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Has Spencer Tunick Ruined Public Nudity for All Israelis? The Photographer Inspires Anti-Stripping Bill

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Has Spencer Tunick Ruined Public Nudity for All Israelis? The Photographer Inspires Anti-Stripping Bill
English

Spencer Tunick, the troublemaking American photographer famous for shooting large numbers of naked people in interesting places, may have just made it more difficult to strip down in Israel.

In response to Tunick's nude photo shoot staged in the country last year — in which over 1,000 Israelis posed nude on the shores of the Dead Sea — a member of the Israeli parliament submitted a bill that would mandate one-year prison terms for anyone who gets naked in public for commercial or artistic purposes. It has been dubbed the "Spencer Tunick bill," according to Haaretz, which first reported the story.

The politician leading the charge is MK Nissim Zeev, the same man who sought to prevent Tunick's original photo shoot in 2011. At the time, the ultra-Orthodox leader called the shoot "a act of prostitution in the guise of art." (This is the same politician who said that gay people must be made aware of "how their lifestyle is destroying our existence.")

The bill directly calls out Tunick's artwork, quoting head of Tamar Regional Council Dov Litvinoff, who overseas a region that borders the Dead Sea, decrying the photo shoot. "Such a mass shoot, which offends a large population in Israel, which comes to stay and travel in the region, does not add to this [natural] marvel but could very well detract from it," he is quoted as saying.

Zeev, for his part, argued in the bill that such displays infringe on the human rights of the offended citizens. "When progress in 'the public discourse' comes at the expense of a broad public of Jews, Muslims, Christians and members of other religions in the country, and constitutes an insult to religious precepts regarding modesty and a serious transgression of forbidden sexual relations, and infringes on religious sentiments of religious citizens — this is a violation of their rights and a fundamental restriction must be placed on it," he wrote.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation votes Sunday on whether it will support Zeev's bill. Meanwhile, Tunick has made his own concession to scandalized citizens of the world, pledging to use body paint for the first time in his upcoming shoot of Munich residents, who he will photograph surrounding the city's opera house to celebrate Wagner's Ring Cycle. Mass nude photography just isn't what it used to be. 


Slideshow: Philippe Jarrigeon's "Iconorama" at the French Federation of Women’s Prêt-à-Porter

A French Fashion Institution and Photographer Philippe Jarrigeon Take a Twisted Look at Women's Ready-to-Wear

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A French Fashion Institution and Photographer Philippe Jarrigeon Take a Twisted Look at Women's Ready-to-Wear
English

PARIS - Fashion is sacred in Paris, but even industry leaders in France know that humor can be found in almost everything. In that vein the French Federation of Women’s Prêt-à-Porter is taking an irreverent turn with a new show called “Iconorama,” which offers a playful, teasing look at women’s ready-to-wear designs. The institution, which was founded in 1929, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Elans de Mode fashion awards, and curator Marie-Ann Yemsi brought in photographer Philippe Jarrigeon to reinterpret 30 icons of style through his skewed, baroque, and subversive lens. The exhibition runs through July 6.

After getting noticed at the Hyères Festival of Fashion and Photography in 2008, Jarrigeon worked with Dries Van Noten and Maison Martin Margiela, and his photos have graced the pages of Wallpaper, Libération, and Le Monde. He soon set the tone for a certain kind of fashion photography, playing with the trivial and the grandiose like a tightrope walker, paying no heed to sacrosanct good taste. Through his lens, Louis Vuitton logos were painted onto firm naked buttocks, a pile of Cleopatra soaps became a pyramid of gold bars, and white asparagus stalks wore Dior rings.

Now, in “Iconorama,” Jarrigeon tells the story of the last 10 years in fashion, while questioning the role of objects, icons, and the image of fashion itself. “Working with Philippe Jarrigeon was almost self-evident,” Yemsi said in a statement. “It was not about celebrating these last 10 years with candlesticks on the table, or falling into a somewhat vain self-celebration, with beautiful fashion photos on the wall. It was time to stop and bring some humor, a certain distance, a look at what is left of icons.”

Starting with a pre-defined vocabulary, Jarrigeon worked within the parameters of the premise. Taking a little black dress, or Sonia Rykiel stripes, a white shirt, or a trench coat as elements of a new alphabet, Jarrigeon redistributed his favorite themes — grating glamour, hybridization, the accessorizing of the living being, and the still life coming to life — within a series of images that speak to each other. Upon entering the show, the visitor sees two mannequins in a totally striped ensemble wearing a striped jacket and pants as turbans. They stare at you with an emotionless, almost stunned look. You’ve been warned: these hostesses are not here to guide you, but to lose you. Throughout the exhibition, the human aspect fades, giving way to a bizarre plastic beauty. Bodies become elastic, tearing apart an oversized sweater, being dislocated around mountainous furs, and finally disappearing altogether. A short film focused on a mannequin in a trench coat smoking a cigarette has a feel of classic Hollywood glamour, but her hat ends up catching on fire when the cigarette won’t go out.

