Art Market Monitor

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Artist Focus: 3 Picks from Frieze London

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Laura Roughneen is postgraduate researcher studying the international contemporary art market and a fine art graduate with a key interest in the portrayal of artists at fairs. Here are three artists that peaked her interest at Frieze:

Jannis Varelas

New works from the Caliban Project by Jannis Varelas were on show at The Breeder. Usually known for his works on paper, Varelas has progressed with his Caliban Project onto the canvas.

According to the gallery “The name Caliban refers to a character in William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and is an anagram of the word “cannibal”. As a native living on an exotic island Caliban experiences a colonial domination from the shipwrecked Prospero who enslaves him.”

Set in a tropical environment, Varelas’ works include large-scale hybrid characters of man, woman or animal acting as paradoxes of alienation in a culture of fixed male and female identities. Familiar objects and characteristics become strange and unsettling. According to the gallery “the use of the mask and animation of the objects have a symbolic and spiritual value in many colonized cultures.” Appropriating imagery from diverse sources, Varelas’ work is a contemporary and humorous commentary on “everyday life experiences of hierarchical divisions.”

If you’re still in London, Varelas has selected mixed media collage work on show at The Saatchi Gallery until November 3rd.

Matt Mullican

Matt Mullican was on show alongside his former professuer John Baldessari at Mai 36. While Mullican has had recent press for his large and fascinating drawing installation at the Venice Biennale this year, Mai 36 presented an understated yet impressive selection of works including a selection of 9 gouache on handmade paper works exploring some of the most fundamental elements to Mullican’s work. What is special to me about these works is that they give a glimpse into Mullican’s artistic process.

According to Mai 36, Mullican has

“developed a complex system of symbols consisting of various pictograms and colors as a means of tackling the question of the structure of the world, and with his system he aims to portray in symbols every aspect of the human condition in different combinations.”

Stemming from circa 1982, these small works shown together resemble cells of the elements intrinsic to Mullican’s practice in form, colour exploration and symbolism. Unlike much of the big’n’bold work we see at art fairs, this quiet presentation entices the viewer to engage and question the artist’s practice as a means of understanding his oeuvre.

Frame

In the Frame section, LA based gallery Various Small Fires were showing Andrea Longacre-White. Exploring the tension between analog and digital, Longacre-White scans the ipad, confusing the sensor when the light touches the responder and capturing the scroll of the page, creating a visualization of the digital space between. Remnants of  person and touch remain on the pad scans created in the artist’s studio, reminding the viewer of the human presence in the technological atmosphere. Rihzome captured a wonder aspect of her work beautifully in an interview:

You wrote a text to accompany an exhibition at West Street Gallery where you describe the haptic process of scanning – running your fingers over the papers and the plexi and end with the amazingly simple line: “my scanner never gets cleaned.” Is there something about the indexical nature of technology that interests you – like Freud’s mystic writing pad?  Would you describe your work as an attempt to reveal or conceal those fingerprints?

ALW: Freud’s mystic writing pad is a beautiful analogy, as there are endless (at times imperceptible) traces of past workings, use, and action on my prints and in my images. How information moves, morphs, is abridged, footnoted, reworked, gains artifacts, is lost, is rediscovered all frustrates and inspires me.  

 

Best of: NADA NY

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NADA NY provided a great presentation this year, with sun beaming down on the laid back and airy Pier 36. The layout of the fair was flawless, easy to navigate and each booth had great space. There was just enough galleries to enjoy the show without the dreaded “fair fatigue”.  The organizers really hit the nail on the head regarding space with this years installation in NYC, and some of the galleries really came to play ball with high class presentations.

Patricia Low Contemporary of Gstaad had an outstanding presentation at NADA NY this year. A.R. Penck formed contextual basis for the show, while Jannis Varelas and Sebastain Hammwöhner responded to his work flawlessly in this beautiful presentation. Curator for Patricia Low Gallery, Max Henry commented on the links between the artists in the show:

“Through pictographic symbols the artists communicate a fundamental aspect of the human endeavor.

The link to the primitive past in the Modern technological age of the military industrial complex (Penck);The body and the transcultural aspects of gender, clothing, and accessories as talisman/accoutrements (Varelas); And the recycling of images (virtual, printed etc.) from immaterial forms into tactile anthropological representations (Hammwöhner).”

