Core values stand the test of the pandemic at the Sean Kelly Gallery with Senior Partner, Cecile Panzieri

Cecile Panzieri and Sean Kelly of Sean Kelly Gallery

That the pandemic has shifted how art is bought and sold is evident in the 255% rise in online-only auction sales between January and August, to nearly US$597 million from US$168 million in the same period last year. Of the experts surveyed, 24% expect auction sales overall will rise in the next six months, while 39% expect rising sales to continue for a year.

The ability of the major auction houses to pivot quickly to digital sales, and eventually to hybrid models involving live-streams from their global locations, buffered the initial steep losses the houses experienced in the first part of the year, ArtTactic said. Still, year-end results will likely be significantly down from 2019 levels, the report said.

In 2019, global auction sales from Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips were US$9.74 billion, down 19.8% from a year earlier.

Art Basel Miami OVR
Sean Kelly Gallery
December 2-6, 2020

Galleries and art fairs that mostly sell works in the primary market also quickly, and largely successfully, transitioned to digital programming and sales in 2020, allowing confidence in the primary market to rise from a level of 3 on ArtTactic’s indicator last May to 39 in November. Of experts the firm surveyed, 36% are optimistic about the next six months (compared to only 2% who were in May) and 29% are neutral.

BARRONS.COM/PENTA, Abby Schultz, November 20, 2020, ArtTactic Finds “V-Shaped” Recovery in Market Confidence

https://www.barrons.com/articles/arttactic-finds-v-shaped-recovery-in-market-confidence-01605909874?reflink=article_emailShare

SEAN KELLY GALLERY REMAINS TRUE TO ITSELF, IN WHATEVER FORM THE CURRENT CLIMATE DEMANDS: VIRTUAL, DIGITAL, ONLINE, OR LIVE. THEIR CORE VALUES REMAIN INTACT, THEIR COLLECTORS AND ARTISTS LOYAL AND THE GALLERY PROVIDES A SAFE PORT IN THIS PANDEMIC STORM.

TODAY, THE LRFA BLOG IS HONORED TO CONTINUE ITS CONVERSATION WITH CECILE PANZIERI, SENIOR PARTNER AT SEAN KELLY GALLERY, ON THE EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON THE GALLERY IN PARTICULAR AND ON THE ART MARKET IN GENERAL.

Frieze Viewing Room 2020

Art Basel Miami OVR
Sean Kelly Gallery

IN THIS VERY COMPETITIVE ART WORLD, IN WHICH ARTISTS ARE AS CONSCIOUS OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL STANDING AS THEY OF THEIR ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT, WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS WITH RESPECT TO REPRESENTING THE WORK?

We share and do everything we can to foster our artists’ ambitions and our ambitions for them.  We want their work to be critically recognized, publicly exhibited, and collected. We want to facilitate their creative vision.  Our ability to succeed in these areas comes from decades of experience and nurtured relationships, but this alone is not enough: the artists are integral to making our efforts successful.  Our artists  understand this.  The pandemic with all its challenges has reinforced the core values that bind us: trust, integrity,  hard work and passion for what we do.   Together we are well positioned to navigate the current stormy waters. 

TEFAF New York Fall 2019

HOW DO YOU PLACE WORKS IN BOTH PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS? ARE THE PROCESSES SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT OR DO THEY OVERLAP?  

Over the years, we have had the pleasure of getting to know collectors who were at different points in their collecting history.  We have wanted to create a gallery experience where one would feel welcome to explore, discover and talk about art, be it with Sean, me or my other colleagues.  If a museum wants to acquire a work by one of our artists, we will do our best working with the artist to facilitate an acquisition. Our collectors understand that institutions are a priority, they are generous and excited for the artists when this happens.  Over the years we have placed works in the collections of many museums worldwide.  My experience with our collectors over the years is that acquiring a work is a pursuit they love and a question of timing: “the right work at the right time”.   We value our collectors, their passion and support for the gallery’s program.  They know that when solicited they can trust and rely on our opinion.   I derive a lot of satisfaction from being part of the “matching” process and  fulfilling the quest along the way.

Zona Maco 2020

HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK ART FAIRS ARE TO BOTH THE PRESENCE OF THE GALLERY AND TO THE ARTISTS IN THE GLOBAL MARKET?  

Art fairs are important as they provide visibility to the gallery and its program, and the opportunity to meet existing and new collectors, private and institutional from all over the world in an “acquiring” or research mode.  It is instrumental to the expansion of the gallery’s activities and network.  I am a “people” person and very much enjoy attending and working at art fairs.  Operating a gallery of our size without art fairs as we just experienced these past few months has meant less income.  Virtual art fairs are not the same: they require a great deal of planning but our collectors find them both overwhelming and underwhelming, and are learning how to “visit” them, the same way we are learning how to best participate in them, and what technology can or cannot do for the remote art viewing experience.  More and more people from all over the world spend a lot of time looking at art, and more and more, purchasing art on the internet as well.  What we do not know is how profound and lasting  this trend is.  

ADAA Art Show 2020
Solo presentation by Idris Khan

WHICH ART FAIRS DOES THE GALLERY PARTICIPATE IN AND WHY?

Until the pandemic forced the cancellation of all art fairs, we participated in Art Basel, Art Basel Miami, Art Basel Hong Kong, Armory Show, ADAA , Zona Maco, Taipei Dangdai, TEFAF NY  and Frieze NY.   We felt that each fair complemented our activities at the gallery.  We have been deliberate in making sure that we do not become too dependent on them.   The core of our business is gallery driven, it is solid.  The past few months of distant/remote working have validated our prudence.

Frieze Viewing Room 2020

THE LRFA BLOG LOOKS FORWARD TO CECILE’S PERSPECTIVE ON THE CURRENT MARKET AND FUTURE PLANS OF SEAN KELLY GALLERY IN OUR NEXT POST.

PLEASE JOIN US!

Art Market Update: Bank of America Private Bank, a three phase perspective

THE ART MARKET’S RESPONSE IN THREE PHASES

The art market tends to lag the stock market and the broader economy. Pullbacks are typified by a misalignment of buyer-seller expectations. We’ve had three major art market pullbacks in the last 30 years: the 2008–09 financial crisis, the 2001 bursting of the tech bubble (compounded by the 9/11 terrorist attacks) and the 1990–91 global recession. The two most recent pullbacks had V-shaped recoveries, while the 1990 collapse took nearly a decade to bounce back, partly due to higher interest rates. We expect the post-COVID-19 art market to avoid a steep collapse and forge a three-phased path ahead: The Bridge, The Adjustment and The Recovery.

The Bridge Phase (now through Fall). As the medical crisis wanes, local economies reopen and the world begins to spin again, we expect the art market will likely be supply-constrained until there is more economic clarity. But don’t expect deep discounts in Phase I. During the last crisis, the total value of art sold fell 40% from 2008 to 2009.* This was driven by sellers refusing to accept lower prices from bargain-hunting buyers, not price depreciation. Expect a similar phenomenon through the summer as consignors sit on the sideline awaiting economic clarity, and auction houses, art fairs and galleries shift to digital sales channels to salvage some revenue. Perhaps counterintuitively, the few works that do come to market will likely be met with surprisingly stable demand as stimulative monetary policy and a bored, quarantined collector base continues to buy. While the summer auctions will likely have thinner offerings, previously negotiated guarantees and stable demand should keep price levels stable.