For Philippe Jarrigeon, this little lesson in phantom-like elegance is a way to define new forms of beauty while also playing with the illusions that belong to the fashion system. “An icon is not necessarily an object, it’s an image, therefore it is a question of representation,” he said in a statement. “When you want to take a theoretical look at photography, fashion is a very rich playground, because it is very open. Photography is really seen by fashion as a cross-section, it’s both artsy and commercial. I am very happy to be able to work in the luxury market, while still keeping this joker’s hat, the king’s jester.” 

Click on the slide show to see Philippe Jarrigeon images from “Iconorama.”

See more ARTINFO fashion and style coverage on our blog Silhouettes.

Slideshow: Highlights from Art 43 Basel

Steve McQueen’s Ferrari restored

Art Basel Report: Dealers Trot Out Trophies and Collectors Splurge in the Opening Hours of the Fair

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Art Basel Report: Dealers Trot Out Trophies and Collectors Splurge in the Opening Hours of the Fair
English

BASEL, Switzerland — Watching the splurge of acquisitions at the 43rd edition of Art Basel, it is hard not to wonder at how detached the upper end of art market is from the rest of the world.  I guess it was always this way, but at a time when European economies are crumbling under debt, this year’s frenzy of fair sales feels especially incongruous, yet thrilling.

Partly this is because the dealers seem to have upped the ante, bringing ever bigger and more expensive artworks for sale. They are clearly competing with the auction houses but also using super-pricey works as a marketing strategy to attract media and draw collectors to the booths. Case in point: Marlborough has a Rothko for $78 million (an asking price not so far from Rothko's $87-million auction record, set at Sotheby's a couple of years ago for the so-called "Rockefeller Rothko.")

Things sold extremely quickly. It took less than two hours for Marian Goodman to sell Gerhard Richter’s “Strip (922-1)” (2011) for an undisclosed sum. Nearby, L&M Arts had a fabulous Frank Stella painting from 1967 that went for around $2 million. Karsten Greve sold a Twombly, a Fontana, and a Chamberlain all before lunch.

It goes without saying Gagosian was mobbed from the first minute, with the bulk of his elegant stock of Picassos, Hirsts, and Warhols “not for sale,” according to one of a flotilla of salespeople floating around the booth.  The ease and arrogance of the staff and willingness of collectors to pay whatever Lord Larry asks is quite demented.

There is some talk along the aisles of resurgent American collectors given the falling value of the Euro, but European collectors were also out in force. Hans Kraus sold in the first few hours two photographs, one to an American institution and another to a German museum. Kukje sold a Richard Prince and had a Lee Ufan on reserve, both of them to “established” European clients according to Mrs. Lee, owner of the gallery.

For anyone interested in the art rather than art sales, the fair has much to offer. Pace Gallery always has a great booth but this time it was stellar, with a wonderful mix of works from gallery artists Raqib ShawTara DonovanLi SongsongLin Tianmiao, and others. Unfortunately the space wasn’t configured for crowds and felt cramped, at least after about 3 pm on the opening day when more VIPs began to stream in.

Landau Fine Art was also crowded but had a great Giorgio de Chirico painting. Matthew Marks had a magnificently rich and balanced booth with paintings and sculptures by Ellsworth KellyRebecca Warren, and Katharina Fritsch, all of it sold. Zwirner had such a dizzying array of first-rate works at lofty prices that it is hard to know where to begin.

As far as general observations go, the walls of the booths seems to be less cluttered this year. More attention seemed to be paid to presenting well-installed, individual major works. Lelong devoted a sizeable chunk of its booth to a major Luciano Fabro sculpture, which sold quickly, while at Michael Werner, Danish artist Per Kirkeby's paintings filled an outside wall.

Some collectors I spoke to grumbled about the splitting up of the VIP day between Tuesday and Wednesday, making it tougher to get passes to the opening day (I was even denied a press pass until someone intervened), though generally this is a good thing: sparsely populated booths make it easier to see and appreciate the work. In the end, the fair is all about selling and every year it somehow just gets better.

To see images of works mentioned in this article, click on the slide show.

Slideshow: Impressionist & Modern Art in London and Other International Sales

Trending: Movies Taking on "Moby Dick" and the Tragedy That Inspired It

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Trending: Movies Taking on "Moby Dick" and the Tragedy That Inspired It
English

Hollywood’s next big thing could be whaling stories. Two potential box-office behemoths are in the works.

Universal is making “Moby Dick,” which will be the fourth full-scale American movie of Herman Melville’s 1851 classic. Meanwhile, producer Joe Roth has signed the actor Chris Hemsworth to star in a film of Thomas Philbrick’s “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,” which won the 2000 National Book Award for Non-Fiction. “Moby Dick” was inspired by the sinking of the 238-ton Nantucket whaler Essex by a sperm whale in the South Pacific in 1820. Read the full post on Spotlight.


An Architect's Aria: Louis Kahn's Turbulent Life Becomes an Experimental Opera

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An Architect's Aria: Louis Kahn's Turbulent Life Becomes an Experimental Opera
English

In 1849, when German composer Richard Wagner dreamt up the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or the "total work of art," he probably could not foresee the peculiar convergence of architecture and opera that has culminated in "ARCHITECT: A Chamber Opera." Though nondescript by name, the theatrical production focuses on a single architect, Louis Kahn, and stages a complex and thorough contemplation of his life and work.

