on to Fist of Father" and the buzz is that it was amazing. To date I'd only seen her on film so there was no missing this. So why am I pedaling my damn bike across town about a half-hour later than I planned? The crowd outside of the gallery was dense. Is MPA famous? Yes, and it was Performa, which is like the New Year's Eve of performance art in terms of the amateurs really coming out for it. Tourists, graduate students. Grrr. An amateur audience is good. Right? But in terms of viewing, it doesn't feel good.

Collectors Push Past Sotheby's Protestors, Spend

Eric Russ — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0100

Nine angry protesters were arrested on York Avenue outside of Sotheby's last night as some of the world's wealthiest art collectors spent $315.8 million at the contemporary art auction, blasting by the $270-million projected high estimate. The arrests were made during a rowdy demonstration over a labor dispute between the auctioneer and art handlers. Protestors from Occupy Wall Street added a more militant component to the demonstration, which was "loud and unruly from the start," according to an NYPD spokesman.

Christies Contemporary Sale Sets Nine Artist Records

Eric Russ — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:15:00 +0100

Financial jitters faded from the picture last night at Christie's Rockefeller Center headquarters as contemporary artworks sold by software mogul Peter Norton helped propel the auction to a $247.6-million tally, with 90 percent of lots finding buyers. "It did extraordinarily well, way outside what one might have expected," art advisor Thea Westreich told A.i.A. "To try to rationalize" the good results in this economic climate "is post-auction baloney."

Phillips Hedges Bets With High Reserves

Eric Russ — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0100

A contemporary sale studded with works by Cy Twombly, Damien Hirst and Cindy Sherman tallied $71.3 million last night at Phillips de Pury & Company in New York. The sale, held in the company's Midtown auction room, launched the second week of big money evening sales in New York. Last week's Impressionist and modern auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's totaled $400.2 million.

Elvis Mitchell Serves Breakfast at LACMA

Erica Bellman — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:00:00 +0100

Two years ago, director Michael Govan said he'd close LACMA's historic film screening series—to no less opposition than that of Martin Scorsese. As of last month, Elvis Mitchell, esteemed critic, documentary filmmaker, pop culture commentator and contributing editor to Interview, A.i.A.'s sister publication, has spearheaded its return.

Performa Playbill: Spartacus Chetwynd

Paul David Young — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0100

With a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and group exhibitions at the Tate and ICA behind her, London-based Spartacus Chetwynd inaugurates the new next-door project space at the New Museum with her installation, "Home Made Tasers," and a performance, "The Lion Tamer," which debuted last night as part of Performa 11.

The New Museum press release touts the young Chetwynd's invocation of "Brechtian drama," and the on-site wall text says she raises questions "about the relationship between humans and the natural world as well as the understanding of historical truth." It's an ambitious agenda that the work fails to live up to in a meaningful way.

Amidst Catcalls, Sotheby's Sale Brings Relief

Eric Russ — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0100

Catcalls and taunts from the 99 percent didn't puncture the 1 percent's enthusiasm to spend last night at Sotheby's. An Impressionist and modern sale totaled a robust $199.8 million, above the $168-million low estimate. Over 80 percent of the 70 lots on offer sold, topped by a verdant Gustav Klimt, which made $40.4 million.

Household Names Can't Save Christie's Impressionist-Modern Sale

Eric Russ — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0100

A rocky sale last night at Christie's tallied just $140.8 million, well below the projected $300-million high estimate. Collectors rejected bullish estimates as nearly 40 percent of lots failed to sell. Amid global economic jitters, the Impressionist and Modern art auction was the first of a series of sales in New York taking place this week and next. Major works by Degas, Picasso, Matisse and Giacometti tanked.

China’s Largest Auction House Coming West

Chérie Turner — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0100

China Guardian Auctions, one of China's oldest and largest art and antiquities auction houses, is headed to the West. The company recently announced the opening of an office in New York City and the construction of one in London, and establishment of a liaison in Vancouver. China Guardian currently has three branches in mainland China and offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taiwan.