Times like these can turn art buying into something akin to stamp collecting. What do I mean by that? The unfortunate consequence of our new economic reality is conservative and often myopic collector demand. All those tired and stultifying guidelines like “paintings resell better than sculptures” or “only buy works that can fit into a Read More
The art market is rolling along with plenty of momentum, while the rest of the world still feels pretty shaky. Although I cannot fully explain this phenomenon, there are number of plausible reasons–some economic and some specific to the art world. Try them out at Christmas and New Year’s parties when the inevitable art doubters Read More
I owe a lot to Charles Saatchi. Most contemporary art collectors do. Though he’s hard to find, and almost impossible to gain access to, his influence has been felt everywhere in the art world. My visit to the “Sensation!” show at the Brooklyn Museum in 1999 was a formative experience, particularly seeing the Damien Hirst Read More
There’s a fashion in the art world these days for shows that mix the old with the new, a vogue for hanging contemporary art in Venetian palazzos or Old Masters in modern spaces like the Menil Collection in Houston or the Schaulager in Basel.
Nowhere has this practice been as visible, and as controversial, as Read More
Clichés die hard and slow, mainly because most people simplify things in order to process them. When it comes to art collecting, people love to talk up the storied collectors of old to give hope to new art buyers. Consider the oft-told tale of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a retired postal clerk and an ex-librarian Read More
Last week, the New Museum opened its new show, “Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection,” curated by mega-art-star Jeff Koons. This show has prompted a huge amount of controversy and suspicion, from The New York Times to The Village Voice, and all the blogs in between.
Some journalists feel safe sounding prudish, cautious Read More