The project began with one composer's fascination with physical space: Jenny Kallick visited two Kahn buildings in New Haven — the Yale Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art — and was roused by the acoustic value of the architecture. Soon after, she and a student began recording the tonalities of various Kahn buildings, including the Phillips Exeter Academy Library in New Hampshire and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. Kallick's field recordings eventually led to several sets of lyrics incorporating snippets of Kahn's lectures, and in 2005, Kallick approached fellow composer Lewis Spratlan with preliminary ideas for an opera about the American architect.

In Kallick's opera, interlocking melodies attempt to mimic the brickwork of Kahn's buildings, and in one particular piece, the oboe becomes the musical surrogate for Kahn's distinctive, almost shrill voice. A humorous "concrete duet" between Kahn and his favored structural engineer August Komendant tells the story of a dreamer paired with a pragmatist, and Kahn's turbulent private life comes to the fore when a character known simply as "Woman," an amalgam of Kahn's numerous flawed personal relationships, enters the scene.

The opera ends with a dream sequence referencing Kahn's La Jolla, California Salk Institute. Though the Institute's humbling concrete buildings and poetic central stream of water could undoubtedly inspire a grandiose set design, Kallick and Spratlan have other ideas for the look and feel of their opera: "Right from the beginning, we had this idea of [the opera] being very portable," Spratlan explained in an interview with composer Federick Peters. In limiting the production to what Spratlan calls a "two-station-wagon opera," Kallick and Spratlan hope to have the piece performed in various Kahn buildings. In the eyes of the two composers, the architect has already designed the perfect venues for his own opera.

Though "ARCHITECT: A Chamber Opera" has yet to be performed live, a film version debuted earlier this year at the Chicago Architecture and Design Film Festival. The film will be screened again at the New York City Architecture and Design Film Festival in mid-October, and fundraising and planning has begun for live performances in two Kahn buildings.

Ferragamo Holds the First Fashion Show Inside the Louvre, With a Little Help from Leonardo da Vinci

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Ferragamo Holds the First Fashion Show Inside the Louvre, With a Little Help from Leonardo da Vinci
English

What can sponsoring a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the Louvre get you? For Italian fashion house Salavatore Ferragamo, it granted them a privilege that no other brand has had in the French institution’s 900-year existence: the permission to present the first runway show inside the storied halls of the museum.

On Tuesday evening in Paris an audience of buyers, fashion press, V.I.P.s, and celebrities watched a stream of models walk down a 400-foot runway beneath the grand arches of the Denon peristyle that surrounds the Louvre, wearing creative director Massimiliano Giornetti’s fringe-filled Native American-influenced resort 2013 collection for Ferragamo. Those who weren’t invited to the actual event could watch the show streamed live on the Ferragamo Web site.

Although numerous fashion runway shows have been held on the Louvre’s grounds – Louis Vuitton had its spring/summer 2012 show in the Cour Carrée, and the Carrousel du Louvre and Espace Jardins du Louvre are regular Paris Fashion Week venues – the event was the first of its kind to be staged inside the museum.

To earn this honor, Ferragamo underwrote “Saint Anne, Leonardo da Vinci’s Ultimate Masterpiece,” a show of compositional sketches, cartoons, and preparatory drawings from the last two decades of Leonardo’s life. At the center of the exhibition is “The Virgin and Child With Saint Anne,” a newly restored circa 1510 oil-on-wood painting left unfinished by the Renaissance master when he died in 1519.

Last March, Ferragamo held a lavish gala — which was attended by Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank and French actress Virginie Ledoyen — to open the exhibition.

Will the move bring Giornetti and the family-owned Ferragamo into the forefront and elevate its reputation from an iconic shoemaker to a sought-after luxury clothing label? Will it encourage other fashion brands to buy their way into holding catwalk shows in the Louvre by sponsoring exhibitions?

While staging the first fashion show within the Louvre is indeed a historical occasion and may spark other labels to follow suit, it is doubtful that Giornetti’s unremarkable collection will remain in the fashion world’s memory. But perhaps the whole point for Ferragamo was to show its dedication to the arts.

Giornetti told the International Herald Tribune that “having a runway show inside the Louvre has a meaning that goes beyond the simple concept of fashion.” He added, “It is a statement, a continuation of a long tradition of beauty and sensibility, of passion and a love of art. It’s a very positive message. A way to reaffirm our Italian spirit and our culture.”

See more ARTINFO fashion and style coverage on our blog Silhouettes.

 

In the Spotlight: J. Hoberman on Rabih Mroué's "Double Shooting," a New Era of Whaling Films, and More Culture News

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Imaging the Legend

Sale of the Week, June 17-23: Summer Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales in London

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Sale of the Week, June 17-23: Summer Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales in London
English

SALE: Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales

LOCATION: Sotheby's and Christie's London

DATE: June 19-20

ABOUT: With most of the big New York sales behind us for the season, the art market moves to London, where a whirlwind of trophies is about to hit auction blocks at Christie's and Sotheby's. The Impressionist and modern auctions are up first, with the usual cast of characters dominating the evening sales: Picasso, Miró, Renoir, Signac, Monet.

Sotheby's has been touting Joan Miró's 1927 masterpiece "Peinture (Étoile Bleue)" for several weeks. It's a beautiful work by the Surrealist, and is likely to stir up a frenzy. The £15-20 million ($23.3-31 million) estimate is one of the highest ever given at Sotheby's London, and the symbol in the catalogue suggesting it's been given a pre-sale guarantee all but ensures that it will achieve a record price before bidding has even begun.