After speaking with Henry, it was clear to see his depth of knowledge for each artist and his reasoning behind the collection for NADA NY. Sophisticated in presentation, I forgot I was at an art fair while sitting in this booth speaking with the gallerist and curator

 

Canadian Shawn Kuruneru had work on show at Ribordy Contemporary. Reverting to drawing at its basics, Kuruneru uses pen, ink and acrylic to explore mark making by filling the page with dots. Uncertainty and chance play a key role in Kuruneru’s minimalist practice. His work is concerned with the idea of origins. The artist sees instinct as intrinsic to the drawing process.

 

Volker Hueller’s large mixed-media canvases explore an abstracted sense of portraiture at one of my favourite New York galleries, Eleven Rivington. Channeling early 20th century modernism, Hueller’s ‘Picassoesque’ dark works charm the viewer through mystery. Nana Asfour of Time Out New York comments on the black paintings in the series: “Those canvases were created during a residency in Washington, Connecticut, and the rolling hills of Litchfield County left their stamp, quite literally. Bugs, sticks and other random objects imbedded into the compositions attest to the verdant surroundings.”

The Best Of: Frieze NY

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Back for its second year on Randall’s Island, British export Frieze NY delivered some great booths this year. Easy to navigate and enriched with beautiful natural light, the fair is earning its stripes with New Yorkers and visitors alike. Yes, the bus ride out felt a little like a bumpy safari ride, but who cares when at the end you see Paul McCarthy’s giant balloon dog eagerly waiting to welcome you to the temporary home of galleries from around the globe?

Paul Kasmin had some great James Nares works on show at Frieze, a teasing taster of the “Road Paint” exhibition by Nares at the gallery right now (ending June 22nd 2013.) Though different in approach and form, something about the paintings is reminiscent of Nares brushstroke paintings. Tiny glass spheres released in the painting process create a subtle and glorious iridescent effect. According to the press release:

“These works continue the artist’s ongoing kinetic investigations—exploring the form, direction, rhythm, and repetition of objects in motion. The result of a completely new technique developed by Nares exclusively for this exhibition, this unique practice seeks to capture movement’s own moment of creation, its own primal genesis.”

Casey Kaplan had a wonderful solo presentation of German artist Julia Schmidt. Her abstractions are inspired by the everyday (the internet, print media, phone photography etc.) and repurposed with new meaning. Upon closer inspection the works appear more tangible. What’s interesting about the work is the colour palette chosen by the artist. According to Kaplan gallery:

“This body of work marks a new exploration of color, favoring an artificial palette that in itself becomes a referent, whether to the newsprint of the international edition of The Financial Times or cheaply produced colored copyshop paper. These lurid washes, which at times seem as equally luminous as they are poisonous, work not only to deconstruct her source images, but to rebuild them with new contents.”

David Zwirner stunned the audience once again with a fabulous presentation of works by Thomas Ruff. Exploring a variety of themes, the artist employs a range of techniques examining the structures of photography. Ruff confronts traditional conventions of photographic representation and pushes them past traditional finish lines. According to Aperture Magazine: Turning away from straight photography in the mid-1990s, “Ruff has taken up a study of the photogram, updating the form for the digital era by creating his works in a 3-D digital studio environment and outputting the resulting images in the large scale he tends to favour.” For an excellent interview with the artist in Aperature, click HERE.

Société Gallery of Berlin had a fantastic booth showing Sean Raspet and Timur Si-Qin. Washington-born Brooklyn-based Raspet injects acrylic paint into plexiglass cubes filled with hair gel. In other instances of Raspet’s work, he encases objects in cubes of hair gel, suspending the object in time and space.

Tinur Si-Qin’s process involved melting yoga mats onto large aluminum plates, changing the form and colour organically. Both artists work well together in the space and it was clear that the gallery put time and thought into creating a conversation between the artists they presented.

