But, if a Christie's client wants to sell art without putting it up at auction, Haunch handles it?
Basically, on the Christie’s end, if one of the clients wants to sell things privately, rather than at auction, then we take it on.
So who gets the commission or payment–Haunch or Christie’s?
There’s so many different variations, it depends upon the person, the work.
How big an advantage is it to collectors that they can essentially buy the same work privately in different nations through Haunch?
There’s different currencies, a lot of factors in tax codes, sometimes it’s a plus or a minus. … It may offer some flexibility.
So far, Haunch in New York has largely been known more as a secondary-market gallery, not selling new art. Will that change?
Haunch of Venison in London is known as a primary gallery. … In New York, we more than sold out the show, Enrico Castellani, even though it was 2009 and things were very much financially down.
Other successes?
[We thought], ‘Wouldn’t it be a great idea to do a show of New York artists who worked in the ’80s?’ We approached David Salle and … with Richard Phillips, they put together a terrific show. I can’t tell you how many museum directors and curators came by that show; it got the conversation going. Most of the work was not for sale, but there were a couple of sales.
You open a show of video art star Eve Sussman on Sept. 16. Is it any good?
The show of Eve’s is her great film Rape of the Sabine Women, the movie and several photographs that go along with that project. [The so-called “video opera” is based on a series of neo-Classical paintings about the famous historical event.] It’s a movie that’s a painting that’s a movie.
How much is the work?
There’s a limited edition video, an edition of 10, some photographs and smaller, two-to-three-minute videos [that] are part of the project. The photos are $6,000 to $15,000, the videos are $20,000 to $30,000 and the large videos–I think there’s two left–are mid-six figures.
And Patricia Piccinini?
Patricia is showing new sculptures. Her starting point is the question of how science is changing our lives, sometimes for the good, sometimes just for change. They’re very sensual, beautiful objects. … It’s a theoretical world she’s building, but there’s a warm, humanistic feeling to it.
You’re moving to Chelsea?
We’ll open up next year … in Chelsea proper, not meatpacking. It will be 6,00
0 to 7,000 square feet.
But that’s a third of your current space.
We’re not giving up that [Rockefeller Center] space. We’re still doing private sales out of it; we may do projects. We’re not giving up the space. Because it’s around the corner at Christie’s.
In Chelsea, will it help to be physically separated from Christie’s in the eyes of the art world?
If it kicks in, and people say, ‘It’s not as related as people say it is,’ that would be a positive thing–if they say, ‘Yes, I can see they’re separate.’