Beyond the Miró, one of the most stunning works hitting the block next week is Kees van Dongen's Fauvist "Lailla," which features a bright green nude woman whose face is shrouded by a dark cloak. The 1908 canvas is estimated to sell for £3.5-5 million ($5.4-7.8 million).

The likely top seller at Christie's is Renoir's "Baigneuse" (1888), a light, Impressionist depiction of a young nude woman bathing herself which has been owned by a number of prominent European collectors over the last century and a quarter, including a French prince. The auction house estimates it will fetch £12-18 million ($18.7-28 million).

There are also two late Picassos on offer in the £5-10 million ($7.8-15.5 million) range — the 1962 "Femme au chien," which features Picasso's second wife (never as famous as his mistresses and muses) Jacqueline Roque, and a 1949 "Femme assise," which depicts another partner of his, Françoise Gilot.

ARTINFO is more inclined toward the many Surrealist works by René Magritte and Paul Delvaux that appear in the catalogue, especially the burnt-pink sunset image by Magritte, "Le monde des images" (1950), which is estimated to sell for £2-3 million ($3.1-4.7 million), and the haunting Greek imagery of Delvaux's 1949 "Le temple" (est. £1.5-2.5 million, $2.3-3.9 million), which given current events in that country seems particularly prescient.

OTHER INTERNATIONAL SALES:

Sale: Summer Auctions 
Location: Koller Zurich
Date: June 18-23

Sale: Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper and Day Sale
Location: Christie's London
Date: June 21, 10:30am and 2pm, respectively

Sale: Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale
Location: Sotheby's London
Date: June 20, 10:30am

Sale: George Washington's Annotated Copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, 1789
Location: Christie's New York
Date: June 22, 12:30pm

To see works from next week's Imp-Mod sales in London, click the slide show.

The Stagnation of the Middle Market: Beneath the High-End Hype, Art Prices Are Treading Water

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The Stagnation of the Middle Market: Beneath the High-End Hype, Art Prices Are Treading Water
English

When journalists talk about the "growing art market," they are mostly relying on news about eye-popping, record-breaking prices for a handful of trophy works. In Adam Davidson's terrific New York Times Magazine piece on the art market and inequality a few weeks ago, he led with a $120 million Munch, an $87 million Rothko, and the fact that "from 2003 to 2007, the fine-art market grew even faster than subprime housing. And then it kept on growing, pausing only momentarily during the crisis before hurtling even further upward." But hurtling upward for whom? The very lucky few who own the best examples of the most fashionable artists' works. Where does that leave the rest of the market — works by well-known artists that may not be worthy of a lengthy catalogue essay, but that nonetheless make up the bulk of fine art sales by the big houses?

On Tuesday, Mike Collett-White of Reuters noted that demand for super-rare, high-quality works has created a "'virtuous cycle' that has lasted for three years so far." But in fact, ARTINFO has found that for this same period the middle market has basically been stuck in neutral, even as the very top of the market soars. This fact has some serious implications for art investors and collectors alike: Davidson points out that the top works of art are generally not investments, as "no painting bought for $30 million or more has ever been resold at a profit." Theoretically to make money buying art you need to find reasonably priced works whose value will grow — so middle-market stagnation is possibly why you don't hear many stories of terrifically successful art investment vehicles (though, of course, a few people have gotten lucky).

This isn't the first time the middle market has wavered noticeably. The last time it happened was in mid-2008, just as the beginnings of the financial crisis were showing themselves. In July of 2008, ArtTactic's Anders Petterson told Reuters that "falling share prices and inflationary pressures appear to be taking their toll on the middle market." Halfway through 2012, with concerns about the global economy again in the air, ARTINFO's analysis of sales above $100,000 across five different fine art categories in our BASI database — Old Masters, Latin American art, American art, Impressionist and modern art, and contemporary art — suggests that the middle market, which we defined as sales between $100,000 and $1 million, is actually down significantly from the spring of 2011. Despite reports of the art market's "Scream"-ing success, both mean and median prices, as well as the number of lots sold in that price range, are at or below 2010 numbers after experiencing a pop in 2011.** 

At the high end of the market (lots above $1 million), median prices in the five categories have grown an average of 21 percent since spring of last year. Median prices for middle market lots, on the other hand, are down an average of 10.5 percent in the same period. Essentially, then, what you have is a "growing" auction market that is resting on stilts — soaring only because of a few dozen trophy purchases by a small pool of deep-pocketed collectors. 

APPARENT GROWTH

There is no doubt that in an absolute value sense, the fine art market is growing. Spring sales in the five categories are up 17.5 percent in the last year, with Impressionist and modern art bringing in $110 million more than 2011 (technically, slightly less than one "Scream"), and contemporary fetching $155 million more — up 12 and 14 percent, respectively. The year before, the five categories grew an average of 11 percent, even though spring 2011 was a relative disappointment in the Impressionist and modern art category (spring 2010, after all, was the season of the $106 million Picasso and the $103 million Giacometti).