Lisson Gallery had a particularly strong show this year. Favorites included three Pedro Reyes musical sculptures adorning one wall of the booth – musical instruments created from remnants of decommissioned weapons. Mexican born Reyes juxtaposes the dangerous with the lyrical in these darkly beautiful and haunting sculptures. The weapons were seized from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. In 2010, the city had a murder rate of 230 killings to every 100,000 inhabitants. In an article in Mail Online, Reyes describes his work: ‘It occurred to me to make musical instruments, because music is the opposite of weapons,’ Reyes said. ‘This exercise of transformation we see with the guns, is what we would like to see in society.’

 

 

THE BEST OF: PULSE NY

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The most interesting booth for me at PULSE NY this year was DUBNER MODERNE of Switzerland. A solo presentation of Li Jin was on show at the booth. The expressions on the faces of the characters in his work, often containing the portrait of the artist himself, are captivating. Its rare that a work can make the viewer smile.

According to the gallery: Replete with humor and his unmistakable “joie de vivre” Li Jin translates the usually mundane quotidian of life into a colorful and eloquent narrative of the moment using the tools of tradition. As an artist his perception of beauty and detail blossom from his appreciation as an active observer and partaker in life. Whether it be a table abounding with epicurean delights, a moment of quiet contemplation, or the enticing passions of love his graceful and masterly brushstrokes tell stories that are common to all, for they are the simple pleasures of life.

What makes this gallery special is their knowledge and genuine passion for their artists. Gallery founder and director Vernon Dubner’s enthusiasm for the artist, sharing personal stories about the artist and going through catalogues of his previous work, is contagious. Spend some time talking to this gallery about the work on show, and other artists that can be found here on their website. This young gallery is undoubtedly one I will be following in the future.

For those of you who wish to join me, here’s a link to their site: http://www.dubnermoderne.ch/Histoire.html

ADAMSON GALLERY presented a nice array of work. Adam Fuss and Robert Longo caught my attention at this booth. I could live happily with both of the artists work in my home. Though I’ve seen Longo’s work at quite a few fairs recently, I still fall in love with his beautiful execution and artistic understanding of light and shade.

I first came in contact with Fuss at ADAA’s The Art Show in 2012 and have been an avid follower of his photograms since. British born, Fuss has lived and worked in New York for over 30 years. His large, evocative photograms are both visually and conceptually stimulating. In the process of Snake 2012 Fuss places a snake onto a sensitized surface and uses a strobe light to capture the movements. The intensity of the piece must be seen in real life as the size and vivid colour of the work engage the viewer.

According to Adamson gallery “His work is distinctive for its contemporary re-interpretation of photography’s earliest techniques, particularly the daguerreotype and the camera-less photogram. Fuss states that in order for any photographic technique to work, it should be personalized and transfigured into a greater metaphor, engaging processes that take place in the natural world.”

ADAMSON EDITIONS plays an important role as a printmaker, collaborating with many of the worlds interesting artists today. David Adamson’s joy in collaborating with these artists was clear within seconds of speaking with him.

You can find out more info on the gallery and printmakers here: http://www.adamsongallery.com/gallery/

Check out Alicia Ross at BLACK & WHITE GALLERY/PROJECT SPACE.

Her stunning cross-stitching and attention to detail are what interests me here. The finished artworks, with a beautiful polished yet hand-crafted feel to the work, could hold the viewers attention for days. Her appropriated images, found from a variety of sources, explore female identity and the view of society on the varying facets of female identity.

According to the gallery, her works

“highlight the artist’s ongoing exploration of ideas surrounding conflicting views of feminine identity in the contemporary society and the ubiquitous virtuous/voracious societal impulses towards the female form. Ross appropriates images from online media sources and digitally translates them into cross-stitched constructions, using the sewing machine as a drawing tool. The finished pieces reflect a fusion between hand-made traditions and digital aesthetics.”

Find out more about the gallery here:

http://www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com

Take the time to read Miki Taira’s stories at BEJING TOKYO ART PROJECTS. Trained in Japanese script initially, Miki Taira moved toward contemporary art in order to express herself without conservative constraints. Her stories, verbal tales told from different districts in Japan, have been passed down through generations. They never represent an exact figure, mentioning “a husband” or “old lady” or “a monks apprentice”, and this translates to her small sculptures, devoid of a face. The entire story is written in Japanese script on the sculpture, and accompanied by a page of writing in English. The stories teach a lesson in a witty and charming manner. You won’t regret spending time reading each one, and you may yourself learn something in the process. You may also be lucky enough to catch the artist at the booth.

