Thursday, October 05, 2006

Indian Contemporary Art: ARTICLE 562 - Just another asset?

"You don't even have to like art to make money from it; a reality check on how art funds work."

"Art funds are for people who know nothing about buying art themselves."

I find I brustle at the above quotes...but the blog this article is posted on is very interesting.

I find it fascinating to look at the contempoary art scene in India.

I haven't read all the blogs posts yet, but it has grabbed my attention, despite what I have read seeming to be a little obsessed with art sales...but they have a lot of links to art galleries. Seems to be a few comntributors and so far focusing on articles about contemporary art...hmmm...

"It was like that at the sale’s top end -- lots exceeding their estimates by substantial amounts. A Milton Avery watercolor estimated at $30,000-$50,000 went for $102,000; a Jasper Francis Cropsy Study of a Tree from 1965 estimated at $25,000-$35,000 went for $84,000; a Theodore Robinson oil sketch Portrait of Laurie (1880) estimated at $7,000-$10,000 went for $54,000. It seems to be a good time to be selling American art.
Can the same be said for contemporary art? Phillips, de Pury & Co. moved to find out with its special sale of contemporary art, dubbed "Under the Influence II," held the same day, Sept. 12, 2006. Two-thirds of the 216 lots offered found buyers (that’s 144 lots), for a total of $1,632,900 at the hammer and $1,961,490 with the auction-house premium. The total isn’t so large -- but according to Phillips, new auction records were set for 30 artists (many of them newcomers to the auction block, including several Chinese artists).
Interesting lots included George Condo’s 1987 Portrait of Jacqueline and Julian Schnabel in Matisse’s Chapel, an appropriately Schnabelesque painting of two abstracted figures done with gold leaf and brown paint, which sold for $42,000, above its high presale estimate of $30,000. "

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Westerners are buying local contemporary artists in Alberta, from local art dealers, fancy that! Unlike some of the moron collectors we have here, who proudly purchase Canadian contemporary work from American dealers.

* (asterisk) said...

Auctions are crazy, and the "value" of almost anything sold at auction is really interesting to me. They say that an item finds its true value in the auction saleroom, and I guess that's true. Or at any rate, where money is no object, an item finds the true value someone is willing to pay to prevent someone else owning it... I work on a magazine that features a round-up of global wine auctions in each issue, and the prices are really quite something.

Even so, that first quote in this post is horrifying.

Candy Minx said...

L.M. that is good news. In some ways, I think the idea of rich American students studying art history and then their parents buying them a gallery space isn't the same attitude in Canada is it? I can only think of a few dealer histories like that in Canada, whereas so many galleries started up in NY or LA had that kind of background...no wonder collectors may lean towards an American dealer.

Yes, *, that opening line is a real gem isn't it. I actually howled when I read it, I am sure Mister Anchovy's heart will be warmed when he reads that one.