Colin Gleadell asks a philosophical question as talk swirls of $1 billion in sales taking place at ArtBasel (which seems, well, aggressive.) Can an art fair compete head-to-head with the auction houses? This may be a question that could only recently have occurred to anyone as the majority of sales were assumed to take place privately until about a decade ago or even more recently. But when the New York auctions rack up $2.2bn in two weeks, the playing field seems skewed toward auction over dealers. Though it is important to remember that the primary and secondary markets are very different venues:

Early signs were that the challenge was real. Before the first day was out, public relations agents had fed journalists a list of sales by 11 galleries worth over $55 million. New York’s Lehmann Maupin gallery made 19 sales for a total of $1.8 million. White Cube sold 10 works totalling more than $15 million, among them Damien Hirst’s Nothing Is a Problem For Me (1992), one of only four large-scale medicine cabinets made by the artist, for $6 million.

Lisson gallery sold $4 million of art in a day including a large driftwood sculpture by land artist Richard Long for about £300,000, far more than his work has ever sold for at auction.

By day two, 20 galleries had reportedly sold more than $100 million of art; but that was still only a fraction of the business being done. Beyond the PR hype, the middle market was doing well. This was the first fair for London’s Mayor gallery since it was unceremoniously ousted by developers from it historic site in Cork Street, so all the more important it did well.

Then came reports of the sale of 19 abstract and kinetic Fifties and Sixties works by European and Latin American artists for between $10,000 and $350,000 each.

But Kenny Schachter reminds us that behind all of the hype and expectations are small businesses often struggling to generate revenue (or conform to professional norms):

The press likes to report on successes, but two dealers who represent large enterprises tell me business is shitty—and the fair’s first VIP preview day is not too early to judge, since most sales here happen sooner rather than later.

Art is as much a relationship-based business as it has been from the beginning, this evidenced by a dealer who calls his sales assistants security guards, commenting upon their selling skills, or lack thereof. Art is still no easy game.

It’s refreshing to hear that in the midst of all the new professionalism, the old ways are still operative. A friend who is owed money by a gallerist goes to the gallerist’s hotel room to collect his check. The gallerist answers the door buck naked, strides to the desk, fills out the check and hands it over without batting an eye.

Art Sales: a hammer blow to the auctioneers’ supremacy (Telegraph)

The Naked Truth About Basel: A Diary (Gallerist)

Vernissage TV’s tour of ArtBasel Unlimited can be seen here:

Unlimited, Art Basel’s unique exhibition platform for artworks that transcend the traditional art fair stand, will this year present 78 projects from galleries participating in the show. Curated for the third consecutive year by New York- based curator Gianni Jetzer, and juried by the Selection Committee, Unlimited will showcase a strong selection of works by renowned artists including Carl Andre, Anthony Caro, Richard Long, Ana Mendieta, Bruce Nauman, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Rosemarie Trockel, Doug Wheeler, Yang Fudong and Zhang Huan. These stars are joined by newer talents such as Andrew Dadson, Sam Falls, João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva, Gavin Kenyon, Alex Prager, Laure Prouvost, Troika and Daniel Turner.

Since first being introduced at Art Basel in 2000, Unlimited has become a key element of the show, providing galleries with an opportunity to showcase large-scale sculptures, video projections, installations, wall paintings, photographic series and performance art which cannot be displayed within the limitations of an art fair stand. The sector will take over the exhibition space in Hall 1 as Statements, the sector for younger galleries, moves into Hall 2.

Highlights of Unlimited will include Carl Andre’s floor work ‘Steel Peneplain’ (1982) presented by Konrad Fischer Galerie (Dusseldorf), which consists of 300 steel plates and was created especially for Kassel’s Documenta 7 in 1982. Hanne Darboven’s historically significant work ‘Kinder Dieser Welt / Children of the World’ (1990-1996) was developed in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Presented by Konrad Fischer Galerie (Dusseldorf) and Sprüth Magers Berlin London (Berlin, London), the work has been exhibited only once before, in Stuttgart in 1997. Tucci Russo Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea (Turin) will present ‘Matrice di linfa’ (2008), part of Giuseppe Penone’s ‘Trees’ series of works, in which the center of a fir tree is removed. Annely Juda Fine Art (London), Mitchell-Innes & Nash (New York) and Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris) will show one of Anthony Caro’s very last sculptures, ‘River Run’ (2013).

Presented by Galerie Eva Presenhuber (Zurich), ‘Untitled (Pallet 9, Pomona)’ (2013) by Sam Falls explores the collapsing of photography, painting and sculpture as he exposes an orange fabric to the effects of the sun. Maccarone (New York) and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects (Los Angeles) will present Rodney McMillian’s ‘From Asterisks in Dockery’ (2012), a floor-to-ceiling red vinyl appropriation of a chapel. Presented by Blum & Poe (Los Angeles), Simon Lee Gallery (London, Hong Kong), and Metro Pictures (New York), Jim Shaw’s large scale acrylic on muslin work ‘Capitol Viscera Appliances mural’ (2011) portrays an eruption of viscera, resulting in the destruction of Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., referencing his fictional ‘Oist’ mythology. Galleria Continua (San Gimignano) will show ‘Tayouwood’ (2014), a site specific video installation by Pascale Marthine Tayou, depicting his own personally curated world. Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery will show Haegue Yang’s extensive blind installation ‘Accommodating the Epic Dispersion – On Non-cathartic Volume of Dispersion’ (2012) while Long March Space (Beijing) will present Shanghai artist Xu Zhen’s most ambitious sculptural installation to date ‘Eternity…’ (2013/14).

Katya Kazakina previews Art Basel which opens this week and will be the center of attention for the next few days as the very top end of the art market looks to see what’s out there and available. Kazakina quotes one of her go-to talkers, Philip Hoffman whose business seems to have shifted toward advising Gulf States art investors:

“There’s a lot of wealth looking at the art market,” he said. “It’s a neutral currency.”

Kazakina also reports on the fair’s first sale which takes place ahead of the fair and now removes the work from the fair. (You think this is easy?):

Francis Bacon’s small 1959 portrait, priced at $3.5 million, was set to be among 75 artworks at Chicago- and New York-based Richard Gray Gallery.

Here may be the more interesting observation from Robert Mnuchin whose blue chip gallery is having trouble sourcing material and looking for new names—like Simon Hantai—to deal in:

Robert Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive whose New York gallery specializes in postwar art, will bring a vertical 10-part stack by Donald Judd, valued at about $4.5 million, and a $1.2 million painting by French artist Simon Hantai. Mnuchin will also show works by hot contemporary artists Christopher Wool and Mark Bradford.

Art created in the past 10 to 15 years has become a more important part of Art Basel, said Mnuchin, who’s participating in the fair for 18th time. “Golden oldies are harder and harder for dealers to get,” he said.

Davos of Art World Lures Collectors to $4 Billion Fair (Bloomberg)