Recently in Collecting Category
The 20X200 project has been live for a couple of weeks, apparently in soft launch. Whatever reservations I have about the value of 20X200 to the participating artists and photographers, from an purely materialistic impulse, it's hard to pass up a 16"x20" Tema Stauffer print for $200.
It'll be interesting to track the sales of various editions (each item shows the count remaining in the edition at the time of purchase.)
On the heels of the online mention in the NY Times, this past weekend Gallery Hopper got a tip of the hat from the Wall Street Journal in a rather substantial article on affordable art, "Art for Less". Lisa Hunter (Intrepid Art Collector) was interviewed for the article as well as dealer and fellow Colorado College alumnus Paige West of Mixed Greens. Other blogs mentioned were Modern Art Notes and Edward Winkleman. Good company.
The marketing blog "murketing" has posted an interesting interview with Jen Bekman about her new 20X200 project. It elborates on many of the thoughts I've had about this initiative, including the potential ghetto-ization of the participating artists. As a business person (wow, that sounds weird), I'm also interested about the underlying economics of art as a product. Bekman picks up on this as well:
I want to create an opportunity that’s not instead of the traditional gallery environment, but in addition to it. I want more artists to make their living making art and I want the people who want to buy art, but feel that it’s too rarefied for them, to actually buy it. It’s absurd to me that there are so many of both of those types of people and yet they’re not connected with any sort of efficiency. I want to sell more art and I want more people to buy it.
The project is slated to launch July 27th.
According to the price limits of the "Affordable Art Fair" affordable art is whatever sells under $5000. A lot of new photography falls under that price cap, even from the heavy hitters, which is nice if you can swing it. But, honestly, five grand isn't affordable.
For the rest of us, Jen Bekman is prepping an interesting new project, 20 X 200, that appears to be an outgrowth of the "Hey, Hot Shot" contests she's been running for a while. The basic premise is high-count editions equate affordable prices, so you can get a piece of art from an edition of 200 for $20. Get it?
The program will feature both photography and those "other" arts, with the photography being drawn from the Hey, Hot Shot photographers. More details on Jen's blog, Personism.
With its usual synchronicity, the NY photo-art world lines up all its auction business within days of each other, this time on the heels of theAIPAD Photoshow . Beyond the monetary hoopla and fears of a art boom gone bust, auction viewings are a great opportunity to see work that may not get publicly shown very often. And auction catalogs are good substitutes for those of us notprivileged enough to
27 Exceptional Photographs
April 24, 7 PM
Photographs
April 25, 10 PM and 2 PM
Viewing Times
April 11 - April 21 10 am - 5 PM
April 22, 12 PM - 5 PM
April 23 and 24, 10 AM - 5 PM
Christie's
Modern Photographs from a European Collection
April 23, 5:30 PM (Approx)
Horst Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering
April 23, 5 PM
Photographs
April 23, 6 PM (approx)
April 24, 10 AM and 2 PM
Viewing Times
April 20 - 22, 1 - 5 PM
April 23, 10 AM - 2 PM
Sotheby's
The main auction at Sotheby's is a bit obscure for those used to a steady diet of oversized German color works, so the house has created a handy little Web movie to introduce you to Eugène and Adalbert Cuvelier. All Sotheby's links below require registration (free).
An Important Collection of Photographs by Eugène and Adalbert Cuvelier
April 13, 10 AM
Viewing Times
April 12, 10AM - 1PM (Crud!)
Photographs
April 26, 2 PM
Photographs from the Private Collection of Margaret W. Weston
April 25, 6 PM
April 26, 10 AM
Viewing Times
April 19 - 24, 10 AM - 5 PM
April 25, 10 AM - 1 PM
The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) kick off the 2007 Photoshow today at the Park Avenue Armory. Show runs through Sunday and features over 90 dealers.
On Saturday at 10am, there's a lecture at the Guggenheim featuring collector Henry Buhl and curator Jennifer Blessing. Photography from Buhl's collection of hand-themed photographs was shown at the Guggenheim a while back. The lecture is free (not sure if you have to pay Guggenheim admission, though.) I'd prefer the lecture feature a photographer, but oh well. It is a dealer association after all.
Location:
The Park Ave Armory
67th St & Park Ave
Hours:
Thurs, April 12, 2-7pm
Fri, April 13, noon-8pm
Sat, April 14, noon- 8pm
Sun, April 15, noon- 6pm
Admission:
4 days, $40
3 days (any), $30
1 day (any), $20
Ticket price includes 360 page illustrated catalog (which is a great resource and worth at least a 1 day ticket)
The Guardian asks, with the rise of so many photo-specific fairs, "is photography being spotlighted or ghettoized?"
As far as I'm concerned, keep photography separate. I was supremely irritated when the New Yorker decided to lump all the photography shows in with the other art shows and now I have to sift through the whole section, which is mostly stuff I don't want to see. (Have I said that before? If so, then you know how much it irks me.)
Sotheby's has posted the results from today's auction session. Two key highlights:
Ansel Adams, 1940s era print of "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico"
$609,000; 2.5X high estimate of $250,000
William Abbott Pratt, quarter-plate daguerreotype of Edgar Allen Poe
$150,000; 3X high estimate of $50,000
August Sander didn't fare so well, selling below the low estimate. Other spot checks show prices within estimate. Had thought Eliot Porter was in growing demand, but not extraordinarily so.
Fall photo auctions start today and continue all week.
Oct 17th
Sotheby's
10am & 2pm
Christie's
5pm
Oct 18th
Christie's
10am & 2pm
Oct 19th
Philips de Pury & Co
10 am
Swann Galleries
2:30 pm
Even if you don't give a rip about all this auction hullaballu, I hope you're check out this amazing photograph by Harry Callahan. I had the pleasure of seeing a print of this at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz last summer and the crisp, refined detail was just unbelievable. The online representation just can't do the print justice.
I always amazed at how many duplicate prints are being sold simultaneously at the different auction houses. Interesting to compare prices.
Alec Soth has assembled his shopping list.
I always assumed big-time photographers would have good collections, created via exchanged prints, gifts, etc. But they buy prints, too. The Times recently profiled the late Richard Avedon's collection, which is being sold to benefit his foundation. (Seems a bit sad to sell off the collection and uncouple this grouping. Which brings up the old question - can a collection be a work of art, too?)
Aug 30 to Sept 6 at Pace MacGill Gallery
32 E57th St, 9th Flr
(212) 929-7000
(assuming this is at the Chelsea location, but the Web site is unhelpful in answering it and the gallery is closed today, so I can't get an answer by phone)
Oct 5 to Nov 25 at Fraenkel Gallery
49 Geary St, 4th Flr
San Francisco
(415) 981-2661
