Why the market got sooo excessive and what will happen next
January 29, 2009 at 6:04 pm | In Art world, art market, collecting art, contemporary art, judging art | 7 CommentsI’ve always blamed the excesses of the contemporary art market on Warhol. Warhol’s art came out of Duchamp, yes. ( Marcel Duchamp was the guy who exhibited a urinal and said it was art.) The grand idea is that art is anything that an artist says is art. Great. But Warhol, being a product of his time, added a devious twist. The “anything” he chose to be art, was branded commercial images from the media. As you probably don’t recall being too young, it was the proliferation of homogenized media in the 60’s that fed the cult of celebrity and the growth of a consumerist society. Warhol was a child of the 60’s in that all he really cared about was buying stuff and being famous. So, of course, his art reflected the time. He was a self-manufactured brand and subject of his art was how branding created a need for a consumer product or celebrity. So why was Warhol, who recycled the photographic images of our consumer/celebrity culture, so popular? The answer is what I call the Warhol paradox. Continue reading Why the market got sooo excessive and what will happen next…
What happens now
November 23, 2008 at 2:58 am | In Art Galleries, Art world, art market | Leave a CommentNow that the art market is in free fall, we’re all scratching our heads wondering what to do next. I say we should get a bunch of art dealers together and all go to the movies on Wednesday afternoons. Can you imagine anything more self-indugent? and more fun? But really what starts happening is that we all increase our marketing efforts – so you’ll see more emails, blogs etc., from your favorite dealers. And then, some folks will give up. Continue reading What happens now…
Attitude Sells Art
November 16, 2008 at 8:12 pm | In Art world, art market, attitude, contemporary art | 1 CommentWe had a wonderful opening on Thursday of amazing paintings by Lisa Breslow and we even sold several. They’re really soo beautiful, they’ll sell in any market.
But I want to write today about the importance of context in the selling of art. I have this theory that half the people in the world need to have their art presented on a silver platter. Otherwise it’s not important enough for them. The other half of the world is like me. When I look at a piece of art I think, “Would the work still speak to me if I saw it hanging in my gas station?” That’s my test. Unlike most of my colleagues, my definition of good art is that it can stand on its own. I would love it if I saw it at Sam’s Shell. It shouldn’t need explanation, back story, or verbiage. Continue reading Attitude Sells Art…
My fool-proof art investment strategy
November 10, 2008 at 11:27 pm | In Art world, art market, collecting art, contemporary art | 1 CommentUp until last month, I had the greatest, totally fool-proof strategy for making lots of money in the crazy world of hot-off-the press art. Of course, I never used it myself. I don’t like art as investment. Right now, however, nothing is gonna to work. There are big auctions tonight and tomorrow night and things don’t look good. For the past 4 years, so many of us have looked in open-mouthed disbelief as prices soared beyond – waaay beyond – the logical. People were spending stupid money on last year’s flipped Richard Prince and over produced Murakamis. How does the art made yesterday get to be an asset class? Didn’t anyone remember 1991????
But one day the stupid money will be back and my strategy will be viable again. Continue reading My fool-proof art investment strategy…
May we live in interesting times
October 30, 2008 at 6:35 pm | In Art world, art market, art price, art recession | Leave a CommentPeople still need art in their lives, maybe now more than ever. It’s been quite a month hasn’t it, and the burning question in my world is , “how’s the art market? ” The answer is “sloooow”. But this will be my fourth recession (if you count the entire decade of the 70′as one), and frankly, in the past I’ve always done alright in a downturn. The agenda of my gallery is to provide beautiful, serious art at very reasonable prices. In hard times, the competition of speculative, market-driven work looks shaky, and my artists are even better values by comparison. Still, I dread this downturn that everyone says is coming. Continue reading May we live in interesting times…
Some factors that determine an artist’s prices
September 8, 2008 at 7:59 pm | In Art world, art market, art price, collecting art | Leave a CommentWhy an artist gets a particular price for a particular work is the $64,000 question. As we see so clearly now, markets for everything from stocks to tulip bulbs to internet companies can be totally irrational and volatile. However, the art market has NO bottom line, NO eventual bankruptcy, no logical basis for any valuation except for the perception of the art world – art historians, critics, collectors, gallerists, etc. The way this art world values one artist over another or the even value of one work of art by an artist over a similar work by the same artist, can be seem capricious and illogical and often is. Continue reading Some factors that determine an artist’s prices…
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