The Adjustment Phase (Fall through Spring 2021). Beginning this autumn, the number of works coming to market are expected to spike sharply and outpace demand in some segments, pushing prices lower. Cash-strapped galleries in need of liquidity, distressed sellers impacted by market volatility and consignors who’ve psychologically accepted lower prices will hit the public and private market. Demand—a function of collector sentiment—will ultimately be determined by the medical reality, stock market levels and buyers’ liquidity. But we expect prices to recalibrate slightly downward during this period. Prices on the few masterpieces that trade should remain stable, but hyper-contemporary and middle market works will likely see downward pressure. Phase II is the time for bargain-hunting.

The Recovery Phase (2021 and beyond). The art market’s deflationary period should end as capital markets strengthen, the corporate profit cycle normalizes and economic sentiment rebounds. During this period, economies will begin paying for their monetary and fiscal responses to COVID-19 through inflation. This should again drive capital into art (the Fed can’t print Picassos). Primary market contemporary artists—particularly young figurative pre-crisis market darlings—will lag more established artists. Middle market galleries and museum acquisition programs will likely take years to recover, and some will close. Well-capitalized mega-galleries should emerge stronger and the art fair calendar will likely shrink. We expect virtual sales rooms, online auctions and digital channels to boom, but ultimately the art market could return to its social, tactile roots in Phase III (vaccine willing).

 

THREE BIG ART MARKET TRENDS

1. Art ecosystem adapts. The art market’s infrastructure is in the midst of an extreme retrenchment. Galleries, auction houses and museums have cut or furloughed staff and are pondering how to function in this new environment. Expect a wave of consolidation and closures—the galleries we’ve spoken to say revenue is off by 80%. The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) estimates that 30% of museums will not have the resources to reopen, and galleries tell us that business will be down 70% this year. We expect the most rapid, potent innovation cycle we’ve ever witnessed in the art market’s history. This means a more accessible, impersonal, transparent, slightly dreary, virtual art world in the near term.
2. Auction house strategy. Last year three auction houses sold themselves—Hindman, Bonhams and Sotheby’s. A battle for market share has eroded industry margins, and the age of social distancing has accelerated their move into new product areas and digital sales channels. Expect the live digital-hybrid auction model to be used for its major sales for the foreseeable future. You’ll also see a proliferation of eBay-style multiday auctions with the option to offer a buy-it-now price and significantly more lots sold via private treaty sale than under hammer. Expect creative alliances among auction houses (for example, Guardian and Christie’s in China) and with the private market (Sotheby’s Gallery Network). Finally, look for the houses to make strategic bets in fashion, retail and even financial services.
3. Rise (and fall) of digital. Social distancing has expedited the art world’s transition to digital sales channels. We first saw the digital acceleration in March as Art Basel Hong Kong launched an entirely virtual fair. Expect all art fairs to have digital sales rooms. Galleries tell us that virtual sales are 25% of live fairs. The new format creates more price transparency, which drives market efficiency and accessibility. Recent online auctions and digital art fairs have proven surprisingly effective with high sales and up to 40% of auction bids coming from new bidders. You might never see an in-person day-sale auction again. While the digital dream is now real, it is wanting; as a result, we expect the art market to transition to a hybrid digital/in-person world, once we are able.

FOUR TACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR COLLECTORS

1. Consider your art as a source of liquidity. As interest rates drop and markets turn choppy, take stock of your liquidity options. More collectors hold their art on the balance sheet and use it as a strategic source of capital to redeploy into investments. And because art is not priced daily, art loans offer lower margin call risk than a typical margin loan.
2. Consignment considerations. As you think about selling art, consider the benefits and drawbacks of your current options: hybrid auction formats, private treaty sales, online-only digital sales and gallery consignment. To help manage risk for our clients, we’re building optionality into consignment agreements to provide a release valve should the medical or financial crisis intensify.
3. Planning considerations. Appraisals are expected to adjust lower, which should in turn affect planning. Certain planning techniques are more efficient when interest rates are lower. For example, the Internal Revenue Service 7520 rate is issued monthly and reflects an assumed rate of return. Since the June 2020 rate is the lowest it has ever been (0.6%) it provides an opportunity to transfer even more wealth to the next generation.
4. Gifting and philanthropy. Aside from selling, collectors have additional options for their art: give it to family members or donate it to charity. Lower values affect both of these options. While no one likes lower values, they do allow a senior generation to transfer more wealth to the next generation at a reduced transfer tax cost. Conversely, depressed values (and appraisals) may lower charitable income tax deductions for donations of art. However, the ability to deduct cash donations was increased to 100% of adjusted gross income as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), which dramatically increases the deduction for cash donations to art and cultural institutions.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BANK OF AMERICA’S ART SERVICES, CONTACT EVAN BEARD, NATIONAL ART SERVICES EXECUTIVE, at evan.beard@bofa.com

https://www.privatebank.bankofamerica.com/articles/art-services-market-update.html

A warm welcome to Miety Heiden, Deputy Chair and Head of Private Sales at Phillips

Miety Heiden Deputy Chair & Head of Private Sales at Phillips

TODAY, PHILLIPS IS A PREMIER DESTINATION FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS OF MODERN, POST-WAR, CONTEMPORARY, AMERICAN AND LATIN AMERICAN WORKS OF ART IN ADDITION TO WATCHES, JEWELS, PHOTOGRAPHY, WORKS ON PAPER AND EDITIONS. IN 2020, THE NEW YORK AUCTION HOUSE MOVED TO LARGER HEADQUARTERS AT 432 PARK AVENUE EXPANDING ITS FOOTPRINT IN NEW YORK AND ITS GLOBAL PRESENCE IN THE AUCTION WORLD.  FOUNDED IN LONDON IN 1796, PHILLIPS FIRST GAINED INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION FROM ITS SALE OF THE ESTATE OF QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE HELD INSIDE BUCKINGHAM PALACE. ITS FOUNDER, HARRY PHILIPS, WAS AN INNOVATIVE BUSINESSMAN, THE FIRST TO HOST EVENING RECEPTIONS BEFORE AUCTIONS, NOW AN ANTICIPATED AND STANDARD PRACTICE. THE AUCTION HOUSE HAS CHANGED HANDS SEVERAL TIMES INCLUDING ITS OWNERSHIP BY LVMH CHAIR, BERNARD ARNAULT, AND DEALERS SIMON DE PURY AND DANIELA LUXEMBOURG.

Phillips Auction

IN 2014, AT A MOMENT OF A SYSTEMIC CHANGE IN THE THREE LEADING INTERNATIONAL AUCTION HOUSES, ED DOLMAN JOINED PHILLIPS AS CEO AND BROUGHT IN AN EXCEPTIONAL TEAM CULLED FROM THE RANKS OF CHRISTIE’S AND SOTHEBY’S. MIETY HEIDEN BECAME AN INVALUABLE PRESENCE AT PHILLIPS, CONTRIBUTING HER ENORMOUS EXPERTISE IN THE PRIVATE SALES SECTOR AT AUCTION, A VERY LUCRATIVE ASPECT OF EACH AUCTION HOUSE. SHE HAD LAUNCHED S/2, THE SELLING GALLERY AT SOTHEBY’S AND WORKED ON THEIR CONTEMPORARY EVENING SALES.

https://www.phillips.com

As reported in Artnet News, March 3, 2016:

In recent years, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have increasingly focused on private sales, which are generally more lucrative, since they avoid the hefty costs of staging public auctions and publishing auction catalogues.

