100-en

AMA NEWSLETER

1002 May 2013

Dear Readers,

With this 100th issue, we are celebrating the two years of the Art Media Agency’s Professional Newsletter, which brings you the latest news on the art market every week.

By covering the news about renowned professionals and new initiatives, our goal is to keep you informed about today’s as well as tomorrow’s market. By writing about all the professions, trends and countries that are part of our field, we seek to remind you that the world of art is multiple and built upon exchanges. By aiming at objectivity and comprehensiveness, we let you free to make your own interpretations and appreciations.

While preparing this issue, we went back, with a bit of nostalgia, through the last two years to issue #1. We can clearly say that water is flowing well under our bridge: we started with a modest model (renewed two times from since) of seven pages (more than 30 today), about thirty articles (around 100 today), with no interviews at the time, nor any “article of the week” or figures analysis (but the flags were there already!). This shows the path we have trod and the improvements that we have made, adding little touches week after week, to push our magazine towards the one you enjoy reading today.

This special issue also gives us the opportunity to tell you that you are now more than 100,000 subscribers to re-ceive AMA’s Professional Newsletter. 100,000 is an unbelievable number, which makes our art publication the most distributed in the world! But beyond these figures and their meanings, we are also extremely proud of the quality of our readers: as professionals, collectors and amateurs, you are all involved, directly and actively, in building and evolving this art market that we cover. We asked some of you to tell us what you think about our work, and we have gathered a selection of your feedbacks which you will find in the following pages. If you wish, feel free to send us your own quotes!

The importance of this diffusion comes with a few challenges, namely technical. As a consequence, starting next week, the Professional Newsletter will no longer be included directly in the body of our emails, but a personal link will be sent to each one of you.

For this anniversary issue, we wanted to go a bit back in time and analyse the evolution of the art market throughout the past two years.

I would like to thank Caroline for having initiated this publication, our investor who has supported us since the very beginning, Antoine who has been our editor-in-chief for the past year and a half, and all the ones who have, through their words, style, knowledge, experience and personality, contributed towards the Art Media Agency’s Professional Newsletter.

Antoine and all the teams of AMA, Art Régie and Art Analytics join me in thanking you for your precious loyalty.

We hope that you will continue to enjoy what we have to offer for a long time to come. And you can count on us for new and great surprises very soon!

Best,

Pierre Naquin.

Art Media Agency

ThIs doCuMeNT Is foR The exClusIve use of ART MedIA AgeNCy’s ClIeNTs. do NoT dIsTRIBuTe. www.artmediaagency.com

http://www.artmediaagency.com/en/

AMA NEWSLETER

1002 May 2013

“AMA touches every corner of the international art world with top quality reporting. It is the definitive place for professionals to learn what is happening at a quick glance with the option to delve deeper.”

Andrea Hill, Creative director, Paddle8 New York

——————————

“AMA’s Professional Newsletter is a working tool that analyses the continual activity of the art market with expertise and proficiency: it is useful for professionals and is an essential instrument for those who want relevant syntheses.”

Nathalie Obadia, founder, galerie obadia Paris

——————————

“AMA has just filled an incredible void and greatly responded to the new information management need of the internet era.”

Nina Rodrigues-Ely, founder, observatoire de l’Art Contemporain Paris

——————————

“Art is a big family and I am happy for Art Media Agency which has reached its 100th Professional Newsletter. long live the freedom of information!”

Yves Bouvier, President, Natural le Coultre Geneva

——————————

“AMA’s Professional Newsletter is an international weekly report of great quality, extremely complete with detailed information and economic analyses on the market as well as on cultural events such as exhibitions. It is a goldmine for professionals.”

Julie Ceccaldi, Contemporary Art director, Millon & Associés Paris

——————————

“Thanks to AMA, I receive factual information on all the activities of the art world. I very much appreciate receiving the newsletter by email as this electronic support allows me to always have access to it.”

Fabrice Evangelista, Private collector Brussels

——————————

“As a financial banker involved in France’s art market, AMA is a continuous stream of documented, reliable and accurate information. AMA allows us to analyse the latest trends of the market and thus professionalise our evaluation of risks in the sector.”

Stéphane Mathelin-Moreaux, Art market department director, Neuflize oBC Bank Paris

——————————

“Thank you AMA for your concise weekly news reports. I value the up-to-date information.”

Lyn Calzia, directrice des programmes publics, sotheby’s Institute London



AMA NEWSLETER

1002 May 2013

“AMA is one of most reliable sources to get news on the current art world and art market. It covers updates from all over the world with very dynamic speed and the interviews are vibrant, giving an inside view of professionals from different area of art world.”

Sunhee Choi, Journalist, Joongang Daily Newspaper Seoul

——————————

“AMA’s newsletter is one of the most reactive news sources in the world. The information it presents is reliable and precious.”

Julien Lecêtre, Ceo, Art Paris Art fair Paris

——————————

“I have been a regular reader of AMA’s newsletter on the art market since the beginning. With the mass of information available online, sometimes without hierarchy or practical use, and, as knowledge is a precious resource in this market, with AMA I found a way to have a 360° concise and easy look at all strategic information on a weekly basis. I appreciate the editorial line and the quality of the interviews and analyses. hooray and long live AMA!”

Frédéric Elkaïm, Art advisor Geneva

——————————

“AMA’s Professional Newsletter is the key source for insights on the global art industry and its players.”

Sergey Skaterschikov, founder, skate’s Art Market Research New York

——————————

“AMA’s international and targeted approach is a precious source of information to understand the direction of our cultural times.”

Laure Kaltenbach, general manager, forum d’Avignon Paris

——————————

“Thanks to AMA, I continue to discover new art professionals of the art world through each reading. At the same time, I read news about the art scene of diverse countries where it is hard to find bilingual specialised newspapers. AMA also allows young emerging and active professionals in the art world to express themselves in order to shift some boundaries.”

Gaïa Donzet, director, fondation Carmignac Porquerolles

——————————

“This elegant and informative newsletter is a must for any serious student or interested amateur of today’s art market. Congratulations on your second anniversary and all my best wishes for the future!”

Adriana Turpin, Academic director, IesA International Courses London



AMA NEWSLETER

1002 May 2013

“AMA is one of the most comprehensive information sources on the art market.”

Serge Tiroche, Co-founder, Tiroche deleon Collection & Art vantage PCC limited Tel Aviv

——————————

“AMA is an accurate newsletter that keeps us updated about the latest and most important news on the art market, reaching the art world community. Congratulations!”

Zelika Garcia, Founder, Zona Maco Art Fair Mexico City

——————————

“AMA allows one to get daily news updates on the art market in just one click.”

Jean-Pierre Osenat, President, syMev Paris

——————————

“AMA’s Professional Newsletter is a newspaper that is well thought and well put together. It allows us to have a look at the latest exhibitions and artwork sales on an international scale, with a precise and well documented assessment on a special subject in each issue, as well as interviews of leading figures of the art world. The journal’s interest in cultural events and Monaco’s art market is a real bonus!”

Véronique de Lavenne, Director, Marlborough Monte Carlo

——————————

“The most complete art newsletter… and for free!”

Philippe Davet, director, Blondeau & Cie Geneva

——————————

“AMA’s newsletter is a precious tool to put the news of the art market into perspective.”

Rachel Rechner, director, galerie obadia Paris

——————————

“What would we do without AMA?!”

Françoise Adamsbaum, director, galerie Keza Paris

——————————

“With AMA, we are in the world of digital news!”

Antoine Van de Beuque, Founder, Artviatic Monte Carlo



About AMAArt Media Agency (AMA) is a news agency specialised in the art market. If you would like to send us press releases, please do so at [email protected] agency produces more than one hun-dred fifty articles per week, all purely textual focusing on art news and current events. AMA covers all international markets.

LicencesAMA propose operating licences that allow one to receive thorough and up-to-date news on the art market, but also to reuse the provided content.If you are interested, please to not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] to find out more about our licences and content.

AdvertisingTo advertise in AMA’s Professional Newslet-ter, please contact our advertising agency: Art Régie by email [email protected] or telephone at +33 (0) 1 75 43 67 20.For partnership requests, please write to [email protected].

Top storiespage 10

DataTop 5 2012

page 12

Museumspage 20

InterviewFocus on Sarajevo’s

art scene with Pierre Courtin

page 24

Galleriespage 25

InterviewA view of Singapore with the Art Plural

gallery page 28

Artistspage 30

InterviewThe Diamantaire

page 31

Auctionspage 34

Fairs & Festivalspage 36

InterviewThe Russia’s art

scene with Andrei Sharov

page 38

Flash Back on the past two years of the art market !

On the occasion of the two years of existence of Art Media Agency, the editorial board wished to make an assessment of the evolution of the art market throughout these past two years. here is a detailed assessment of the art market in full expansion, adapting itself to the consequences of globalisation and to the evolution of the legislations and progress on the internet.

Art is famous

According to the special 2013 report of Art & finance on the evolution of the sector throughout these past 14 months, published by audit and advisory firm deloitte luxembourg and ArtTactic (conducted between June and November 2012, on 30 private banks in luxemburg, Poland and spain, and 112 art specialists: galleries, auction houses and art ad-visors, as well as 81 collectors), the value of the art market as a financial asset has indeed confirmed itself throughout the years. In fact, accord-ing to Adriano Picinati di Torcello, the service director of deloitte luxem-bourg’s Art & finance, the clients of fortune managers are increasingly asking them to include art in their estate structures. In fact, it seems as though investors would like to diversify their portfolios, and artworks represent tangible assets parallel to investments in shares and obliga-tions. According to this report, 43% of the fortune managers that were surveyed are all aware of the growing place of artworks as an asset class (compared to 33% in 2011). Most of them (60%) expect an increase in more page 3…

Cologne Central station Photo: Koelnmesse

This documenT is for The exclusive use of ArT mediA Agency’s clienTs. do noT disTribuTe. www.artmediaagency.com

AMA NEWSLETER

1002 May 2013

mailto:dropbox%40artmediaagency.com?subject=PRESS%20RELEASE

mailto:info%40artmediaagency.com?subject=LICENSING

http://www.artregie.com

mailto:info%40artregie.com?subject=ADVERTISING

mailto:info%40artmediaagency.com?subject=PARTNERSHIP



demand for collection assets in the years to come. This assimilation of art as a financial asset leads to the question of the real taste of art investors. According to this study, art appears to be both a passion and a placement, thus demonstrating a convergence of in-terests. Moreover, the specialists of the art field are more and more forced to collaborate with fortune managers, who now include artworks as part of their offers and services. In addition, private banks will be focusing more on art and philanthropy in the two to three years to come, which confirms the growing interest in the art sector as an increasing value among fortune managers. In fact, while none of the banks surveyed in 2011 planned to include art in their placement offers for the following two to three years, they are now 18% to note this possibility as likely, or even very likely, for the two years to come. The role of fortune management advisors shows the growing importance of artwork bequests and more efficient means to preserve their sentimental, financial and cultural value at the same time. however, fortune managers are not the only ones to adapt themselves to the evolution of the art and finance sectors, but also other concerned parties such as states and collectors.

An increasing number of collectors

An ever increasing number of collectors are asking for loan guarantees through the means of artworks. As a mat-ter of fact, 41% of the collectors who were surveyed said that they were ready to go through with it. When asked about their motivations, 36% of them explained that this could allow them to invest in other activities, 39% con-sidered that it would be a great means for investing in new artworks, and 18% said that it could enable them to renegotiate other loans. A new phenomenon was noted, the boom of “star” collectors as the consequence of a hyper-financing on the art market. such is the case for François Pinault, who goes according to his taste to des-ignate artists who stir no less media attention, just as his contemporaries. By making a tour of art fairs, it is easy to see that they are very successful. In fact, well-to-do col-lectors have not stepped back and this draws attention to the following fact: art is becoming more and more se-lective, and only high-end works of art continue to ben-efit from such success. Average works no longer attract collectors.

Upmarket or nothing!

on an art market that is experiencing the hazards of the effects of fashion, the real and solid value is found in exceptional artworks, a guarantee of intrinsic quality and emblem-atic integration in the history of art and the realm of rare works. The digital revolution is one of the factors that led to the evolution of the behaviours and expectations of consum-ers. In fact, auctions are a major part of the art market and were able to adapt themselves to the technological progress, more than galleries that are often refractory and sometimes stick to the old school. Just as for antique dealers, they have experienced a decrease in sales by 4%, for a total estimate of about €22.2bn, according to the figures published on the website of le Monde.fr. This upmarket tendency can be explained by the financial crisis and its consequences. In fact, the crisis has influenced the behaviour of consumers, who now have less confidence in compulsive artwork investments. Moreover, emotional urges have brought about questions and reflections regarding speculations. This is par-ticularly the case for auction house Drouot that decided to change its sale policy. As a matter of fact, after its renovation, it decided to rent its sales rooms at higher prices in order to sort out matters from the beginning, since there is no room for ramshackle, there or anywhere else.

ART COLOGNE 2013Photo: Koelnmesse

more page 4…


AMA Newsletter 100 6 2 MAy 2013



Fair attitude

While the most significant sales are obviously those conducted at auction houses, fairs still play a key role. The latter are experiencing an important rise and are starting to gain loyal clients. As a matter of fact, the tendency shows that collectors draw up their own circuit of fairs they do not at all want to miss. Fairs are thus must-see venues and succeed in attracting clients, whether by taking risks such as solo shows, or by ordering in situ artworks, or even by honouring one particular country. All means are used to gain success. laurent Bourdier, the director of the slick Art fair Brussels, a parallel fair for contemporary art, gave an ex-planation for this enthusiasm. According to him, “a fair is not just a trade venue. It is also a forum where curators, collectors, directors of museums and foundations, and critics meet up for a short time. A fair is also a forum that offers important pieces or strong propositions to all these spiritually and intellectually active members, even on the trade market.” As for The Art Newspaper, through a statement on its website it noted that there were only three contemporary art fairs in 1970, Cologne, Basel and Brussels, 36 in 2000 and there are 288 in 2013. Today, among the best known: “Art Basel” is powerful when it comes to coming up with constant changes on the art market. Indeed, thanks to the fame brought about by its fair in Basel, it created a branch in Miami in 2002 then one in hong Kong in 2013. The latter may in fact replace “Art hK.” The “frieze Art fair” in london is also noteworthy, as it is following the trend and exporting itself to New york, where there is already a notable fair called the “New york Armory show.” Besides, london inaugurated a new contemporary art fair at the beginning of March, the “Art 13 london.” Paris is not behind with the “fIAC” and the “Art Paris Art Fair,” a parallel fair that is getting better as the years go by. Further-more, “Art Dubai” is catching up with the tough competition of leading fairs, among which are namely “TefAf” in Maastricht. emerging coun-tries are also on the scene. hence, “Art stage singapore” was created in January 2011, and the Indian market is gaining power thanks to its own fair called the “Indian Art summit.” But is should be noted that an important fair should be exportable and that competition is raging to reserve the best dates on the agenda, as weaker ones tend to disappear. such is the case for the fair “Art Athina” that was sched-uled to take place in May but is now cancelled.

