Micaëla Van Zwoll

Bella Feldman and JP Long :: Dialogue

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:27:00 +0000

San Francisco Bay Area artists, Bella Feldman and JP Long were recently featured in a local blog citing their exhibition at Sculpture Site Gallery (view the blog link). What's the big deal and why would I want to talk about them? Well, for one, Bella Feldman is the pre-eminent woman sculptor working with blown glass and combinations of glass and metal, and even wood. Her works, large scale, sinuous in their grandeur, command a sine qua non attention. JP Long, her assistant, and protege of 9 years works in a similar style. Combined, an exhibition of their works can only be arresting.

Gallery in Wikipedia legal threat

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:43:00 +0000

Work by Sir Joshua Reynolds was among those uploaded to Wikipedia

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is threatening legal action after 3,300 images from its website were uploaded to online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

A contributor to the popular site, Derrick Coetzee, breached English copyright laws by posting images from the gallery's collection, the NPG said.

But photographs of works of art are not protected by copyright in the US, where Mr Coetzee and Wikipedia are based.

The NPG said the breach undermines its £1m project to digitise its collection.

So far, 60,000 hi-resolution photographs of paintings held by the NPG have been added to its website for use by the general public.

Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire as a child, and a portrait of Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron were among those uploaded to Wikipedia by Mr Coetzee.

Huge costs

In a statement, the NPG said: "The gallery is very concerned that potential loss of licensing income from the high-resolution files threatens its ability to reinvest in its digitization programme and so make further images available.

"It is one of the gallery's primary purposes to make as much of the collection available as possible for the public to view.

"Digitisation involves huge costs including research, cataloguing, conservation and highly-skilled photography. Images then need to be made available on the gallery website as part of a structured and authoritative database."

The NPG said it asked Wikipedia to remove the images, but did not get a response, and issued the letter to Mr Coetzee as their "only course of action".

Permission

The gallery stressed that it hoped to avoid taking any further legal action.

The NPG said while it would be "happy" for the website to use low-resolution images, Mr Coetzee found a way to get around their software and download hi-resolution images without permission.

Writing on Wikipedia in May, Mr Coetzee said it was "no longer possible to obtain high-resolution images from NPG" in the manner he did.

Mr Coetzee also uploaded the legal letter from the NPG, sent by London solicitors Farrar and Co, to Wikipedia.

He said he reproduced the letter to "enable public discourse on the issue". He added that he was taking legal advice.

-BBC News, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:04 UK

Michael Jackson

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Last week was a flurry of adieux to Michael Jackson - for the memories that growing up brought to those of us over 40, for the inspiration that he gave to everyone under 40, and most of all for the legacy of his music, his character, and all the life he gave to our news with the goings on of his lifestyle. So, it's not surprising that the L.A. Times' Deborah Netburn did a little online snapshot of the art he inspired. From Jeff Koons sculptures in the Eli Broad collection at the LACMA to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum to posters featuring him with such icons as Albert Einstein, La Gioconda and George Washington, he was, if anything, prescient about his place in popular culture. As Netburn states, "It's not Michael Jackson the artist but Michael Jackson as art. The self-proclaimed King of Pop served as an inspiration for plastic figurines, decorative car hoods and this sculpture, titled "Michael Jackson and Bubbles," by Jeff Koons. (image: Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.)

Voila: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-hm-michaeljacksonart-pictures,0,866295.photogallery?index=1

Back to Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:03:00 +0000

by Alexandra Wolfe

Portfolio: May 2009 Issue

The hedge fund bust takes a toll on artist Richard Prince. VIEW SLIDESHOW

The fat years were very fat for the artists who catered to the hedge fund set.

Damien Hirst, famed for the $17 million pickled shark and the $100 million diamond-encrusted skull, was able to unload $200 million worth of works, even as the world economy came crashing down in October. Jeff Koons, creator of the stainless-steel, one-ton Balloon Dog and a $5.6 million porcelain statue of Michael Jackson, had waiting lists that grew as his prices swelled. But few of the half-dozen art-world darlings who profited from the reflected gleam of hedge fund riches could top Richard Prince.

Famous for “re-photography”—photographing existing photos and selling them as his own—Prince, in the early part of the decade, was a well-established, if sometimes controversial, artist. His work sold in the five-figure to low-six-figure range, and he was represented by New York’s Gladstone Gallery, a top-tier venue. To the larger public, he was mainly known as the guy who re-photographed Marlboro Man ads and sold them as art, or as the artist who re-photographed a famous nude photo taken of actress Brooke Shields when she was a little girl. (The original photographer sold the image for $300; a Prince re-photograph of the image brought $151,000 at Christie’s.)

Yet once Prince was discovered by collectors in the hedge fund set, including Adam Sender, Daniel Loeb, and David Ganek, he became not just a bad boy but a bad boy with some very motivated patrons. Prince’s outlaw status appealed to the hedge funders, as did the potential gains to be had by flipping his paintings. Starting in 2005, his prices rose so quickly that some in the art world suspected hedge fund managers of bidding up the works as a game—seeing how high prices could soar before cashing out. ( View a slidehow detailing how some art has fallen sharply in value.)

