Making Yourself Scarce

September 25, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Mike Kelley, “The Past and the Future” (1980). Image credit: Juha van ’t Zelfde. — *Mike Kelley, “The Past and the Future” (1980). Image credit: Juha van ’t Zelfde.*

While I was cruising Twitter yesterday, I caught a tweet from Sotheby’s advertising (and really, isn’t that the right word?) that a Mike Kelley work on paper called The Past and the Future had just hammered down at $305,000 in their latest Contemporary Curated sale in New York. The price qualified as a more than 6x multiple of the piece’s low estimate and more than 4x of the high ($50,000 - 70,000). And after looking at the subject matter in the larger context of Kelley’s work, I got to thinking about a unique kind of overpay that can happen in the market for an artist of his stripe.

Comment 0 Likes

Which Ghost Do Art Investors Believe in Most?

September 23, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Mike Kelley, detail/still from “Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #s 2-32 (Day Is Done)” (2004-5). Image credit: art21. — *Mike Kelley, detail/still from “Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #s 2-32 (Day Is Done)” (2004-5). Image credit: art21.*

On Friday, Alexander Forbes of artnet posted a report titled 10 Things You Need to Know About Investing in Art. The list comprised his main takeaways from this past Wednesday's Artfi, the now three year-old Fine Art and Finance Conference. And while I could probably write about his comments for days (and may), for now I just wanted to take a few moments to address the point that leaped out of the screen at me on my first read like the vengeful ghost in The Ring.

Comment 0 Likes

Wag the Dog

September 18, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Danh Vo, “WE THE PEOPLE (detail)” (2011). Image credit: e-flux. — *Danh Vo, “WE THE PEOPLE (detail)” (2011). Image credit: e-flux.*

If the recently revealed legal battle between collector Bert Kreuk and conceptual/installation artist Danh Vo wasn’t the story most passed-around the art world campfire last week, it was damn close. I’d recommend this carefully considered breakdown by Greg Allen to anyone who really wants to dive deep into the merits of Kreuk’s case–or in Allen’s view, the yawning existential absence of them.

For the more efficiency-conscious, though: Kreuk’s central accusation is that Danh Vo flaked on a $350,000 commission deal to create a new installation piece for him, deliverable in time to be included in Transforming the Known, an exhibition of Kreuk’s collection at the Hague's Gemeentemuseum last summer. Danh Vo and his representatives contend that no such agreement ever existed, and that Kreuk is now effectively trying to extort the artist for about $1.2M and one of his gallerists, Isabella Bortolozzi, for additional damages.

The plot thickens from there.

Comment 0 Likes

A History of Low-Poly Artwork

September 17, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Early render of “That Dragon, Cancer.” Image credit: Ryan Green. — *Early render of* *“That Dragon, Cancer.” Image credit: Ryan Green.*

Below you’ll find links to the three segments of an in-depth (and I mean in-depth) trilogy I wrote for Kill Screen, which The New Yorker described as “the McSweeney’s of interactive media,” on what’s known as the low-poly aesthetic in digital artwork. It’s a more art historically based piece than what you’re used to reading here, but I think it’s another fascinating case of the interplay between contemporary art and technology.

If you agree, share it around. Hope you enjoy. I’ll be back with a new post tomorrow.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Comment 0 Likes

tags / contemporaryart, artstech, modern art, lowpoly, digital art, killscreen, 3dart

Average Is Over IX: Consolidation Nation

September 12, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Jasper Johns, “Map” (1961). Image credit: Where the Giraffe Lives. — *Jasper Johns, “Map” (1961). Image credit: Where the Giraffe Lives.*

Having tattooed Parts VII and VIII with my argument for why blue chip galleries will ultimately bring their e-commerce totally in house, today’s installment of this series moves on to a simple question: What are the big picture implications for the industry if that actually happens?