These growing sales totals, however, don't necessarily reflect a growing business. From spring 2010 to spring 2011, the auction houses saw a 16 percent spike in the number of lots sold over $100,000 in the five categories. But from spring 2011 to spring 2012, the number of lots sold above $100,000 in the first five months of the year shrank. Latin American art, generally considered to have fairly low volatility, was the only category to increase the number of lots sold above $100,000 (a 10 percent increase over spring 2011). Impressionist and modern shrunk by 14 percent, and contemporary by 4 percent.

The apparent paradox — growing sales totals and decrease in significant lots sold — suggests that the average price is increasing, which may erroneously lead one to the conclusion that art values are increasing across the board. Higher "average" prices haven’t produced more than a temporary bump in the middle market — certainly nothing worth touting as making art "better than stocks" for the average investor. In fact, a closer examination of the data subtly points to volatility and slumping prices for all but the highest echelons of the market.

EXPLODING HIGH END

In essence, much of the growth across the five major categories since last year at this time has come from sales above $1 million. For Old Masters, Latin American art, and contemporary art, the explosion has continued since spring 2010. In spring 2010, the auction houses only did a total of $4.8 million in sales on lots sold for above $1 million in the relatively calm Latin American art category, and the highest-priced lot sold for $1.4 million. By 2012 the number was $17.4 million, with a Matta work selling for over $5 million.

In the contemporary art market (which almost needs its own article because of the crazy growth and volatility at the top end), there were $551.6 million in top-end sales during spring of 2010, when the market was just beginning to recover from the downturn. By spring 2011, $768.5 million of the one million-plus lots were sold through auction houses. This spring, the amount of money brought in by the top end lots jumped another 18 percent, to $907 million.

Since contemporary art seems to be in a category of its own, it is, in fact, worth breaking out sales above $5 million, which seems to be the new definition of the "high end" in contemporary art. Lots sold for more than $5 million accounted for $259.4 million in sales in spring 2010, $393.1 million in sales in spring 2011, and a whopping $672.9 million in spring 2012. That means that a mere 43 lots above $5 million accounted for two-thirds of the total haul (which was, in total, 1,150 lots) in the most recent period. If we were to skim just a few lots off the top, the numbers might point to an art market in disarray. (Remember the November Impressionist sale a Christie's New York last fall? It was nothing but doomsday talk for 24-hours after the $25-35 million Degas sculpture failed to sell).

SHRINKING MIDDLE MARKET

Meanwhile, even as the sales of top-of-the-line trophies have skyrocketed, the middle market is treading water. While sales of lots between $100,000 and $1 million grew along with the upper tier from spring 2010 to spring 2011, sales in the middle market for the five categories shrank by an average of 12 percent in the more recent year. In the middle market, total sales for spring 2012, along with the number of lots sold in the five categories, were about even with figures from spring 2010. In other words, all of the growth in the art market has been at the very top.

The most affected categories seem to be Impressionist and modern art, where the median price for a work in the middle-market range went from $230,361 in spring 2010 to $322,000 in spring 2011, but plunged down to $215,481 in spring 2012. Median middle-market prices for all five categories over the last three years have, on average, gone from $210,000 in spring 2010 to $240,000 in spring 2011 right back to $210,000 in spring 2012 (the mean for the three springs is slightly higher than the median, but follows the same trend, moving from $283,000 in 2010 to $305,000 in 2011 back down to $291,000 in 2012). Though the sample size is small, the trend may suggest that mid-market prices hit a peak and are beginning to correct themselves, despite the "growing" art market.

WHERE'S THE OTHER HALF?

Of course, the data that ARTINFO has looked at tells just one story, though one that is important. These are five of the largest categories of fine arts sold through auction houses in North America and Europe, and as such represent a good cross-section of the secondary art market. But the "art market" is much more than the publicly recorded results of paintings that hit the auction block. The auction houses conduct private sales, and of course there are the private dealers and galleries — all of whom keep their sales private. (The lack of a developed gallery scene that is one of the reasons that many are skeptical that China is really the world's largest art market, as many reports that look only at auction sales have it.) Other than anecdotal evidence picked up at fairs and rumors heard at parties, it's impossible to know how the other half of the art market is doing.

Furthermore, ARTINFO chose to look at data from 2010 onward — after the great bloat of 2003-2007 and the crash of 2008-2009. Was 2011 an anomaly that is being corrected in 2012? Will the upcoming summer and fall sales bring completely different results? These are questions for another day.

*ARTINFO pulled data from auction houses between January 1 and the first week of June, 2012, comparing it to the equivalent time periods in 2010 and 2011. We pulled all lots that sold for more than $100,000 in five categories: Old Masters, American art, Latin American art, Impressionist and modern art, and contemporary art. While the vast majority of results come from the "big two" auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's, our database contains auction results from over 400 different houses, and the data also contains lots from Phillips de Pury, Bonhams, Swann, Strauss & Co., Dorotheum, Bukowskis, and more.

We deliberately left China out of this analysis, as we do not yet have all of the 2012 results from the Chinese spring auctions, and furthermore are skeptical that all reported results have actually been paid for.