She contributed to business development and managed client relationships for the New York and Hong Kong contemporary art evening and day sales, as well as focusing on emerging markets and drumming up business on the West Coast. She was also a consultant to the Chinese contemporary art department, and was previously head of the modern and contemporary art department in Amsterdam.

TODAY THE LRFA BLOG IS DELIGHTED TO WELCOME MIETY HEIDEN, DEPUTY CHAIR AND HEAD OF PRIVATE SALES AT PHILIPS AUCTION HOUSE. MIETY IS BOTH A FRIEND AND A COLLEAGUE, MUCH ADMIRED BY EVERYONE WHO KNOWS HER. HER LOVE OF THE ARTS, DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE ART MARKET, SENSE OF HUMOR AND COOL COMPOSURE, MAKE HER AN INVALUABLE PROFESSIONAL ALLY AND FRIEND.

https://www.phillips.com/private-sales

MIETY, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE BLOG!

Where did you grow up and what were your educational pursuits?

I grew up in the Netherlands and I always knew that I was interested in the arts. Once I finished school I studied History of Art at the University of Amsterdam.

How did you develop an interest in art? Were your parents collectors and were you exposed to the museum and gallery world as a child?

No, my parents weren’t collectors or anything like that. When I was 17, I had a conversation with a family friend who explained the auction world to me, and that’s when I knew that this is what I wanted to do with my life.

Who were the first artists that struck a chord? How did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in the art world?

The first artists that caught my attention were the Dutch Old Masters – the likes of Rembrandt, whose works I first saw at the Rijksmuseum as a teenager.

The Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam

How did you gain a foothold in the auction world?

I first started my career as an intern at a Dutch auction house in 1992, before joining Sotheby’s Amsterdam five years later. During my time there I also worked a lot in Singapore and Indonesia. I then moved to Sotheby’s New York in 2005.

What pulled you into the private sales sector first at Sotheby’s and now at Phillips? How would you describe the responsibilities of Head of Private Sales versus those of the auction specialist?

Having worked in auctions for 15 years I wanted to explore something new – I had the idea to set up a selling exhibition program at Sotheby’s and came up with the idea to open a gallery within Sotheby’s which we did in 2011. Our first show focused on Sam Francis and was a sell-out. This set the precedent for many more solo artist selling exhibitions for artists such as Basquiat and Keith Haring. In 2019, Phillips’ private sales were up 34% from the previous year – in part because of the time and resources we’ve devoted to it, and our international exhibition program. As we explore new ways to generate business under the pressures of the market, we are focusing more on the private selling aspect of the business.

What was your career path at Sotheby’s? What were your responsibilities when you started and how did they develop over time?

I was at Sotheby’s for 18 years in total. I was head of Modern and Contemporary Art and Indonesian Art at Sotheby’s Amsterdam, and then when I moved to New York I started as head of their Afternoon Sale, before working on the Evening Sale a year later. It was after that I started the S2 program and ran the two side by side, in the same way that I work in both auction and private sales at Phillips today.

IN THE NEXT LRFA BLOG POST, MIETY WILL SHARE HER EXPERT PERSPECTIVE ON AUCTION HOUSE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES AND ON THE POSITIONING A WORK CORRECTLY TO GIVE IT ITS OPTIMUM EXPOSURE, AN ART IN AND OF ITSELF.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! KEEP READING!

Artist pension trusts, how they work, with expert Sarah Murkett, founder of Murk & Co.

THE ARTIST’S RESALE RIGHT (ARR) IS AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT THAT ENTITLES ARTISTS TO A ROYALTY PAYMENT EVERY TIME AN ORIGINAL WORK OF ART IS RESOLD BY AN AUCTION HOUSE, GALLERY OR DEALER.  IT WAS FIRST INTRODUCED INTO THE UK IN 2006. ALTHOUGH IT HAS ITS ADVANTAGES IN THEORY, IT CAN BE A BURDEN ON THE ART AND AUCTION MARKET WITH NEGATIVE EFFECTS BOTH ON THE ACCESSIBILITY OF WORKS AND ON THEIR PRICING.  OVER THE YEARS, IN THE UNITED STATES, DIFFERENT LAWMAKERS HAVE CHAMPIONED FEDERAL EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH THE RIGHT IN THE U.S. AND ARE FACED WITH THE SAME CONFLICTS.

https://itsartlaw.org/2019/07/01/its-not-that-easy-artist-resale-royalty-rights-and-the-art-act/

ANOTHER CONCEPT THAT WAS DEVELOPED AT THE TIME WAS THE ARTIST PENSION TRUST OFFERING LONG-TERM FINANCIAL SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE TO SELECT ARTISTS AROUND THE WORLD.

SARAH MURKETT, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF MURK & CO., WAS  INSTRUMENTAL IN THE TECHNICAL AND AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH MUTUALART AND THE ARTIST PENSION TRUST. IT PROVIDED HER WITH A PROFOUND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORK OF MANY ARTISTS IN THE APT COLLECTION, CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE AND A SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE OF A BUSINESS  BASED ON A DATABASE DIGITAL PLATFORM, ALL INVALUABLE WHENSHE CAME TO FORM HER OWN BUSINESS, MURK & CO.

THE LRFA BLOG IS HONORED TO SHARE HER EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE AND PROFESSIONAL HISTORY AT MUTUALART AND THE ARTIST PENSION TRUST WITH YOU TODAY.

SARAH, WELCOME BACK!

Sarah Murkett
Murk & Co installation
Work by Allan Mc Collum

TELL US ABOUT YOUR TIME AT MUTUAL ART. HOW IS THE COMPANY STRUCTURED AND WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF SERVICES IT PROVIDES? IT SEEMS TO OFFER A RATHER COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE ART MARKET, AUCTION RESULTS AND APPRAISAL SERVICES AND ALSO TO REPRESENT THE SALE OF ARTWORKS FROM A BROAD RANGE OF PERIODS.

I was introduced to MutualArt through my friend Candice Madey of Stellar Projects whose ex, Ayal Brenner, was the CEO of the company.  MutualArt was looking for someone who could source secondary market material to offer to their global network of collectors.  The company was started by tech entrepreneur Moti Shniberg, who had also founded the Artist Pension Trust (APT), whose mission was to support artists through collectivized pooling of art, invested by the artists themselves into a Trust, for eventual sale, the proceeds of which were to be distributed back to the artist members.  At heart, the impetus for MutualArt was to build a base of collectors to potentially sell artworks from APT, which they boasted as being the largest collection of contemporary art in the world.  The way they devised to do this was to build a website that aggregated information about artists, including upcoming exhibitions, current news and most notably auction results. 