And soar they did. In 2005, one of the images in Prince’s Cowboy series became the first work of photography to command more than $1 million at auction. Pieces with estimates of $250,000 went for $1 million. The Guggenheim Museum in New York, where David Ganek is a trustee, gave the 59-year-old Prince a retrospective in 2007, which jacked up prices even more. Last summer, one of his famous Nurse paintings (he scans covers of pulp-fiction novels and transfers the images onto canvas) sold for $8.4 million, almost 28 times as much as a work from the same series brought at a Christie’s auction in 2005.

But with his finance-world collectors in free fall, where does that leave Prince? Not in an ideal place. The prices of some of his works are down as much as 50 percent, and some unexpected pieces are showing up on the block. The president of the Guggenheim Museum’s board of trustees, Jennifer Stockman, sold two at auction in November, and indicted lawyer Marc Dreier recently unloaded the coveted 1980 photograph Untitled (Four Women With Hats). A group of Prince works is at the center of a dispute between one of his longtime collectors, CNET founder Halsey Minor, and Christie’s auction house. (Minor contends that the works plummeted in value after being consigned to Christie’s for a private sale that never materialized.) Prince has also been slapped with a lawsuit by French photographer Patrick Cariou, who charged the artist with copyright infringement.

So has Prince’s bubble burst? He declined to be interviewed for this story, though he did send an email from
St. Barts, where he was vacationing. “I don’t have any real thoughts about the market,” he wrote. “It’s another way of ‘judging’ art. That’s what people do.” He added, “I never planned to have one of my paintings sell for over $8 million.” In a follow-up email, Prince denied a rumor that he is trying to stop collectors from putting his works up for auction. “I can’t stop it if a collector wants to sell something of mine, and I can’t help it if a collector wants to bid on something of mine,” he wrote. “It’s flattering when a ‘nurse’ or a ‘cowboy’ or a ‘joke’ painting realizes a big price, but I’m not interested in consigning any of my work directly to an auction house.”

Of course, other hedge fund favorites are in a similar boat. Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, known mostly for his cartoonlike, anime-influenced paintings, used to sell pieces from his Flower Ball series for more than
$1 million, but at a recent Christie’s auction, Flower Ball (Brown) made less than $600,000. Jeff Koons’ work has been selling for about half what it once auctioned for—when it is bid on at all—and Damien Hirst has laid off staff in the wake of his big auction last fall. Art sales in general are down; Christie’s reported an 11 percent drop in sales volume in 2008. A share of Sotheby’s stock, which peaked at nearly $60 in late 2007, traded at just above $6 in March.

Prince’s misfortune is that he embodies the market’s downturn more than his contemporaries. While smaller Prince works are still selling at auction, and privately through his new dealer, Larry Gagosian, some of the bigger-ticket items are hurting. When Christie’s put Lake Resort NurseThe Taming of Nurse Conway—garnered no bids at all. Neither did a Prince painting from his Joke series at a Phillips de Pury auction in London in October. Prince, via email, said he’s sanguine. “I drive a beat-up Volvo. I keep time with a $15 watch. I wear dungarees and T-shirts. I eat Cheetos and watch the Playboy channel.” In his free time, he added, “I’m learning to fly my own plane.” on the block in November, it took in $3.3 million, well below both the low estimate and the auction house’s guarantee of $5 million. Another Nurse work—The Taming of Nurse Conway—garnered no bids at all. Neither did a Prince painting from his Joke series at a Phillips de Pury auction in London in October. Prince, via email, said he’s sanguine. “I drive a beat-up Volvo. I keep time with a $15 watch. I wear dungarees and T-shirts. I eat Cheetos and watch the Playboy channel.” In his free time, he added, “I’m learning to fly my own plane.”

Modern masters - is it time to revisit collections?

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:09:00 +0000

This morning's New York Times published the following article about the demise of desire for artworks by modern masters, such as Giacometti and Picasso (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/arts/design/06auction.html), as perceived by their inability to sell as successfully as they have in years past. At a time when contemporary art is enjoying a surge of well-deserved attention, with works by luminaries such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, competing in the millions of dollars bracket, so other urban artists such as Shepard Fairey and Ellis Gallagher, and the argument that begs the question: Is it time for collectors to look at the contemporary artists as a serious investment option?

Women in Video - New York Times Art Review

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:48:00 +0000

SheTube: Female Voices on the Small Screen

Wikipedia Art

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:51:00 +0000

Scott Kildall and Nathaniel Stern invite you to participate in an intervention on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia Art is art that anyone can edit.