**Numbers have not been adjusted for inflation.

"Napoleon III Is Kitsch": Wim Delvoye on His Irreverently Lavish Exhibition at the Louvre

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"Napoleon III Is Kitsch": Wim Delvoye on His Irreverently Lavish Exhibition at the Louvre
English

PARIS — "Wim Delvoye at the Louvre," which opened last month and continues through September 17, sees the artist playing hide-and-seek in the Napoleon III salons with uncharacteristic subtlety. No excrement machines this time around, and no live pigs. The artist is doing something different that he calls "Wim Delvoye for Dummies." Some pieces are sculptures resembling monstrous projections that seem to evaporate or melt into the air like the lightest fabric or fleeting spirits, while others are complicated and contorted models of Gothic architecture.

"What I'm doing now is more shocking than 'Cloaca,'" Delvoye told ARTINFO France, referring to his digestive machine that produces excrement from food. "I have the luxury, thanks to 'Cloaca' and the tattooed pigs. I've proven myself, I know how to do Duchamp and avant-garde. Now I want to be very, very naughty." He consciously set out to make beautiful objects, adding that some took two or three years to create. "It's criminal, it's also amazing, shocking, to be so generous when every week there is a fair that lasts five days," Delvoye said. "The Louvre helped me... it's a good brand. Paris, the Louvre — I'd like to be as strong a brand."

The highlight of the exhibition consists of eight crucified Christs shaped into double Moebius strips, which are placed on the tablecloth in the grand dining room of Napoleon III's apartments. Another body, that of "Tim," stands with his back to viewers in one of the salons, showing tattoos of a skull above the face of the Virgin Mary. Delvoye tattooed "Tim" in 2006, and he was previously part of a retrospective of the artist's work in Tasmania for four months. At the Louvre, "Tim" is on view for only one week.

Delvoye has placed small porcelain figures in the displays, which he expects will remain unnoticed by the "thousands of people" who pass through the galleries talking to each other. He also installed three little pigs made of Iranian carpeting — a reference, no doubt, to the luxurious Persian rugs of the period. "For me, Napoleon III is kitsch, it's not real," Delvoye said. "The gold isn't gold, the platinum is fake platinum, everything is sculpted from wood — it's without love, it's not tribal, it's a kind of artificial wooden sculpture." It's a phenomenon that the artist sees in the contemporary art world as well. "Now we have kitsch for everyone. Art shouldn't cost too much — it's for dentists and doctors. When you have to participate in this, you have to think about this fact. And that's what I don't want to do anymore."

The show marks a change from Delvoye's provocative style. But the artist — his bluntness, sincerity, and bravado — remain the same. "Art history isn't the history of poor artists. It's the history of collections," according to Delvoye. "Art with a big A doesn't exist." The artist is still concerned with the art market, and has a lucid outlook on his own era. The collaboration with the Louvre has brought a change in perspective. "I love the Louvre because you can see incredible things," Delvoye told ARTINFO France. "You realize that you can't do anything safely, politically. I asked about installing 'Cloaca' to hear 'no' for once, and I was happy. It worked out well — this is what I'm doing now."

This article originally appeared on ARTINFO France.


Despite Gripes About Thwarted VIPs, Art Basel's Languorous Two-Day Preview Nets Serious Sales

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Despite Gripes About Thwarted VIPs, Art Basel's Languorous Two-Day Preview Nets Serious Sales
English

BASEL, Switzerland — The 43rd edition of Art Basel, Europe’s greatest modern and contemporary art fair, opened to “First Choice” VIP black cardholders on Tuesday morning with a new and more exclusively tiered arrangement that angered collectors who didn’t make the first cut. As a result, the usual stampede to favorite stands was replaced by a more staid and calm atmosphere, essentially adding a second day of VIP viewing prior to the general opening on Thursday.

“Obviously, last year was a disaster at the opening bell,” said New York dealer Jane Kallir of Galerie St. Etienne, referring to the chaos generated by the glut of VIP cardholders in 2011. “The new system is so relaxed, however, that the collectors love it — but it doesn’t create the sense of competitive urgency that triggers a high level of sales.”

“It’s not the economy,” said Kallir, who sold a rare Max Beckmann woodcut of his most important print, “Group Portrait, Eden bar” (1923), in the low six figures. “It’s the VIP system. We did not do the level of business we normally do on the first day.”

“The other side of the coin,” added Kallir, “is that you can talk more quietly with clients. But I prefer the hectic feeling.”

“They over-Swissed it,” another dealer was overheard saying to a colleague, referring to the penchant of the organizers to assert a bureaucratic form of law and order. The same gallerist also said (though not for attribution), “So many people couldn’t get in and were upset about it. A lot of Americans couldn’t get the [First Choice] black card and decided not to come.”

Other exhibitors were more positive in regards to the new, two-day preview format. “We sold a lot yesterday [Tuesday],” said L.A. dealer Tim Blum of Blum & Poe. “It was a good flow [of collectors], not too dense. So from our view, it felt fine.”

As Greenwich super-collector Peter Brant, clad in a summery seersucker striped suit, surveyed the offerings, Blum ticked off the roster of sales: Takashi Murakami’s two-part “Shangri-La Blue/Shangri-La Pink” (2012) in acrylic on canvas, for around $1.5 million; Chinese artist Zhu Jinshi’s new paint-gob-scattered abstraction at $150,000, and an older work from 1990, the diptych, “The Rings Stay Open” for $125,000; and Matt Johnson’s painted bronze, “Styrofoam Girl” (2012), which sold for $60,000. 