MutualArt article
Art Pension Trust Makes First Distribution

As with many tech companies, it was the interests of the collectors (the data), derived through the artists they followed and their behavior of the site, that was the ultimate value proposition.  They brought me on as the Director of Sales for both companies, and I was charged with building sales platforms for both MutualArt and APT, including trying to identify and optimize synergies between them.

I leveraged my network and partnered with collectors and dealers to offer individual works and larger curated sales on and off the MutualArt website.  I helped to develop original content and edited a weekly MutualArt newsletter, which would often feature APT artists. I familiarized myself with the works in the APT collection and initiated sales for the company, which ultimately lead to the first payouts to member artists.  Unfortunately, there were 5 different CEOs in the 4-years that I was there and the infrastructure and vision for the two companies never came together.

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR JOB AT MUTUALART. WHAT WERE THE AREAS IN WHICH YOU CONCENTRATED AND IN WHAT WAYS DID THIS INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND FAMILIARITY WITH THE CONTEMPORARY ART MARKET?

My favorite project that I worked on while at MutualArt was the online selling exhibition that I put together in 2014 of video art from the APT collection called, “We’ve All Got Issues”.  There was a concurrent brick and mortar manifestation at the NEWD Art Show, a short-lived artist focused fair in Bushwick, which was organized by Kate Bryan and Kibum Kim, who invited us to participate.

Sarah Murkett
We’ve All Got Issues
Video Art from the APT Collection

The inspiration for the show was the APT collection itself.  There was a lot of video in the collection and while most artwork does not readily lend itself to a screen, I thought that video by APT artists and the MutualArt selling platform, which lived on a screen, made for a natural pairing.  I spent a Xmas holiday watching every video in the collection and from that, “We’ve All Got Issues” was born featuring work by artists such as Brian Alfred, Kevin Cooley, Keren Cytter, Rico Gaston, Kate Gilmore, Annika Larsen, Kalup Linzy, David Shrigley and Mark Titchner.

Needless to say, the show was not a commercial success.  What it taught me is that no matter how broad the platform for promotion, an exhibition in and of itself is not enough of a machine to create a market for work for which there is not much of a market to begin with.  This is the hard work that the galleries that represent these genre pushing artists do every day.

HOW DID THE ARTIST PENSION TRUST WORK AND HOW WERE THE ARTISTS SELECTED?

The Artist Pension Trust story is actually quite tragic.  It was a noble undertaking started in 2004 to provide financial security for artists into their old age.  It was to be a kind of retirement plan for artists, into which the only asset that member artists needed to invest was their art. Every artist was to contribute 20 artworks over 20 years and the number of shares they had in any distributions was determined by the number of artworks they had “deposited” in the Trust.  If selected well, some of the art was bound to go up in value over a minimum 10-year hold period.  The model said that only 5% of the artists needed to do well in order for everyone to benefit in the long run.

Kalup Linzy
NEWD art fair installation
Mutual Art exhibition

I still think it is a great idea, and that this version was just poorly managed, but poorly managed it was.  Here is a link to a story outlining the saga:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/mar/17/art-pension-trust-investment-legal-action-artists

After closing a big round of financing, with new investors who wanted to see profits, management decided that a selection of the best works from the collection should be sold at auction.  It was my opinion that the artworks in the collection had not really established a demand in the market such that they would do well at auction.  Additionally, I did not think that APT’s artist members, or their galleries, would be supportive of the initiative.  I believe that I lost my job over this opinion.  The great news was that the sale in New York had a very high sell-through rate, but most of the work sold at the low estimates, which was well below the artist’s retail prices.  This bore itself out, much as I had predicted with artists and their dealers up in arms, so much so that APT pulled out of the follow-up sale in London.

SARAH, THANK YOU.  SARAH IS A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE IN SO MANY ASPECTS OF THE BUSINESS OF ART. WE LOOK FORWARD TO A CONTINUED DIALOGUE ON THE STEPS THAT LED UP TO STARTING HER OWN COMPANY/

AND THANK YOU TO THE MANY LRFA BLOG FOLLOWERS FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND SUPPORT.

The importance of the new technology in the art market as analyzed in the Bank of America Private Bank survey

THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION HAS DRASTICALLY AFFECTED MANY INDUSTRIES, CHANGING THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE, ACQUIRE AND SELL PRODUCT. ONE OF THE INDUSTRIES THAT HAS, SURPRISINGLY, BEEN IMPACTED LESS THAN ONE WOULD THINK, GIVEN ITS BASICALLY VISUAl NATURE, IS THE ART MARKET AS SEEN IN THE RECENT PIERCINGLY INFORMATIVE AND COMPREHENSIVE BANK OF AMERICA PRIVATE BANK REPORT.

• ART AND TECHNOLOGY
• The art market remains one of the few industries still largely undisrupted by technology. We’re seeing innovation, but it’s still at the fringes. While online transactions are increasing, the growth of online sales has slowed, growing at 9.8% in 2018 versus 12% in 2017.

• Internet-native art companies are trying to help. In June, private equity firm Cove Hill made an investment in online marketplace LiveAuctioneers, aiming to accelerate online sales growth for their auction house partners, while Invaluable has made it easier to source and buy lower value items. Major galleries like Gagosian and David Zwirner launched digital sales channels, but the digital revolution still eludes the art world.
• On the transparency front, Christie’s became the first major auction house to record sales via Blockchain with the sale of the Ebsworth collection in November. At the request of the seller, Christie’s partnered with Blockchain-secured registry Artory to record its transactions. It’s an interesting development, but we’re a long way from Blockchain becoming industry standard.
• The most significant art world technology has been the rise of Instagram. Artists market themselves, museums announce exhibits, dealers initiate sales, and collectors tout their purchases through the platform. In 2017, when the “Untitled” Basquiat sold at Sotheby’s for over $110 million, Yusaku Maezawa posted his photo on Instagram to let the world know of his acquisition. Younger collectors, artists, dealers and auction specialists are increasingly using Instagram to enhance their personal and professional brands. Expect the new status loop to fuel a herd mentality for some artists and more price volatility. So collector beware.

 

• AS AN ASIDE, ARTISTS ARE CREATING WORKS THAT REPRODUCE EFFECTIVELY ON INSTAGRAM IN TERMS OF COLOR, DIMENSIONALITY AND SURFACE WITH THEIR AESTHETIC PRESENCE IN PERSON SOMETIMES TAKING A BACK SEAT.

 

• ART LENDING

  Our art lending business grew by 20% year-over-year, as you all continue to unlock capital from your art to build hotels, buy sports franchises, expand companies and even buy more art, just to name a few. The four most common situations we’re seeing are:

  1. The balance sheet arbitrage: With historically low interest rates, more of you are unlocking capital from your art to redeploy into higher-return areas of your financial life, like private equity.

  2. Working capital line: During the current economic expansion, more of you are using art loans to fund the growth of your privately held companies.

  3. Monetizing a collection: The passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the 1031 Like-Kind Exchange, making it more expensive to sell art. Instead of selling art and dealing with paying the 28% federal tax + 3% health care surtax + state taxes + sales commission, many of you have chosen to leverage your art via an art line to generate liquidity.

