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Grayson Perry; Entrance To The Forest; 2002; Victoria Miro Gallery; London -Photos by ArtObserved

“The surprise is the business we are doing. Frankly, people are expressing more confidence in the art market than the government or Wall Street right now,” said Sean Kelly of Sean Kelly Gallery. The night of December 2nd, Vernissage attendees glittered and Piper Heidsieck champagne flowed.  More importantly, buyers were in attendance, asking questions and indeed, according to most of the galleries interviewed for this article, buying.  On Thursday afternoon, Douglas Baxter, President of Pace Wildenstein professed “We’ve met expectations.” Also on Thursday, when asked his feelings on sales from the night before, a representative at Cheim & Read insisted his artists have been selling well, pointing to Jack Pierson sculpture and a pile of William Eggleston’s photos.  Margherita Belaief of Peres Projects had the same confidence, “It’s hard to say so early but in general, Dash Snow’s pieces are selling strong.”  While hesitant to disclose precise numbers, the overall sentiment of the top galleries was optimistic.

However, it’s important to note while the larger known artists have been selling strong, some galleries have reported some difficulty selling lesser known artist pieces.  Alfons Klosterfelde at Klosterfelde was most direct: “People are asking more questions and really want to know the details,” but he said pointedly as of Thursday, “there have been less sales” and Klosterfelde remarked the pieces sold were from the gallery’s more known artists.

Photos and Writing by Faith-Ann Young

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Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, by Girolamo da Carpi, via Sotheby’s; Sold for £3.065 million.

Bucking the months-long trend of disappointing auction results, this week’s Old Masters auctions in London (Christie’s on December 2nd and
Sotheby’s on Dec. 3) managed to sell close to the higher end of their expected price range–at least for one auction house.

Sotheby’s Old Masters painting sale raised  £13.3 million against a pre-sale estimate range of  £9.5 to £13.5 million.  Seven new artist records were set, as 61.5% of the offerings were sold by lot, and 71.7% sold by value. A portrait of Bindo Altoviti, a Florentine banker, fetched  just over £3 million compared to top end estimates of  £300,000. The portrait was painted on marble during the Italian renaissance, depicting one of its major business and arts figures, and has been passed down since the late 18th century within a Swiss collector family.  The top lot was easily A Young Woman in a Red Jacket Feeding a Parrot by Frans van Mieris the Elder, which was sold for £3.6 million versus top end estimates of £700,000. Another high-priced lot that beat its estimate was a rare coastal landscape piece by Jan Brueghel the Elder, which went for £1.07 million pounds against top end estimates of £700,000.

Observers attribute the success of the Old Masters auctions to the fact that the genre did not see the astronomical price appreciation that became common in more contemporary art markets. Additionally, Sotheby’s priced the lots less aggressively than Christie’s, its counterpart, which saw less dazzling results–detailed after the jump.  Aggressive estimates have been blamed for the dismal Russian art auctions last week in London, as covered previously in ArtObserved.

Catalogue: Sotheby’s Old Masters Evening Sale
Can Old Masters Weather the Economic Storm? [Wall Street Journal]
Banker Portrait Fetches 15 Times Forecast at London Art Auction [Bloomberg]
Painting Found in Attic Fetches $4.2 Million in Old-Master Test [Bloomberg]
Old Master Paintings Realise GBP13,334,000 at Sotheby’s [ArtDaily]
Tiepolo Masterpiece – Previously Hidden in the Attic of a Chateau in France – Sells for $4,227,780 [ArtDaily]
Old Masters Show the Market Up [ArtMarketMonitor]
Old master sales show resilience amid art weakness [Reuters]

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Familie am Meer, or Family at Sea in English, a 1964 painting by Gerhard Richter via the Guardian.

The National Gallery of Scotland is hosting a major retrospective of German artist Gerhard Richter. Over 60 works are included in the exhibition all on loan from private collections and includes early work that has rarely been seen. The retrospective touches on all of the varied periods of the artist who is known for his mastery of both abstract and figurative painting. The retrospective follows his exhibition 4900 Colours: Version II at the Serpentine Gallery, London, covered by Art Observed here.  Following his retrospective the National Portrait Gallery, London will host Gerhard Richter Portraits February 2009.  The current exhibition is part of the Bank of Scotland totalART series. Over £400,000 has been invested in the series making it the largest sponsorship of modern art in Scotland.