For more info on the gallery:

http://www.tokyo-gallery.com/artists/japan/miki-taira.html

Also worth mentioning is:

Sohei Nishino’s diorama maps at MICHAEL HOPPEN CONTEMPORARY. Created from memory, these maps are layered icons of each city. According to the artist’s website, the works involved a great deal of preparation. “The creation of a Diorama Map takes the following method; Walking around the chosen city on foot; shooting from various location with film; pasting and arranging with enormous mound of pieces.” A viewer could spend hours looking at each intricate work.

Christine Flynn at FITZROY/KNOX in ImPulse. “Home is not a place, rather a memory of my life with others”, according to the artist. She looks towards the everyday, capturing memories. “My intention is not to recreate existence of objects that I shoot, rather to encourage the images to be seen beyond our own obliviousness.”

Rob and Nick Carter “Transforming Vanitas Painting” at THE FINE ART SOCIETY, London. Talk to the gallerists here about the work, and read the catalogue describing how the work was brought to life.

Damian Stamer at FREIGHT + VOLUME is worth spending some time looking at, with his Richteresque brush strokes exploring concepts of home and homeland.

Meet ArtViatic’s Antony Riand

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Antony Riand of ArtViatic

In 2005 Daft Punk released their ever-catchy hit Technologic. With developments in information and communication technology changing the way business is conducted in the art world, it would be interesting to see how the French duo would re-write and update the lyrics for an art world in apparent over-hall. It might go something like this:

Click it, like it, view it, try it,

Zoom it, check it, fail to buy it,

Win it, lose it, send it, rate it,

Pause to think if you should crate it,

Scan it, send it, fax it, trend it,

Blog it, flog it, comprehend it,

Vet it, set it, price it, get it,

Pay it, play it, don’t delay it,

List it, charge it, add-to-cart it,

Server crashes, just restart it,

Brand it, place it, Bubble-burst it,

All else fails just Damien Hirst it.

In an article on Blouin Artinfo last December, Abigail R. Esman addresses the advances in online platforms for buying and selling art. She notes the use of the phrase ‘game-changer’ and its proliferation within the commentary on the art market at the moment, noting that “nowhere, it seems, did that phrase appear more frequently than in the growing boom of the online art market.” Kathyrn Tully touches on this in Forbes earlier this month, noting that

“the Deloitte and ArtTactic report counted more than 300 online art ventures have been established across the world in recent years, which on some counts, should be good very news for art buyers. As the report finds, “new online transaction platforms add liquidity to the art market and will broaden the scope and depth of art market data available, which in turn will improve transparency and facilitate more accurate art valuations.”

While there are many nay-sayers out there, the fact of the matter is that while many of these online platforms will shimmer out as quickly as they blazed in, some are currently thriving and will stand the test of time. Many nay-sayers had wrote off VIP Art, yet Artspace saw the potential in joining forces and acquiring it.  Will online ventures replace physical galleries and fairs? No. But they are providing a service to many collectors in a global art community living in a technological age.

Many believe that the only option for selling art online lies in the more high volume/low priced transactions. But can an online sales channel be responsible for bringing works of high prices to collectors?

An ambitious new venture aiming to do just that is ArtViatic, an online platform that acts as an intermediary for negotiations between buyers and sellers in the sale of artworks over the value of €150,000. Advertising itself as “an alternative to auction houses, dealers and brokers” ArtViatic charges low commission rates of 3% buyer and 3% seller. According to their website, all works submitted for sale on ArtViatic are vetted by their experts and come with a certificate of authenticity or are listed in the catalogue raisonné. Each proposed work is then analyzed and verified against the Art Loss Register and the Interpol Database of Stolen Art. The team reply to the seller within 7 days. If approved, the work is listed for four months in the online catalogue. Should the work not sell, it is removed after the four-month period. AMM spoke with Antony Riand, Executive Director at ArtViatic, to find out more.

AMM: ArtViatic is online since October 2012, how have the site statistics grown regarding membership month-on-month?