  4. Guarantees: We’re seeing more of you using art facilities to back guarantees at auction (but we advise caution).

  We estimate that total U.S. art loan commitments stand at $16 billion. We’re proud to have a significant portion of those loans, and we remain staunchly committed to the space. Given our forecast of continued low interest rates, stratified wealth creation, and expansion of the collector base, we expect continued growth in the space.

  Top five artists we lend against, by value:

  1. Willem de Kooning

  2. Andy Warhol
  3. Constantin Brancusi

  4. Paul Cezanne

  5. Roy Lichtenstein

  AT THE CLOSE OF THE SURVEY, BANK OF AMERICA PRIVATE BANK TARGETS THE OPPORTUNITY ZONES AND THE EFFECT OF CAPITAL GAINS TAX INCREASES AND THE REPEAL OF THE SECTION 1031 LIKE-KIND EXCHANGES PROVISION. THIS IS INVALUABLE INFORMATION FOR ANY ONE INTERESTED IN THE ART MARKET: DEALERS, GALLERISTS, AUCTION SPECIALISTS, AND MOST OF ALL COLLECTORS.

  PLEASE JOIN US!

   

A comprehensive report on the current art market from the Art Lending Services division at U.S. Trust

U.S. TRUST, AS DO MANY OF THE MOST HIGHLY REGARDED BANKING AND FINANCIAL ADVISORY INSTITUTIONS, OFFERS EXTENSIVE ART SERVICES. AS ART IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE AN ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT, AND NOT SIMPLY AN AESTHETIC PLEASURE, BANKING HAS ENTERED VERY FORCEFULLY IN THE COMPETITION TO PROVIDE ART LENDING SERVICES TO HELP BOTH COLLECTORS AND INSTITUTIONS HELP NAVIGATE THE COMPLEX ART WORLD.

RECENTLY U.S. TRUST, THE PRIVATE BANKING ARM OF BANK OF AMERICA,  PUBLISHED AN EXTREMELY COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS ON THE STATE OF THE CURRENT ART MARKET. IN A TIME OF TURMOIL AND CHANGE, GENERAL REEVALUATION AND A GLOBAL SHIFT IN THE ART MARKET, IT IS PARTICULARLY RELEVANT AND THE LRFA BLOG IS PLEASED TO SHARE IT WITH YOU. WE ARE DELIGHTED, AS WELL, TO REPORT THAT DANA PRUSSIAN, VICE PRESIDENT AT U.S. TRUST ART LENDING SERVICES, WILL BE CONTRIBUTING TO THE LRFA BLOG IN THE MONTHS AHEAD.

PART ONE

“We feel that you should not buy art purely as an investment. Buy it for love, desire, legacy, culture, pleasure, addiction,

status, and community.”

Art Services Market Update

At Bank of America Private Bank, we maintain a sharp focus on the art market and on the collectors, dealers, auctions specialists and institutions that make it function. We work closely with many of you across four pillars: art lending, art planning, consignment services and institutional arts endowment management. This update features our observations on the current state of the art market from a business perspective.

The Market

• Current low interest rates, solid equity markets and more stratified wealth creation worldwide continues to drive capital toward art. The maturation and globalization of the art market has expanded the collector base and transformed the art market from a niche lifestyle into a $60 billion global industry.1 Still, overall art market growth in terms of total art sales has stalled since 2012, even as the S&P 500has currently more than doubled since that time.
• If the Federal Reserve (Fed) continues its dovish policy, we expect collectors’ continued allocation of capital to art. When interest rates fall, the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing assets like art goes down. The art market is driven by sentiment, so the greatest risk we see is a geopolitical event that impedes the global flow of capital and credit prompting collectors to pause.

• We anticipate that financial returns for contemporary art will be lower in the next decade than some may expect. The market has absorbed a lot of art since the turn of the century. An exceedingly large percentage of those works may be worth close to zero in a generation or so. And because we’re in a more mature and efficient art market, there may be fewer upside surprises than in decades past. We feel that you should not buy art purely as an investment. Buy it for your passion, enjoyment, legacy, culture, status or community.

The Auctions

• During the New York Spring Auctions, the market absorbed over $2 billion of art at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips, handily above the $1.6 billion pre-sale estimate. It was the first auction season defined by large estates of postwar
and contemporary art. Eye-catching results such as the $91 million Koons “Rabbit”, the $110 million Monet “Haystack” and the rapidly growing market for KAWS belie a more modest 5.1% annualized return2 achieved for repeat sales during the season. Given the recent performance of London auctions and the lack of clarity around a Brexit deal, New York will continue to be the premiere sale site for high-end postwar and contemporary art for the foreseeable future. Fresh-to- market works, typical of the artist’s oeuvre, in good condition, with strong provenance, continue to perform strongest at auction. Works by female and black artists also continue their rise.

• You likely saw that in June, Sotheby’s accepted a $3.7 billion buyout offer from French media entrepreneur Patrick Drahi. Interestingly, Bonhams was also bought out earlier this year. Going private will allow Sotheby’s more flexibility to compete for top lots, which will benefit major collectors, and will provide time and space to evolve its business model, which, like Christie’s, is challenged. Competition for top pictures has become a race-to-the-bottom: China isn’t the growth engine everyone hoped it would be, and online sales have yet to deliver meaningful scale or margin expansion. With business margins at around 10% for the industry, auction houses are officially on the hunt for new revenue streams.

• Look for the auction houses to continue to expand into art advisory, financial services, brand licensing and even investment research as they look beyond their supply-constrained auction business. As a collector, you may see better terms when consigning top works at auction, but expect higher commissions for lower- value works. Buyer premiums will continue to expand at all levels. Finally, get ready for more convenience. Virtual reality will change how you view upcoming sales, and artificial intelligence will soon be sending you an endless array of Netflix-style lot recommendations across all categories based on what you’ve perused across the internet.

Sotheby’s now and ahead with Senior VP and Contemporary Specialist, Courtney Kremers

Sotheby’s New York

In 2015, Tad Smith was appointed to head Sotheby’s. Prior to that, Mr. Smith had spent a year as chief executive of the Madison Square Garden Company, which, among other businesses, owns the New York Knicks basketball team, the New York Rangers hockey team and Radio City Music Hall. Before that, he spent five years at Cablevision Systems, which like MSG is controlled by the family of Charles Dolan.

In an interview, Mr. Smith said he could not add to the expertise of Sotheby’s art experts, but he could act as a business catalyst. “The market for art is very large, it is global and there is an immense amount of new wealth being created every year,” he said. Sotheby’s said it was also splitting the jobs of chief executive and chairman of the board, both of which had been held by Mr. Ruprecht. Domenico De Sole, former chief executive of the Gucci Group and chairman of the luxury retailer Tom Ford International, who is currently Sotheby’s lead independent director, became its new chairman.

Tad Smith
President and CEO
Sotheby’s

In January 2016, Schwartzman and Cappellazzo joined Sotheby’s as Chairmen and Co-Heads of its newly formed Fine Art Division and the traditional structure of the auction house radically changed in an effort to adapt to an industry in flux.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2019/by-women-for-tomorrows-women-n10041.html

A recent auction was just one way in which Sotheby’s reflects and responds to the social and political issues of our times: an art exhibit and auction hosted by Sotheby’s and Miss Porter’s School called “By Women, for Tomorrow’s Women.” The event was the first all-women-artist benefit held at a major auction house.