Blum & Poe also sold Mark Grotjahn’s “Untitled (Orange Butterfly Blue MG03) #1” (2003) for around a million dollars. “It has a beautiful color scheme,” said Blum, referring to the departed painting, “and is in mint condition.” A newer model Grotjahn, “Untitled (Turned and pretty blue and cream face 43.43)” in oil on cardboard mounted on linen from 2012 also sold for $225,000.

Henry Taylor’s new wall relief, “You’re in it, we’re in it,” comprised in part of plastic bottles, black spray paint, a mop head, and nails, sold to a European collector for $40,000, while Scottish artist Michael Wilkinson’s impressive, mixed-media “Never Work 6 (triptych)” (2012) sold in the $15,000-20,000 range.

New York’s Metro Pictures also saw action as two versions of Robert Longo’s fearsome “Untitled (Tiger Head No. 9) (2012), in charcoal on mounted paper, sold to Europeans for $295,000 apiece, and Olaf Breuning’s carved marble sculpture, “Flat Human (I want more)” (2009) sold to an American collector for $90,000.

Metro Pictures also sold four out of six from the new Cindy Sherman edition, “Untitled” (2010-2012), at $450,000 each. In the works, Sherman stands in the center of the giant landscape image in a couture Chanel outfit against the backdrop of Mt. Stromboli, complete with ash cloud. On a more modest scale — both in terms of dollars and pure size — at least 10 Jim Shaw airbrush drawings on paper dating from 1979, featuring some Hollywood stars and other creatures (including Doris Day), sold at around $10,000 apiece.

The mood was also buoyant at New York’s Sperone Westwater, which sold three works by Alighiero e Boetti at prices ranging from $240,000 to $300,000, as well as Tom Sachs’s hand-painted bronze, “Saturn V” (2011) rocket, standing at its launch pad, for $125,000. The gallery also sold “Mobile Home” (2012), a new Charles LeDray sculpture of a miniaturized outfit for $100,000 to a European collector, the work being one of the first sculptures made by the artist since his traveling retrospective. “We had a big opening,” said partner David Leiber. “We had clients from America and Europe, some repeat clients and some new clients.”

Market appetite for the American painter Christopher Wool appeared quite healthy at New York’s Luhring Augustine, which sold “End Plate II,” an alkyd-on-aluminum and steel from 1986 to a European collector for $950,000.

While it’s probably still too early to judge how successful this iteration of the Art Basel enterprise fares against previous years when the market was judged as red hot, the level of commerce was certainly respectable, and there was at least one early blast of fireworks. That particular roman candle went off at New York/London/Beijing-based Pace Gallery with the sale of Gerhard Richter’s color-saturated and lushly squeegeed “A.B.  Courbet” (1986), which sold for an undisclosed price to an unknown collector. The gallery had previously confirmed the price was in the range of $20 million. One collector buttonholed by ARTINFO even said the gallery was asking $25 million. Whatever the price, it easily ranks as the priciest work to sell so far, and it most likely came close to or beat the recent Richter auction record set at Christie’s New York in May when “Abstraktes Bild” from 1993 sold for $21.8 million (est. $14-18 million).

Pace also sold Agnes Martin’s “Untitled,” a 12-inch-square oil, ink, and wash-on-canvas from circa 1961 for $1 million, Claes Oldenburg’s bronze and stainless steel “Clothespin” (1974) for $600,000, and Zhang Xiaogang’s somber oil-on-canvas “Face 2012 No.1” (2012) for $450,000.

There was also some strong action at New York/London’s Hauser & Wirth, led by Philip Guston’s late and figuratively gutsy “Orders” (1978), which went to a European collector for $6 million, and Louise Bourgeois’s mixed-media sculpture, “Arched Figure” (1993), for $2 million to another European. On the still-living side, Hauser & Wirth sold all three versions of Thomas Houseago’s bronze wall piece, “Untitled” (2012) for $175,000 apiece, as well as a new Paul McCarthy black walnut sculpture, “White Snow and Prince on Horse,” for $1.8 million.

At Berlin's Galerie Max Hetzler, a huge and new Albert Oehlen “Untitled” paper collage on canvas, replete with slivers of advertising images and strong colors sold for €315,0000 ($396,700), and Mona Hatoum's "Witness" (2009), a porcelain biscuit sculpture from an edition of 10 and a miniaturized version of a Beirut Lebanon monument that was damaged by gunfire during the country’s civil war, sold for €40,000 ($50,000).

The gallery also sold a totem-like Günther Förg abstraction, “Untited” (1990), a sumptuous work from his lead series, for  €150,000 ($189,000).

The beauty of this fair has always been the rich mix between modern and contemporary, a strength that was evident at New York’s Acquavella Galleries, which sold Andy Warhol’s large-scale, 100-by-80-inch “Joseph Beuys” (1981), in synthetic paint, silkscreen and diamond dust, executed at a time when the artist’s career was foundering. “We were asking $10 million,” said gallerist Nicholas Acquavella, who moved the huge and rare painting out of harm’s way after it was sold. “It’s nice to make a sale,” said the dealer, “but not nice when you have to call up the buyer and say someone just put their handbag through it.”

