The Art News published its annual list of the Top 200 Collectors this week, featuring short profiles on the collectors on the list this year, including Roman Abramovich, Agnes Gund, Paul Allen, and Leonardo DiCaprio.   (more…)

Jeff Koons is interviewed in The Guardian this week, as the artist prepares to open his traveling retrospective at the Guggenheim Bilbao this month, and his views on critiques of his work as trophies for multi-millionaires.  “It happens to everybody – the work is held by someone who doesn’t even particularly enjoy the work, and just has it stored in some warehouse and will sit there for 20 years,” he says.  “Or someone doesn’t understand it physically, and their motivations are just to show that they have the power to purchase. There’s not much you can do; that’s about educating people, and the way you can educate them is through your art. And I try to educate people about materialism through my work. I try to show them real visual luxury.” (more…)

Yves Klein, Peinture de feu couleur sans titre (FC 27) (1962), via Christie’s

Following strong but subdued outings last week during the London summer sales, attention turns to the Contemporary market in the UK, as a trio of sales this week will usher in the summer months.  The sales start tomorrow, spanning three nights in the British capital, and drawing the first half of the year’s major sales to a close.

Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (1962), via Sotheby’s (more…)

The Art Newspaper profiles the work of Zlot Buell, the art consulting firm that has earned a reputation for discretely advising tech entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley wealth in the contemporary art market, and notes the commonly assumed myth that tech collectors are interested in digital art.  “They look at a screen all day long; they don’t need to look at another,” Ms Zlot says. (more…)

Bloomberg looks at the popularity of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms among collectors, and its prominence in a number of major museum collections, including the recently opened Garage Center in Moscow.  “Russians loved Kusama,” says collector Inga Rubenstein. “The work is easy to understand because it’s so beautiful.” (more…)

Outside Art Basel, via Art Basel

The doors are set to open at Messeplatz in Basel, Switzerland this week, for the 46th edition of the Art Basel art fair, the massive fair exhibition that has come to define the early summer months in Europe.  Bringing the massively international scope of the world’s elite galleries, this year’s Art Basel promises another strong outing.  (more…)

Bloomberg profiles a pair of former Sotheby’s employees, Marlies Verhoeven and Daisy Peat, who are launching a start-up “offering uniquely privileged access to every aspect of the art world.”  The company, called The Cultivist, already boasts Marina Abramovic and Rashid Johnson as founding members, and includes an impressive list of museum memberships and VIP access to major art events as part of its annual $2,500 fee.  Offering counterpoint, the publication notes the dissonance between providing “access” and catering to collectors, a distinction that overshadows much of the “privilege” the art world is so often critiqued for. (more…)

The WSJ looks at the recent focus on algorithms as hot items on the art market, as collectors purchase classic codes and objects emblazoned with famous code.  “It is a whole new dimension we are trying to grapple with,” says Cooper Hewitt curatorial director Cara McCarty. “The art term I keep hearing is code.” (more…)

The New York Times looks at the recent trend towards smaller and boutique art fairs, where collectors can experience specially selected works and a more nuanced buying experience. The article focuses particularly on London’s Art15 fair, where a focus on international buyers and new investors has defined it as a leader in the growing market. “We deliberately made it smaller,” says Art15 Director Kate Bryan. “We wanted to create a concentrated, boutique-style event. The demographic of London is changing all the time, and we wanted to respond to that.”  (more…)

A new report released by fine art insurance company Hiscox finds that an increasing number of collectors, at least 75% of those surveyed, are viewing online art sales as an investment opportunity.  “I wonder whether this change in attitude is genuine,” says Robert Read, the head of fine art at Hiscox, “or whether it is a dot.com moment where people feel they are missing out if they don’t.”

