December 2012

As the year of 2012 comes to an end, one has to look as what is going on with the world of art and what might be hot in the up coming year.
This brings into mind what is being sold right now and what is happening in the auction world. With placies like Christies dumping a lot of their Asian works and smaller auction house like Phillips de Pury being turned a little sideways with Mr. de Pury and his wife leaving the firm after 12 years as coheads and massive figures in the company, what is going to happen in the next year?

I still have a feeling that Street Art, works by graffiti artists, works by David LaChapelle, Justin Bua and others will still be a safe investment for time to come. They are a little bit of a risk as they are still new names in the art world compared to the likes of Monet, Da Vinci and others, so one would be able to purchase their works for rather a lower price than what most works will go at. I can tell you who are in Europe that you can currently see Mr. LaChapelle’s work right now till March 3, 2013 at the Swedish Museum of Photography (www.fotografiska.se).

However, with more and more galleries that show true modern art closing, like the Crewest Gallery in Los Angeles, and galleries like MoMA, the Tate Modern and others being a little cautious at times when it comes to “modern” but still has an amazing eye when it comes to most works, you can still find artist that way, however I would suggest that one take another route when looking for new artist to invest in. I would suggest that a buyer look toward some of the world wide art contest to see what is new and exciting in the art world. I would suggest something like the Future Generation Art Prize. I have never been lucky enough to be chosen as a finalist even though I have submitted my own work to both of their contest, yet the art work that comes out of contest like these are amazing and these artist will be the and most are, the hot artist of the future. Look towards these artist as great investments in 2013, if not to buy but to financially back as well.

Nov. 2012

What makes modern art?  How does it sale?

Modern art can be described as not so much as a hard definition, but yet more of a time frame.  Most art historians will include modern art from 1860s to today, some even earlier the late 1700s, yet it is somewhere around the time that Courbet and his Anti French Salon movement, Manet and his bridge from Realism to Impressionism to Monet and the Impressionists that set up the time frame for Modern art.

Who does one describe Modern Art though? is it just work that is created recently? In the past 100 years? A time frame cannot really put it in perspective as in in Music, songs and bands from the 70s are known as Classic and those from the 50s and 40s are known as Oldies and music from the time that the impressionist time period, yes that music that is hardly listened to outside of a few of us (I am one of them) is known only as Classical. This is seen as old and not “modern”. So why is it that other pieces of art work from that time period are known and called Modern? Literature is also one that falls to this as not “modern” as one can look at the works of Emile Zola and feel a transportation back to a world of the past.

It can be argued that to be Modern, work has to be avant-garde or works that is in the forefront, is innovatory, which introduces and explores new forms. That can truely be said for the work of Courbet as he broke away from the teachings of the 1800s French Salon and can be considered the great-grandfather of Modern Art. However, with the loose brush works of Manet that helped bridge the way for Monet and the Impressionists that really broke away from the what had been done before, making their work Modern.

Yet, why are artist like Jeff Koons, who is still in practice and working today, selling works for the same amount of money as what Monet, Warhol and other great artists from the past are selling their works for while artist like Justin Bua and Brian Ewing, whos work is just as impressive, doesn’t sell for as nearly as well as what Koons does?  Is it the style of art? If that might be the case, then Koons himself should not be as famous as what he is.  he has been doing the same work for the past almost 30 years and his time should be coming close to an end, but his works keep becoming evermore popular.

Sure, there has been some publicity of Modern Art, large galleries like MoMA and the Tate Modern and smaller galleries like Crewest in Los Angeles show extensive collections of what is considered New and Modern.  Yet the question still remains on why is one artist sold for so much more than another?  The question is not about quality of work. The pieces that the three above named artist create are fantastic in their own right (Yes even Koons, even though he doesn’t actually do any of his own work), yet the divide is still there for them.  Is the fact that Koons work is more relatable to the general public than what Bua and Ewing’s work is? Is that the reason why in art history classes, more emphasis is placed on people like Andy Warhol instead of Richard Hamilton, Edward Kienholz or even Chris Burden, Joseph Beuys or Marina Abramović.  