Carmen Herrera
Sotheby’s By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women auction

Sotheby’s has taken a major leap into the 21st Century with its acquisition of Thread Genius, an AI-based recommendation platform, and Viyet, a high-end furniture design consignment platform focused on an emerging generation of antique and high-end interior design enthusiasts, just two of its recent corporate acquisitions since Mr. Smith took charge.

Viyet at Sotheby’s

TODAY, THE LRFA BLOG IS DELIGHTED TO CONTINUE ITS CONVERSATION WITH COURTNEY KREMERS, SENIOR VP AND CONTEMPORY ART SPECIALIST AT SOTHEBY’S.

COURTNEY, WELCOME BACK.

IN 2015, TAD SMITH WAS APPOINTED PRESIDENT AND CEO OF SOTHEBY’S. SOTHEBY’S HAS BEEN RESTRUCTURED AND TRANSFORMED, ACQUIRING SEVERAL BUSINESSES THAT EXPAND OUR IDEA OF THE ROLE OF AN AUCTION HOUSE.  HOW HAS SOTHEBY’S GROWN AND CHANGED SINCE HIS APPOINTMENT?

We have changed a lot in the last few years, and that change has been exciting. We are adapting to a more global market and one that increasingly operates on digital platforms and outside the traditional auction seasons. Our business has become a 360 degree endeavor – and we are investing as much in new collectors, across all categories, as we are in those bidding in the blockbuster evening sales.  

Sotheby’s BIDnow
Live Online Bidding

SOTHEBY’S IS, UNLIKE CHRISTIE’S OR PHILLIPS, A PUBLICLY HELD COMPANY. HOW DOES THAT AFFECT ITS BUSINESS DECISIONS AND POLICIES?

As a public company, Sotheby’s has to maintain the highest standards of transparency and accountability. In a business that has a reputation for not always being those things, this distinction sets us apart. Trust is an advantage. 

Sotheby’s London

WITH A SOFTENING ART MARKET, POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY, A HIGHLY VOLATILE STOCK MARKET AND A SLOWDOWN OF GLOBAL GROWTH IN GENERAL, HOW IS THE ART MARKET AFFECTED BOTH SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM?

The art market isn’t immune to the global financial markets and political turmoil. But it is remarkably more resilient and less volatile than it was 12 years ago; it is a much more global market. I was in London in June 2017, when we held our Contemporary Sales only a few days after the Brexit vote. We had no idea what would happen, but we didn’t think it would be good. Contrary to expectations, any slack in UK bidding was far outweighed by the enthusiastic paddle raising from US and Asian collectors saw an opportunity because of currency fluctuations. The auctions were likely stronger than they would have been with no-Brexit. 

Sotheby’s Hong Kong

WHAT ARE YOUR IMMEDIATE PLANS AND FUTURE PROFESSIONAL AMBITIONS?

If I am doing exactly what I am doing now, in 20 years, I would consider myself lucky. I love my job, the artworks, the collectors I work with, and the team of people I work with. If it sounds unambitious to hope for more of the same, then so be it. 

IT DOESN’T SOUND UNAMBITIOUS AT ALL- BUT THE LRFA BLOG IS CERTAIN THAT IN MUCH LESS THAN 20 YEARS, YOU WILL HAVE RISEN HIGH IN THE RANKS AT SOTHEBY’S OR ANY OTHER ENDEAVOR YOU PURSUE. COURTNEY, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INSIGHTFUL CONTRIBUTION.

Sotheby’s Paris

IN OUR NEXT LRFA BLOG POST, WE WELCOME TIMOTHY MACDONALD, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF TIMOTHY MACDONALD INCORPORATED, A NEW YORK BASED INTERIOR DESIGN FIRM. TIM HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COLLEAGUE, FRIEND AND SOURCE OF CLIENT REFERRAL AND WE WILL LEARN ABOUT THE MANY PROJECTS HE HAS OVERSEEN, BOTH HERE AND ABROAD AND HIS LOVE OF ART AND DESIGN.

PLEASE JOIN US!

Collecting advice from an expert: Sotheby’s contemporary auction specialist Courtney Kremers

Courtney Kremers
Sotheby’s

AUCTIONS ARE BIG BUSINESS WITH EVER INCREASING INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD. THANKS TO THE GLOBALIZATION OF THE ART MARKET AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF ART BOOSTED BY INSTAGRAM IN PARTICULAR AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN GENERAL, AND BY THE HEADLINE MAKING SUMS THAT ARE BEING REALIZED, EVERYONE FINDS THIS AN INTRIGUING SUBJECT TO FOLLOW WHETHER THEY ARE COLLECTORS OR NOT. THE COMPETITION BETWEEN HOUSES IS FIERCE AND THIS WEEK, IN NEW YORK, PRESENTS MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO PROVE THESE POINTS.

Claude Monet
Meules
Sotheby’s May 2019

ON TUESDAY OF THIS WEEK, SOTHEBY’S TRIUMPHED, OPENING THE NEW YORK AUCTION WEEK, WITH THEIR IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN SALE. ARTnews DESCRIBES IT AS SUCH:

Powered by a stunning Claude Monet landscape that doubled its estimate and elicited hearty applause in the grand salesroom, Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern evening sale in New York on Tuesday galloped to a market-affirming $349.9 million tally.

Only five of the 55 lots offered failed to sell, yielding a svelte buy-in rate by lot of 9.1 percent.

The buoyant result surged past pre-sale expectations of $252.6 million to $333.2 million. Those estimates do not include the buyer’s premium. (The hammer tally for the evening, before fees, was $300.5 million.)

The total also shot past last May’s $318.3 million result for the 32 lots that sold. The top lot at that sale was Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (sur le côté gauche), 1917, which fetched $157.2 million, making it the most expensive work ever to sell at Sotheby’s.

Tuesday’s auction ranks as the highest-earning Impression-modern evening sale at Sotheby’s since one in May 2015 that took in $368 million.

http://www.artnews.com/2019/05/15/sothebys-imp-mod-monet-meules-record/

Hans Hofmann

BEFORE WORKS CAN REACH THE DAZZLING HEIGHTS OF THE AUCTION WORLD, THEY MUST FIRST BE ACQUIRED BY PRIVATE COLLECTORS AND THAT TAKES CAREFUL DELIBERATION, INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE AS WELL AS THE GOOD FORTUNE OF A GREAT EYE AND/OR A GREAT ADVISOR.

TODAY, THE LRFA BLOG IS DELIGHTED TO HAVE SOTHEBY’S SPECIALIST, SENIOR VP, COURTNEY KREMERS, TO SHARE HER ASTUTE INSIGHTS ON THE ART OF COLLECTING.

COURTNEY, WELCOME BACK! THE LRFA BLOG IS VERY HAPPY TO HAVE YOU HERE.

SOME COLLECTORS, SUCH AS THE MUGRABIS,  FOCUS ON A HANDFUL OF ARTISTS, BUYING NUMEROUS EXAMPLES OF WORK FROM ALL PERIODS OF THE ARTIST’S CAREER, THUS CONTROLLING TO SOME EXTENT THE MARKET FOR THE WORK?

