Charles Saatchi via ArteSpain
Charles Saatchi, the influential British art dealer and advertising magnate, has signed a deal with The Art Trading Fund to advise contemporary art purchases in the Western market, as well as the emerging markets of China, India and the Middle East. Saatchi will garner more corporate patrons for his gallery and will receive a percentage of profits on pieces of art that go through his hands; the fund is hoping he “will bring global expertise to our plans to enter new markets.”
Hegde Funds gets tips on hottest artists [Bloomberg]
Art For Money’s Sake [Portfolio]
Saatchi to Advise Art Fund on Deals [New York Times]
Saatchi Signs Deal with Art Trading Fund [Artinfo]
Charles Saatchi will advise fine art hedge fund [Wall Street Journal]
World’s First Regulated Art Hedge Fund [Financial News]
Charles Saatchi [Wikipedia]
Saatchi launched ‘Your Gallery’ in 2005 via Saatchi
Art investment funds, which buy and sell a pool of works for a set fee and a share of any profit made, have been promoting art as an alternative asset over the last five years. The Art Trading Fund has a short-term arbitrage strategy of three to 12-month returns with a hedge to provide protection. Weaker demand in the Western market has investors turning to emerging artists in the East, and Art Trading Fund is banking on Saatchi’s expertise to gain returns.
The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living by Damien Hirst, one of Saatchi’s famous deals via ArtObserved
Saatchi was born to an Iraqi-Jewish family in Baghdad in 1943 and he moved to London with his family at the age of four. He has long been considered a taste-maker and maverick in the contemporary art world, launching the career of the infamous Young British Artists, and heralding the internet’s democratization of art with his commission-free ‘Your Gallery’ site and his “Stuart” aka “Student-art” site that is one of the most highly trafficked sites in the art world. His 2005 $8 Million deal with hedge-fund manager Steven Cohen for Damien Hirst’s ‘Shark’ was a major art news event.
