Exhibitions Popping Up

Exhibiting artwork does not always require a substantial budget or any funding at all...if you are creative, resourceful and bold!

A few pop-up gallery success stories were discussed in an article published by The Art Newspaper last month. In each case, the projects "benefited in one way or another from a decline in property values, which has meant that some spectacular venues have been available that would normally have been redeveloped or occupied by commercial operators."

If nothing else, this article is a valuable reminder that artwork is the core of an art exhibition. Everything else is secondary.

Click here to read the article

Art Insurance Restrictions

Gallery owners and art dealers have been warned.

A combination of new software and raised awareness of the potential for large-scale destruction caused by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, and terrorists attacks has led insurers to put a cap on their maximum aggregated value. This means that it will be more of a challenge to insure art collections that are displayed or stored in a singe location at any given time, including long-term storage facilities and at temporary events such as art fairs.

The Art Newspaper reported the warning in their Frieze Daily Edition, which was issued by an executive director for the Heath Lambert Group in London, Richard Northcott.

Northcott made the following statements on the issue:

For a long time nobody in the insurance world was monitoring the cumulative value of art shown at fairs or kept in storage,” explains Northcott. “But in the last two or three years the industry has become a lot more sophisticated and a lot more aware of the issue.

There is a limit to the insurance market’s capacity for the cumulative value of policies for a single event like an art fair,” says Northcott. This stands at around $2bn; the insurance value of art at Frieze this year is much lower as the downturn in the contemporary market has led to declining prices, and the many younger galleries exhibiting for the first time are offering less expensive, emerging artists. But he believes that as the art market recovers, “all major art fairs will come under scrutiny by the industry.

Click here to read the article

The value of an original fake

Prior to 1960, when it was donated to the Courtauld Gallery collection in London, The Procuress was considered a forgery from the first half of the twentieth century. However, recent studies surrounding the work have proven its authenticity as a product of the Dutch Golden Age.

An article published by The Art Newspaper presents a brief overview of the current research, as well as the key issues regarding the origin and significance of The Procuress. It also raises an important question about the possible change in value of the painting. "The Courtauld picture is not, of course, for sale, but it is interesting to consider whether it is more valuable financially as a 17th-century copy or a Van Meegeren fake?"

Click here for the article and find out

Hello, My Name is....

My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic: Everything You Need to Know About Art, Ads, Life, God, and Other Mysteries and Weren’t Afraid to Ask

This book's title is as long and convoluted as the titles of the works of art he has helped fund such as Damien Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, which sits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until further notice.

Charles Saatchi, an advertising guru, is currently marketing his book, which will come out on October 7, 2009. He has kept silent for so long and out of the media spotlight, but now the whole world will be able to take a glimpse into his mind as he has written in his book. It is almost an autobiography by the infamous art collector.

The Telegraph has interviewed Charles Saatchi, who is happily giving some promotion for his book.

This is also his way of saying to the exterior world to leave him alone as he will still remain a very private man. All the answers that will ever be told will be in this book and can be used as a point of reference- he still wants no phone calls, simply the bare minimum.

Art iPhone Application

Time is so precious, which is why you want to use it really efficiently.

For those of us who have an iPhone there is this amazing new application for art lovers.

One is called ArtNear. It has five views (Near, Venues, Artists, Calendar and Bookmarks) and the "Near" function helps you navigate from where you are in town to the nearest art venue.

The second one is called the Brooklyn Museum iPhone App, which is meant to make the art museum visiting experience more interactive and personalized. This means it's not a standard museum visit everyone will go through and listen to the same recording. It means you pick an artwork and then the application does the curating for you....so you see artwork that are tailored to your tastes. I guess it works in a similar way to the  Pandora app, but for art while you're in the museum. Sounds awesome.

I found out about these two iPhone apps while reading an article that popped up into my MutualArt.com account- I love technology updates, it puts my time to good use! 

The article is called Technology-Enhanced Art Viewing if you want to check it out.

Russian Dealer Suing Luhring Augustine Gallery

The Moscow art dealer Gary Tatintsian has sued the Luhring Augustine gallery for a breach of agreement of $3 million with regards to art by artists George Condo and Richard Prince:

April 2008- 12 new Condo paintings for a total of $2.7 million were put on reserve to Gary Tatintsian by the Luhring Gallery (representing George Condo)

July 2008- Tatintsian pays $1 million in advance and expects the paintings to come in bit by bit a year from now. The contract states two Condo paintings are to be delivered every month and Tatintsian will pay for the paintings as they are delivered.

August 11 2009- Tatintsian files a lawsuit against Luhring Augustine

  

" 'We paid a year ago and haven’t seen the paintings,' Tatintsian said in a telephone interview. 'During this time, I saw eight works Condo did for other collectors. I won’t let anyone treat me like this.' " - From a Bloomberg article reporting on the filed lawsuit against Luhring Augustine

The story continues:

"This summer, Luhring Augustine offered the dealer five Condo paintings valued at $1.04 million and matching the specifications outlined in the agreement, according to Netzer.

'Tatintsian has steadfastly refused to accept delivery of the paintings or even to look at them,' Netzer said in an e- mailed statement.

Tatintsian said the gallery offered the paintings too late and that they weren’t the ones he wanted. "

When things don't go according to plan, lawsuits always seem to get brought up. However, in the lack of transparency in the art world this is still a difficult field to grasp or to settle in a court room because who is to say that the Condo paintings weren't the ones he wanted if they haven't even been created, but simply consigned as 'new contemporary artwork.' When is the artist going to have a say in where the artworks actually belong?

To read more on issues of art appropriation and art law see my article entitled Who Does Art Belong To?

Andy Warhol Michael Jackson Portrait Sold...for now

The Andy Warhol Michael Jackson portrait seems to have caused a lot of ups and downs in the art world, especially after Michael Jackson's death.

Here is a brief timeline highlighting relevant dates on the journey of this Andy Warhol portrait:

May 2009 Sotheby's sold for $278,500

June 25 2009 Michael Jackson dies at age 50

July 12 2009 On the last day and at the very last minute of ArtHamptons, due to the death of Michael Jackson, the Vered Gallery decides to have this piece consigned as part of a silent auction.

However, on July 12 the Vered Gallery decides to remove the portrait from the auction, most likely due to the lack of organization and timing to create a proper auction - the emotional stress of Michael Jackson's death was still very strong worldwide.

August 19 2009 New deadline for a second attempt at creating a silent auction for the Michael Jackson painting. At 8pm, the minimum bid is $800,000. This time, the piece had traveled to Los Angeles and New York for previews alerting interested buyers that this artwork is on offer.

Sadly, the death of Michael Jackson is no longer the most discussed topic worldwide, so some of that fever has died down. The result? The portrait went for an undisclosed amount (first they said it went for "millions" then changes that to over $1 million) by an unidentified buyer. It was estimated to go for up to $10 million. What an anti-climax....

A Bloomberg article mentions "Lehr (the gallery owner) said she expects the man who bought it from the gallery to consign it back to the gallery to resell." How long is this saga going to continue?

It seems to be harder and harder to differentiate what is actually going on - has there actually been popular demand they are just hiding from the public or is this discretion and silence a sign the auction was a failure?