WHAT IN YOUR OPINION ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND THE DISADVANTAGES?

There is a big difference between trying to control an artist’s market, by acquiring a significant number of works, and collecting an artist in depth. The pros/cons of this strategy are no different than having undiversified risk in any other asset class. It is high risk, high reward.

Lucio Fontana

WHEN YOU ARE WORKING WITH A RELATIVELY NEW AND UNSEASONED COLLECTOR, WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE THAT YOU CAN GIVE THEM?

Collecting involves a careful balance of restraint and gut. At the beginning, the formula should be weighted toward restraint and research, but as you develop a real eye, gut becomes a crucial part of the equation.

HOW DO YOU EDUCATE THE POTENTIAL COLLECTOR IN THE ART OF COLLECTING? WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES DO YOU GIVE THEM?

It isn’t only about buying what you love. For an unseasoned collector, that advice can be a recipe for disaster, or at the very least, for overpaying. The word, “love”, is also confusing to collectors, because what does that mean when it comes to art? Your relationship with an object can grow from something that first would be described as discomfort, because it gets under your skin, stays with you, challenges something you thought you knew. In other words, the reaction to a great object doesn’t always start out as positive experience in a traditional sense, but it can evolve into that. Aside from the gut reaction you feel, which is what makes collecting so emotionally rewarding, you should always ask questions and understand what you are buying, how the work fits into the artist’s overall body of work, what the condition is, which galleries support the artist, which museums have shown the artist, etc. The list of questions is long and you should consider the answers to each one.

Sam Francis

YOU WORKED FOR KIM HIERSTON, WHOM I LIKE AND ADMIRE, IN HER ART ADVISORY FIRM.  WHAT WERE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?

Tons of research, among other things. Kim is extremely thorough and disciplined about every artwork she puts forward for a collector’s consideration. It was an information gathering operation first, art advisory second; you can’t advise unless you have all the facts. We spent a lot of time reviewing the artworks on offer through galleries, at art fairs, and in the auctions, and then thinking about how those works might fit into a particular client’s collection, and if so, what the right price was. Once an acquisition was made, we handled all the back end logistics that come with building an art collection – insurance, shipping, framing, conservation. It was a soup to nuts job.

George Condo

WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS YOU LEARNED WHEN WORKING AS AN ADVISOR?  YOU MUST INTERACT WITH A GREAT MANY ADVISORS NOW, AS A SPECIALIST AT SOTHEBY’S. WHAT CHARACTERIZES THE BEST AND THE WORST OF THEM?

There are advisors who do their own research and who spend a considerable amount of time looking at art and understanding the objects, and then there are advisors who just repeat what they hear elsewhere. The parrots are just that, parrots.

NB- THE WORKS ILLUSTRATED IN THIS BLOG (EXCEPT THE MONET) ARE FORTHCOMING LOTS IN THE SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY DAY SALE, ON FRIDAY, MAY 17th.

IN OUR NEXT LRFA BLOG, COURTNEY WILL SPEAK ABOUT LIFE AT SOTHEBY’S IN THIS AGE OF COLLECTING. WE CAN’T WAIT!

Face to face with Julia Wehkamp, co-founder of One Art Nation: seminars, symposia, lectures

One Art Nation
Co-founders Julia Wehkamp and Amanda Dunn

AS COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZED AS THE ART MARKET ITSELF, THE DEMAND FOR INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE EDUCATIONAL LECTURES ON ART AND ART MANAGEMENT AND SEMINARS FEATURING KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, LUMINARIES IN THE WORLD OF ART, HAS GROWN IN RESPONSE TO THE EVER INCREASING NUMBER OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WHO VISIT ART FAIRS, MUSEUMS, AND GALLERIES AS WELL AS  THOSE WHO ACTUALLY PURCHASE WORKS.

ONE ART NATION OFFERS OFFLINE SYMPOSIA TO BRING TOGETHER LEADING ADVISORS, DEALERS, CRITICS AND ARTISTS TO SPEAK, IN NEW YORK, TORONTO, SOUTHAMPTON, AND OTHER VENUES, AND INITIATES PANEL DISCUSSIONS WITH  EXPERTS FROM THE CREATIVE FIELDS AS WELL AS FROM THE BUSINESS SIDE OF THE ART WORLD.

Guerrilla Girls

JULIA, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SYMPOSIUM IN TERMS OF ITS TOPICS AND ITS SPEAKERS?

Yes, we have had the pleasure of working with various art fairs, heading up their educational programing. All our talks have been recorded and produced as online content, for those who were not able to make it on site to the fairs. These can be found here. The One Art Nation Symposia have allowed us to work with some incredible experts and opinion leaders. Some highlights include a talk at CONTEXT / Art New York, where we featured a panel, led by pre-eminent art lawyer Barbara Hoffman with an original member of The Guerrilla Girls, Rosalba Carriera, legendary photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron, and artist and filmmaker Jack Waters, as they discussed New York’s electrifying cultural scene, the artists that left their mark, and the vibrant scene today, which is the legacy: When Creativity Ruled the Streets. The same Symposium presented When Art Meets Rock n’ Roll, a discussion between celebrated photographer Bob Gruen ​and rock and roll icon Jason Newsted of Metallica, who was making his artistic debut. 

Barbara Hoffman
Hoffman Law Firm

THE SITE ALSO ACTS AS A GUIDE TO UPCOMING ART FAIRS, MUSEUM SHOWS AND GALLERY EXHIBITIONS. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FAIRS AND EXHIBITIONS YOU PUBLICIZE AND HOW HAS THIS SELECTION – AN ENORMOUS UNDERTAKING – BEEN MADE?

Yes, we feature talked-about events in an easy to navigate calendar  with specific search functionality, ensuring art lovers never miss an important art fair, exhibition or event. We invite our Network Members to submit events, which are then vetted for relevance. Those that our selection committee deems to be significant for our overall global membership are published live within 24 hours. We also feature events that 1AN is involved with or attending, supporting the community as a whole. Every month, we select four of those events to feature in our eNewsletter.

Demystifying the Art World panel

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHICH TOPICS ARE THE MOST RELEVANT AND WHAT TO HIGHLIGHT TO YOUR READERSHIP FROM THE VAST POOL OF INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO US IN EVERY FORM?

We curate our content very carefully to the needs of our membership. We do so, by sending out monthly polls to gather information on what type of education they are seeking, what is currently missing, where their interests lie, what their art market goals are, etc. By analyzing the results, as well as more targeted surveys, general market research and face-to-face conversations about the learning needs of our audiences, we design an ever-evolving selection of content, which we then match up with opinion leaders in those given fields to deliver education based on their experiences and expertise.

Evan Beard
U.S. Trust
National Art Services

YOUR NETWORK INCLUDES TOP PROFESSIONALS GLEANED FROM A VERY WIDE RANGE OF EXPERTISE: LEGAL, COLLECTION MANAGEMENT, INSURANCE, APPRAISALS, WEALTH AND FINANCE. WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MOST RESPECTED CONTRIBUTORS AND HOW DOES THE SELECTION PROCESS WORK?