AR: When the platform went live in October, we already had members and artworks for sale. Antoine Van de Beuque, the president and founder of ArtViatic, has been working as a private dealer on the art market for almost 35 years, running the Wildenstein gallery as vice-president for 10 years and specializing in impressionist, modern and contemporary masters. He has quite a reputation! So we started with his private network and then launched a campaign to recruit new members, which has been very successful so far. Today, I can say that the statistics regarding membership month-month are more than promising. We are well beyond our forecasts and increasing numbers of collectors and investors from all over the world (China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium…) are following us each week. Now we want take it a step further and unite our fledgling community, especially since we are quite specialized on a niche market, only selling artworks estimated at over €150.000,00.

AMM: You were talking about trying to meet the needs of this particular niche, what groups did you survey or interview while you were researching the possibility of ArtViatic?

AR: The platform is useful to collectors and art dealers alike, as well as artists and institutions such as banks, foundations or investment funds. It’s a valuable resource for anyone who wants to put up their works for sale, to suppress delays and pressure from third parties and get in touch with sellers, so they can negotiate directly, rapidly, and at a very low cost (3% on each side).

AMM: What were the main concerns from collectors and how did you address those concerns in your business model?

AR: The main concerns from collectors were confidentiality, security, provenance and services ranging from valuation to private viewings and escrow account.

To address those concerns, we’ve built a very private platform: it’s a member-only website allowing private sales, and, contrary to auction sales, the prices obtained for works exchanged on ArtViatic remain private and will not be disclosed publicly. Moreover, when it comes to the Internet, confidentiality also reads as security. Protecting your personal information and activities on the platform is a key priority. We use the latest SSL standards to ensure that your data and online negotiations cannot be intercepted or manipulated; we offer the most advanced security procedures currently available to block suspicious activity and malicious attacks; and all information passing through www.artviatic.com is encrypted.
Regarding the provenance, you must know that all pieces presented in our catalogue are listed in the artists’ catalogue raisonné and guaranteed by a certificate of authenticity, signed by the appropriate expert. Our specialists analyze and verify all the given information and check both the Art Loss Register and the Interpol Database of Stolen Art to make sure the provenance of each piece is clear.

And finally, in order to make the platform even more user-friendly, we also offer bespoke subscriber services: works of art can be estimated; private viewings to physically see the work can be organized; their transportation can be set up; and an escrow account was established in Monaco so that transactions can be conducted safely.

AMM: So I understand the seller pays for the viewing of the work, but does ArtViatic organize the actually showing in one of the showrooms?

AR: Yes. Bespoke private viewing services are available to members of ArtViatic.

ArtViatic has negotiated preferential rates with partners such as Trans Art… that are renowned for the quality of their services to provide discreet venues for private viewings around the globe (Monaco, Paris, Genève, London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc).

All partners are members of ICEFAT and ARTIM, the two international networks that promote the highest standards of professionalism in the Fine Art shipping.

AMM: And the seller pays for all that?

AR: Indeed, shipping, packing and storage costs remain the responsibility of the seller.

AMM: And of the 3 works you’ve sold so far, how many people asked for viewings?

AR: Two of three. The last sale we’ve made, the buyer did ask for a condition report, so we sent one of our expert down to Dusseldorf, where the piece was, to do it. The clients were happy about her results so didn’t ask to see the piece themselves. It surprised us but also showed us that we were on the right path!

AMM: I’ve read through that list of vetting criteria on ArtViatic. The specialists don’t actually view the work, and the condition report is listed as ‘optional’. Why?

AR: We are giving the buyer the opportunity to view the painting and we recommend them to send an expert or at least ask for condition report made by one. We also focus on the provenance of the works, making sure that they are legally available on the market thanks to Interpol and the Art Loss Register, and on their authenticity, accepting only pieces that have the right certificate and are listed in the catalogue raisonné of the artist works. As long as the works of art can be traced, authenticated, and as long as they can be evaluated by experts and seen during private viewings, we believe everything is there to ensure the success of this new type of sales.

Is the online art market really any different? What we’ll see in 2013 (Artinfo)

Would you buy art online? (Forbes)

http://www.artviatic.com

 

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