Are you at the museum?

Museum institutions have kept up their annual success with blockbuster exhibitions: Mag-ritte at the MoMA, Piero della francesca at the frick collection, Christopher Wool and the retrospective of James Turrel at guggenheim in New york, Roy lichtenstein for the Centre Pompidou and Tate, Keith haring at the Palais de Tokyo, Man Ray at the Museum ludwig… Monumenta is widely noted as absent this year for budget cut reasons.

Geopolitics of the art market

Are you familiar with the “BRICs” on which it is now necessary to depend? These countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and south Africa) are gaining momentum particularly in Asia and in the united Arab emirates.

After a striking rise for China, the world market and art investment giant in 2012, which benefitted from a progress of 69%, reaching at least $1.62bn at the end of the year, the country was marked by a sharp fall in sales. In fact, despite last year’s inventory of 83 special art funds in operation, 58 of which have been established since 2009, China experienced a serious setback in 2012.

ART COLOGNE 2013Galerie Eigen+Art, Halle 11.3

Photo: Koelnmesse

more page 5…



According to the report released by Clare McAndrews, an analyst and consultant, China is noticing a change of trend due to a strong setback in purchasing power during the past months. The totality of sales in China dropped in value to 24% on the market, which is €10.6bn of profits from sales, all chan-nels combined (auctions, galleries, direct sales by artists). The united states has thus taken the top spot, followed by the united Kingdom in third place then by france. The reasons for this decline are numer-ous. They are related in part to factors pertaining to demand, and then to a decrease in the number of quality artworks, which are very much sought after on the art market. As a matter of fact, the majority of amateurs prefer to minimise risks by privileging sure values once again, which means more gains for masterpieces. This situation favours post-war art and contemporary art, the strongest segments of the market with a share of 43% in value.

Expansion of the web

The art market is noticing a striking increase in the development of online activities related to art on the worldwide level. In fact, according to the report of deloitte and ArtTactic.2, over 300 websites linked to the field of art were opened during the past few years. They specialise in data analysis, B2B and private artwork trade platforms, information collection, research, social networking, auction sales as well as online galleries such as Artspace, Artsper, and Artsy. hence, more and more transactions are done at a distance and in real time. According to Thierry hoeltgen, “this can only be beneficial for the sector. The new online trade platforms add liquidity to the art market and will enrich the data available on this field, which will lead to more transparency and the improvement of the details of artwork evaluations.” In the world of auctions, the internet allows intermediaries to interact as they grow in number and cause prices to rise. In fact, in 2012 Christie’s noted a record in online sales thanks to its Christie’s live service, with a canvas by ed-ward hopper sold for $9.6m. even though the centres of gravity tend to deport themselves to Asia, the future of the art market and the fluctuation of its borders are more noticeable, without a doubt, according to the avail-ability of artworks online… The future of the art market currently depends on the generalisation of transactions with low prices, which was made possible by new means of contact and negotiation. In order to carry this through, the tracing and authentication conditions for visible works must however be met for private visits. All that is needed is the use of available tools by each of the professionals of this sector, in order to help the mar-ket reinvent its business model.

The hub of auction houses

At auctions, records have risen sky-high. The sale of edvard Munch’s masterpiece Le Cri by sotheby’s did not disappoint the professionals of the art market on Wednesday 2 May 2012 in New york, as it became the highest priced work sold on auction. At $119.92m, it is followed by Nu au plateau de sculpteur (Nude, Green Leaves and Bust) by Pablo Picasso — sold for $106.48m on 4 May 2010 at Christie’s New york — in second place. last october, gerhard Richter became the living artist with the most expensive work sold in the world: Abstraktes Bild (809-4), created in 1994, was sold for £21,321,250 at sotheby’s, which is equal to $34.9m. This canvas was acquired by Clapton in November 2011 during sotheby’s New york’s contemporary art sales for $3,415,750. for private sales, there was a rumour up until 2011, but in 2012 Les joueurs de cartes, a painting by Paul Cézanne was exchanged for the colossal sum of $250m, which makes it the most substantial transaction ever on the art market.

Sales anyone?

since the liberalisation law of september 2012, auction houses are no longer obliged to go through their foreign subsidiaries to conduct private sales. Moreover, private sales actually doubled from 2010 to 2012. As a matter of fact, they went from $494.5 to $906.5 worldwide. The success of these sales can be explained by their discretion and confidentiality. leaked information is rare, and some of these acquisitions were done for museum institutions, namely the work titled Le Cercle de la rue royale, 1868, by James Tissot, which was ceded for $4m to the orsay Museum. Another record sale is that of Rêve, 1932. This work was created by Picasso and sold during a private sale for $155m by steve Wynn to ste-ven Cohen. sold in 1997 for $48m at Christie’s, it was damaged by an elbow stroke of its owner in 2006. After its restoration, the damage was considered as irreparable but the work gained value and achieved

ART COLOGNE 2013Ben Brown, Halle 11.2

Photo: Koelnmesse


more page 6…



the best result known for a Picasso. This certainly was due to its means of transaction, fa-vouring the intervention of reputed private traders as sales intermediaries. This means also prevents extremely important works from being sold off during auction sales, since the prices set are based on modern art sales. Contemporary art follows different rules and auc-tion sales are still important in this field, since new collectors regularly set record prices. Another important factor concerning the popularity of these transactions is the commission requested by auction houses, based on each case, but not during auction sales. finally, big auction houses use their private client listings to directly target potential interested indi-viduals. The enthusiasm for private sales has led to the creation of new models in terms of private transactions.

Thus, Antoine van de Beuque created Artviatic in six months, a platform reserved for indi-viduals and dedicated to direct negotiations throughout the world, with the sale and pur-chase of authenticated works. The pieces offered are worth a minimum of €150,000. It all seems positive. In fact, after its first five months, Artviatic represented €1.8m with 40 subscribers, according to its creator. As for françois de Ricqlès, the president of Christie’s france, “this law puts Paris at the same competition level as New york, london and hong Kong, and brings more sales to france.” guillaume Cerutti, the Ceo of sotheby’s france, made the same remark. “This law allows us to create contracts according to french legis-lation, as our sales were transited through our english and Monacan subsidiaries before it came into effect.”

Open way for free ports

sought after by collectors, free ports allow transactions to be done discretely, but above all, and it is worth noticing, with duty free. The works are indeed taxed, but only outside free zones, according to the rate set in the country of destination. It is the same for services done on spot: inventories, diverse formali-ties, analyses, restorations, assistance, the creation of protec-tion frames… A complete armada is thus used to ensure optimal packaging and security conditions, all for very affordable prices, at €200 to €700 per square metre, for the duration of one year. In addition, free-ports are often open 7/7, 365 days a year. for instance, singapore’s free-port includes 24 showrooms spread through three storeys, on a surface of 30,000sqm. geneva’s is 50,000sqm and the future free-port of Peking is expected to be a space of 70,000sqm at its opening in 2015. Then family busi-ness Natural le Coultre, owned by the holding euroasia Invest-ment, which is also the owner of the free-ports of singapore and geneva, plans to implant a new structure in luxemburg in 2014. As a matter of fact, according to yves Bourdier, “the number of collectors, fairs and museums is increasing, temporary exhibitions are multiplying, in addi-tion to a need for packing and unpacking areas.” even though discretion is practiced regard-ing the exact amount of the transaction done in these custom areas, the main participants on the art market, collectors, gallery owners, and managers of museums and private funds establish agreements to note the growing role of free-ports.

Singapor efree-portPhoto: all rights reserved


Finally, after this assessment, the question worth asking is that of the future of the art market. Though they cannot be proven with certainty, here are some clues concerning its direction: depending on technological progress is important, as well as the growing development of digital art. In fact, according to Jean-Max Koskievic, an economics professor, among contemporary artworks it is noted that technological sophistication is primordial and causes prices to rise. Technology will also allow emerging artists to internationalise themselves more rapidly. lastly, compared to other movements, digital art unveils the codes of the art market for beginners. It is in fact easier to access strategic information such as prices, popularity… In absolute terms, as the art market is worth about €50bn, there is no doubt that it will prosper and last. All that is left to do is to sit back and figure out which participant will make the most of it.



Top stories…

iNTERNATioNALS RELATioNS…Ai Weiwei, Sarkozy, Cameron and Merkelon the occasion of the official visit of President françois hollande to China, newspaper Libération reported some details about the Ai Weiwei affair.In 2011, the artist was arrested for defending the liberty of the Chi-nese people and for promoting a more democratic Chinese society. The french daily newspaper revealed that his release was a result of the joint intervention of the french President of the time, Nicolas sarkozy, of British Prime Minister, david Cameron, and of german Chancellor, Angela Merkel. A source close to the french govern-ment reportedly told Libération that “this release was until now kept secret, but we can now make it known to the wider public.”Ai Weiwei’s speeches were considered to be provocative and sub-versive, forcing Peking to put pressure on the artist. he was arrested in April 2011 at an airport, while he was trying to leave the country. After being detained for 81 days, supposedly in difficult conditions, the artist was finally released. But this release was also followed by a record fine of €1.7m, which he apparently had to pay for fiscal ir-regularities. he has since then been forbidden to leave the territory.

Bronzes stolen by France given back to Chinaon the occasion of french President françois hollande’s trip to China, françois-henri Pinault, the Ceo of luxury group PPR, an-nounced the restoration of two bronzes from the summer Palace of Peking, which were stolen in 1860 by franco-British troupes.The two golden heads, one of a rat and the other of a rabbit, dat-ing from the era of emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), were put on auction by Christie’s on the occasion of the dispersion of the Pi-erre Bergé-yves saint laurent collection. The sculptures were pur-chased in february 2009 for €14m apiece by Mingchao, an expert working for the National Treasure funds, a foundation responsible for the foreign repurchasing of Chinese artworks. he subsequently announced that the amount of the sale would not be paid.françois-henri Pinault, whose family bought the two items, an-nounced the restoration to Chinese President xi Jinping during a state dinner held in Peking on Thursday. The Pinault family, who recovered the bronzes, restored them to China, which also allowed them to make a good communication intervention for the luxury group that is depending on the Chinese market to continue its de-velopment.

EMERgiNg ART ScENE…A colonel at the service of artAbdulnasser gharem, a saudi conceptual artist, plans to open his first foundation, which will be managed by artists in Riyadh. The colonel will soon launch the Amen Art Foundation.saudi Arabia is currently experiencing an artistic revolution, ac-cording to Abdulnasser gharem, and it is thus important to offer opportunities to young artists. The goal of the Amen Art founda-tion is to support emerging artists and to encourage artistic edu-cation.The artist stated on The Art Newspaper’s website that “we have so many good artists here. The galleries and, unfortunately, auc-tion houses are starting to move in but there are no institutions or foundations here to help the younger artists. […] This country is full of people who have the [necessary] money. But the problem will be getting the government’s permission to launch the founda-tion. such art foundations are not part of our culture.”A non-commercial exhibition of gharem’s work is being held from 25 April to 13 July at the side by side gallery in Berlin.

vANdALiSM…Vandalism of a public art installation in South CarolinaA public installation representing a monkey, created in crochet, was designed to attract visitors to the city of Conway in south Car-olina. But as it was reported, some visitors took the opportunity to vandalise and damage the sculpture titled Art the Monkey on the night of saturday 27 April 2013.This work was displayed on the front of the Rivertown Bistro and reappeared the following morning, hanging by its neck on the door of the restaurant. The sculpture was part of the installation composed of knitted artworks titled Yarn Zoo. The installation was created by the group Create Conway that is striving to promote artistic creation.Fortunately, the sculpture was restored and will soon be rein-stalled at its original spot. In the meanwhile, the police said in their investigation report that the community of Conway had to respond to a large number of needs and different ambitions, but public art has often been perceived as arousing expectations and desires that are controversial. Nonetheless, vandalism is not a vir-tue that will help the community to live together in harmony.

ARTicLE oF ThE WEEk…Results not so good for Artnet

Artnet’s financial results for the year 2012 are now available. The company is cur-rently going through a phase of restruc-turation and has experienced a decline in its results.In its annual report, the group said that the economic environment made the situ-ation difficult for a number of businesses and consumers, particularly for galleries, the main clients of Artnet. The combined effects of the euro crisis, along with the preceding mortgage crisis, continue to affect Artnet’s clients, and as a result the online art sale company is still in a phase of consolidation. In regards to these dif-

ficulties, the company had to close down its Parisian branch in 2012 and put an end to the publication of the Artnet Magazine.skate’s published a report analysing these results. By looking more closely at the fig-ures, the company’s turnover fell by 6% in dollars (stable in euros thanks to the fa-vourable evolution of the exchange rate), while its operating income amounted to €900,000 in 2011 but was marked by a decrease to €700,000 in 2012. The auc-tion sale segment did not bring more ben-efits, the sales proceeds amounting to only €2.3m with a brut benefice of €180,000, which represent a decrease of 50%.

skate’s report compares these results to the strong growth and solidity of Artnet’s competitors. The report also states that the six competing professionals on this market are liveauctioneers, saatchi on-line, paddle8, artspace, auctionata and art.sy, which benefitted from a growth of almost 40% in 2012, while they already made a capital of $50m during the first four months of the year.



Top stories…voL…A hotel maid’s streak of bad luckA former hotel maid admitted on Monday 22 April 2013 that she played a key role in the theft of a porcelain bust representing Benjamin franklin, an item the chief prosecutor in charge of the case said was of inestimable value.The value of the bust is estimated to be around $3m, according to its owner. It was found in pieces when the police brought Andrea lawton, 47, to custody. The former resident of Philadelphia admitted to having been involved in the theft and burglary, a charge held against her by the Court of Montgomery County. her fate is thus at the mercy of the court since she admitted the facts and can no longer ask for an arrangement with the prosecutor concerning the length of her sentence. Judge Carolyn T. Calucco adjourned the announcement of her sentencing until fur-ther details on Andrea lawton’s past are revealed.According to the hotel maid, she was helped by an accomplice that she has not yet named. The accomplice supposedly entered the house and was guided by lawton, who stayed in the car, in order to find and take the bust. The latter is considered to be one of the four created in 1778 by french sculptor Jean-Antoine houdon during a visit of Benjamin franklin to Paris. An engraved autoportrait by composer victor herbert has also been declared as lost, as well as a baton he used to con-duct orchestras and one of his handwritten lists of compositions, according to the court. lawton never admitted to stealing these objects, the value of which is esti-mated at about $80,000.The bust is now at a museum in New york, where restoration work has already begun. The accused faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty.

cENSoRShip…A half-censorship in Dohasome greek statues of nude athletes, pre-sented in doha, Qatar, on the occasion of an event retracing the history of the olympic games, were sent back to greece before they could be exhibited.According to the AFP, the matter received a lot of media attention after the greek Minister of Culture, Costas Tzavaras, visited the exhibition and noticed that the masculine statues had their genital parts covered with black cloth. he then said that the statues had to be exhibited in their original state or sent back to greece. Therefore, they were never exhibited and were in fact left in a warehouse before being sent back to greece on 19 April.Christian Wacker, the director of the sports Museum and of olympic events in doha, said on RfI (french Radio) that there was “never any case of censorship.”The statues are dated between the 6th and the 2nd centuries BC, and were the feature pieces of the exhibition “olympia: Myth – Cult – games.”



http://www.artmediaagency.com/ads/top/go-pdfincluded-76-fr-http_3A_2F_2Fwww.artregie.com_2F.html

http://www.artmediaagency.com/ads/top/go-pdfincluded-76-en-http_3A_2F_2Fwww.artregie.com_2F.html

Top 5 2012… Art AnalyticsFor the 100th issue, we decided to compare data of five artists whose works achieved the biggest turnovers on auction sales in the last two years. The presence of three Chinese artists (Qi Baishi, xu Beilhong and Zhang daqian) in this selection evidences the evolution of the art market in the last years. China's ever growing importance as a country housing a huge number of col-lectors is reflected by the increase of interest in Chinese artists. This is a com-pletely natural consequence since art collectors usually favour artists from their own country.

