Amy Cappellazzo and Yuki Terase, both ex-Sotheby’s rainmakers, have formed Art Intelligence Global, an art advisory that aims to keep a firm hold on the Western art market while capitalising on the seemingly endless market growth in Asia.
In the five-and a-half years Cappellazzo was with Sotheby’s she not only transformed the auction house as global head of fine art by steering the company towards the future, but also helped secure the house’s transition from a publicly traded company into private hands. Though her contract expired in January of this year, in April she told The Art Newspaper she was asked to stay on as long as she could and held her position “through the longest darkest months of Covid and get us through May and June sales.” Since her departure there has been much speculation but little hard evidence of what her next project would be, though expectations were high, and sources told The Art Newspaper an advisory was highly likely.
Terase, who began with the auction house in 2011, became head of contemporary art, Asia in 2018 and has been a key figure in the Asian market’s recent embracing (and obsessing) over Western art. “We developed AIG alongside the start of a new chapter for the art market in Asia, which has taken extraordinary strides in the past few years,” she says in a press release, “…our aim is to bring top-tier Western art and exhibitions to Asia and vice versa, with the ultimate goal of ushering the market in Asia to its full potential.”
Cappellazzo says Art Intelligence Global was built with the “ongoing disruption” of the past 18 months firmly in mind “in order to nimbly address an evolving market”, and between the two of her and Terase the advisory will have the global reach needed to achieve their goals. “Having been in dialogue with clients who have been active for more than half a century, alongside those who have just begun engaging with the market, AIG marries a traditional approach with innovation and prescience,” Cappellazzo says.
The third founding partner, also late of Sotheby’s, is Adam Chin who served as the auction houses’ chief operating officer starting in 2017 and was unceremoniously made redundant at the tail end of 2018. Both Chinn and Cappellazzo joined Sotheby’s from Art Agency, Partners which was acquired by Sotheby’s in 2016 for $85m.
Art Intelligence Global will have offices in both Hong Kong and New York City.