This is high on the Richter scale [Guardian UK]
Exhibition preview: Gerhard Richter, Edinburgh [Guadrian UK]
Gerhard Richter at the National Gallery Complex, Edinburgh [Telegraph]
Richter: Paintings from Private Collections at National Gallery of Scotland [Artdaily]

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In Fashion Photo Exhibit; Miami; December 2nd; 2008

The debut of the Naomi Campbell Retrospective, which boasted colorful fashion photography, tanned celebrities, red carpet, juicy fruity drinks, and a ribbon-cutting session, was a mix of highs and lows last night. Majority of the photographic selections were solid representations of top fashion photographers; the lush Yves Saint Laurent Ad Campaigns of Naomi by Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin were displayed along with other iconic photographs of the long-limbed diva against maze-like green hedges.  In addition, Michael Dweck’ ethereal mermaids, romantic fashion photos by Alika Malka and delicious pop arty shots by Arthur Elgort stood out in the labyrinth of retro and modern fashion photos. Other photographers represented included Gilles Bensimon, Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, Simon Harris, Seb Janiak, David LaChapelle, Mario Testino, and Ellen Von Unwerth. However, while the selections were cheerful, bold, and uplifting, (truly, what would fashion photography be today without LaChapelle’s influence?), none was jaw-droppingly sensational or controversial. Perhaps because we are so inundated with these photographers’ sensibilities via mega-watt advertisements and 800-page luxury magazine spreads, when we attempt to differentiate between art vs commerce, their works seem to lean more on the commercial side.

Photos and Writing by Faith-Ann Young

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Ted Noten designed Prada Purse; Gold-plated gun, cast in acrylic, hangbag; Ornamentum Gallery; 506 Warren Street; Hudson, NY – Photo by ArtObserved

We already knew that Basel was downsizing: this year, little known French pop princess Yelle is replacing leathery icon Iggy Pop in Art Loves Music, sponsor UBS reported its first quarterly loss in 5 years, liquor sales are down 20%, and many people including key investors simply decided not to come. Yet if indeed the art bubble is popping, we thought at least there would be a ‘bang’ to talk about; instead, if Tuesday is any judge, one can surmise that the ostentatious, fun ego of Miami Basel and sister satellite Fairs will instead deflate in a slow, lackluster manner this year.

At the premier Design Miami’s Vernissage, though the champagne was still flowing and VIPs sauntered in freely, visually there appeared to be drop in attendance from last year and the overall sentiment seemed rather quiet and demure. (Is everyone in fiscal mourning or is it simply sticker-shock?) Also, few of the displays were as buzz-worthy like 2007 Designer of the Year Tokujin Yoshioka’s crisp  airy hamster nest of straws that put Dash Snow and Dan Colen’s art bum hamster nests to shame. Since Designers of the year The Campana Brothers’ whimsical, stuffed animal chairs are ubiquitous around the design world these days, while their influence is strong especially in terms of environmental sustainability, their various displays arguably may not challenge the future of art design as many of past winners have (i.e. Zaha Hadid, Marc Newson, etc).

Words & Photos By Faith-Ann Young

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Cocktails under the lights at the Raleigh Hotel – Photo by ArtObserved

For some time the press in general, with sometimes a bit too much schadenfreude, has been anticipating how the bacchanal of the art market, Art Basel Miami Beach, would be affected by the current art market downturn.   ArtObserved is here and can say definitively that the energy is more subdued than prior years.    Art Basel Miami Beach has 250 exhibitors from 33 countries showing more than 2,000 artists with costs of exhibiting exceeding $100,000 in some cases.   Last year 43,000 visitors were recorded in attendance.  This year there are still the chauffeured cars, the expensive catered events with fashion or luxury commercial tie-ins, the crowded parties, such as the packed throngs of people (including Pharell) trying to get into the Raleigh penthouse party last night (story coverage to follow).   However, for the bulk of the exchanges in Art Basel Miami Beach, the cocktail and booth-side conversations, the topic seems to inevitably focus on assessing the situation.

