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Saturday 21 Nov 09
“Last year we were all frozen in horror; this year, there is a great sense of relief, it feels good,” said Marianne Boesky (C4), who had sold all but one of her stand of Barnaby Furnas watercolours at the Frieze vernissage yesterday. Her words were echoed by Thaddaeus Ropac (B10). “We are very pleased. Now we are one year on and things are moving again,” he said, ticking off sales including Baselitz’s abstract Coelinblau, 2009, sold to a European collector for €400,000, and a round Mark Quinn painting, We Share Our Chemistry with the Stars, 2009, for £90,000.
Talking about the art market plunge following the financial meltdown, “It was really frightening,” said Sadie Coles (C13). “But as the economy recovers, so is the art market.”
She was one of many dealers who were satisfied with the level of sales yesterday. While the tempo of buying and price levels have dropped, “people are calmer, more reflective, but we are seeing very serious people here,” said Philipp Haverkampf of Contemporary Fine Arts (C14).
As the fair opened, a long line formed in the entrance, but gone was the frenzy of pre-2008 years. At the front of the queue were Danish collectors Ole Faarup, and Janne and Carl Christian Aegidius, members of the Danish Art Collectors Society. “Three years ago you were running in and things were sold in the first hour-and-a-half,” said Carl Aegidius. “Now you buy, but you buy after reflecting a bit.”
The fair attracted its usual tribes of pop stars, fashionistas, museum directors, actresses in sky-high stilettos and dressed-down buyers, including a denim-clad Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire. Lily Allen was sashaying around White Cube (F13), while John Taylor of Duran Duran showed interest in a Richard Prince collage at Gagosian (D7), Untitled (1,2,3,4), 2008.
While there seemed to be fewer Americans, the faithful were still there. Early arrivals were major San Francisco collectors Norah and Norman Stone, he in studded leather with power shoulders, she in a glittering black and silver jacket, accompanied by their art advisers. But reflecting the lower price points today, they only bought “London’s most expensive pickles”, a series of cut-up films in jars by Tony Conrad—Pickled E.K7302-244-0502, 2006, on sale at Daniel Buchholz (C6) for around €5,000.
Gone are the days when a half-a-million-dollar Paul McCarthy could sell in the first minutes of the fair, as in 2006. While this edition of Frieze boasts works priced at more than €1m, such as Luc Tuymans’ immense Wonderland, 2007, tagged at €1.4m with Zwirner (G15) and a knitted Louise Bourgeois sculpture of a hanging body at around $3m at Hauser & Wirth (C10), these did not immediately find buyers. Most popular were paintings and works on paper in the lower price ranges, on show with dealers shying away from extravagance.
There were mixed results in the Frame section, but Ibid (R5) had sold half its booth of sculptures by Daniel Silver by 11.45am, all to European collectors in the £12,000-£20,000 range. British collector Anita Zabludowicz bought one edition of Jack Strange’s laptop installation Emily, Callum, John, Grace, Elizabeth, Paul, 2009, for £10,000 from Limoncello (R18).
Swiss artist Christoph Büchel—who offered his wallet and keys to his apartment with guaranteed lifetime access in Basel—continues his mission to see if there is anything collectors will not buy. His sweaty black socks, tossed on to the floor, are on offer at Hauser & Wirth for €20,000. The gallery reported robust interest and said there were two reserves on them.
Few galleries reported sell-outs, but one ingenious strategy proved successful. Milan gallery Zero (C5) has just one small painting (20cm by 30cm) of a hand tossing powder up in the air on its stand. Victor Man’s Aspen, 2009, sold immediately for €25,000 to an international collection—“We’re sold out!” said director Paolo Zani.
Also in Frieze daily:
Do it yourself: pop-up galleries
Also by Georgina Adam:
Auction report: post-war and contemporary art
Owner cancels insurance claim on his missing Warhol “Athletes” set
Hou Hanru unveils tenth Lyon Biennale
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23 Oct 09
20:28 CET
Smartie, San Francisco
As Elizabeth Thomas always says, "It's art, BAD art, but art." So much bad art got sold in the heady days that there is bound to be a tepid period (the hangover). The problem now is what to do with all the bad art and bad artists who were propped up by the previous insanity. Relegate them to an island without art? Maybe Elizabeth Thomas can curate their "work" there as well.