One of the art world’s essential trends has been globalization forcing dealers to either become huge operations with outposts in various cities around the world or be dependent upon art fairs for their access and exposure to clients. Georgina Adam reports on one dealer who is trying it a different way. Unfortunately, he’s discovering that running a gallery costs a lot of money no matter how you do it:
German-born art dealer Matthias Arndt decided last year to “work in a new way – beyond the traditional model of the art gallery.” He has moved to Australia, and while his Berlin space is currently showing Gilbert & George’s “London Pictures”, Arndt is busy in Australia with his first “pop-up” show, Migration. The ambitious exhibition opened this week in Sydney, timed to coincide with the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s new wing. Organised in collaboration with Arndt’s Australian-born wife Tiffany, Migration brings 95 works by 40 international artists – among them George Condo, Sophie Calle, Jitish Kallat and Neo Rauch – to Sydney. Prices range from $6,000 to $500,000, and, says Arndt, he has already made sales of work by Yang Jiechang, Sophie Calle, Gilbert & George plus south-east Asian artists. “The Asian region is fast becoming the powerhouse of contemporary art,” says Arndt. “But a temporary project of this scale in this part of the world is as expensive as running a gallery for an entire year!”
The Art Market: Fire Sales (Financial Times)