No need to introduce Andy Warhol (1928-1987), the American artist and leading figure of Pop Art, who put consumer society at the core of his cre-ation. his record on public auction dates from May 2007, when the painting titled Green Car Crash was sold for $64m at Christie's New york. spanish

artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), a painter and sculptor, was one of the founders of Cubism. his auction record is $95m and was established by a painting titled Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur, sold at Christie's in May 2010. Among the aforementioned Chi-nese artists, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) is the one who remained faithful to the Chinese tradition of painting and calligraphy. In 2011, one of his drawings was sold at China guardian Auction for $57.2m. As for xu Beihong(1895-1953), he is one of the masters of modern Chinese painting and one of the first who brought together the rich pic-torial Chinese tradition and the Western culture, with which he became acquainted during his youth spent, namely in Paris. his auction record was established at Poly Auction in 2011, with the work titled Cultivation on the Peaceful Land. This drawing was purchased for $36.7m. finally comes Zhang daqian (1899-1983), whose work titled Lotus and Mandarin Ducks was sold at sotheby's hong Kong for $21.8m. more next 13…

Annual publicity progression of Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Qi Baishi, Xu

Beihong and Zhang Daqian

.0

2.000

4.000

6.000

8.000

1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012

Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso Qi Baishi Xu Beihong Zhang Daqian

0

350

700

1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

Qi Baishi Xu Beihong Zhang Daqian



First of all, it is necessary to consider the value of these artists’works. An impor-tant factor is the artist’s visibility in the media, which proves crucial when it comes to his popularity, recognition and eventually index. In spite of the recent domina-tion of Chinese artists in terms of media coverage they benefit from very little and marginal visibility among the international public. Indeed, while since the 1990s Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso have benefited from ever-increasing media cover-age (with about 4,000 articles published each year about Picasso, and 6,000 about Warhol), the volume of publications devoted to the Chinese painters remains far behind. In spite of the boost noticed at the beginning of the 2000s as well as the

Article by language

Exhibition annual progression of Picasso and Warhol

Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso Qi Baishi

Xu Beihong Zhang Daqian Total

3%6%

12%

8%62%

English Spanish German French Italian Chinese Portugese Others

6%5%

16%

25%

37%

80%

14%

72%

2%

24%

73%

20%4%

5%5%

12%

13%

52%

0

50

100

150

200

250

1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso



increase of the number of publications for the last decade, even Qi Baishi, a painter who has benefited from the biggest media coverage, gave rise to less than 700 ar-ticles in 2011.

Contrary to Western artists such as Picasso and Warhol, the media's interest is but rarely focused on China. Concerning articles devoted to Picasso and Warhol, the graph changes. As for Picasso, only 25% of articles were written in his native lan-guage, spanish, whereas english-speaking publications amount to 62% for Warhol (including the two biggest markets in the world: the usA and the united Kingdom). The international visibility of the five artists is still very unequal and the Chinese

Sort of exhibitions

exhibitions’ duration in days



24%

76%

Solo shows Group shows

29%

71%

29%

71%

18%

82%

50% 50%

27%

73%

0

100

200

300

400

500

1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012



artists seem to benefit more from their country's economical development than from their own recognition and international interest.

After publications, let us consider exhibitions. Concerning the number of events per year, the parallel increase of exhibitions devoted to Warhol and Picasso has been strik-ing since the beginning of the 1990s. These two famous artists fully benefited from the new strategy of museums that favour big shows targeted towards an international public. our artists had a similar number of solo shows (around ¾ of the total of events each). The increase of costs borne by institutions, as well as the international compe-tition now existing between the greatest museums of the world, compel institutions

Number of artists exhibited by show

Exhibition by countries

0

10

20

30

40

1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

24%

2%5%

6%16%

42%

United States Germany United Kingdom France Italy Spain Others

24%

8%

5%6%

6% 21%

30%

71%

29%



82%

18%

60%10%

30%24%

5%5%

6% 19%

37%



to organise events that are more and more important. The increase in atten-dance and the need to make expenses profitable (as they have themselves increased due to the rise of prices) have forced museums to present ever long-lasting exhibitions. Indeed, while in the mid-20th century exhibitions used to run for about 50 days, nowadays the average duration of art exhibi-tions is 100 days, and the number of artists represented has almost doubled.

As for international distribution, the united states has welcomed over 1/3 of the exhibitions devoted to these 5 artists; we can easily notice that Chinese artists do not benefit from the same international coverage and promotion as Picasso and Warhol. In fact, as the majority of publications directly follow exhibitions, the feeble interest of the international press for Chinese artists can be explained by the scarcity of exhibitions outside their homeland. Therefore, except for works by Zhang daqian that have been displayed in the united Kingdom, his compatriots have been almost exclu-sively exhibited in China.

Exhibition by sort of institution

3%

40%57%

Museum Gallery Others Events



3%

27%

69%

93%

27%

73%

10%

90%

3%

34%

63%



These five star artists are being courted by the greatest museums, with over 2/3 of ex-hibitions organised by museum institutions. It is also noteworthy that the proportion of museums is bigger for Chinese artists. Indeed, the latter have been presented by 80% in such institutional exhibitions.

As for the auction market, the figures are eloquent. The global turnover of public auctions reaches $9,818bn, for a total of 75,000 lots exchanged. Painting, which is the market’s favourite, represented 55.1% of the total turnover, for only 7.92%

Number of lots auctioned per year and per artist

Auctions by countries…

.0

1.000

2.000

3.000

1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011




21%

8%

19%

41%

United States China United Kingdom France Germany Others

20%

14%

22%

29%

6%

90%

2%

8%

88%

2%8%

89%

2% 17%

10%

17%

18%

26%



of lots, while drawing made 37.58% of the total proceeds for a rather important number of lots (26.7%). eventually, multiples that represent about a half of sales (49.51%) managed to raise barely 5.12% of proceeds. When examining these fig-ures thoroughly for each and every artist, it appears that Andy Warhol sold over 18,000 lots for a total turnover of over $2bn, while Pablo Picasso raised a $4.174bn turnover with 40,500 lots, including an important volume of sculptures. xu Beihong has sold a little less than 2,000 lots, for a turnover of $646m, and Zang daqian 6,700 lots for a total of $1.266bn. Qi Basihi raised $1.245bn at public auctions, with over 6,400 lots.

for the year 2012, works by Andy Warhol raised $330m, works by Picasso $286m, by Qi Baishi $218m, by Beihong $128m and by Zang $215m. for this year, the total turn-over of these five artists therefore amounts to $1.178bn.The evolution of the number of lots offered on the market evidences that the three Chinese artists appeared on the market in the beginning of the 21st century, a period that marked the advent of China also from an economical point of view.

Turnover evolution

Average price evolution

Unsold ratio evolution

0 M$

200 M$

400 M$

600 M$

1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

sold unsold

0 K$

350 K$

700 K$

1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011




The geographical distribution of lots on sale confirms that the appeal of Chinese creation rarely exceeds national borders. Indeed, while the sale of works by Picasso and Warhol happened practically throughout the world, works by Baishi, Beihong and daqian were sold at 90% in their own country.

But what is true for all five artists is that the auction results, whether in terms of turn-over or average prices, has been strikingly increased since the early 2000s, and stopped when recession occurred at the end of 2007. Now that the investment market has re-covered some stability, collectors returned their interest in safe values, such as these artists.

The unsold rate, extremely low at the end of the 1980s, has regularly increased, due to the rising number of the lots offered on auction. This rate is approximately equivalent for all five artists, around 20%.

Auction results from Artprice.

Unsold ratio



17%

83%

sold unsold

16%

84%

20%

80%

20%

80%

19%

81%

17%

83%



Museums…

AcquiSiTioNS…Purchase of El Anatsui’s work by the Brooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum in New york has announced its acquisition of a work by African sculptor el Anatsui.The work titled Black Block, a suspended monumental wall, is com-posed of two blocks (527.1 x 345.1 cm each) created with recov-ered materials such as aluminium and copper wire.Purchased from the Jack shainman gallery, the creation of el Anastsui is current displayed until 4 August at the Brooklyn Mu-seum, on the occasion of the exhibition “gravity and grace: Monu-mental Works by el Anatsui.”el Anatsui was born in 1944 in Anyako, ghana. After obtaining his diploma from the university of science and Technology, through the department of arts of the city of Kumasi, he settled in Nigeria. he in fact spent most of his time there and started teaching in par-ticular at the university in 1975. Clay and wood are his materials of predilection. he uses them to create works that are culturally close to the history of his country, ghana.

Joint purchase of a manuscript by the Israel Museum and the MetThe Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have announced their joint acquisition of a hebrew manuscript dating from 1457.The illuminated manuscript is a rare copy of the Mishneh Torah by the Maimonides, one of the most prominent rabbis of the Mid-dle-Ages. The manuscript was previously part of the collection of Judy and Michael steinhardt in New york and will be shared between the two museums, based on a rotation agreement. The Israel Museum was able to finance this purchase thanks to the do-nations of René and susanne Braginsky (Zurich), Renee and lester Crown (Chicago), lynn schusterman (Tulsa), and Judy and Michael steinhardt (New york). The origin of the funds used by the Met has not yet been revealed.Thomas P. Campbell, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, explained that “we are pleased and proud to collaborate with the Israel Museum on acquiring such a rare and important man-uscript for both of our institutions. The Mishneh Torah is a justly celebrated work that attests to the refined aesthetic sensibility of members of Italy’s Jewish community as well as to the opulence of North Italian book decoration in the 15th century.”

AWARdS…Presentation of the 2013 Dallas Museum of Art Com-bined Awards Programsince 1980, the dallas Art Museum’s Combined Awards Program has recognised more than 255 artists. This year eleven artists received one of three prizes: The Clare hart degolyer Memorial fund Award, the Arch and Anne giles Kimbrough fund Award et the otis and velma davis dozier Travel grant.The prizes were created to recognise the exceptional talent and potential of young visual artists and to demonstrate support for their creative endeavours. The Clare hart degolyer Memorial fund is awarded to an artist between the ages of 15 and 25, living in Texas, oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona or Colo-rado. The Arch and Anne giles Kimbrough fund is awarded to an artist residing in Texas, under the age of 30. since the prizes were initiated in 1980, they have compensated artists in amounts totalling over $500,000. Created in 1990, The otis and velma davis dozier Travel grant is offered in memory of dallas Art-ists otis and velma dozier, who believed wholeheart-edly in the enrichment of an artists work through the experiences to be had traveling. The prize is given to artists who seek to expand their creative horizons through travel be it domestic or international. To be eligible artists must be at least 30 years old and Texas residents. since its inception the prize has distributed more than $147,000.The five winners of the 2013 Clare hart degolyer Memorial fund Award are: lauren Christlieb, Nathan evans, Miguel Martinez, Benjamin Terry and Ana vil-lagomez.The four winners of the 2013 Arch and Anne giles Kimbrough fund Award include: Morehshin Allahyari, Jordan glazer, Nicolas g. Miller and Jonathan A. Mo-lina garcia.And the two recipients of the 2013 otis and velma davis dozier Travel grant are Matthew Bourdon and Jeff f. Wheeler.

ARTicLE oF ThE WEEk…A new setting for the Collection Jumex

As of November 2013, Mexico City will welcome a new museum des-tined for the Jumex Collection.The institution will exhibit the large contemporary art collection of eu-genio lópez, the heir of agribusi-ness Jumex. The collection is pres-ently housed in a building located in a popular suburb of Mexico City, ecatepec.situated in the chic district of Po-

lanco, the new building is located near the Museo soumaya, which is owned by billionaire Carlos slim. The ArtNewspaper’s website stated that the vast museum of 4,000sqm is six storeys high and was designed by architect david Chipperfield. It will host at least six exhibitions per year. The rich collection of 2,600 works is considered to be the largest private contemporary art collection in latin

America. It specialises in contempo-rary Mexican artists such as Miguel Calderón, Abraham Cruzvillegas and Mario garcía Torres, and also includes works by Tacita dean, olafur eliasson, Martin Kippenberger and Bruce Nau-man.



Museums…

opENiNg…

A museum for Rothko in LatviaMark Rothko’s native city inau-gurated, on 24 April 2013, a mu-seum created in honour of the American painter.The opening of the museum was a great opportunity for his son, Christopher Rothko, to rec-ognise “a wonderful homecom-ing for [his] father” and add that “it’s also very exciting that this is a living art centre that will promote new art from the region.”Mark Rothko (1903-1970), his real name being Marcus Roth-kovitz, is one of the masters of modern art. As a figure of abstract expressionism, his work is characterised by a jux-taposition of colour blocks. The Mark Rothko Art Centre in Daugavpils is located in a vast complex dating from the Tsarist era. It also includes conference rooms and spaces dedicated to artists.In 2012, Orange, red, yellow, a painting by Rothko, was sold for $86.9m during an auction sale organised by Christie’s in New york.