Now sure, Burden, Beuys and Abramović are preformance artist, but there are images that one could purchaces of their works that a partron of the arts could keep and hang just like any other works of art.  In fact I know a couple of people who do. So for this up coming year, I would look for those works, works by artist who are not as big as the Jeff Koons in modern art, but those who are on the verge of making it big, such as Justin Bua (even though OvationTV and Bua have done several projects together), Brian Ewing, David LaChapelle or support preformance art or images from a preformance that have helped make these artist known today.  This is where the term investment comes in because one can purchase these works for cheap and sit on them where I predict that one day they will bring you a nice return.

June 2012

There are two things that I want to talk about in this article.  One is the action happening at Christie’s on June 12th at 1pm in London of Rock & Roll Memorabilia. Some of the items include Jeff Beck’s guitar and case (Lot #2), a collection of Jimi Hendrix items (Lots 18-25), one of Buddy Holly’s shirts (Lot #26), some of Michael Jackson’s items (Lots 27-31) to a pair of Madonna’s boxer shorts that she wore in the 1985 Orion Pictures file Desperately Seeking Susan (Lot #38) and a signed LP and poster by Nirvana.

One of my favorite pieces is a posted of Bob Dylan (Lot #53) The estimate price is $460-$770.  The poster is one of a kind and beautiful.  Christie’s has the Lot description as follows:

“Psychedelia/Bob Dylan – Two promotional poster, one featuring Bob Dylan Mister Tambourine Man, 1967, and Donovan, Sunshine Superman, 1966, art by Martin Sharp — both 30x20in and framed.

Bob Dylan Mister Tambourine Man, 1967

There are a lot of other really amazing things in this auction that such as a fanzine from the Sex Pistols.  This fanzine is of their classic “Anarchy in the U.K.”.  The fanzine is amazing.  It is of you classic 1980s punk rock girl, included with a bi-hawk, a skull earring in her left ear, the eye make up…the full works. Everything works with this cover, except for it’s condition.  The corners and edges look fine, however, there is a huge cease in the middle of the publication.  On the left side of the fanzine there is some major discoloration around the fold  and on the right side of the post, it looks like there are a couple of holes along the fold.

Now the fanzine (Lot #113 Est. price of $769-$1,075) is beautiful, printed by none other than ZigZag and it features the photos by Ray Stevenson of the Pistol’s trip to Paris in 1976. It is 17x12in.

Now the thing is that there are a lot of signed pieces, from the Beatles (Lennon, Harrison, Star and McCarthy) to the Rolling Stones.  Now I don’t doubt that Christie’s had the signatures verified…but they don’t say this anywhere.  Now I trust the company, yet I have also worked in the music industry.  I know that when you have an autograph book and bring it to a show, the last thing on  your mind is “How am I going to verify that this is so-and-so’s signature???” Yet, I personally would feel better about the sale if Christie’s would just mention that yes, the signatures have been verified as authentic. If they can’t be authenticated or the auction house is going to fail to provide that information for the general public prior to the sale, then how do we know they are real or how are to know we are not going to spend several hundred to thousands of dollars on a piece of paper.

Okay, the next auction I would like to talk about is the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London on June. 19th 2012 at Sotheby’s. This sale is going to be amazing.  There will be some beautiful works from Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edvard Munch, Joan Miro and works from the Private collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D Rockefeller 3rd which includes works by Pierre Bonnard and Paul Signac.

The other collections are from individual artist like the collection of Eight Watercolours by Wassily Kadinsky, while there are single pieces by partist like Picasso, Henry Moore, Otto Dix, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, van Gogh and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. These works are beautiful, simply breath taking.  This collection that Sotheby’s has is  collection that I would like to have in my own personal collection. Now, these pieces are not as noteworthy as what one would see in the MoMA or the Louvre, but these works are still as breath taking as ever and when the artist is still in their prime, or at the end of their prime (not as the other article where we saw artist being sold 40-60 years after their prime), and each one of the works is well worth their asking prices.

Claude Monet – The Seine at Bougival c. 1869

 

For Further information on the Sotheby’s Auction, please click the link.

For Further information on the Christie’s Auction, please click the link.