It wasn’t all that long ago that Richard Prince was an artist respected by curators and a few collectors who was largely overlooked by the art market. (He was best known for his 1983 Spiritual America, an unauthorized “re-photograph” of an nude, underage Brooke Shields.) A serious mid-career show at the Whitney in 1992 was Read More
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
“It’s the best game you can play in the world,” said Jonathan Meese, the sculptor whose show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami was one of the hits of the huge Art Basel Miami Beach week. Mr. Meese, talking to me about art, added, “I believe in the total power of art, and Read More
I keep an eye on the Impressionist and Modern art auctions because they’re thought to be an early indicator of the contemporary art sales that follow. But talking to Impressionist and Modern art experts about my penchant for contemporary artists like Maurizio Cattelan or Urs Fischer always leaves me feeling like an insecure fashionista. They’re 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
Dan Colen’s new show at Gagosian on West 24th Street is, by far and without reservation, the hottest spectacle of the fall season–not because of the show, but because of the intense debate it has created. It is not an exaggeration to say that the exhibition has been the topic, for good or ill, of Read More
Truth be told, I’ve been a Marc Newson fan for years. He holds a special place in the world of design: He’s famous, good-looking, represented by the biggest art gallery in the world (Gagosian) and an international jet-setting celebrity.
This all may seem rather clichéd, until one considers that industrial design has never had a Read More