We've posted a new entry on Wikipedia called "Wikipedia Art." This page is the manifestation of the work of art; alter its composition, and you become a collaborator in the art's formation. The catch is that Wikipedia, the world's free and editable encyclopedia, has enforced standards of quality and verifiability. All Wikipedia articles, and each fact written in them, must cite “credible” external sources: interviews, blogs, or articles in “trustworthy” media institutions. Wikipedia Art is birthed, survives and transforms itself through public performance and communal intervention. It is continuously reconstituted and redefined in a participant-driven write+cite+edit process that we call "performative citation."

Wikipedia Art MUST BE written about extensively both on- and off-line, and these writings will in turn be included as part of the work, on its Wikipedia page. This serves the dual purpose of verifying the piece - which is considered controversial by those in the Wikipedia community, and may occasionally be removed from the site - as well as transforming it over time.

Here are three ways you can join the collaboration:

Write a text, blog entry, essay or any other form of thoughts about the project;
Edit the Wikipedia page itself, citing a published text (even your own!);
Pass along this call for participation to others

The link to the project page is http://www.wikipediaart.org
Initial interviews and essays: Wikipedia Art — a virtual fireside chat: http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/02/wikipedia-art-virtual-fireside-chat.html
WikiPedia art? -- by Patrick Lichty http://blog.furtherfield.org/?q=node/267

Politics...in the arts?

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Dear Reader,

As a member of Americans for the Arts, I received this announcement this morning:

Just moments ago, the U.S. House of Representatives approved their final version of the Economic Recovery bill by a vote of 246-183. We can now confirm that the package DOES include $50 million in direct support for arts jobs through National Endowment for the Arts grants. We are also happy to report that the exclusionary Coburn Amendment language banning certain arts groups from receiving any other economic recovery funds has also been successfully removed. Tonight the Senate is scheduled to have their final vote, and President Obama plans to sign the bill on Monday - President's Day.

A United Voice
This is an important victory for all of you as arts advocates. More than 85,000 letters were sent to Congress, thousands of calls were made, and hundreds of op-eds, letters to the editor, news stories, and blog entries were generated in print and online media about the role of the arts in the economy. Artists, business leaders, mayors, governors, and a full range of national, state, and local arts groups all united together on this advocacy issue. This outcome marks a stunning turnaround of events and exemplifies the power of grassroots arts advocacy.

We would like to also thank some key leaders on Capitol Hill who really carried our voices into the conference negotiation room and throughout the halls of Congress: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI), House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA), and Congressional Arts Caucus Co-Chair Louise Slaughter (D-NY). We also want to publicly thank President Obama for taking the early lead in recognizing the role of the arts in economic development. These leaders were able to convincingly make the case that protecting jobs in the creative sector is integral to the U.S. economy.

What's Next
As we wrap up our work on the Economic Recovery legislation, we wanted to share with you other upcoming legislative action that we are tracking:

Finalization by early March of the FY 2009 appropriations, which has been operating under a continuing resolution for the last five months.
Release of President Obama's first federal budget for FY 2010 is expected in late March/early April.
Hearings in the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on the FY 2010 budget.
Hearings in the House Education & Labor Committee on arts in the workforce and arts education.
The 22nd Annual National Arts Advocacy Day conference on Capitol Hill on March 30-31, 2009.

Webinar on Federal Funding Announced, NEA Officials to Join
There is further good news for the arts and arts education in the other sections of this $789 billion economic recovery legislation -- but we're still reading through the 1000+ pages. Americans for the Arts will give an update on the economic stimulus package as well as other federal sources of arts funding in a webinar on Wednesday, February 18, 2:00-3:30pm EST. The webinar presentation will include remarks by Acting National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Patrice Walker Powell and newly appointed Director of Government Affairs Anita Decker. The webinar is free to Americans for the Arts professional members. Not a Member? Join Today.

Art Terms

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:19:00 +0000

So, I've written about editions and prints, and given you some of the arguments why they're good things to collect, own, possess and someday, maybe, even sell. For the beginner collector and for the sophisticate, they are all of those things, especially when the squeeze on the dollar is on. To help you with the infinite terms involved with prints and things in art in general, I'll publish a glossary of Art Terms to discuss in lay terms what can be confusing techniques. Starting alphabetically, I'd like to begin with the Aquatint.

By definition, an aquatint is produced with the same printing technique as an etching, except that the areas between the etched lines were traditionally covered with a powdered resin that protected the surface from the biting process of the acid bath (contemporary artists use spraypaint instead of powdered resin). The granular appearance that resulted in the print aimed at approximating the effects and gray tonalities of a watercolor drawing. Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variation of etching; and uses marks made onto a copper or zinc plate to hold ink. The process requires that an ink-loaded plate is passed through a printing press that holds a sheet of paper tightly against the inked plate, resulting in a transfer of ink to paper (the print). The process can be repeated again and again, depending on the artist's technical choice. Famous artists who employed this technique include Francisco Goya (image right, El sueño de la razòn, or The sleep of reason produces monsters, from his series, Los Caprichos, 1799).

