Gigaweek Is Upon Us
Top advisors—Anthony Grant and Suzanne Modica—share their views on this market + Advisors Art-Bureau open an exhibition in Shanghai for the city's "golden" week + What our poll predicts
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In This Issue
Art and Attitude in Shanghai: Art-Bureau’s show, Yuen-Yeung, debuts at the K11 Art Mall in Shanghai as the city gathers for a “golden week.”
Vox Orbis Artis: The majority of respondents think we’re in a lot-picker’s market
Notes: Framing the week; What to watch for tonight
For Paid Subscribers Only
Shop Talk: Anthony Grant and Suzanne Modica share their views on the season
Results: Christie’s Sam Josefowitz sales = $76.8m
Art and Attitude in Shanghai
The global art world is bigger than one city or region. The New York auctions may be the center of gravity for art in these next two weeks but that doesn’t mean the rest of the art world has been totally eclipsed. Shanghai is gearing up for a convening moment and one of the events is the Hong Kong/New York advisory firm Art Bureau’s exhibition opening today at the K11 Foundation in Shanghai. Titled Yuen-Yeung, after the Cantonese drink that mixes coffee and tea, the show organized by Art Bureau’s Ed Tang and Jonathan Cheung, presents playful pairings of works owned by Art Bureau’s clients or commissioned for the show.
The 21 artworks on display are by artists like Bruce Nauman, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Albert Oehlen, Etel Adnan, Andy Warhol, Charline von Heyl, Eunnam Hong, Hernan Bas, Brook Hsu and Martin Kippenberger. Domestic in scale, the show was mounted in collaboration with designer Andre Fu and is meant to highlight the interests of their clients and the advisors’ role as tastemakers.
“We're both Chinese,” Tang says. “But since starting Art Bureau, we really haven't had a chance to do anything in Mainland China. When K 11 asked us to do something we took it on as a rewarding challenge. We were given carte blanche but we didn't want to do a selling exhibition. We didn't necessarily want to focus on doing a solo presentation of an artist, because we don't want to pick favorites.”
“It's not a big show,” says Tang. “I mean, it's not ambitious in scale. Of course, we all know in China a lot of times scale is a big factor. For us, we just really want to have a crystal clear idea to show the audience here some of the artists that we like.“
“The show is a reflection of who we are and the types of work that we place,” says Cheung. “Because even though we may appear to be an all-Asian team and a Hong Kong firm, we're all global citizens. Our clients are all dotted around the world. A third of them are in Asia; a third in Europe; and third in the Americas.”
“This is kind of the golden week in Shanghai,” Tang says. “Not only do you have two fairs—021 and Westbund. You also have, of course, the biennial and a lot of the other institutions and foundations and galleries have their blockbuster shows lined up this time of year. And so, throughout China, you have a lot of curators, collectors, artists, congregated. I like to say that this is the right place at the right time.”
Vox Orbis Artis
Our readers clearly believe the next two weeks will be filled with ups and downs. So brace yourself for lots of stories about the art market correction. That doesn’t quite mean the art market is in trouble. The presence of several strong collections—read Anthony Grant below on this—means there are a significant number of lots that may not be seen as discretionary buys. More than a third of those responding still believe there’s a great deal of money allocated toward art waiting in the wings. That’s what makes a market and we’ll see the first clues tonight at Christie’s.
Notes
Framing the next two weeks: According to our data from LiveArt, the combined low estimate for the New York sales is $1.84 billion with 630 artists represented in the sales. The top 25 artists account for two-thirds of the value of auctions. A year ago, the sales had an aggregate low estimate of $2.5 billion. That’s a 30% year-over-year drop which is consistent with numbers the market has seen since the beginning of 2023. The obvious difference between last year and this is the absence of the Paul Allen sale but the presence of other significant collections suggests the comparison is valid.
Top artists: Picasso dominates market value with a $224 million aggregate low estimate, half of that in one painting. Claude Monet follows at $128 million or 57% of the Picasso estimate. Mark Rothko has an $88 million aggregate estimate. Basquiat comes in at $76.8 million. Andy Warhol is at almost $72 million. Ed Ruscha clocks in at $69.4 million. Joan Mitchell is at $56 million. Paul Cezanne has $50 million in estimated value. René Magritte and Francis Bacon round out the top 10 also at $50 million.
What to watch tonight: The combined low estimate for tonight’s sale at Christie’s is only $100 million, that’s only twice the aggregate low estimate of the Contemporary Day sale. So the stakes are low even though there are surely a number of potential third-party guarantors waiting to see tonight’s results before exploring their opportunities. Jenna Gribbon’s market has already been rising but a new show at Levy Gorvy Dayan should make tonight’s sale more interesting. A strong Reggie Burrows Hodges is looking to add to his string of high prices last year. A Rashid Johnson bruise painting will be an important measure against a previous record sale two years ago for a similar work at $2.5 million. The return of John Currin’s Nice ‘n Easy at a greatly reduced estimate from its previous $12m sale will be talked about either way it trades. After the success of a brightly-colored Warhol diamond dust shoes in London, Gerald Fineberg’s example should draw more attention. Jeff Koons’s celebration-series Baroque Egg will also provide some interesting data for his market.
Shop Talk
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