The New York Times claims to tell us how Adrian Ghenie became an auction star citing a grab bag of vague factors like the popularity of painting (as opposed to …?), a limited output, no competition from masterpieces, a good price point and a bunch of rich Asians champing to buy.

Somehow that constellation of facts has made Ghenie this decade’s Peter Doig (whose market was detonated by a bidding war among oligarchs a decade ago.) That may be so. But why Ghenie? Is it the Pinault connection with the artist having had a 2011 show at Palazzo Grassi?Christie’s did particularly well with Ghenie capping a year’s worth of rising prices with a $9m sale in London during Frieze week.

As one of Ghenie’s dealers, Thaddaeus Ropac points out in the Times story. Right now Ghenie needs more museum support than more auction sales. The Hamer bought two of the painter’s works in 2008 and Ghenie had a pavilion at the Venice Biennale which is probably the ground zero for this year’s auction A-bomb (being the right combination of curatorially driven event that doubles as a marketing opportunity.)Continue Reading