FuNd RAiSiNg…

The Tate Americas Foundation to organise the Third Triennial Artists DinnerThe charity gala is scheduled for 8 May 2013 at skylight in New york.organised in order to raise funds for Tate Modern, with dior as its main spon-sor, the dinner will honour more than 30 artists from North and south America, whose works are presented in Tate’s permanent collection. Among them, Marina Abramovic, Jennifer Allora and guillermo Calzadilla, Alexander Apostol, Alexan-dre Arrechea, Tania Bruguera, Nathan Carter, James Casebere, Marco Castillo and dagoberto Rodriguez de los Carpinteros, vija Celmins, Bruce davidson, sam gil-liam, Wade guyton, Barkley hendricks, Jenny holzer, Roni horn, emilia and Ilya Kabakov, Alex Katz, guillermo Kuitca, suzanne lacy, glenn ligon, sharon lockhart, Paul McCarthy, Julie Mehretu, vik Muniz, Bruce Nauman and susan Rothenberg, ernesto Neto, damián ortega, Tony oursler, elizabeth Peyton, Richard Phillips, Rh Quaytman, Taryn simon, lorna simpson, frances stark, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Charline von heyl and lawrence Weiner.The event will also feature an auction sale directed by simon de Pury, who will pres-ent items generously donated by the patrons of Tate.

pRojEcT…

The Museum of Vancouver to soon moveThe Mov’s management wants to reinforce the position of the institution in the cul-tural realm of vancouver in the years to come.The museum has thus announced that it intends to find an optimal location in order to complete its exhibitions and awards ceremonies. In fact, the Mov has been lo-cated at vanier Park since 1967 and, although this site is picturesque, it has a load of complications. A current study is then being conducted by AldrichPears Associates (APA), in order to establish a functional programme for the museum to determine its best option.The director of APA, Isaac Marshall, said that there are presently lots of opportunities in vancouver. It is then time for the Mov to show how it can redefine the role of a museum institution through this project.

ART MEdiA AgENcy (AMA)

Art Media Agency (AMA) is published by the A&F Markets company, limited company with a registered capital of €40,000, incorporated in the Company and Trade Register of Paris under the n°530 512 788. 267 rue lecourbe, f-75021 Paris, france.artmediaagency.com is hosted by the ovh company, simplified joint stock company with a regis-tered capital of €10,000,000, incormporated in the Company and Trade Register of Roubaix-Tourcoing n°424 761 419. 2 rue Kellermann, f-59500 Roubaix, france.

Director of publication: Pierre NaquinChief editor: Antoine Cadeo de IturbideContact: [email protected]: 100,000 subscribers



http://www.artmediaagency.com/

mailto:dropbox%40artmediaagency.com?subject=

Exhibition of autoportraits at the Art Gallery of Ontariofrom 13 April to 8 december 2013, the Art gallery of on-

tario is presenting the exhibition “self-por-trait. As I think of myself. ”This show goes beyond the aesthetic ap-preciation of the self-portraits to explore what the practice of self-portraits reveals about artists. An artist’s identity is discov-ered in the study of his posture and facial expressions, as well as his choice of decor, and the costumes and/or style of his work. self-portraits allow artists to explore a range of emotional states, both psychologi-cal and spiritual, to express themselves.The Art gallery of ontario has a large col-lection of self-portraits created in a wide range of mediums from the early 16th cen-tury to the present. This selection features works by artists such as Rembrandt, Käthe Kollwitz, edvard Munch, greg Curnoe and Alex Colville.

Exhibition of new acquisi-tions in the gardens of the Städel MuseumThe gardens of the museum

opened their doors on 30 April 2013, with a grand celebration inaugurating the acqui-sition of new sculptures as well as the fu-ture expansion of the building dedicated to contemporary art.Thus, a great number of fascinating art-works are visible in the gardens, some of which are interactive. Among the artists who created installations are olaf Nicolai, Tobias Rehberger and Jan svenungsson, as well as fritz Wotruba and george Bures Miller Croissant. The latter, whose works were already part of the permanent collec-tion of the museum, indeed added a new creation to the exterior gardens.The new arrangement of the sculpture col-lection is based on a new visual scenogra-phy. The exhibition that is presently visible starts with a performance titled Watering hole, created by Adrian Williams, a con-temporary artist who lives in frankfurt. This complex work combines music, text and au-dible objects at the same time, with a spa-cious dantesque choreography. This event was made possible thanks to the recently formed society of friends of the gardens, the “städel gartengesellschaft,” which in-cludes private persons. Its goal is to gain fi-nancial support for the presentation of the installations and the contemporary art per-formances in the gardens of the museum.

WhAT’S oN…Jeffrey Gibson at the Institute of Contemporary Art/BostonFrom 1st May to 14 July 2013, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is exhibiting the works of American artist Jeffrey gibson.It is the New york artist’s first personal exhibition. his geometrical and ab-

stract paintings blend with his sculptures, which are done through an ensemble of mediums combining traditional craft with op Art. his most recent paintings are created on stretched skins and form part of the series titled Constellation.Jeffrey gibson was born in Colorado in 1972. he uses all kinds of mediums, from sculp-ture to painting. he studied sculpture under the teaching of ernest Mirabal until 1992, then he obtained his diploma from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995, and his master’s degree in art from the Royal College of Art in london in 1998. his works are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, of the National Museum of the smithsonian Institution and of the denver Art Museum. he has participated in over ten solo exhibitions since 1997.

The art of “making war with war” at Guggenheim in Bilbaofrom 16 March to 8 september 2013, guggenheim in Bilbao is presenting “Art in War. france, 1938-1947: from Picasso to dubuffet.”The event offers the viewing of more than 500 works issued from the work

of about 100 artists, including documentaries, photographs and original films. It focuses on the way the artists resisted and reacted by “making war with war” in spite of their material difficulties. how did the artists rise up against official instructions, in the context of the war and the occupation, to find new aesthetic responses to modify the course of art?According to the two commissioners of the exhibition, Jacqueline Munck and laurence Bertrand dorléac, its objective is to reveal “all that stayed in the intimacy of homes and workshops, refuges, concentration and internment camps, prisons and psychiatric hospi-tals, in the shadow of history.”Among the artists whose works will be exhibited: Pierre Bonnard, victor Brauner, Alex-ander Calder, salvador dalí, Robert delaunay, oscar dominguez, Jean dubuffet, Marcel duchamp, Raoul dufy, Nicolas de staël, Max ernst, Jean fautrier, Alberto giacometti, Ju-lio gonzalez, vasily Kandinsky, fernand léger, henri Michaux, Joan Miró, Paul Klee, René Magritte, André Masson, henri Matisse, francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Pierre soulages, Joseph steib, yves Tanguy, Wols.

A palace for StingelWhile the 55th venice Biennale is scheduled to take place soon, the Palazzo grassi is completely invested in the promotion of the works of artist Rudolf stingel, from 7 April to 31 december.

The estate of the french businessman and avid collector, françois Pinault, allows the artist to freely express his creativity within the 5,000-sqm space at his disposal. The exhibition thus invades the atrium and the two storeys of the palace. The works that are presented include some original artworks, some recent creations as well as a large in-stallation. on the last floor of this majestic building, the artist displays some small-sized oils on religious themes, representing madonnas and saints in an ultra-realistic manner.for the occasion, the rooms of the palace are covered for the first time, from the walls to the flooring with a printed carpet featuring oriental motifs. The event thus presents more than thirty paintings from worldwide collections, including those of the artist and of françois Pinault, the owner of the place. The first storey presents a series of abstract paintings created between Merano and New york, portraying a personal rendering of the city of venice, of its historical, architectural and artistic context.

Ellen Gallagher at Tate ModernFrom 1st May to 1st september 2013, Tate Modern in london will be organis-ing an exhibition dedicated to the work of American artist ellen gallagher.The artist centres her work on the themes of myth, nature, art and social

history to create complex works through a large variety of supports, including painting, drawing, collage, printing, sculpture and video.Among the works that are being presented, Bird in Hand (2006), a complex relief created with layers of printed materials, clays, crystals, paintings and gold leaves. In this work, human life and marine life converge towards the bottom of the ocean in a mythical and dark Atlántida. Moreover, her video installation Murmur 2003–4, created in collaboration with edgar Cleijne, is also visible.ellen gallagher currently lives and works between Rotterdam and New york.



A look at the future at the Victoria & Albert MuseumThe event will be organised from 18 June to 20 october 2013. It

will offer a dramatic look at the future through the immersion of the vision of twenty international artist commissioned for this oc-casion, including illustrators, graphic artists, designers and typographers.The event titled “sky Arts Ignition: Memory Palace” is an adaptation to today’s taste of the version of a work by fiction author hari Kunzru. The way books are read has changed, and this exhibition reflects on the new way of reading as a living history through which spectators pass. Thus, the story takes place in a futuristic city in london, hundreds of years after the worldwide information in-frastructure was demonstrated through an enormous magnetic turmoil. Technology and knowledge are lost and the days are dark and morose. Nature takes back its rights over the city and power finds itself in the hands of a group that advocates a life of extreme sim-plicity for all inhabitants.The narrator of the story is in prison, after having been accused of being the member of a sect banned for wanting to revive art through the memories of individuals. The goal of this sect is to recall the past as much as possible, while the policy of the past gen-erations is based on forgetfulness. The narra-tor uses his prison cell as a “memory palace,” his personal museum composed of fractions of memories and details of the past. In fact, according to his beliefs, without memories, civilisation is lost.

9th edition of the European Night of Museums in ParisThe 9th edition of the european Night of Museums will he held

on 18 May 2013.This event is organised throughout european countries and is a great opportunity to visit museums at night, namely the museums of the City of Paris: the museums of art and history, the literature museums, and homes of artists.The night of the museums allows visitors to discover for free certain temporary exhibi-tions. This year there will be: “Keith harring, the political line” at the museum of modern art, “École de shanghaï (1840-1920)” which represents paintings and calligraphies from the museum of shanghai to the museum of Cernuschi, “dessins de jeunesse de Bour-delle -le broyeur de sombre” at the Bourdelle museum, as well as the exhibitions of felix Ziem “j’ai rêvé le beau” and “dalou (1838-1902) le sculpteur de la République” at the Petit Palais.

coMiNg SooN…Highlight on René Lalique at the Gemeentemuseum Den HaagThe event will be held from 22 June to 10 November 2013 at the ge-meentemuseum den haag, located in The hague in the Netherlands. It will offer an exhibition of exclusive objects created by René lalique

(1860-1945), the master of french new art and decorative art.The works produced by this jewellery designer and glassmaker are iconic symbols of luxury that illustrate the periods of new art and art deco. his artworks are sought after across oceans and large sums of money are spent for the acquisitions of his works at auction sales. “René lalique (1860-1945) – Master of french Art Nouveau and Art deco” will be the first major exhibition of his works to be organised in the Netherlands.This exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated wash-drawing style catalogue of the works of René lalique. The catalogue is the completion of a doctoral study of four years, conducted at the university of leiden by researcher lennart Booij, who was born in 1970.

First major exhibition for Audrey Niffenegger at the National Museum of Women in the ArtsThe event titled “Awake in the dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffeneg-ger“ will be held at the NsWA in Washington, from 21st June to 10 No-

vember 2013. organised under the curatorship of Krystyna Wasserman, the exhibition will feature the works of Audrey Niffenegger, an artist who has made a name for herself in the field of visual arts and who namely wrote The Time Traveler’s Wife.Through 239 paintings, drawings, prints and art books, the artist will unveil a mys-terious, bizarre and fanciful world, real and imaginary at the same time. she uses both images and words to describe universal experiences such as the ephemeral and addictive nature of love, the ineluctability of death as well as the particular feeling conveyed by the passing of time.The artist’s corpus is the reminiscence of her renowned predecessors, such as edward gorey, Audrey Beardsley, egon schiele and horst Janssen, seen through the honest brutality and the feminine perspective of the artist.

First retrospective of Rob Pruitt at the Aspen Art MuseumThe event titled “Rob Pruitt: An American folk Artist” will take place from 3rd May to 14 July 2013. It will be the first retrospective organised in honour of the artist at an American museum. It will thus feature some

30 works created by the artist.Rob Pruitt is an artist who plays with risks and works with various mediums. since the beginning of the 1990s, the artist has launched some investigations regarding pop-ular American culture, which have each taken different forms. his brilliant portraits of pandas represent the incarnation of celebrities such as Kiss, the rock stars of the 1970s, as well as hollywood actress denise Richards, cuddling up, eating or climbing trees. All of the artist’s works have a common post-pop sensibility, through which he enjoys satirising the world of art and its ambivalent relations with popular culture and celebrities.Born in 1964 in Washington, Rob Pruitt’s works have been exhibited internationally throughout the past 25 years.

Gérard Rancinan and Caroline Gaudriault at the Danubiana Contem-porary Art Museum in BratislavaThe event titled “The Trilogy of the Modern + Chaos” will be taking place from 18 May to 1 september 2013, and offer both an artistic epic

“The Trilogy of the Modern” along with a new series of photographs titled “Chaos”.This major retrospective will allow to compare the sharp gaze of both artists on con-temporary society, its mutations and paradoxes. Rancinan will be presenting monu-mental photographs (between 3 and 6-meter large) and gaudriault, her often imper-tinent words and convincing reflections. The event will be traveling around museums throughout the world, after an exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo Paris in 2010 and the Museum of the Milan Triennial in 2011.This exhibition thus displays the statement of two artists who are neither partisans nor activists, and who just present their view on our times, unveiling the contradic-tions of society, the frantic progress of history, the virtuality of the world defeating reality, and the unlimited and vertiginous power of science.



interview…

The duplex 100 m² gallery, based in sarajevo, is the only one gallery in Bosnia. Art Media Agency met with the French founder of the project, Pierre Courtin.

Why did you choose to open an exhibition space in Sarajevo?I had the opportunity to go to Bosnia in 2000, on the occasion of an erasmus exchange. Then, as I was im-pressed by this devastated city, which is just about

three hours away from Paris, I decided to go back in 2004. The recent history of the country gives people the need to express themselves. The artistic practices of Bosnian artists thus stand out because of the difficult context.

Can you please explain the structure of the Duplex 100 m² Gallery and its functioning?first of all, between 2004 and 2011, we started exhibiting our artists’ works in a cubic space, lo-cated in the centre of the town of sarajevo, with a 10-sqm surface, ant the exhibition venue was open 24/24 because of its structure. In fact, as it was a glass cube, people passing by the place could see the artworks from outside, and I decided to leave the lights on all night long. In spite of the momentum of our exhibition space, the type of content displayed was mostly about perfor-mances and did not necessarily attract sales. Therefore we had to put a stop to our activity. since 2008, thanks to the sponsoring of Agnès B, we were able to settle in a new, more conventional space near the 10m² gallery, which allowed us to exhibit the works of our artists during longer periods.

What welcome did you receive?Throughout the first five years, we worked at a slow pace and organised about two events per year. Thanks to more freedom, we were able to present the works of multiple artists, amateurs and students, who were reunited because of their desire to create without limits. We received very positive feedbacks and people were very open to what we had to offer; the press was also very interested in our work.

Could you tell us about the art market in Bosnia?unfortunately, there is no art market in Bosnia. We can say that we are the only gallery in Bosnia. As for the state, not a single public acquisition has been made. furthermore, despite the existence of a modest social class in sarajevo, buying artworks is not part of the culture of the population.Nevertheless, Bosnia’s history pushed many of its people to start creating. There is a true breed-ing ground for artists there, but their works are not exhibited in Bosnia.

Because of the lack of the demand for artworks in Bosnia, your only way of reaching a public of collectors is then through participating in fairs in other countries?In fact, even though we expect a change in the habits of the Bosnian people, we are currently forced to organise exhibitions abroad in order to pay our artists. The welcome to such events is very warm and the artists that we represent benefit from an increasing success.