I mentioned in the previous chapter that I expect every dimension of the market’s top tier to trend toward consolidation. From an internal operations standpoint, any gallery choosing a full stack online sales strategy fits snugly into that template. But greater vertical integration of any industry’s major players will inevitably send tremors out to the actors in the rest of the marketplace, too. And the gallery system will be no different.

Comment 0 Likes

Average Is Over VIII: Full Stacks On Deck

September 09, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Donald Judd, Installation view, Mnuchin Gallery, 2013. Image credit: Tom Powel Imaging, Inc. — *Donald Judd, Installation view, Mnuchin Gallery, 2013. Image credit: Tom Powel Imaging, Inc.*

Welcome back to my speculative economics odyssey. As a refresher, I spent the previous leg of this journey explaining my long-term pessimism about online middlemen such as artnet, Artsy, and Amazon Art, all of which simply offer a third party e-commerce platform to established gallerists or dealers rather than enabling artists to sell directly to collectors–a role filled by makers’ emporiums like Saatchi Art, which I’m generally more bullish on.

Comment 0 Likes

A Lesson from Leo

September 05, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Paul Cézanne, “Chateau Noir” (1904). Image credit: Mchobe’s Blog. — *Paul Cézanne, “Chateau Noir” (1904). Image credit: Mchobe’s Blog.*

“Why should anyone want to buy a Cézanne for $800,000? What’s a little Cézanne house in the middle of a landscape? Why should it have value? Because it’s a myth. We make myths about politics, we make myths about everything. I have to deal with myths from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. And it becomes harder and harder. We live in an age of rapid obsolescence… My responsibility is the myth-making of myth material—which handled properly and imaginatively, is the job of a dealer—and I have to go at it completely. One just can’t prudently build up a myth.”

1 Comment 1 Likes

Vise Lords: Are the Three S's Crushing Non-Elite Gallerists?

September 04, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Piero Golia, “Untitled (Bus)” (2008). Image credit: Joshua White & The Hammer. — *Piero Golia, “Untitled (Bus)” (2008). Image credit: Joshua White & The Hammer.*

On Monday the New York Times ran a less than revelatory piece by Ann Farmer about what some perceive as the trickle-down aloofness of the Chelsea gallery hierarchy. Farmer’s argument is that the cultivated exclusivity of blue chip sellers has crept into the lower tiers of the market like the stench of a dead rat in the overhead HVAC ducts, and that the odor is driving away, or at least discomforting, casual gallery-goers who once felt more welcome in the district’s fine art showrooms.

As far as I could tell, the general art world response to the piece was a resounding and (mostly) deserved, “Duh.” And yes, in general one would expect the Times to deliver more thought-provoking content. But given that the story was buried in the pages of its Labor Day edition at the end of the industry's annual thirty-one days of rigor mortis, I don’t think it quite warrants the level of scorn it’s received. After all, as Billy Bob Thornton would tell you in one of his finest performances (NSFW), they can’t all be winners, can they?

There is one level on which Farmer’s piece can be taken at least somewhat seriously, though.

Comment 0 Likes

The Artist as Entrepreneur

September 02, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Andy Warhol. Image credit: Global Grind. — *Andy Warhol. Image credit: Global Grind.*

“Making money is art and working is art and being good in business is the best art.” -Warhol*.

A few thoughts to transition us into the post-Labor Day workweek and the last productive chunk of the year before the holidays…

Comment 0 Likes

The Loan Shark of Lake Saint Clair

August 28, 2014 / Tim Schneider

Damien Hirst, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (1991). Image credit: Art Siegel. — *Damien Hirst, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (1991). Image credit: Art Siegel.*

Yesterday, the New York Times broke the story that Art Capital Group, a firm whose hustle involves extending loans collateralized by fine art, had offered to help pull the city of Detroit out of bankruptcy hell with up to $3 billion* in financing at a 5.5 to 8.5 percent interest rate…provided the principle is backed by the Detroit Institute of Arts’ entire permanent collection.

Comment 0 Likes