The process requires an application of acid to make marks on the metal plate that will eventually hold the ink, and powdered, acid-resistant resin (or today's spraypaint) in the plate's ground to create a tonal effect. Variations in tone are controlled by the level of acid exposure over large areas, and the resulting image is developed by invidual large sections at a time, not as a whole. The plate must be heated to melt the resin, which forms a fine even coat, at which point the plate is dipped in acid, producing an even level of corrosion that is sufficient to hold ink. The Aquatint process is very similar to Mezzotint, an earlier printmaking method that was intensely laborious (a famous contemporary mezzotint printer is Yozo Hamaguchi). Printmakers favored Aquatint methods because of the watery effect of the process, ease of creating large areas of tone without time-consuming cross-hatching, and durability of the print plates.

The Art of Buying Art

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:42:00 +0000

The Art of Buying Art: Alan S. Bamberger, noted art expert, author, and syndicated columnist, has just completed the NEW SECOND EDITION - the best and easiest-to-understand book on how to buy, sell, evaluate, appraise, and collect art. Soft cover; 284 pages. Published and distributed by LTB Gordon's Art. Topics covered include how to research and evaluate art prices, spot fakes and forgeries, buy art at online auctions, negotiate for art, buy directly from artists, buy fixed-price art online, tell the difference between an original and a reproduction, and much much more.

A signed copy is available directly from Alan at www.artbusiness.com/bookorder.html.

Prints

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:03:00 +0000

A great example of the life of an image through editions is this print by Shepard Fairey, American street artist, whose screen print of Barack Obama and following among young, apathetic American voters helped to put a new face to American leadership.

If you visit Shepard's website, Obey Giant, this note is the artist's response to requests for more prints:

Thanks for all those who bought the print in support of OBEY and OBAMA. Unfortunately, the print is sold out and we do not plan on producing another edition. The edition was released earlier today with great response. The PROGRESS screenprint was exclusively available through OBEY and the HOPE offset print will be distributed by the OBAMA Camp as an awareness campaign.

I believe with great conviction that Barack Obama should be the next President. I have been paying close attention to him since the Democratic convention in 2004. I feel that he is more a statesman than a politician. He was against the war when it was an unpopular position (and Hillary was for the war at that time), Obama is for energy and environmental conservation. He is for healthcare reform. Check him out for yourself www.barackobama.com. Proceeds from this print go to produce prints for a large statewide poster campaign.

Thanks.

-Shepard

The artist's original edition of this work was 350, unnumbered and unsigned. Various copies of the print are available for auction all over the world at various prices, for a number of reasons. Depending on the success of Obama's reign, the value of the print will continue to soar and it is, without any question, already more historically significant that any headline-bearing newspaper announcing the changing political guard.

Editions ... again!

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Dear Reader,

Do you feel abandoned? With the swing of life from 2008 to 2009, it seems like the winter hibernation of the art world and the holidays is finally over, as streets and galleries come back to life with traffic. Actually, during the break, we were out and about, working the art life, attending events (parties!), exhibitions around town and reading about economic reverberations everywhere, especially as they concern the art market.

I promised to discuss editions in an earlier blog, and to be honest, it's really dry stuff, but there are some basics that need to be understood by the beginner art collector - so here we go:

Editions are an easy way for the artist to introduce his work to a developing art market, and for novice collectors to invest in artworks. By definition, an edition is a closed set of copies of a particular work. We hear references to editions in terms of prints and books, as limited or unlimited sets. A limited edition is closed in terms of numbers of copies, for example, an artwork will be limited to 9 editions, or 9 copies; each edition of the artwork will be numbered in chronological order, as created, from 1 to 9; and marked consecutively 1/9 to show the first work of an edition of nine works. Editions can range from as few as 2 to whatever number the artist decides to choose, and generally, depending on the artist's reputation and the skill level of the artwork, the edition number of the work will have a direct impact on the value (price) of individual works. An unlimited edition, is a set of works that will have unlimited copies. These works may be noted as from an unlimited edition, although usually not, and will not have a numbering system.

Voila! I'll follow up and pick this up again next post!

Happy New Year! (...in 40 seconds)

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Whether we know each other, or not, I hope all your wishes come true for 2009 and beyond.

Early in 2008, I began this blog on art collecting because of questions that came up from novices and seasoned collectors about collecting art. Questions ranged from the importance of original (one of a kind, or singular) work versus editioned (copies and/or multiples) works. Depending on the circumstance, I've advocated one thing or another, and yes, I do stand by what I say (or in this case, write). My initial intent was to follow a formal line of ideas forming general philosophies toward art collecting, but it seems too many things come up in life, and it's much more fun and perhaps more relevant, to address the issues of art collecting as they arise. For now, this blog's organization is informal and simply chronological. If there is anything you wish to know in particular, and don't find it here, please write to me and let me know. I will do everything I can to assist you and develop a collecting plan.

Lately, the case for collecting art has arisen a lot in my immediate personal circle. By way of explanation, among my personal friends, I'm the only one that collects art on a selective basis (planned and with focus), and often defend what some see as a frivolous or silly pastime as an academic pursuit, formal, worthy of high mindedness and considerable investment. Even in today's gloomy economic times? Yes, because the presence of the arts is, whether visual or performance, what separates man from beast. Art is the particular dialogue of soul to soul that compels us like no other thing. It is appreciation for beauty, however we may perceive it, and the effect of it on our lives.