Memory Lane, Unknown photographer, early 1950-s, Grandparents

201240x60cm

Digital C-Print mounted on aluminiumCourtesy Duplex 100 m2

FocuS oN SARAjEvo’S ART ScENEiNTERviEW WiTh piERRE couRTiN, FouNdER

oF ThE dupLEx 100 M² gALLERy

“ U n f o r t u n a t e l y , there is no art market in Bosnia. We can say that we are the only gallery

in Bosnia. “



galleries…

REpRESENTATioNS…Peter Halley now represented by the Xippas Gallery in ParisThe xippas gallery has announced that it will now represent American artist Peter halley.The gallery, located in the heart of the Marais district in Paris, will offer its first per-sonal exhibition for the abstract painter from 8 June to 27 July 2013. The geometrical paintings of Peter halley deal with the relation between what the artist calls “prisons” and “cells,” which reflect the rise of the geometrisation of the social space in the world in which we live.Peter halley was born in New york. he graduated with an Art degree from the univer-sity of yale and the university of New orleans. since 1980, he has been living and working in New york.The xippas gallery is also present in geneva, switzerland, in Athens, greece and even in Montevideo, uruguay.

Jay DeFeo at Mitchell-Innes and NashNew york gallery Mitchell-Innes and Nash has announced that it will now represent artist Jay DeFeo through the trust that manages her estate.After a grand exhibition at the Whitney Museum, the gallery is planning a retrospec-tive on the work of defeo in 2014. The founder of the gallery, lucy Mitchell-Innes, explained on the website of Arts Observer that “her work intersects three areas of interest to us, Abstract expressionism; european art from the 1950s, ‘60s and ’70s; and women artists.”The works of Jay defeo (1929-1989) are present in the collections of the Whitney Mu-seum of American Art, of the Museum of Modern Art, of the san francisco Museum of Modern Art, of the Art Institute of Chicago, of the Norton simon Museum, of the Art Mu-seum of the university of California, and of the Berkeley and Mills College Museum of Art.

opENiNg…Opening of the State of the Art Gallery in RockfordThe opening is scheduled for 3rd May 2013.on the occasion of its opening, the gallery will exhibit paintings, sculptures and glass-works created by salem Barker, John gerd-ner, Roni golan, John lombrardo, Joel ott-man and Paul Pinzarrone. on the night of the inauguration, Anne o’Keefen, the president of the Rockford Area Arts Council, and steve larsen, the musical director of the Rockford symphony orchestra, will be present.As the property of local artist Roni golan, the gallery will place emphasis on the promotion of the works of artists from Rockford and will then allow emerging artists to have a space at their disposal to present their works. The gallery also plans on educating and allowing the residents of the city to appreciate the field of arts through music, visual arts and performances.golan graduated from the Ramat-hasharan Art College in 1991 and settled in Rockford in 1996. his works explore a variety of mediums and styles.

ARTicLE oF ThE WEEk…Focus on galleries in Berlin

from 26 to 28 April 2013, the city of Ber-lin organised the gallery Weekend 2013.The city holds no art fairs but the event filled that void by highlighting Berlin’s network of galleries. This year, under the direction of the french Cédric Aurelle, 51 galleries participated in the event by opening their spaces with rich and varied programmes, including 66 exhibitions and events.The Berlin gallery Weekend enables lo-cal traders to be spotlighted by creating an emulation between them. Among the

exhibitions that were presented: german artist feldmann exhibited Lichtfleck (light spot), 2013, an installation made out of luminous rectangles positioned on blue and green walls, displayed at the Mehdi Chouakri gallery, which will also go on until 1st June.The Aurel scheiber gallery exhibited the works of avant-gardist Austrian painter Curt stenvert (1920-1992), which will last until 22 June 2013. As for esther schipper, she presented the installa-tion Primal d’Ugo Rondinone, 37 bronze

horses dispersed on the wooden floor of the gallery. lastly, gallery owner Isabella Bortolozzi presented the works of Colum-bian artist oscar Murillo.Concerning the artists whose installa-tions are still visible, george Condo, Rich-ard Artschwager and Joseph Kosuth are at the sprüth Magers until 22 June, Alice Ay-cock at the galerie Thomas schulte until 29 June, Carsten Nicolai at the eigen+Art until 18 May, and ugo Rondinone at es-ther schipper until 30 May.





Jin Shan & Ma Ke in Berlinon the occasion of the gallery Week-end Berlin 2013, Mindpirates invited the Platform China gallery based in

hong-Kong and Beijing to curate an exhibi-tion at the Mindpirates Projektraum. The event will be held from 25 April to 17 May 2013.A video installation produced by artist Jin shan as well as paintings and drawings created by Ma Ke will be exhibited for the first time in Berlin. While at the first sight their creations seem completely different, these artists share common traits that spotlight very individual and personal approaches to art in China.The video installation by Jin shan titled One Man’s Island (2010) consist of 50 video fragments gath-ered by the artist during a year and a half, accom-panied by a manuscript: a source of inspiration and thoughts written in parallel with the creation of the films. his work is a video project compared to journal writing, noting and expressing a solitary man’s life. The installation questions the possibil-ity of confrontation and dialogue between daily life and artistic creation. The only location where the movies were shot is the artist’s studio where Jin shan actually lives. every piece includes the precise date of the shooting.The paintings and drawings exhibited during the event were produced by Ma Ke during a recent res-idence in Austria and were not displayed before. The artist revisits events marking the human life, interactions and landscapes.

Julie Mehretu at the White Cubefrom 1 May to 7 July 2013, the White Cube gallery in london will offer its first solo show for artist Julie Meh-

retu, of ethiopian origins.The event titled “liminal squared” will present some new paintings by the artist, in the framework of a collaboration with designer david Adjaye. de-scribed by curator Douglas Fogle as “perfect met-aphors for the increasingly interconnected and complex character of the 21st century,” Mehretu’s large-sized paintings are filled with a broad range of techniques.This exhibition will feature five new canvases, in-cluding Mogamma: A Painting in Four Parts, the title gathering four monumental canvases that were recently exhibited at doCuMeNTA (13). Mogamma refers to “Al-Mogamma,” the name of the govern-mental building in Tahrir, Cairo, which played a key role in the 2011 revolution. The word “Mogamma” also means “collective” in Arabic and also refers to a multiconfessional place.For these paintings, Mehretu used hundreds of images from different places in the world – urban centres that have become meeting points for dis-ruptions and revolutions – and combined them with lines and coloured arches.Julie Mehretu was born in 1970 in Addis Ababa in ethiopia. she lives and works in New york and Berlin.

WhAT’S oN…

The work of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov at the Ivorypress Gallery in Madridfrom 9 April to 18 May, the Ivorypress gallery in Madrid is exhib-iting the works of artistic Russian couple Ilya and emilia Kabakov.

The artists, who are presently living in the united states, are presenting “vertical Paintings and other Works.” This selection of works deals with the his-tory of art and literature. Their work is filled with soviet sociocultural references, a universe in which they grew up. But the themes used in their works, such as utopia, fantasy, fear and dreams, are universal. The Ivorypress gallery is exhibit-ing works produced between the beginning of the 1990s to nowadays.Among the works exhibited, The Dark Spot Forgotten by Malevitch (2006), an ironic reference to the work of the great Russian painter. According to the Kabak-ovs, among all his geometrical paintings, Malevich “never painted a dark spot,” an omission that they have corrected through this piece. Another major work is The Palace of Projects, two white wings hanging from their back, “the time to think for a few minutes every two hours on the course our daily lives have taken, which is the secret to kindness and to becoming better persons and increase our creativity.”Ilya and emilia started working together in 1988 and got married in 1992. The entirety of their work is collaborative and adopts a critical position in regards to the post-stalin political regimes and the social conditions of the soviet union in which they grew up. They are now very famous, as much in Russia (the first retrospective devoted to a living artist at The state hermitage Museum in saint Petersburg was dedicated to Ilya in 2004) as abroad, with numerous prizes and exhibitions throughout the world. They are presently residing and working in long Island in the united states.

Joan Jonas returns to Yvon Lambertfrom 27 April to 31 May, American artist Joan Jonas is exhibiting her work at the yvon lambert gallery in Paris.After having exhibited there in 2005 and 2006, Joan Jonas has

returned to yvon lambert in Paris to present a series of works including videos, sculptures and installations. This work is issued from the installation Re-animation (In a Meadow) shown at documenta 13 in Kassel in 2012. In the park of Karlsaue, the artist designed the creation of a wooden cabin and videos, draw-ings and sculptures can be seen through its windows.The gallery will also show the declination of the work: the destruction of the cabin – the inside of which is inaccessible – as well as the diffusion of the corre-sponding performance through a scenography designed by the artist.Joan Jonas was born in 1936, and lives and works in New york. As a prominent figure of American post-war art, she benefited from a long succession of exhi-bitions throughout the world, namely at the Queens Museum of Art, New york (2003), at the staatsgalerie, stuttgart (2000) and at the stedelijk Museum, Am-sterdam (1994). she has been represented during key exhibitions such as docu-menta v, vI, vII and xI. she teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and in 2009 she won the guggenheim’s first lifetime Achievement Award.

Iván Navarro’s conceptual art explained at the Daniel Templon Galleryfrom 25 April to 1 June 2013, Chilean artist Iván Navarro will ex-hibit an original selection of trompe-l’œil sculptures at the galerie

daniel Templon.Iván Navarro uses light as his main material by converting objects into electric sculptures and transforming spaces into optical games. his work portrays the icons of modernism by denouncing the risk of emptying formalism from all its commitments. Always in the form of watermarks, the conversion of his minimalist aesthetics becomes a pretext for subtle political and social criticism.With “Where is the Next War,” Iván Navarro conveys his interest in german artist Josef Albers, the pioneer of optical art. This great experimenter of colours and abstraction and professor at Bauhaus fled Nazism and found refuge in the united states, where he taught at the famous Black Mountain College.Born in 1972 in santiago, Iván Navarro grew up under the dictatorship of Pi-nochet. he settled in the united states in 1997.



The three-dimensionality of Richard Anuszkiewicz at the David Richard GalleryThe event titled “Richard Anuszkiewicz, variations: evolution of the Artist’s Media 1986 – 2012” will

present the first exhibition of the artist organised at the gallery, from 10 May to 15 June 2013.The event will offer the viewing of the works of the artist in three dimensions, namely mural reliefs and sculptures on pedestals. These works will be accompanied by drawings and paintings re-tracing the evolution of Anuszkiewicz’s art from 1986 to 2012. The artist in fact evolved throughout his career, going from purely bi-dimensional plans to the exploration of visual perception and three-dimensional spaces. The artist thus creates reduced struc-tures, that are not just more architectural but also simpler than his paintings. In fact, the artist bases his work less on the tech-niques of painting in order to create optical illusions, and more on a literal approach complete with an addition of pure colours. Among the works that will be up for viewing will be those from The Translumina series.Finally, the event will be accompanied by a catalogue in printed version or downloadable online, including an essay by John yau.Richard Anuskiewicz studied at the university of yale with Josef Albers. his works have been presented at over 340 solo and group exhibitions since 1951, and he is currently involved in the exhi-bition titled “dynamo: A Century of light and Motion in Art, 1913 – 2013,” which is being presented at the galeries Nationales du grand Palais in Paris until July. his works are part of the perma-nent collections of over 70 museum institutions throughout the world, namely at the Art Institute of Chicago, at the guggenheim Museum in New york, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New york, and at the MoMA in New york.

Tim Hawkinson at the Pace GalleryThe event is scheduled from 3 May to 29 June 2013. It will offer the viewing of new works created by the artist, as well as a catalogue with an interview by

Jori Finkel.The artist’s specific creations are meditations on nature, machines, death, the human body and conscience. since the 1980s, hawkin-son has used domestic and handmade materials, or materials that he found, as well as mechanical components to change the ob-jects with which we are familiar into enigmas filled with profound sense. his inventive works explore divers techniques, namely monumental kinetics and sculptures producing sounds, as well as the creation of microscopic pieces done with improbable materi-als such as nail clippers and eggshells.Inspired by materials and by his interest in their transformation, the artist continues to create associations that are not innate at first but cause spectators to reflect upon them. All of the works here are named according to the cookies sold by scouts.Born in 1960 in san francisco, Tim hawkinson obtained his BfA from the san Jose university in 1984, then his MfA from the uni-versity of California in los Angeles in 1989. his works have been exhibited at more than 40 solo shows and 75 group exhibitions since 1981, namely at the venice Biennale in 1999 and at the Whitney Biennial in 2002. Four of his enigmatic watches are in-cluded in the permanent collections of the North Carolina Art Mu-seum. he currently lives and works in California.

coMiNg SooN…Exhibition of Jeff Koons at Gagosianfrom 9 May to 29 June 2013, the gagosian gallery in New york will exhibit the works of artist Jeff Koons, who will present some of his new canvases and

sculptures on this occasion.After the exhibitions organised at the gagosian galleries in lon-don and los Angeles, Jeff Koons will present his work at the New york site for the first time. Inspired by children’s art, comics and antiques, Koons tries to touch the heart of human psychology. Thanks to his conceptual constructions, including novelty, banal-ity and sublimity, Koons presents baroque creations that portray innocence, beauty, sexuality and happiness through combina-tions that are often abstract.since his last solo show in 1980, the artist’s works have been exhibited internationally. Among his most recent solo exhi-bitions: “Jeff Koons: versailles” at the Château de versailles in france (2008-09); at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New york (2008); at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin; and at the ser-pentine gallery in london (2009); at the Beyeler foundation in Basel (2011); at the schirn Kunsthalle and liebieghaus skulp-turensammlung in frankfurt (2012). The Whitney Museum will present a retrospective on his work in 2014.

Paul McCarthy honoured at Hauser & Wirthhauser & Wirth has announced that it will dedicate its spring programme in New york to Paul McCarthy, one of the most influential American artists. The

gallery will present three independent exhibitions and a presentation of sculptures in the open air.The works of Paul McCarthy will be presented at hauser & Wirth in New york City through three major exhibitions: “sculptures” will be held from 10 May to 1st June, “life Cast” from 10 May to 26 July and “Rebel dabble Babble” from 20 June to 26 July. These exhibitions are described by the artist as the components of only one of his current works: “They are parts of one enormous puzzle, very much the way members of a family are individuals but at the same time connected as participants in another whole entity.”The exhibitions at hauser & Wirth will be completed by some sculptures installed by the artist on the outside. The massive bronze composition titled sisters (2013) will be visible at the hudson River Park in Chelsea until 26 June, while the inflated structure Balloon dog (2013) will be shown at Randall’s Island during the frieze New york Art fair.

