Colin Gleadell rightly points to the drop in prices for young artists like Jacob Kassay who was the first of the early-career artists to see his work rise dramatically on the secondary market.
Though Gleadell is right. The fact that Kassay’s work has buyers and the sales transact is as noteworthy as the price drop. In the art market, works that lose their value lose all of their value. Works that may continue to have value can have price fluctuations.
Update: Forgive our own sloppy work here. Another Kassay sold at Christie’s the same day. Again, the work sold below estimates. But the price was $137,000. That’s not an inconsiderable sum whether the work is a single or a double canvas.
consider Jacob Kassay, who was one of the first of the new wave of artists to be catapulted into six-figure auction prices on the basis that he was to receive major gallery representation in New York and that speculators were willing to bet money on him. A typical monochromatic painting made with silver deposit in 2010, before he hit the headlines, cost $125,000 at Christie’s in May last year. Last week, also at Christie’s, it sold for $50,000 which, minus the auction charges made to buyer and seller, boils down to about $30,000 for the seller. Ouch!
Market News: Sotheby’s bares all (Telegraph)