As mentioned above, we start by determining what our audience wants and needs to learn about. From there, we research the most knowledgeable sources to deliver that education. These sources are targeted, regardless of their geographic location, and invited to contribute to our growing program of courses under various models of collaboration. We are very selective of whom we invite to contribute, but some of our most popular videos are led by Annelien Bruins, whom Spears Wealth Management named Best Art Advisor multiple years in a row; Evan Beard, the Global Art Services Executive with U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management; and Gracie Mansion, legendary New York art dealer. 

Gracie Mansion
Art dealer

IN OUR NEXT LRFA BLOG POST, CO-FOUNDER JULIA WEHKAMP WILL INFORM US OF THEIR MEMBERSHIP PROFILE AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS EXCEPTIONAL ART EDUCATION SITE.  PLEASE JOIN US!

Educating the art advisor, with co-founder of One Art Nation, the art education go-to site, Julia Wehkemp

Art Advisory 101
One Art Nation

IN TODAY’S OVERHEATED YET UNPREDICTABLE ART MARKET, WITH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF ARTWORK CHANGING HANDS ANNUALLY, SOME COLLECTORS LOOK TO THE EXPERTISE OF ART ADVISORY SERVICES FOR GUIDANCE ON HOW TO COLLECT WITH CONFIDENCE AND LONG-TERM VALUE.  THE BEST ADVISORS START WITH AN INITIAL DIALOGUE WITH THE CLIENT TO ESTABLISH THEIR GOALS AND AESTHETIC DIRECTION, INVESTING TIME IN VISITING GALLERIES, PREVIEWING AUCTIONS AND TRAVELING TO ART FAIRS BEFORE ANY PURCHASES ARE MADE. WHEN THE SELECTION PROCESS BEGINS, THE HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, INVESTMENT VALUE, CONDITION AND PROVENANCE OF THE WORK ARE BUT A FEW OF THE ISSUES THAT A PROFESSIONAL CONSIDERS IN DETERMINING THE ACQUISITION OF A WORK, AND HOW HIGH TO BID AT AUCTION OR IN THE SECONDARY MARKET.

Art Advisory 101
One Art Nation

THE AUCTION HOUSES OFFER COURSES, BOTH ONLINE AND IN PERSON, IN BUILDING A COLLECTION AND THE VALUE OF ART AND INTRODUCTIONS TO CONTEMPORARY ART BUT ONE ART NATION IS UNIQUE IN ITS FOCUSED AND ACCESSIBLE PROGRAMS ON BECOMING AN ART ADVISOR AND ON THE ROLE THE ADVISOR PLAYS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ART MARKET AND COLLECTING.

TODAY, THE LRFA BLOG IS DELIGHTED TO INVITE JULIA WEHKAMP, CO-FOUNDER OF ONE ART NATION, TO EXPOUND ON THE ART ADVISORY PROGRAMS 1AN CAN OFFER BOTH THE ASPIRING AND THE EXPERIENCED ADVISOR.

https://www.oneartnation.com/

Julia Wehkamp
Co-Founder, One Art Nation

JULIA, ART ADVISORY 101 IS A VERY COMPREHENSIVE COURSE ON THE BUSINESS OF ART CONSULTING.

THE ART ADVISORY FIELD DOES NOT HAVE A STANDARD FOR BEST PRACTICE UNLESS ONE WISHES TO VOLUNTARILY APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP TO AN ORGANIZATION SUCH AS THE APAA (ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL ART ADVISORS).

WHAT ARE THE TOPICS THIS COURSE COVERS?

That’s true… No industry-wide standard exists for best practice: not for individual art advisors nor art advisory firms. Oftentimes this opacity prevents collectors from hiring an art advisor. This is unfortunate because a good art advisor provides tremendous value to their clients: educating them on art, saving them time and money, and reducing their transactional risk.

Aspiring art advisors, too, are left to their own devices when it comes to navigating the idiosyncrasies of the art market. No education exists on topics such as appropriate fee models or managing client relationships, including potential conflicts of interest. Until now…

We have created the Art Advisory 101 Program to set an industry-wide standard for the art advisory profession. The program consists of a series of informative and interactive online courses, which have been created to guide aspiring art advisors on how to navigate the art world, set up a successful art advisory business and follow best practice. The five pre-recorded modules cover:

• Art Market Fundamentals
• The Drivers of Value in Art
• Helping Your Clients Build a Meaningful Collection
• Managing and Selling Art Collections
• How to Set Up Your Own Art Advisory Business

Annelien Bruins of Tang Art Advisory

ON THE ONE ART NATION WEBSITE, ANNELIEN BRUINS, CEO AND SENIOR ART ADVISOR OF TANG ART ADVISORY, SHARES HER EXPERIENCE ON HOW TO BECOME AN ART ADVISOR. THIS IS JUST A SAMPLING OF THE SCOPE OF THE 1AN ART ADVISORY 101 PROGRAM

What does an art advisor do?
An art advisor advises emerging and experienced art collectors on all matters related to the acquisition, sale and management of their art collections. In a market as opaque as the art market, art advisors provide value by acting as their clients’ advocate. By providing market research and art expertise, art advisors save their clients money and time, and reduce their transactional risk.

How can I set myself apart as a professional, best-in-class art advisor?
It starts, of course, with your knowledge of and eye for art. You simply have to be good at what you do. But in an unregulated market like the art market, it’s possible to distinguish yourself by how you conduct your business. You set yourself apart by following best practice guidelines: transparency on remuneration, avoidance of conflict of interest and complete independence from auction houses and galleries.

How can you distinguish between a novice and an experienced art advisor?
There is of course no substitute for experience. The longer you do something, the better you become at doing it. That said, we feel that we can make it easier for emerging art advisors like yourself to enter the market and set up your business. Rather than you having to learn the ropes for yourself over the course of years, we save you that time by providing art advisory essentials in the Art Advisory 101 program.

https://www.oneartnation.com/5-questions-on-becoming-an-art-advisor/

JULIA, HOW DO YOU PLAN TO EXPAND THIS PROGRAM?

Currently, we are producing Art Advisory 201, the sequel to Art Advisory 101 program, based on popular demand by more established art advisors. We discuss best practice, legal and business considerations for art advisors and how to successfully market their services and grow their firm. We have also included two in-depth modules on acquisitions and sales – all with the idea of bringing increased professionalism and transparency to the international art world.

CRUCIAL TO ANY BUSINESS BUT PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT IN THE ART BUSINESS, WHICH HAS EXPLODED TO GLOBAL PROPORTIONS, IS THE ART OF STAYING CURRENT. ART ADVISORY 201 SHOULD PROVE AN INVALUABLE TOOL FOR EVERY ADVISOR, NO MATTER HOW EXPERIENCED.

THE LRFA BLOG LOOKS FORWARD TO LEARNING ABOUT ONE ART NATION’S PARTICIPATION IN SEMINARS AND LECTURE SERIES IN OUR NEXT POST WITH CO-FOUNDER JULIA WEHKAMP.

JULIA, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BLOG AND THE GREAT PROGRAMS YOU OFFER.

STAY TUNED!