Art Basel Sales Suggest Art Economy Is In A Boom

If Art Basel serves as the art world's bellwether, then this years fair is extremely promising. Works by twentieth century artists such as Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró were in high demand, as were contemporary artists such as Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley.

Around 300 private jets landed in the Swiss city's airport during the fair's first day, ferrying celebrities like Linda Evangelista and Will Ferrell.

Director of New York Gallery, L&M Arts, Sukanya Rajaratnam commented, "There were more people than last year at the opening. The market feels solid, not crazy, but very solid."

Philip Hoffman, chief excessive of the Fine Art Fund Group who were selling pieces at the fair, said that "With currency volatility, cash earning next to zero and inflation at 4.5 pct in London, a lot of people are looking at art right now as a safe haven for their money," he said, "We've seen a feeding frenzy of buyers and some very good works on sale fetching world record prices, above 2007-2008 levels."

Larry Gagosian, of the Gagosian Gallery, was also very pleased with the sales so far, "We had a very strong start," he said.

The buyers for these pieces are mainly the growing class of wealthy Chinese, who have been paying high prices for both Asian and Western art and Europeans. Daniel Templon gallery director Anee-Claudie Coric said, "There are very few Americans this year. I suspect this is due to the weakness of the dollar."

Comments

[mustardhead98]

09:18 AM on 06/21/2011

Art as investment has always done well-I don't think the recession affected these types of buyers at all.

Those who purchase art for arts sake and buy from those of us who aren't in the top 2% in the art world-THESE are the buyers who are holding onto their discretionary income and not purchasing art as they were pre-recession.

I do know tho and agree that the wealthier Chinese are buying up artwork en masse but again, it is for investment, not so much the love of art.

[ron Pollard]

02:42 PM on 06/18/2011

I wonder when WalMart is going to get into the game? Didn't Costco sell art? Workers of the world, where are you?
http://www.collectingorphanart.com

[MAragon]

04:52 PM on 06/20/2011

Interesting you would mention WalMart, one of Sam Walton's daughters is opening her own museum of American Art. She can do that because she is loaded with WalMart profits. Meanwhile, the employees of WalMart....

[iglooink]

02:01 PM on 06/18/2011

The art world may be booming for the artist with the right money the right friends and who goes to the right parties. But for the artists that just run on passion, the ones who create because they can't live without creating. Are the true art world.

[PleasePassBroccoli]

08:34 AM on 06/20/2011

I'm not so sure what true art is, but i get your point...

[altohone]

11:50 AM on 06/18/2011

Some day, a few of us may be hired to work in the mansions where we can glimpse this cultural heritage.

Of course, most collectors can only display a fraction of what they own, so to really see the art, getting a job in the climate controlled wharehouses may be necessary.

[middleoftheroad]

12:09 PM on 06/18/2011

Isn't that the way it's always been with art? From Albert Barnes to Isabella Stewart Gardner ...to David Geffen and Eli Broad... We can just hope that when those of the modern era kick that they put their collection in a museum named for themselves (which Broad is starting already!).

[MissLakshmi]

02:39 PM on 06/18/2011

The difference is in the rise of art as investment. We went from the stock market to real estate to art speculation, creating phenomena like Damien Hirst's "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever" sale, wherein he was part of an investment consortium that bought his own works and created an artificial market. Why this is legal is stunning to me. The fake art market only breeds contempt and cynicism, taking attention away from substantive, culturally meaningful art in favor of artist celebrity.

[MaryMay]

11:33 AM on 06/18/2011

I don't know, if I had a choice of a Picasso hanging on my wall (and he's my favorite artist) or using that money to set up a huge scholarship fund for worthy young people who want a college education but can't afford one, I would do the latter.

I do volunteer work with a foundation that raises money for scholarships, and the applications we get are incredible. Such bright, hard-working, ambitious young people scrambling for dollars to go to college.

It comes down to just owning STUFF. Even a Picasso is just stuff. Such art is an investment, sure, but I'd rather invest in a bright kid's future.

[Tara Hunkoff]

11:44 PM on 06/19/2011

Bright kids are an OK investment, but long term return it's hard to beat a first round NBA draft pick.

[MaryMay]

03:08 PM on 06/20/2011

Ain't too many LeBrons out there!

[yemaya]

11:23 AM on 06/18/2011

Rich people have always been able to buy art, especially when economies are rough. They pick it up for a steal.
this is not necessarily news.

[FreeSpeech4All]

11:01 AM on 06/18/2011

The art world is not booming for the average artist; I should know since I am one and know plenty of other artists. The "art world" this article refers to is the world that the uber-wealthy live in and the rest of us are shut out of. Most artists have seen a decline in income because their prospective buyers have little or no discretionary income.

[yemaya]

11:25 AM on 06/18/2011

exactly. the average artist is struggling and the uber wealthy buy art they're told to buy. There are very few of them that actually seek out up and coming artists. Lemmings.

[artbot]

12:59 PM on 06/18/2011

it's true... my work has had become more and more and more commercial to keep the studio cranking. there is a lot of money to be made in the high end design part of the business and of course in the finest galleries. but the average artist with his or her vision... no one really cares. i still sell the occasional $20-30k project of "my work" but lately, it's whoring it all the way to the bank 80% of the time.