The gallery also sold two new paintings by Damian Loeb, including “Vega” (2012), for approximately $220,000, and Wayne Thiebaud’s 24-by-24-inch “Girl in White” (1979-1996) for somewhere in the vicinity of the $1.5 million asking price.

At Berlin's Auriel Scheibler, the gallery sold Alice Neel's portrait, "Elsie Rubin" (1960) and "Spanish Harlem," a circa 1938 drawing to a Chinese collector, for over $500,000. According to the gallery it is the first Neel heading to China.

The classics were also in evidence at Zurich’s Galerie Gmurzynaska, which sold a small scaled and pretty Fernand Leger composition, "Etude pour 'La Baigneuse au tronc d’Arbre'" (1930) for $600,000, and a stunning Wilfredo Lam gouache on paper laid on canvas, “Figure Assise (Anamu)” (1943), for somewhere under $3 million.

There were several striking novelties at this year’s fair, including what must be a first: a contemporary art dealer showing his own art work. Veteran New York dealer Tony Shafrazi devoted his stand to his own colorful, collaged, tablet-like forms in fiberglass. Sporting titles such as “Egyptian Light” and featuring images of a sphinx, palm trees, and what appeared to be a still from the film "Lawrence of Arabia," several of the wall-hugging tablets sold at prices ranging from approximately $50,000 to $150.000. In a short space of time, such heavy hitters as Laurence Graff, William Acquavella, and Larry Gagosian came into the stand to take a close look.

“He’s a work of art himself,” quipped Simon de Pury of Phillips de Pury. “He could do a movie about his life story — he’s an artist of life.”

What seemed almost stranger was the dramatic inclusion of Mark Rothko’s “Untitled” oil on canvas from 1954, taking the spotlight at London’s Marlborough Gallery with a whopping (and much-publicized) asking price of $78 million.

The painting, from a Swiss collection, was formerly owned by noted gallerist/collector Robert Mnuchin of New York’s L&M Arts, who sold the painting at Christie’s New York back in May 2007, at the height of the last art boom, for $26,920,000. That sum is currently the seventh highest price for a Rothko at auction (well behind the current Rothko record of $86.9 million set by the fabulous “Orange, Red, Yellow” that sold at Christie’s New York last month).

For those rusty in art world history, Marlborough Gallery was at the center of the Mark Rothko estate scandal that drew headlines after the artist’s suicide at the age of 66 in 1970. A six-year-long legal scuffle that culminated in a criminal trial that led to a $9.2 million judgment against the gallery also led the artist’s heirs to move the estate to Pace. Rothko's executors, appointed by the artist in his lifetime, had sold Marlborough 100 Rothko paintings for $1.8 million, payable without interest over 12 years.

In any case, seeing the big Rothko glowing under the lights at Marlborough today was the kind of symbolic motif one might dream up for a work of fiction.

To see works from Art Basel 2012, click the slide show.

Slideshow: W Hotel Designers of the Future

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The Beastie Boys's Ad-Rock Hit the Stage in Brooklyn in Solidarity With Jailed Russian Anarchists Pussy Riot

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The Beastie Boys's Ad-Rock Hit the Stage in Brooklyn in Solidarity With Jailed Russian Anarchists Pussy Riot
English

Last night, Brooklyn club Death By Audio hosted a benefit for the three jailed members of Russian anarcha-feminist band Pussy Riot. The main event of the fundraiser was a DJ set by Beastie Boys member Adam Horowitz, aka Ad-Rock, who made his first public appearance since the death of fellow band mate Adam Yauch, better known as MCA, in May. Despite the fact that the Beastie Boys’ first single was called “Cooky Puss,” Ad-Rock’s connection to the Pussy Rioteers is unclear. The $7 show also featured Brooklyn punk groups the Heliotropes,  Tinvulva, and Shady Hawkins.

The event, organized by feminist art group Permanent Wave, was to raise money for Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Ekaterina Samucevich’s legal fees. The three women were arrested in March for charges of hooliganism and blasphemy after a controversial anti-Putin “punk prayer service” in Moscow when the group, clad in neon ski masks, broke into Christ the Savior Cathedral and staged a performance of their song “Holy Shit” on the altar of the church. The song’s lyrics implore the Virgin Mary to be a feminist and expel Putin from Russia as well as criticize Putin supporter and patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill I.

Pussy Riot was formed from members of Russian art collective Voina — famous for overturning a cop car as a work of performance art — in late 2011 after Putin announced he was running for the presidency. During Putin’s election campaign, the group staged unauthorized and provocative riot grrrl-inspired punk concerts in Red Squareoutside a prison, and in a subway station.  

Though it has not yet reached Ai Weiwei proportions, the Pussy Riot uproar has now garnered a global audience for the group. On June 21, the band will be the subject of an exhibition, “The Case of the Pussy Riot Artists,” at Paris’s Palais de Tokyo. The women have also become a rallying point for the anti-government movement in Russia. At a Moscow protest yesterday, some marchers held signs that read “Freedom to Pussy Riot.” Though many have questioned the validity of the the arrests, the women face up to eight years in prison and a Moscow court has ordered their detention until June 24.

To see Pussy Riot in action, click on the video below:

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