Dan Colen’s work at the Oko Galleryfrom 15 May to 15 June 2013, New york gallery oko will exhibit the work of artist dan Colen.“The spirits that I called” is an exploration of the

way imagination, theatricality and the will to challenge the norms of culture preoccupied artists throughout time. The exhibition features the juxtaposition of Colen’s Miracle Paint-ings with a fantastic painting by John Anster Fitzgerald titled Titania and Bottom: A scene from a Midsummer-Night’s dream, created between 1848 and 1851.In this event exploring the hierarchical organisation of culture, dan Colen and John Anster fitzgerald open doors to escape to our fantasies. Colen’s canvases thus appear as hyperrealistic snapshots of the world of fantasy, what we would like to see if we could leave the realistic representation of things and have access to magic.Born in 1979, dan Colen studied painting at the Rhode Island school of design, from which he graduated in 2001. he has been involved in multiple exhibitions in the united states and abroad. his art combines the intensity of true life with reflections on the subjects of immanence and beliefs.



interview…

The Art Plural gallery is a gallery dedicated to modern and contemporary art and de-sign, located in the heart of the cultural district of singapore. founded by art trader frédéric de sernaclens, this innovative platform presents solo shows, group exhibi-tions, installations, public art projects, conferences as well as artistic productions. Art Media Agency interviewed its founder, frédéric de senarclens.

You established the Art Plural Gallery in Singapore in 2008, after having left your hometown Geneva. Why did you choose Singapore to expand your activities?We founded the gallery in 2008 in order to develop my art trade and gallery management activ-ities in Asia. singapore was more attractive than hong Kong since it was a younger market with a strong potential. Besides, the government in singapore have invested some colossal sums to de-velop a great number of infrastructures, art fairs, museums, and free-ports for quite a number of years now, in order to transform the City-state into a flagship cultural pole in Asia. In singapore, we organised a few public art projects, we invited international artists, and we participated in art fairs before inaugurating the Art Plural gallery in 2011.

Is it easier to open a gallery in Singapore?After managing my own gallery in geneva for a few years, it was much easier for me to open my gallery in singapore. however, to answer your question, geneva was my hometown and from the start I benefitted from an important network and a captive public of collectors. In singapore, I had to start from scratch, overcome cultural borders and progressively gain the trust of Asian collectors.

Could you please speak about the art market in Singapore? Are there a lot of collectors?At the crossroads between Indonesia, China and India, singapore is an ideal location in Asia and attracts collectors from the entire region. The recent success of “Art stage singapore,” the international contem-porary art fair, shows the importance of the south-eastern market in Asia. orga-nised during the festival, our personal exhibition of fabienne verdier was a tremendous success. Throughout the past few years, we have noticed a real enthusiasm for art and seen the number of collectors increase.

How do you choose the artists with whom you work?Above all, according to personal taste and thanks to my “good eye” for con-temporary art. Art is a passionate pro-fession. I only choose artists whose work and philosophy I admire. Meeting back at the studio is a crucial, often in-tense moment. Whether the Thukral & Tagra in India, Bernar venet in the south of france, Chun Kwang young in Korea, or the starn brothers in New york, they all tell a story and I am very grateful that they opened their doors to receive us.

Please tell us more about your background. Why did you choose art trading?Art has always been my passion and I have been a collector for a very long time. I studied political sciences and economics, and after working abroad, I had the opportunity to work for a major art trader. Then I opened my own business with my own gallery. more next page…

View of the Art Plural Gallery©Michael Culme-Seymour.Images

courtesy of Art Plural Gallery

A viEW oF SiNgApoRE WiTh ThE ART pLuRAL gALLERyiNTERviEW WiTh FRédéRic dE SENARcLENS



You focus mostly on modern and contemporary art and design. Did you choose these specialities according to the taste of Singaporean collectors?My primary expertise is modern and contemporary art. Design Art is an innovative discipline and we thought that it would be interesting to bring it to Asia. As a matter of fact, we have just inaugurated the exhibition “Pablo Reinoso” in Macau, on the occasion of French May, which got a lot of media attention. our choice of art reflects my taste and my artistic preference, which I pass on to my cli-ents.

You also organise conferences and artistic pub-lications. Are the residents of Singapore open to learning art?The singaporean public is very curious and wants to learn in general. As for the collectors, they are very well informed and extremely educated. As for these conferences, which attract a large public, we offer above all the opportunity to meet artists and to understand their practices.

You have been mentioned by the press as a lead-ing gallery in Singapore. How did you succeed in

reaching that status?It is the fruit of an incredible amount of work. We have organised some major artistic projects, public art, and numerous exhibitions. The solo shows of Ian davenport, shirin Neshat, Bernar venet and fabienne verdier attracted a great number of visitors and stirred great interest from the international press.

You are located in a historical building, in the heart of the cultural district of Singapore. How did you choose this location?We were looking for a great commercial area in this historical part of the city, in the heart of the district of museums. We were lucky to find this unique four-storey place, 1,200sqm in an Art deco building. It is the dream of all gallery owners…

You emphasise the meeting of the East and the West through cultural exchanges, dialogues and ideas. Is it because you wish to educate collectors or is it a matter of personal taste?The Art Plural gallery is an international gallery project in the heart of singapore. It is therefore important to create an intercultural platform, to favour exchanges namely between the east and the West. With artists such as Qiu Jie, whose works will be presented in october 2013, Chun Kwang young and fabienne verdier, this dialogue is reflected even in the heart of their works.

You will be celebrating the two years of your existence at the end of May. For this occasion, you chose to exhibit the works of Korean artist Chun Kwang Young. Why did you choose this artist in particular?We are very happy to present the works of this tremendous artist within our walls. This exhibition will be spread throughout our storeys for a total immersion into his artistic universe. he is one of the greatest Korean artists and we are pleased to honour him.

Thinking over the past two years, would you have chosen Singapore as the city to open your gallery or would you have chosen another city?singapore has come to be an excellent choice. It is often the first spot to be chosen in Asia. It is a young, dynamic and entrepreneurial city in which I find myself.

What are your plans for the future?We would like to continue in this path and develop our international activities.

Frédéric de SenarclensPhotography by Michael Culme-Seymour.

Imagescourtesy of Art Plural Gallery

« Singapore was more attractive than Hong Kong since it was a younger market with a

strong potential. »

A viEW oF SiNgApoRE WiTh ThE ART pLuRAL gALLERyiNTERviEW WiTh FRédéRic dE SENARcLENS



Artists…

juSTicE…Richard Prince wins case against Patrick CariouAn American court went back on its 18 March 2011 decision regarding a copyright conflict opposing Richard Prince and Patrick Cariou.In fact, since the end of the year 2008, french photographer Patrick Cariou has been involved in a conflict with American artist Richard Prince for not respecting his copyright. on the occa-sion of an exhibition at the gagosian gallery, Richard Prince used photographs from the book yes Rasta by Cariou to create some collages for the Canal Zone series.The court of appeal concluded that, among Prince’s works, 25 sufficiently transformed the works of Cariou so that the reproduction of his photographs could be considered as done with fair use. Prince’s images “have a different character” and “employ new aesthetics with creative and com-municative results distinct from Cariou’s,” according to Judge Bd Parker’s decision, reported on the website of The Art Newspaper. The decision also stated that the gagosian gallery and its owner lawrence gagosian, initially judged as being partly responsible, are now free from all charges.

Mr Brainwash charged for not respecting copyrightThe Art Newspaper’s website reported the decision of a Californian judge who charged french street artist Thierry guetta, aka Mr Brainwash, regarding the conflict opposing him to photog-rapher Dennis Morris.Thierry guetta reproduced on a wall and used as a collage a photo of sid vicius, taken by Morris in 1977. An American court considered that guetta’s work did not “transform” the photograph. According to the information found on the website, the judge explained that “most of [the] defendant’s works add certain new elements, but the overall effect of each is not transformative.”Mr Brainwash became famous for his role in the film Exit Through the Gift Shop by Banksy. he was already charged in 2011 for not having respected the copyright of glen friedman, a pho-tographer from the rap group Run dMC.

The risks of the jobArtist Kenny scharf was arrested in Williamsburg on 19 April 2013, as he was working on a graffiti on the wall of a private property in Brooklyn.Two weeks after the opening of his exhibition at the Paul Kasmin gallery, titled “Kolors,” the artist who sprayed a serpent on the wall announced that he spent 20 hours in custody at 2 prisons in Brooklyn. on his facebook page, the artist stated that the “cops who arrested me were fans and wanted to talk about exit through the gift shop and even liked the tag.”A spokesperson for the New york police said that the artist made the following statement: “This is art. I did it. I’m sorry.”Kenny scharf was born in los Angeles and made a name for himself along with his friends and contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith haring in the 1980s. As one of the first artists to inject the elements of the culture of the streets in contemporary art, scharf is the initiator of various pioneering projects such as Cosmic Cavern-party, a nightclub in the basement of a ware-house in Brooklyn.

coNTRovERSy…Petition for architect Denise Scott BrownThis petition was launched in favour of architect denise scott Brown in re-sponse to the injustice relating to the awarding of the Pritzker Prize in 1991, a prize sponsored by the hyatt foun-dation.In fact, during the awarding of the prize, only her design partner and husband Robert venturi received the award, despite the fact that the couple joined themselves to put their creativ-ity together. The artist is now 81. last month, during a ceremony organised to reward women involved in archi-tecture, she said that she would not welcome any prize but an inclusion ceremony. Following this statement, two students from harvard’s grad-uate school of design launched an online petition that has now received 9,000 signatures, many from world renowned architects, namely former winners of the prize. This very well stirred up the debate in the architec-tural world concerning the constant re-luctance to recognise woman the same way as their male counterparts.The members of the prize organisa-tion explained the exclusion of the architect by the fact that the prize could only be awarded to one person. This changed in 2001 when the prize was given to Jacques herzog and Pi-erre de Meuron, who also signed the online petition. Robert venturi, now 87, signed the petition as well. When he won the prize in 1991, his wife did not go to the award ceremony as a sign of protest.

ARTicLE oF ThE WEEk…Annonce des finalistes du Turner Prize

la Tate a annoncé la liste des finalistes du Turner Prize 2013.l’information relayée par Reuters précise que les Artists sélectionnés pour rem-porter le Awards doté de 25.000 £ sont : laure Prouvost, Tino sehgal, david shrig-ley et lynette yiadom-Boakye.l’artiste française laure Prouvost propose des vidéos où les coupes et les mon-tages sont omniprésents, un travail que le jury juge « surprenant et imprévisible ». egalement nominé, l’artiste germano-Bri-tannique de 36 ans, Tino sehgal. son œuvre These Associations, avait été mise en scène l’an dernier à la Tate Modern

de londres. le jury a déclaré à son sujet qu’il « testait les limites du matériel artis-tique et de la perception du public d’une manière nouvelle et significative. » lyn-ette yiadom-Boakye, artiste ghanéenne installée à londres, peint des portraits réalistes de personnages imaginaires. le jury explique que son travail « soulève des questions pertinentes sur la façon dont nous lisons les images en général, en particulier à l’égard des sujets noirs». enfin le dernier finaliste est l’artiste connu pour son humour, david shrigley, 44 ans, spécialiste des bandes dessinées teintées de mélancolie et d’humour. l’artiste a par

ailleurs été sur le devant de la scène pour la réalisation du clip vidéo de la chanson de Blur, Good Song. Il a été sélectionné par le jury pour « david shrigley: Brain Activ-ity », la rétrospective personnelle qui lui a été consacrée à la hayward gallery où il présentait des dessins, de la photographie, de la sculpture et de la vidéo.une exposition des œuvres des Artists ou-vrira ses portes le 23 octobre 2013 dans la ville qui a été désignée « ville britannique de la culture 2013», derry-londonderry, en Irlande du Nord. le gagnant sera annoncé lors d’une cérémonie de remise le 2 décem-bre 2013.



interview…

What did you want convey through this first personal exhibition?The idea was to not show only what people are used to seeing in my work in the streets, but to explore several means: mirrors, but also wood and iron… I wanted to present all that I knew how to do for my first per-sonal exhibition, have fun with different mediums and show something different. I would like to build on my creation so that spectators can enter my universe, to show the extent of my work through recovery, the raw material of my work.

You would like to show other materials… does this mean that your means of expression are limited in the streets and that galleries allow you to more freely express yourself and explore more possibilities?yes, in the streets, we cannot afford to spend three hours on one piece only for it to be stolen one hour later. It’s sad because this limits creation. The idea is to offer quality work in the streets, not matter the format, since certain works are not transposable. for instance, I would like to cre-ate many larger pieces for the streets, but I am limited by the quantity of mirrors that I find.

Do you work during the day or during the night?It doesn’t matter. In Paris, I don’t have a problem working during the day because Parisians are caught in their world and are mostly individualists, so they don’t really bother with that. But it’s because I am worried that my work will be stolen that I work during the night.

What do you mean?By the time the glue sticks, some people can take the opportunity to re-move the work. That’s the problem. otherwise I would work during the day without any problem.

Is there a big difference between the pieces that you create on the streets and the ones that you make for collectors to purchase at gal-leries?yes, just by looking at the format and the quality of the work! It is quite difficult to glue large formats in the streets. otherwise, I spend more time in my workshop on the pieces that I bring to galleries. I know that people are happy to find what they see in the streets. That’s why I can’t wait to see the expression on their faces when they view my new work during the exhibition, where we sometimes exhibit mirrors but mostly in the form of glass.

For you, it is important to bring out glass, to explore new territories? How do you see the need?I want to work with materials. Before I used to do some graffiti and sten-cils, but I got frustrated because I couldn’t handle the materials. The fact of leaning towards mirrors allowed me to discover new tools, a new ma-terial and a new way of working. That’s what I like!

Why are you so fascinated with mirrors?Because they allow me to reflect the city. When we walk and look at dia-monds, they always seem to shine. It’s that relation between mirrors and movements that interests me. more next page…

Miror DiamondLe Diamantaire

Photo: Stéphanie Pioda

Who iS ThE diAMANTAiRE ?

his signature? A diamond with shining mirrors reflecting the city. Why? Because street art is very precious, brings life to the city, energy and gladness to people. The diamantaire (diamond maker) started marking his signature on the walls of the Parisian capital only two years ago, and almost 600 diamonds are already visible just about anywhere in the world. his first exhibition will be held at the Republic gallery from 27 April to 11 May 2013. AMA wanted to find out more about the mysterious person hiding behind this signature. here is an account of the encounter…



And what about choosing this stone that is among the most precious? Do you relate it to some-thing?I wanted to symbolise all that street art represents through diamonds. We have well minimised graffiti, but if this effervescence disappears then the streets will die! letting people express themselves revives the streets. That is important for me because I want to symbolise this through diamonds, to show that street art is a gem! It is precious and shouldn’t be put aside. It should be spotlighted and recognised for the art it represents.

It is indeed precious!yes, and I use mirrors because they brighten up the city.

How long has this diamond been used as your signature?For the past two years.

And when did you meet up with the Republic Gallery?At the end of last year at my workshop.