[django707]

01:05 PM on 06/18/2011

The wealthy art collectors care and know nothing about art. They only know which painter will add to their aggrandizement. The way they know this is some high end gallery owner/pimp tells them what to buy.
The uber-rich are parasitic narcissists who drain the life out of everything around them.
And then they make the hard worker who asks for a small raise feel like a leech.
Our world is upside down.

[MaryMay]

01:38 PM on 06/18/2011

So true. I remember a massage therapist telling me that she got a call from a person who had been referred to her. This person lived in a gated community where no house is under $1MM. First, the woman beat her down on the price over the phone by $5. Second, the therapist said the house had astounding artwork everywhere, and it was a huge house; third, though the massage therapist had driven to her home, unloaded her table, etc., the woman did not tip her $1.

I know someone in that same gated community who one day was bragging about "beating down" a landscaper who had done work for an agreed price, down from that agreed price. Meanwhile, she drives a Jaguar and wears diamonds to lunch (tacky) and yet brags about beating down a working man on his price.

Yes, my friend django707, you said it perfectly when you said "Our world is upside down." Fanned.

[yemaya]

12:36 PM on 06/21/2011

I agree.

[jdevans]

10:51 AM on 06/18/2011

It all depends on who you ask. In the article Daniel Templon gallery director Anee-Claudie Coric said, "There are very few Americans this year. I suspect this is due to the weakness of the dollar." Yet an ArtInfo.com article says " Asked if there were a lot of Americans present at the fair this year — a usual occurrence, especially during the Venice Biennale years — [Paula] Cooper [of the Paula Cooper Gallery] observed that 'there's a lot of everything here.'" http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/37890/europes-economic-woes-are-forgotten-amid-brisk-sales-at-art-basel/?page=1

[innerpuppie]

10:45 AM on 06/18/2011

The economy was never 'not booming' for the wealthy. It's just the poor and middle class that are peering out at the rest of the world from under the bus.

[MAragon]

04:58 PM on 06/20/2011

Precisely, and those at the top are still doing just dandy and the way things are set up in the US and elsewhere, they will continue to do so.

[mgrant33301]

10:30 AM on 06/18/2011

ok, so joe avg and his wife mabel go to basel, switzerland to buy their picassos on their private jet?

no, only the rich do that. and the rich have just been hiding. something they should become comfortable doing as it's going to get ugly when the poor have no food to eat.

[ICarr]

10:23 AM on 06/18/2011

Art Basel is by/about/for rich people. It has never been an indicator of the general economy. What a ridiculous angle.

[jdevans]

11:01 AM on 06/18/2011

The article says the art economy is in a boom. It doesn't say anything about the general economy. Art in general, and not just Art Basel, has never been an indicator of the general economy. There's two economies -- that of the hedge fund managers and CEOs, which is doing quite well, and the one for the rest of us, which isn't.

[yemaya]

11:25 AM on 06/18/2011

I agree. a ridiculous article

[JL-Sosa]

10:20 AM on 06/18/2011

Actually this shows the disparity between the 1% and the rest of us more than anything else...

[yemaya]

11:25 AM on 06/18/2011

you nailed it! fanned and faved.

[django707]

12:58 PM on 06/18/2011

X2

[Diggsdad]

10:19 AM on 06/18/2011

I have a friend who is an interior decorator in Houston and she said business is booming now. She said, "the wealthy can't stand it when they can't spend their money. They have held off spending for the last two years and they couldn't do it any longer." She said this is the busiest she has ever been in the 20 years in the business.

This confirms my theory that the wealthy, who have benefited from the Bush tax cuts have been holding off on spending and hiring, the last two years, to make the economy bad, knowing it can hurt the chances of re-election for Barack Obama.

A trillion in horded cash? Come on!

[artbot]

01:03 PM on 06/18/2011

i'm a houston artist, and yes, the economy is really good here. i'm able to move about $15,000 a month. but the taste is not so good. you have to keep it in the middle and not challenge the client too much. lots of commercial spaces to fill, lots of boring mansions to do pieces for. but these aren't real collectors. they are well off people picking up a design magazine and saying "hey husband" i want a living room like this one! very common.

[Fonfax]

09:56 AM on 06/18/2011

Where else can you put money? Blue Chip Art is better than gold.

[JohnnyUh]

09:50 AM on 06/18/2011

A very uninformed suggestion that Art-Basel is a bellwether for the world economy.

Art fluorishes in tough times. Ever hear of Dada???

The 'tough times' for the world's wealthy, yes, is ending. Breathe a sigh of relief.

They feel that thru purchasing art they can

a) be that wealthy AND oh so artsy a$$hole they've always wanted to be; and at the same time

b) feel more connected to the little people, whose opinions they so admire. And who they're scared of. If they ever need to say it, they can be like 'look, i support you, the little guy.'

Numbers are on the rise: 3 million millionaires and 1000 billionaires in America alone.

$hut up little people, we're fine. Recession = over.

[jdevans]

11:11 AM on 06/18/2011

The article says Art Basel is "the art world's bellwether". It doesn't say its a bellwether for the world economy. The art economy isn't tied to the world economy -- unless you believe that Ronald Reagan's "trickle down economics" is finally going to start working after 30 years and trickle wealth down to the rest of us.