Art Basel Miami Beach is still a young fair, but for the past few years it culminated into one of the most significant global art events.  Part of the reason why it offers unique perspective into the state of the art world is that Art Basel Miami Beach always was differentiated by extraordinary amounts of satellite fairs (no other major art fair  has as many satellite events) as well as for grand, almost shameless levels of fashion, music, film, publishing and luxury corporate sponsorships and collaborations, which, along with the weather, brought many affluent buyers and cultural influencers to the scene.   The galleries showing know that the market is soft, and part of the exciting part of this year’s fair is that participants have brought some of their most resilient and high quality works to fight it out.   Art Basel Miami Beach will this year have a few too many flopped parties, some disappointing no sales at the booths, and perhaps some galleries will be dealt some damaging blows but in the end the fair seems to still be one not to miss.

Glitz Meets Grim as Miami Basel Fair Opens in Pallid Art Market [Bloomberg]
Art Basel Miami Beach | Naomi’s Watts [TheMoment]
Editor’s Picks: Art Basel Miami Beach Preview [ArtInfo]
Twenty-One Cranky Ways of Looking at Art Basel Miami Beach [ArtInfo]
The Block and the Booth [ArtInfo]
Art loves everyone. Love it back… [FinancialTimes]
Art Basel Miami Beach set to party on [Financial Times]
Art Basel satellite shows likely to struggle this year [MiamiHerald]
$300,000 sculpture destroyed en route to Art Miami show [MiamiHerald]
Art Basel Art Fountain’s Inhuman Stain [NYMag]
Miami Madness [ArtNet]
Art Basel Miami Kicks Off Cautiously, Optimistically [NYMag]
Presence of Mutated Muffin Head Dress Man Yields No Significant Insight on Fair Permanence. Yet. [ArtFagCity]

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Jonathan Meese outside Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac with one of his sculptures, via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

Now on display at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg, Austria is German artist Jonathan Meese’s most recent sculptural works. Meese has been known in particular as a performance and installation artist but has recently renewed his artistic focus on the classic forms of painting, drawing, and sculpture. Though varied are his mediums Meese’s works are known to employ a constant theme of symbols, signs, and badges that serve as figurative allusions to characters in history, fictional literature, and current pop culture that are as varied as Stalin and Scarlet Johannson.  The artist’s work also serves as a reflection and reconstruction of German history and mythology.  This exploration has lent the artist to be compared to fellow German artist Anselm Kiefer whose work, especially that of the 1970’s, drew substantial inspiration from the history of Nazi Germany.
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Press Release [Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac]
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Jonathan Meese at Thaddaeus Ropac [Contemporary Art Daily]
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Ich bin ein artist [TheMoment]

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Mark Leckey receiving the Turner Prize, via the Guardian

The only male among the four artists selected as nominees for this year’s Turner Prize emerged as the winner of what is widely considered Britain’s most important contemporary arts competition, held at the Tate Britain museum for the last 24 years. Mark Leckey’s Cinema in the Round clinched the Turner Prize, joining the ranks of Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Rachel Whiteread,  the Chapman Brothers, Tomma Abts, Steve McQueen, among many other now prominent artists.  The Turner Prize is awarded to the best artist under 50 by a jury which changes every year.  Leckey’s works included films that examined the role of movies and other media in the daily lives of viewers, and how they see themselves.  Cinema in the Round examined this theme in depth, referencing external cultural imagery drawn from such as sources as Felix the Cat, Homer Simpson, Titanic the movie and Philip Guston.  Leckey beat out fellow artists Runa Islam, Cathy Wilkes, and Goshka Macuga for the £25,000 prize, which was presented by musician Nick Cave.  The other competitors took home £5,000 as consolation prize.

Official Site: Turner Prize 2008
Video: ‘I want a TV show,’ Interview with Mark Leckey [Guardian]
Photos: Turner prize 2008: Happy go Leckey [Guardian]
Modest art: out goes the controversy as magpie of the artworld steals the show [Guardian]
‘Felix the Cat’ Artist Mark Leckey Wins Turner Prize [Bloomberg]
Mark Leckey Wins Prestigious 2008 Turner Prize – World’s Top Contemporary Art Award [ArtDaily]

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