Compared to other contemporary artists, is it easier to find a gallery? It was easy for you!yes, we reach more people by exhibiting in the streets. We stand out more, and with social net-works it’s also easy to make ourselves known and get contacts. Well, it’s probably vainer to work in the streets, since we consider that it’s nice and rewarding to please people, but what’s impor-tant is the gift we offer to spectators. Today, there are fewer things that are free, and the fact of giving an object, an artwork to passers-by is great.

But the fact that there are more and more works stolen is mostly due to the market, because we see their potential financial value!yes, it’s true, but then stealing means desiring! Then there’s all that gluing back that never ends, but that’s part of the game.

So you mark the places where you glue your artwork on a map?All the street diamonds are numbered so that I know where to find them. If a piece is returned one day, I will know exactly where it was located. There are in total about less than 600 diamonds glued in the world today.

Have you ever come across any returned pieces?yes, but really in pieces! some tried to take them but they left them dead and broken!

Are there any strategic places where you choose to glue your work?yes, I like the centre of Paris in particular because I can reach a large public. It’s not worth gluing a work if it’s afterwards hidden! otherwise I enlarge my gluing perimeter.

Diamond miror multifaceLe DiamantairePhoto: Stéphanie Pioda

« We have well min-imised graffiti, but if this effervescence dis-appears then the streets

will die! »


more next page…



Are there any other cities?We are preparing for the united states this september. Apart from that, I did some gluing in Barcelona, Zurich, Brussels, Bordeaux, Caen. Then I gave some of my diamonds to some friends so that they could stick them in New york and sri lanka, and also in Cor-sica! In fact, an article was written about it in the Corse Matin newspaper!

Was the article positive and commending?yes, yes, and I don’t have any problem with that! When civil ser-vants are sent to repaint walls, they generally make sure not to cover the diamonds and paint around them!

And what about the police?No, the evolution of graffiti forces the law to be adapted. Paint bombs are seen as knives! Bringing them out can be offensive. By making diamonds out of mirrors, I wanted to somewhat stay away from graffiti, stencils, from that sort of thing.

So with this breach, you wanted to stand out and create your own signature?I was not very skilled with graffiti and stencils, and I felt that I was going around in circles. I observed and came the conclusion that this logo was easier to recognise than a name. It is in fact easier to recognise a logo than a tag or a signature. even people that cannot read are able to recognize it, whatever their nationality or language. otherwise I use the same tools as for graffiti, the bombs, which are for me tools among many others.

You use mirrors that you recover. Is it the same case for wood and metal?yes, I get my raw materials exclusively from objects that are recov-ered. even the bombs I used to make this armchair came from an area where graffiti artists go to paint walls. Recovering these items is a lot of work but it’s a big part of my job. It’s completely in line with my projects. I recover, I work on the materials then present them again to the streets or to galleries on occasion.

Now concerning your gallery adventure, why did you choose this one in particular?I already did collective exhibitions, each time at galleries labelled with “graffiti” and “street art” and I wanted to show something else. What is interesting at the Republic gallery is that Benjamin Derouillon manages his contemporary art gallery with art that he falls for, and he exhibits at the same time installations, paintings, photographs…it is all very motivating. I like being in this eclectic universe, not only being linked to “street art.”

Why?Because I get to see so many people and just about everything! That’s probably vain but I think that I manage all of that very well.

It is true that a lot of artists today want to stay away from this label of “street art” and want to stick to just the “art.”It’s not easy to make street art in a gallery. That’s why I put more into these works, because if I exhibited the same things in the streets, people would pay less attention to them, in my opinion. When we work in the streets, it’s the desire to give something to people that motivates us. At the gallery, I want to express myself and offer something different.

What is your dream?To live by my art, to be creative, to always have ideas.I would also like to do other things, like work on stained glass: I

already tried that with painting. We’ll see how far I get, but it suits me because I wanted to become a stained glass painter when I was younger!

That’s why you should follow your childhood dreams! So will you be taking advice from glass makers for that?No, I think that it’s more interesting for an artist to acquire his tech-nique by himself rather than consulting a professional. having an idea is great, but going through with it is better! At the start, I didn’t know how to cut glass. I bought a glass cutter and I put all I had into it! Anyways, I’m only 25 so I still have time!

Republic Gallery, 38 rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth 75003 Paris.www.republicgallery.fr

« When civil servants are sent to repaint walls, they generally make sure not to cover the diamonds and paint around

them! »


Le DiamantairePhoto: Stéphanie Pioda



Auctions…

iNTERNET…Georges Bailey launches The Auction Roomgeorges Bailey, the director of Business de-velopment at sotheby’s in london, opens his own online auction house named The Auction Room.With the association of his former collabora-tor at sotheby’s, lucinda Blythe, Bailey plans on specialising the platform for the middle-class market. The inaugural sale is scheduled for 24 June, with a session dedicated to Mid-dle-eastern contemporary art. An exhibition of the lots will be organised in london a few days before the sale, in order to allow future buyers to see the works. Moreover, the com-missions of the house are set at 17.5% for buyers and at 7.5% for sellers.The online platform will also specialise in jew-ellery, ceramics, watches and silver.

dEAccESSioNiNg …Sale of works from the American Folk Art Museum at Sotheby’sIn order to manage the debts brought by its former president, the American Folk Art Mu-seum in New york will put more than 200 works of art up for sale.Art collector and jeweller Ralph esmerian was in fact sentenced on 22 July 2011 by an Amer-ican court to serve six years in prison and pay a fine of $20m for bankruptcy and electronic frauds, among other crimes. he particularly moved 263 artworks from his private col-lection to the museum in 2005, but some of these works were used as guarantees for loans amounting to several million dollars from so-theby’s and Christie’s.however, the us Bankruptcy Court of Manhat-tan allowed the museum to keep 53 works, while most of esmerian’s collection will be sold on auction. According to some legal doc-uments, the sales will be conducted at sothe-by’s in december 2013 and January 2014, whereas Christie’s still claims the organisation of these auction sales.

RESuLTS …

Auction results: the Château de Gingins’ furnitureThe sale of the furniture of the Château de gingins, organised on 29 April by the hôtel des ventes in geneva, allowed the sale of 98% of lots on offer, for a total result of €3.01m.Among the major sales, let us mention the old Masters session, during which a work by Tiziano vecellio was sold, Portrait of Gabriel Solitus of Ferrara, an oil on canvas in a sculpted gilt wooden frame, dating from the 16th century, 115cm x 93cm, estimated between €3,300 and €4,900, and sold for €464,000.Besides, Promenade des nourrices, frise des fiacres, comprised of four lithographs as-sembled as a screen by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), was purchased for €182,000, thus setting a new world record for a lithograph by the French artist.A louis xv-period chest of drawers by Pierre hache, with Italian marquetry (walnut, burr walnut, rosewood and lemon tree wood), was sold for €242,000.

Denise Levy Collection on auction: a successon 25 April 2013, the denise levy Collection was dispersed at Christie’s Paris. The sale amounted to a total of €3,451,275.Among the most important lots, La Ville by germaine Richier seduced an American collector who purchased it for €505,000, while it was previously estimated be-tween €250,000 and €350,000. La Vierge folle by the same artist was also ceded for €445,500. The work of hans hartung T1949-4 was sold for €301,500. A work by Jean Fautrier, Végétaux, fetched €241,500.As for the other lots, a piece of antique, a fragmentary marble idol from the Cyclades, approximately dated from the 3rd millenary B.C., was sold for €17,500, while the ensemble of African Art collected by denise levy for so many years proved to be the most appealing for collectors. Le Cimier Bamana, Cywara from Mali was sold for €6,000, while the terracotta head Akan from ghana fetched €7,750.

New record for a Design auction at PhillipsThe 20 April auction devoted to design at Phillips london allowed a new record to be set for a sale in this department, with a result of €7,147,969, 87% of lots sold, representing 83% of the estimated value.The highlights of the session were La Table Torsade by diego giacometti, issued from the stratis Andreadis Collection in Paris, along with Orgone Stretch Lounge by Marc Newson, ceded for €290,745 each.let us also mention the sale of Jean Prouvé’s Flavigny table, Model no. 504 for €241,605 and oeuf Chair and stool for €234,585.Besides, the Abercairn Collection, an important body of Modernist ceramics, was sold in its entirety. The 29 lots were purchased, and hans Coper set a new record with Black cycladic bud form, which fetched €75,933.

ARTicLE oF ThE WEEk…Top 10 auction sales of the first quarter of 2013

ArtPrice, a firm specialising in quotations on the art market, has ranked the ten most substantial auction sales of the first quar-ter of the year 2013.The ranking is dominated by Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (1932) by Pablo Picasso, sold for $40,088,550 in february at so-theby’s london. The two artists on the po-dium with Picasso are Amadeo Modigliani,

with Jeanne Hébuterne (Au chapeau) (1919) which was also sold in february at Chris-tie’s london for $37,752,000, and francis Bacon with Three Studies for a Self-Portrait (1980) which was sold for $19,282,720 at sotheby’s in february in london.Among the other facts worth noting, none of the works in this ranking were sold for less than $11.5m (Madonna and Child by

Bartolomeo della Porta). gerhard Richter is the only living artist to be listed in this ranking, and london hosted the sales of the top 9 mentioned. lastly, the total of the ten most substantial auction sales of the first three months amounted to $183.4m in 2013, compared to $179.4m at the be-ginning of the year 2012.



Australian art at Sotheby’son 14 May 2013, sotheby’s Melbourne will offer an important Australian art col-lection on auction.

from the first colonial canvases to the most con-temporary works, the 68 lots that will be presented are estimated between $7.1m and $9.8m. Among the most important lots, Pool at Agnes Falls (1981) by fred Williams, estimated between $800,000 and $1.2m, two works from the Wenzel Collection, with Ocean Beach Rye (1957) by Arthur Boyd, estimated between $280,000 and $380,000, and London Bridge Portsea (1957) by John Perceval, which estimate is about $300,000 to $400,000.The sale will also feature works by sarah stone, Ken Whisson as well as Akio Makigawa.

Ancient photos from China on auction at Sotheby’son 14 May 2013, auction sale house sotheby’s will organise a sale session

of ancient photographs in london, titled “lost China.”Taken by felice Beato in 1860, these snapshots in-clude views of Tagu (dagu) and Peking (Beijing). Among the 18 photographs on offer, a panorama of Peking created in october 1860, from the heights of a wall, appears to be the major lot. It is the first pho-tograph taken in that zone. The snapshots, which also include views of the summer Imperial Palace and the Winter Palace, allow viewers to picture themselves in the reality of 19th-century China, while the images of today show modern buildings. The ensemble is esti-mated at about £100,000 to £200,000.

Three pieces from the François-Gérard Seligmann collection on sale at Piasaon 19 June 2013 in Paris, Piasa will of-fer on auction some works issued from

the françois-gérard seligmann collection.This high-end sale’s major lot will be a set of four siren chandeliers in patina and golden bronze, dating from the era of louis xvI, circa 1785, attributed to bronze maker Pierre gouthière and issued from the sale at hamilton Palace. This lot is estimated at about €1.5m.Another rare piece is a microscopic golden bronze from the time of louis xv, circa 1750, attributed to bronze maker Jacques Caffiéri, the Passemant and Maingaut mechanism based on the model of the duke of Chaulnes. This lot is estimated at about €200,000 to €300,000.lastly, the sale will also include two ornament vases in sculpted ivory from the 17th century, estimated be-tween €50,000 and €80,000.The seligmanns are a dynasty of great art traders set-tled in Paris and New york since 1880. The objects that will be presented were preserved by the last member of this family, françois-gérard seligmann, who died in 1999. The profits of the sale will allow the seligmann foundation to continue its philan-thropic work, based on its fight against the sources of racism and communitarianism.

coMiNg SooN…Sale at Beurret & Bailly Auktionen during Artbaselon saturday 15 June 2013, auction house Beurret & Bailly Auk-tionen will offer a sale on the occasion of the Artbasel fair.Among the pieces from the private collections that will be put

on sale:• a painting by François Morellet, 4 trames: 1°–89°–91°–179°, 1971,

an acrylic on wood based on a framework, a network of black paral-lel lines layered according to a particular order, estimated between €33,000 and €50,000;

• a work by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, an oil on wood with a romantic and almost mystical tone titled Arbres penchés au bord d’un torrent (effet de nuit), 1860-1865, estimated between €24,000 and €33,000;

• a watercolour by emil Nolde, created during his trip to Chine in the autumn of 1913, Meer mit einem Boot, China, estimated between €82,000 and €123,000;

• an oil on paper on canvas support, Vue d’une partie de la ville de Marino du côté de la forêt, 1787 by Jean-Joseph-xavier Bidauld (1758-1846), estimated between €33,000 and €50,000.

There will also be a presentation of a bronze by Auguste Rodin, a drawing by Paul Cézanne and an oil on canvas by André lhote.The main works will be presented on friday 24 and saturday 25 May in lau-sanne. Then the totality of the works on sale will be exhibited from friday 7 to Wednesday 12 June 2013 in Basel, at Beurret & Bailly Auktionen, before the auction sale held on saturday 15 June 2013 at 2pm.

Dr Mona Ackerman collection on sale at Christie’sIn May 2013, Christie’s will organise a sale of dr Mona Acker-man’s collection, which includes works by giacometti, Picasso, egon, schiele and Arp.

during the session devoted mainly to Impressionism and Modern art scheduled on 8 May, there will be on offer:

• Mandoline et portée de musique by Pablo Picasso (1923), estimated between $8m and $12m;

• Marble sculpture, Lily or Elephant’s Tusk, (1958), by Jean Arp (1886-1966), estimated between $1.2m-$1.8m;

• Apollo’s marble torso (1st century B.C.), estimated between $200,000 and $300,000;

• Marble sculpture, The Triumph Of Truth Over Calumny by Agostino fasolato (1714-1787) circa 1725, estimated between $200,000 and $300,000.

In the part of the sale devoted to Impressionism and Modern works of paper scheduled on 9 May, we might mention:

• Portrait of a Child (Anton Peschka, Jr.) by egon schiele (1890-1918), estimated between $300,000 and $500,000;

• Homme Assis (John Rewald), 1960, by Alberto giacometti (1901-1966), estimated between $300,000 and $500,000.

“she was an extremely intelligent woman and her collection depicts a true diversity of works while keeping aesthetical unity” said Paul Provost, the vice-president of Christie’s about dr Mona Ackerman.

Spring sales of modern and contemporary Asian art at RavenelThe sale will be held at the four seasons hotel in hong Kong on 26 May 2013 and at the fubon National Conference Center in Taipei on 2 June 2013.

The two sales will therefore feature over 190 works, for an approxi-mate total of $16,120,000. The sale that will be organised in Taipei will offer works from China, Japan and Korea. In parallel, a sale will be devoted to shiy de-Jinn on the occasion of the artist’s 90th birthday, and will thus present 26 magnificent works, including 23 by the artist and 3 issued from his personal collection or his recommended works. There will namely be 10 works by Chu Teh-chun, created between 1960 and 2000. Moreover, some masterpieces will be on offer, including Sister Flower by Zhou Chunya, 28.4.75 by Zao Wou-ki, self-Portrait by shiy de-jinn, the Stone series by Zhou Chunya, as well as Nara O.T by yoshitomo.