An example of this is something I found purely by chance this morning. As I wrote in a separate blog today, I opened my Yahoo account instead of work email, to escape from the remnants of 2008, relax and find cool things that are endlessly fascinating ... here is one exciting discovery, and my entire justification for starting a video collection:

The video, as you'll see from the first page, is credited to Eirik Solheim at eirikso.com. From his website, he seems to be an ordinary guy in Norway with a particular talent for cameras, he's marvellously intelligent, and enjoys considerable personal integrity. Further reading shows he has a worldwide following, not just resulting from his simply elegant and marvelous video. I hope you enjoy his video, and if you do, please let him know (email him at eirikso@eirikso.com). Every artist should receive thanks and appreciation for beautiful work! Bravo, Mr. Solheim, I am definitely a fan!

Happy Holidays!!

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:11:00 +0000

... and best wishes for 2009!
Micaëla

To the new collector (or to those who think they don't know anything about art, so they won't collect),

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:57:00 +0000

Dear Reader,

I'm in California, working from home right now, it's 2 minutes before 8 am, and my neighbor, Vern (working to stay afloat in this economy), is coming over at 8 on the dot (he's very punctual) to finish up a job in my home he began yesterday...groannnn...so I'd better type fast and get dressed.

Vern and I talked yesterday about collecting art - how it's a cultural thing, good for the soul and good for the community. He saw art collecting as a pursuit of the wealthy, a luxury, akin to foie gras, champagne and driving a murcielago ... well, if you're reading this (and the countless other blogs in blog land about art collecting), you know that's not true. So what's it all about? It's like good food - an excellent burger, a root beer float, fabulous fresh popcorn, or exquisite dining - and music - it's about experiencing pleasure in life.

What's so cool about seeing something that doesn't make sense? Well, if you like jazz, rock and roll, or classical music, you took time, once, to figure it out and decide whether you like it, so give the fine art a minute or two, or more. It's like deciding how you want to look today, at work or when you go out. What looks good? With art, it's exactly the same thing - it's essentially about what pleases you to look at (and all the subsequent thoughts and emotions that come with that), what looks good wherever it is (or where you plan to put it), and for most people, what you can afford.

As I wrote earlier (and if I didn't I'll write it now), the best way for an art collector to begin is to visit museums and galleries, and to take time to figure out the kind of art you like. Take your time, and make a commitment, a purchase - a small purchase - and see how you feel about what you bought. Hate it? Get over it and figure out why you hate it, and don't run. We all make mistakes, hopefully they're not costly and we recover. Try this over time, there's a lot of art out there that you can test the waters with - books, postcards, posters, even clothing (and that's also what copyrights, editions and licenses are about - let's save it for another time) - and have fun with, after all if it's about pleasure, make sure it is fun!

So it's the holidays, 2008 and all its misery is ending and there is new hope with 2009. Go out and have fun, open your eyes to everything around you and enjoy, look at everything like it's new and indulge yourself! ...and congratulations, you're on your way to becoming an art collector.

Happy holidays and best wishes for 2009!
Micaëla

Art Fairs

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:37:00 +0000

Dear Art Collector,

The art mecca is in full swing these days at the Art Basel|Miami Beach hoohah. What's the big deal...? This is it, an exceptional smorgasborg of art for the partaker, where collectors of every discreminating ilk browse and search, and purchase. For neophytes, this could be the beginning of a very serious collection habit.

Thousands, literally, thousands of artists - emerging, mid-career, and established - present artworks, solo or sponsored by their gallery of choice. The parties and celebrities descending on Miami Beach (South Beach) are a wonder to behold, the walking equivalent, in many ways, to the artworks on the walls. Galleries from all over the world come and set up their booth, or in some cases, a hotel room, fêted and hosted by promoters and curators. Go! If you're in Miami - throw yourself in the throng, fight your way past the gawkers, join the fray! There's nothing like it and it's worth every minute of your time!

Micaela

Dear Art Collector:

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:28:00 +0000

My collection began when something caught my eye and my personal aesthetic began to grow. Today, I'm summarizing one of the things I've learned in my experience, as a gallerist and collector, collecting artwork depends on collecting information. A few years ago, I began to promote the artworks of my friends and the people I admired, essentially, the work of people I collected. I began, unknowingly, a process that forms the basis of my advice to all emerging artists and collectors.

First, there's nothing like information - lots of it. I'm a busy girl, my time is valuable, and I can't surf the internet or wander the streets of wherever (I'd rather see the sights!) looking for information, so I sign up for every email announcement I find related to an artist's work, and I love websites that make this easy for me to do. Acquiring information helps me research the value of the work I'm considering, as it should be directly related to the artist's professional development and show growth.

