Spirits lifting

Frieze shows signs of confidence returning

By Lindsay Pollock | From Frieze daily edition, 17 Oct 09
Published online 17 Oct 09

Frieze exhibitor José Freire, of New York’s Team Gallery (F11), smiled as he hustled around his stand, hung with a solo show of gory paintings of defaced movie stars, the work of London artist Dawn Mellor. The selection didn’t seem especially commercial, but the work had whizzed off the stand. “This is the best Frieze we’ve ever had,” said Freire, reporting sales of 11 paintings portraying a bloodied Charlotte Rampling, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristin Scott Thomas and other beauties. The paintings sold by Friday afternoon, priced around £5,500 apiece. This was a drastic improvement from Frieze’s last edition. Autumn 2008 was not kind to Lehman Brothers, and certainly not to many Frieze exhibitors. “Last year was an unmitigated disaster,” said Freire of the 2008 edition of Frieze. “We lost our shirts.”

This Frieze week, including important museum, gallery and ancillary art events, has brought a renewed confidence to the contemporary art market. “We didn’t expect a dead fair,” said dealer Iwan…

The May American painting auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s revealed that market to be about six months behind the contemporary downturn–and results weren’t pretty. Read my take from The Art Newspaper:

Prices for 18th- to mid-20th-century American art plunged in May as Sotheby’s and Christie’s struggled to sell just 60% of their New York auctions, making $32.1m, down from $159.6m a year ago. “There were fewer bidders than we’ve seen in a decade,” said Dara Mitchell, the head of Sotheby’s American painting department. “People were cautious and really waiting to see where this market is going.” …

Final report for the Art Newspaper’s Art Basel daily paper. The fair just wasn’t the same once Brad Pitt left town.

www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Surprise-success-Art-Basel-dispels-credit-crunch-blues/17485

I met Mr. Broad for an Art Newspaper interview in the swanky Net Jets lounge at Art Basel. We spoke about LA MoCA’s woeful overspending and how he has saved the day:

www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Eli-Broad-s-Basel-mission-for-LA-Moca/17483

I am spending the week in serene and pricey Switzerland, where pizza costs $20 and cows roam the countryside. I am here to cover the epic Art Basel art fair for the London’s Art Newspaper.

Here is a story from our first day of coverage:

www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Bye-bye-to-bling-out-goes-the-glitter-in-comes-the-classic/17461