An article in the Wall Street Journal this week notes the details and contractual clauses that accompany sales at the higher end of the art market, often in an attempt to prevent speculation.  “I don’t want to see my clients gambling at auction,” says gallerist Renato Danese. “What if the work doesn’t sell, or sells below the low estimate? That will hurt the artist in terms of current and future sales, and it will hurt my clients.”  (more…)

The Guggenheim has appointed two new trustees to its board this week, Artforum reports.  Valentino D. Carlotti, a Senior Partner at Goldman Sachs, and private investor David Shuman will join the museum leadership, both of whom have worked with the museum in the past as collectors and supporters of recent acquisitions. (more…)

Daniel Arsham at Galerie Perrotin, via Art Basel

Following a hectic weekend of events and openings, today caps the final day of Art Basel Hong Kong, bringing strong sales and attendance at the sixth edition of the massive Asian market event. (more…)

A Mark Rothko painting from 1958 will lead Christie’s Contemporary and Post-War Auction in New York this coming May, the New York Times reports.  Estimated at $30 to $50 million, competition is expected to be fierce, and initial indications hint that the work may near the artist’s $87 Million record.  “There’s a perception that these kinds of paintings come and they come regularly, but in reality they’re becoming more and more rare,” says Christie’s Contemporary and Post-War Chairman Brett Gorvy. “The year 1958 was probably Rothko’s all-time high as a recognized artist.”  (more…)

The Wall Street Journal notes a growing trend towards participation in art funds, where a group of investors pool money to buy art, and split the profits from the work’s sale years later.  This method of investing dates back to 1904, when Paris-based financier André Level pooled a group of investors to buy a selection of classic works by Picasso, Matisse and others, selling them several years later at a major mark-up. (more…)

The Armory Show 2015, via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

The doors are open and the 2015 edition of The Armory Show in New York is underway, kicking off the first major fair week in NY this spring.  Collectors and artists wound throughout the booths, perusing the works on sale and chatting with dealers.  Director George Lucas could be seen examining several works, as was Maurizio Cattelan, both of whom seem to be enjoying their respective retirements. (more…)

The Los Angeles Times notes that an increasing number of Southern California arts orgs are targeting Chinese-American patrons in their fundraising and outreach campaigns.  “Within a decade from now, there’s no question in my mind there will be major donations to museums and other groups,” says Dominic Ng, chairman and chief executive of East West Bank.  “As Chinese Americans continue to prosper, they will naturally expand their involvement in the community,” he said. (more…)

An article in Bloomberg this week looks at booms and busts in the art market as tastes change, and the real impacts speculation and economic strength has on artists’ careers.  “There’s even more speculative buying and more gamblers than ever,” says collector and dealer Adam Lindemann. “But they’re not going to want to buy the artists that busted. They’re going to want to buy the deals today. They want to move on.” (more…)

In the run-up to this week’s Impressionist and Modern auctions in London, The Guardian looks at the current state of the market, and how works like Claude Monet’s Le Grand Canal (est. £20 milltion – £30 million), have come to be valued so highly in the growing market.  “There is such intense demand for the very best and the rarest,” says Jay Vincze, the international director and head of impressionist art at Christie’s, “This is the kind of painting that will appeal to a masterpiece buyer. Someone who wants the best of everything.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal profiles collectors Aaron and Barbara Levine, whose focus on collecting conceptual art has led to an impressive collections of 20th century art focused around works by On Kawara and Marcel Duchamp, among many others.  “The first time I saw the early 20th-century abstractions of Kazimir Malevich, I was in tears,” Ms. Levine says.  (more…)

The New York Times notes the attractive benefits for wealthy collectors founding their own private, tax-exempt museums to house their art collections, allowing the collectors to deduct full market value for their donations even when the museum may be housed on the same property as their home.  “I’m not against it being done, but it’s got to be done well,” says Robert Storr, dean of the Yale School of Art. “If there’s to be a public forgiveness for taxes there should be a clear public benefit, and it should not be entirely at the discretion of the person running the museum or foundation.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal has published a piece this week detailing the advantages and drawbacks to gallery sales, private sales and auctions for collectors looking to sell their work, and notes an almost 1000% increase in private sales across the board in the last decade. (more…)

Outside the Grand Palais for FIAC, all photos via Art Observed

As the doors to one fair close, another set has opened on the opposite side of the English channel.  Paris’s FIAC is now in full swing after opening its VIP preview yesterday at the Grand Palais, packing in guests to view the fair’s deep selection of works from Europe and abroad.  (more…)

W Magazine takes a look at the remote art colony and sculpture park established by collectors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz in the Gulf of Finland.  “They really support artists before they break through,” says curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, codirector of London’s Serpentine Galleries. “It’s a form of patronage.” (more…)