Second, I give information. If the artist is online, I write to him/her and let him/her know about my interest in the work. Most artists love this and reply favorably. Occasionally, they're overwhelmed by passionate love letters from people like me, and I hear nothing. No problem, I search for galleries online and write to them - they usually reply very quickly - and I let them know who I like and ask to be advised of the artist's work and professional development. I want to know if the artist is showing his work and where.

The last part of this little trilogy is the purchase. There is nothing that makes you a real collector like an actual purchase and your name on the artist's list of collectors. Eventually, I'll find something I can't live without and make the plunge. Sometimes, it's painless, often it's huge and there are considerations. Such as price, and whether I can negotiate favorable terms (a discount) ... to which the answer often depends on my relationship with the artist.

In summary, building a good relationship is essential to collecting. To do this in the 21st century, (1) sign up for artist emails, it's a great timesaver; (2) let the artists know you're a fan, it might help when (3) you finally make that purchase. Yes, I'm an art collector too, you know that, that's why you read my blog, right?

David Hockney and editions (finally!)

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:12:00 +0000

Yesterday, I received an email from a friend with a link to David Hockney's website...which is very cool, and here it is for your visual enjoyment. Mr. Hockney is a contemporary artist with works covering a wide range from drawings, paintings to stage and theatre design.

The best part of the home page of Mr. Hockney's website is the copyright warning, which brings us some of the things related to fine art editions, copies and the values placed on them.

Without getting into the details of copyright law, the big deal about copyright is that the image belongs to the creator, in this case, Mr. Hockney, and can't be used by anyone for any reason (technically, I shouldn't use it here, so I'll write to Mr. Hockney and ask his permission, if he declines, I'll remove the image). I used the image because it links to his site, which is the best artist's site I've ever seen. It's full of information about Mr. Hockney, his full biography even contains details about his parents and education. His gallery of works includes singular (one of a kind) works and editions, and all the works are fully described in terms of title, medium, and size. The edition works are described in terms of edition.

What is an edition? My favorite online source for quick info is Wikipedia, and it defines 'edition' as 'a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same point in time. ... [an edition] may be a limited edition, with a fixed number of impressions produced on the understanding that no further impressions (copies) will be produced later, or an open edition limited only by the number that can be sold or produced before the plate wears. Most modern artists produce only limited editions, normally signed by the artist in pencil, and numbered as say 67/100 to show the unique number of that impression and the total edition size.' Prior to the 20th century, and modern copy machines and digital print tools, artworks were reproduced by methods such as lithography, mezzotint, and etching, among others. The works were copied under the instruction of the artist, generally on the belief that they were worthy of reproduction and were a good source of supplemental income for the artist.

A numbering system for editions was developed to show how many prints were developed, with the belief that the artist would not print more than the number stated. For example, Mr. Hockney's work, Black Plant on Table, 1986, was printed in a limited edition of 30 (the actual work is a set of 6 printed pages arranged in a fixed order). Modern artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and countless others printed favored images using this system. In some cases, the artists or their publishers didn't number their prints, relying on a finite limit to the print edition. For example, Pablo Picasso created a dry-point portrait of Max Jacob (image, left) to illustrate his works, which were printed and never numbered, leaving the question of the work's authenticity up to provenance.

The problem of authenticity is huge with regard to prints. As a result, all kinds of rules and specialties have developed to prove the work as authentic. Probably the easiest rule to remember is whether the work is signed, as a true signature is the first mark of authenticity for any artwork. That kind of proof adds value to any work, and especially to copies, or editions.

Alright, this could go on almost forever, it's such a long topic, so I'll end this note for now as follows: the concept of editions is good for the general public and for the artist, for the same economical reasons. The problem with it is value and worth. Next edition blog, I'll discuss the different numbering systems. It's dry stuff, so I don't expect you to hold your breath - and in case you can't wait for the blog to come out (it's dry to write too), send me an email - micaela@micaela.com - and let me know how I can help you!

Resources...art fairs, exhibitions, publications, word of mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:58:00 +0000

I'm sorry, I know, I said I was going to write more about editions … and I will, next time. There is so much going on for art collectors to know about that I don't feel right limiting this to academia, so please be patient and understand that we live in exciting times!

First, a couple of publications that I swear by that keep me up to date on contemporary fine art: Artforum, Art Ltd., Juxtapoz (lots of edge in this one, so be careful...). Glass Quarterly and American Craft, are my favorites for glass sculpture. New American Paintings is great for the latest in regional painterly discoveries. Advice for making a selection? Go to your local newstand (please, find one that carries art mags) and browse browse browse. Obviously, buy the one that you can't put down (we feel for booksellers...), or borrow it from your local library and enjoy.

Exhibitions seem like a no-brainer, but it's surprising how some of the best galleries are completely unnoticed by middle America, leaving the best and the brightest art for the pickings of the very wealthy and adulation of the highly appreciative but sadly very less than wealthy … Please, GO to the galleries! Their efforts to promote their artists are astounding (worthy of much unsung praise), they generally don't charge for your visit, and are amazing repositories of expert information about the artists they represent. With this crrrrazzzy economy, your visit (whether your purchase or not) is welcome welcome welcome (yes, I know, I repeat for emphasis...!).

Art fairs are a lot more than your neighborhood craft show. In the past 10-12 years, they have grown into big big business on an international scale, showing art represented by 'big boy' galleries such as Gagosian and Mary Boone, and attended by everyone from Damien Hirst to the quiet investor with his/her private art consultant to celebrities like Beyoncé (and Jay-Z), Brad Pitt and Robert de Niro. Some of the most famous fairs are Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach (billed as the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas), and the Armory Show (international fair of new art) held annually in New York. As a result, smaller, satellite fairs have grown around these fairs where some of the newest galleries around collect to show the latest art, such as at Art Fair Now, Bridge Art Fair, and Frieze, to name just a very very few. SOFA is yet another fair, specific to sculpture in its various iterations as described fully by its proper name - Sculpture, Object and Functional Art.

Lastly (did you think this would never end?! It's been a while and I have a lot to say today...!), if you have a friend (okay, maybe they're not really your friend), who owns, rents, borrows (or God forbid, steals) artwork you love … ask about it and use time tested traditions of word-of-mouth to find what you want.

Good luck and the best to you! Write to me if you have any suggestions or questions or objections to any of this.

Damien Hirst...Beautiful Inside My Head Forever

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:38:00 +0000

As early as 1996, Damien Hirst's work drew the kind of collector's attention that earned 6 figures. Today, the world economy fails in an era of toxic mortgages and government bailouts, yet art world aficionados and financiers (who else has the cash?) line up for "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever" Damien Hirst's novel debut solo exhibition consigned for auction at Sotheby's held about 200 works that brought in whopping sales of $43, 316,574 (actually, someone at the Financial Times estimated Hirst's net at nearly $200 million). And voilà! The vanguard of emerging artists for fame and gain is Damien Hirst, past winner of the Turner Prize, and the most prominent of the Young British Artists (YBAs).

Hirst's works are fantastic (truly), decadent (sine qua non), fascinating (hypnotic, even), and illative of a remorseless, pointed and wicked intellect. His absorption with death and decadence - manifested by choice of subject and use of materials, constant playfully bright schemes, that make light of dark ideas that are themselves excessive, in concept and execution, and consequential work - become visual puns, fodder for common humor. Mentored by Charles Saatchi, the art collector's collector (a god, in his own art world right, maybe), Hirst's future, you might say, was as assured as if he'd been born with a silver spoon (just look at that chart, above).

So why are we writing about this artist? Yes, his concepts are bizarre, his works are many things to many people, but most importantly, for the obviously privileged and rarefied few who fell in step to the Sotheby's hammer on 16 September, Hirst's works are immensely, and profitably, collectible!
(Image: Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1992. Tiger shark, glass, steel, 5% formaldehyde solution; 213 x 518 cm., Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC)

Art Collector 101: Definitions - Sculpture

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:59:00 +0000

Someone dropped this note in my email box this morning about the future of video. Considering it was written by YouTube head honcho Chad Hurley, I read it, and am passing it on to you. Yes, it's a little dry (honestly, it's pretty dry), but it's good to hear there is life in video. (The image on the right is from Scott Kiernan's video, Standing Wave, 2007.)

How does video relate to sculpture? Yes, well, buckle-up, here's today's wikipedia definition for sculpture: three-dimensional artwork created by shaping hard or plastic material, commonly stone (either rock or marble), metal, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by carving; others are assembled, built up and fired, welded, molded, or cast. A person who creates sculptures is called a sculptor. Because sculpture involves the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated, it is considered one of the plastic arts. The majority of public art is sculpture. The definition goes on to describe types of sculpture:

Free-standing sculpture, sculpture that is surrounded on all sides, except the base, by space. It is also known as sculpture "in the round", and is meant to be viewed from any angle. (image, right, Thomas Scoon, Companions, 2008. Cast glass + granite)
Relief - the sculpture is still attached to a background; types are bas-relief, alto-relievo, and sunken-relief
Site-specific art
Kinetic sculpture - involves aspects of physical motion
- Fountain - the sculpture is designed with moving water
- Mobile (see also Calder's Stabiles.)
Statue - representationalist sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person, event, animal or object
Stacked art - a form of sculpture formed by assembling objects and 'stacking' them.

Materials used for sculpture have generally, and historically, been sought to produce works of art as permanent as possible, working in durable and frequently expensive materials such as bronze and stone: marble, limestone, porphyry, and granite. More rarely, precious materials such as gold, silver, jade, and ivory were used for chryselephantine works. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including hardwoods oak, box/boxwood, and lime/linden); terra cotta and other ceramics, and cast metals such as pewter and zinc (spelter).

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. Jim Gary used stained glass and automobile parts, tools, machine parts, and hardware. One of Pablo Picasso's most famous sculptures included bicycle parts. Alexander Calder and other modernists made spectacular use of painted steel. Since the 1960s, acrylics and other plastics have been used as well. Andy Goldsworthy makes his unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture, such as ice sculpture, sand sculpture, and gas sculpture, is deliberately short-lived. (image, right, Mark Abildgaard, Twister, 2008, detail. Cast + sandblasted glass, stainless steel)

Sculptors often build small preliminary works called maquettes of ephemeral materials such as plaster of Paris, wax, clay, or plasticine, as Alfred Gilbert did for 'Eros' at Piccadilly Circus, London. In Retroarchaeology, these materials are generally the end product.

In contemporary terms, modern sculpture forms are now practiced outdoors, and often in full view of spectators, thus giving them kinship to performance art in the eyes of some. Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. It's popular in China, Japan, Canada, Sweden, and Russia. Ice sculptures feature decoratively in some cuisines, especially in Asia. Kinetic sculptures are sculptures that are designed to move, which include Mobiles. Snow sculptures are usually carved out of a single block of snow about 6 to 15 feet (4.6 m) on each side and weighing about 20 - 30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall. Sound sculptures take the form of indoor sound installations, outdoor installations such as aeolian harps, automatons, or be more or less near conventional musical instruments. Sound sculpture is often site-specific. A Sand castle can be regarded as a sand sculpture. Weightless Sculpture (in outer space) as a concept is created in 1985 by the Dutch artist Martin Sjardijn. Lego brick sculpting involves the use of common Lego bricks to build realistic or artistic sculptures sometimes using hundreds of thousands of bricks. (image, right, Jonathan Russell, Pendants, 2005. Copper, bronze, stainless steel)

Hi...you made it this far. Relax. We'll discuss editions in another post!

Art Collector 101: Definitions

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:13:00 +0000

The next posts will define general terms of fine art, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography + video, figurative/representational art and abstract/non-representational art.

Fine art, as defined by Wikipedia, is any art developed primarily for forms, including form aesthetics rather than utility.^[1] This type of art is often expressed in a limited number of visual and performing art painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture and printmaking. Schools, institutes, and other organizations still use the term to indicate a traditional perspective on the art forms, often implying an association with classic or academic art.

I know, using Wikipedia for a definition seems too easy...the problem is there is so much information out there, and the idea here, is just to give you a general idea. Write to me if you'd like more. By the way, did you hear about the Goya print stolen from Bogota? The stolen artwork was a priceless engraving on view for public exhibition (image above credit: AFP/File photo). It is described as priceless for its extreme rarity.

The Logan Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Well, I thought I was done with my short note on the Logan Collection at the SFMOMA yesterday...nope. First, I need to credit the image of the artwork in yesterday's post, below, it's "The Sleep of Reason," 2005, by Sui Jianguo, mixed media installation view. Photo: Courtesy of SFMOMA. Second, I want to let you know I received a quick email from one of the publishers at Art Ltd. Magazine about an article, "Pacific Overtures: Influential Curators of Asian Art," by Scarlett Cheng in this month's issue. Well done, Ms. Cheng!

Read it!

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - Logan Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:45:00 +0000

If you live in a world class city, what would you do on a sunny weekend? What does that have to do with your fine art collection? Who wants to know and why...? I visited the Logan Collection exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Wow. I grew up in the Philippines, and during my childhood visited important museums in Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong, so I tend to have a blase attitude when it comes to Asian art, particularly when collected by non-Asians. Please don't misunderstand, I love Asian art, I love the aesthetic, but I'm Eurasian and grew up around non-Asian collectors who professed a love of all things Asian, only to be disappointed by their so-called collections.

The Logan Collection is a wonderful surprise. Tasteful (well, I guess that depends on one's taste, huh?), thoughtful and carefully selected, the SFMOMA wrote that the works reveal "a spectrum of individual responses to the utopian dreams that have been driving Chinese society since 1949. Approximately 50 paintings, sculptures, and installations spanning 1988 to 2008 convey a sense of the shadows, masks, and monsters that have haunted the China's collective psyche during its process of modernization. The exhibition offers insight into the post-Tiananmen Square art and cultural scene, and features a diverse range of artists, including Ai Weiwei, Fang Lijun, Li Songsong, Liu Hung, Liu Xiaodong, Yu Youhan, Zhang Huan, and Zhang Xiaogang." The exhibition is ongoing now through Sunday, October 5, 2008.

Please GO.

Art collecting...for others...

noreply@blogger.com (Micaëla) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:34:00 +0000

There is something to be said about collecting art for someone else...it's not as much fun as doing it for me! I'm at a stalemate right now for two different clients seeking two different artworks - one is for the ever elusive work - the rare work that isn't even on the market yet by Wayne Thiebaud, and the second is for the Hamaguchi "Watermelon Slice"...if you know of a private Thiebaud or this Hamaguchi, please please do let me know!!!

On another note...artnet reviewed a book I read about art collecting a while ago. Have a look at what artnet has to say!