Fairs & festivals…

RESuLTS…The first Paris Photo Los Angelesfrom 26 to 28 April 2013, Paramount in los Ange-les hosted the first edition of the Paris Photo los Angeles.13,500 visitors could discover 60 galleries and 12 bookshops issued from los Angeles, New york, Paris, london, Mexico City, seoul, Tokyo, hong Kong, st. Moritz, Marrakech, Amsterdam, vienna and Berlin. While it was the first edition of the fair in l.A., the general financial result needs to be con-sidered from that perspective. In fact, gallery own-ers noticed the numerous positive aspects of that first edition of the Paris Photo los Angeles.“everything went well. There is no other fair in the world with such atmosphere and energy… All important collectors were present,” explained Benjamin Trigano from the M+B gallery in los Angeles, while dean Anes from the gagosian gallery added that “Paris Photo los Angeles is very good for us. It is a unique experience and people appreciate it. Word of mouth worked and we saw some major collectors and had satisfac-tory sales. It is the best place to organise an art fair in the springtime in l.A.”.Among the collectors present at the fair we might mention: eli Broad, J.K. Brown, Michael and ei-leen Cohen, Rosette delug, eric diefenbach, Cliff and Mandy einstein, Bob gersh, susan and david gersh, larry and susan Marx, sylvio Perlstein, Mary and Andy Pilara as well as Manny simchowitz and dean valentine. There were also curators and museum directors, for instance stephanie Barron, Quentin Bajac, simon Baker, dan Cameron, Jeffrey deitch, Karen hellman, Roxana Marcoci, Ann Phil-bin, Timothy Potts, Mark Robbins, Britt salvesen, franklin sirmans, sam stourdzé, John Tain and Marc-olivier Wahler.

Slick Art Fair 2013The slick Art fair in Brussels was held from 19 to 21April 2013. This edition hosted 53 galleries and 6,600 visitors.Belgian gallery owner Jecques Cerami was noticed with his 6-meter-long project welcoming the public to the fair. An installation by Belgian artistic duo lore Rabaut and frank depoorter, titled lIRe, was purchased by a Belgian collector for €35,000.“I built up good contacts with journalists and collectors. We never thought that so many people would be interested in our gallery! We sold two works by Amandine lévy for €3,000 and we have reservations concerning pieces by Jonathan Rosic, currently exhibited at our gallery, and for the Byars’s house by Jimmy Ruf…” added gallery owner Alexis Rastel. Italian gallery fuori Campo sold three works by Marco Andrea Magni and two drawings by luca Cutrufelli to Belgian collectors.finally, J.J. heckenhauer (Tübingen) sold a work by vadim voster, an artist who will have a big solo show at the museum in oostende in 2015, for €4,700, as well as a photograph by Peter Neusser for €3,400.for its first edition, the Prix des Collectionneurs was awarded on 20 April to fred Penelle & yannick Jacquet from the lkff art and sculpture projects, for the quality, persistence and ambition of their installation titled Mécaniques discursives, mixing engraving with video art.The next edition of the slick Art fair will be held from 25 to 27 April 2014.

Assessment of the London Original Print FairThe london original Print fair was organised from 25 to 28 April 2013. The 28th edition saw the welcoming of 13,000 visitors in the midst of the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly.This year, 50 exhibitors presented a wide variety of works, from the engravings of dürer and his contemporaries, to the graphic works of david hockney and Tracey emin.helen Rosslyn, the director of the fair, explained that “As a specialist fair, we are able to bring together really high quality work from all periods. our exhibitors hold back their best stock for the fair and the contemporary dealers, studios and print publish-ers bring work that is hot off the press, making each fair completely cutting edge.”The positive feedbacks of the exhibitors are a sign of the great success of the sales. emanuel von Baeyer added that “I am pleased to see such a diverse mix of new and established collectors at this year’s fair and to sell three of the large lucian freud etchings.” dreipunkt edition in Munich also said that “It is always good to be in lon-don, the heart of the print market, and we have sold works to the British Museum for two consecutive years.”

ARTicLE oF ThE WEEk…Assessment of Art Brussels 201330,432 visitors walked the alleys of Art Brussels from 18 to 21 April 2013 and the organisers considered this edition to be a great success. The 31st edition of the fair was organised under the management of new artistic director Katerina gregos, who collaborated with Tom Mares and artist Walt van Beek.As for the report of the galleries, the Thomas Brambilla gallery (section first Call) said that it would return to Italy with a happy feeling, having sold almost all it had to of-fer. American artist grayson Revoir and Ital-ian artist oscar giacoma were also proud of their achievements. Chambers fine Art (Beijing – New york) participated for the first time at Art Brussels and presented the works of very famous Chinese artist Ai Wei

Wei, which stirred a lot of interest, as well as the works of young Chinese artist Wu Jian’an, which were very well appreciated. Danish gallery Avlskarl sold a stunning work by Tony oursler.Parisian exhibitors Jaeger Bucher/Jeanne-Bucher sold some works by susumu shingu, fabienne verdier, Michael Biberstein, Mi-guel Branco and Zarina hashmi, which drew a lot of attention. The Cardi gallery re-ceived a great number of Belgian collectors who were interested in the Italian values found in the works of lucio fontana, enrico Castellani, Pistoletto and Piero Manzoni. Portuguese gallery filomena soares found a buyer, a Belgian collector who purchased a 2.60-meter sculpture by Rui Chaves.Italian gallery Tucci Russo was satisfied

with the enthusiastic welcome reserved for Christiane löhr, as well as guisseppe Pe-none and Robin Rhode. It sold a collage by Mario Merz to a French museum. Rodolphe Janssen sold several works by sam samore, Kendell geers and Walead Beshty. At the Dependence gallery, the light sculpture by Richard Aldrich changed owners.At Meessen de Clercq, the works of Clau-dio Parmiggiani and José Maria sicilia were very much coveted, while Tim van laere sold works by Rinus van de velde, Jon-athan Meese, Kati heck and henk visch. The Perrotin gallery went back with no less than 20% of the works that it had been ex-hibiting in Paris. The solo presentation of Belgian artist Pieter vermeersch was also purchased for a good sum.



coMiNg SooN…Cutlog NY 2013from 10 to 13 May 2013, New york will be hosting Cutlog. It will be the first edition of the contemporary art event held in the lower east side.As a continuation of Cutlog Paris, that will celebrate its 5th edition this

year, Bruno hadjadj and guy Reziciner, the co-directors of Cutlog Ny, in-vited 46 galleries and numerous curators. There will be installations, performances and publications accompanied by discussions and films. The fair will be held at cre-ative settings including theatres, old classrooms and the hallways of “le Clemente.”“le Clemente” is a neo-gothic building that normally serves as a school, which thanks to its inside court of 1,200sqm is an ideal setting for the projections sched-uled every evening after the exhibitions featuring monumental sculptures, perfor-mances and installations held during the day.Among the projects presented during the fair: Russian artist Timofey Radya (July 16) will present Stability: Figure #1, an installation made of 26 anti-riot police shields; Matthew higgs (The Apartment) will exhibit Reading of conceptual paint-ings; Obsessions and perceptions by dan Miller (Creative growth) are layers of acrylic and graphite; pouring painting performance psychodelic and completely hypnotic by holton Rower (The hole); in situ installations by Naama Tsabar who tranforms classrooms in dance studios (spinello Projects); the dressing room pre-senting a curiosity cabinet set by three artists including sophia Pompéry (galerie dix9); Paradise found in paintings by Chilean artist Jose Pedro godoy (yael Rosen-blut); Elie end me de sériès & sériès (The Impermanent Collection); the projection of Minotaur-ex, a film by Bruno Aveillan (spree) and a presentation of Noah Neck-er’s film (Rox gallery) titled New York Is Now.To explain the organisers’ approach, co-director guy Reziciner said: “our aim is to create a new atmosphere that reflects the kind of artistic creativity chosen for Cutlog. We think that this stimulating space and our approach will allow us to become a daytime and nightime art fair. Cutlog is an alternative approach towards contemporary art.”

The Rencontres d’Arles 2013The 44th edition of the Rencontres d’Arles will be held from 1st July to 22 september 2013.for the 2013 edition, Arles will focus on black and white. “Arles en

noir” (Arles in black) is indeed the main theme aiming to explore black and white in the era of coloured digital photography. The programming will allow visitors to see its place in contemporary creations through exhibitions featuring hitherto unseen works by renowned artists, photographs by emerging artists as well as “treasures from the past.” Traditionally, the main emphasis will be on the Nuit de l’année held during the opening week and the Prix des Rencontres d’Arles, including the Prix découverte 2013.during the first week, from 1 to 7 July, there will be nocturnal projections, exhibi-tion visits, debates, conferences, soirees and book signings, etc. from 3 to 5 July, a symposium titled “Peut-on penser aujourd’hui encore une esthétique du noir et blanc pour la photographie ?” (Can we still think of black and white aesthetics in photography?) will be organised at the Théâtre d’Arles.Numerous prizes will be handed over: The Prix du livre d’auteur (€8,000) rewards the best photographic work published between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2013. The Prix du livre historique (€8,000) awards the best documentary work on pho-tography or a photographer, thematic or monographic, published between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2013. The Prix découverte rewards a photographer or an artist using photography whose work was recently discovered or should be spotlighted. The €25,000-cash prize is handed over at the Théâtre Antique during the closing ceremony of the first week of the festival.In the framework of the “saisons croisées” there will be “Transition, paysage so-cial,” a collective photographic mission led by twelve french and south African photographers around south Africa, concerning the role of photography in the rep-resentation and interpretation of this country.In 2013, the Rencontres will launch an educational initiative “hors les murs.” It will be an original game “Pause-Photo-Prose” that will introduce young people between 15 and 25 (years old) to the interpretation and analysis of photography.The Rencontres d’Arles was founded in 1970 by Arles photographer lucien Cler-gue, writer Michel Tournier and historian Jean-Maurice Rouquette. The program-ming consists mainly of hitherto unseen works of such significance that the Ren-contre plays a major role in revealing and promoting new talents. during its last editions, the festival hosted over 80,000 visitors.

pARTNERShip…New partnership on the occasion of the 28th International Festival of Fashion and Photography in HyèresThis partnership was established be-

tween the fondation Carmignac and the villa Noailles, on the occasion of the 28th Interna-tional festival of fashion and Photography in hyères, created in 1986 by Jean Pierre Blanc, the director of the villa Noailles.hence, the fondation Carmignac will lend the works issued from its collection in line with the program-ming of the villa Noailles, during each of its events. This collaboration is the fruit of a common passion for contemporary art. Among the works that are be-ing lent, the photograph unfallen Angels by Anne deniau is being exhibited from 26 April to 26 May to the villa Noailles. In addition, some new works from the foundation will also be exhibited during the International festival of design Parade 8, which is scheduled from 5 June to 29 september 2013.Created in 2000 by asset manager Édouard Car-mignac, this foundation started with the company collection of Carmignac gestion. The latter is centred on Pop Art and german expressionism, as well as the most recent pieces issued from emerging countries. The foundation is currently preparing to open a con-temporary art centre and a sculpture park in-situ on the natural island of Porquerolles in 2015. The villa Noailles is itself an institution that has dedicated itself for the past ten years to the exhibition of art-works exploring the art of building, fashion, design as well as photography.The goal of the International festival of fashion and Photography in hyères is to support young fashion and photography talents. every year, it gathers all fashion and creation professionals for one month, and has succeeded in becoming one of the events in the field that art lovers look forward to.

WhAT’S oN…Contemporary art in all its forms on the occasion of Sm’ArtFrom 2nd to 6 May 2013, the city of Aix-en-Provence will host contempo-

rary art fair sm’Art. for the 8th edition of the event, artists hervé di Rosa and Ivan Messac will be honoured.By taking advantage of the organisation of Mar-seille-Provence 2013, which highlights artistic creation throughout the region, sm’Art has been benefiting from a continual growth during the past few years and expects to attract about 20,000 vis-itors during this 2013 edition.Among the highlights of this contemporary art fair are a leather and iron installation by artists yo Bastoni, To gallardo and Jean-Claude lorenzo, titled The Never ending story, which will be set on the steps of the Jourdan park. With a price range of about €1,000 to €25,000, visitors will be able to view a broad range of creations, the hallmark of the fair. The 200 artists rep-resented by sixteen french and international gallery owners from Belgium, holland, germany, Italy, spain, Brazil, Mexico and Portugal will allow the public to ap-preciate the different styles and types of creations, as sources of the richness of contemporary art.



interview…

Andrey sharov was born in Moscow in 1966. In the mid 1980s, he got acquainted with the

world of drawing namely in artists’ workshops, among which we might mention shlykov’s and

selitsky’s. for about twenty years, he existed in the world of fashion and design. he collaborated

with theaters designing costumes, for instance for the student Theater of fashion, the Theater

of Roman viktyuk, the snuffbox, the Mossovet Theatre and the Malaya Bronnaya Theater. he re-

ceived numerous prizes, including the seagull in 1997 and 1998 for his costume designs for the

plays “dear friend” staged at the Mossovet Theater and “Confessions of felix Krull, Confidence

Man” staged at the oleg Tabakov theater-studio. since the 1990s he has enjoyed an international

recognition enabling him to exhibit his own collections both in Russia and abroad. Then, feeling

tired of his current life, he decided to return to his true passion, painting. sharov sees the unusual

in the ordinary. he regularly creates variations of his favourites themes, which include the actress

Audrey hepburn, who according to the artist is a supreme incarnation of femininity, grace and

style. In his portraits, he changes shades according to his desires, but all of his works are rich in

colour and avoid detail. his paintings cannot be compared to “clichés.” Though sharov works as

a modern artist, he also tries a variety of styles, genres and forms that make him unclassifiable.

loving Paris, Andrey sharov visits the city about four times a year for events like the fashion

Week, while pursuing his designer’s career. When he returned to the world of painting, he did not

come to Paris for six years. Then, filled with nostalgia, he returned to the city. After discovering

the Ile saint-louis for two weeks and having stored up energy and inspiration, he settled in an

artist studio located on the border of the third and eleventh districts of Paris to start a new series

of paintings.

Art Media Agency met with Andrey sharov. There is a focus on the lively career of an exceptional

artist. more next page…

Andrei Sharov in his workshop

Photo: all rights reserved

FocuS oN RuSSiA’S ART ScENEiNTERviEW WiTh ANdREy ShARov



Why did you leave the fashion industry, where you seemed to be already estab-lished, for the artistic world?I made my debut in painting and then I turned to fashion. I was a fashion designer for twenty years. I tried the theater, cos-tumes design, the movie industry and came back to painting. It is indeed my favourite means of expression. The transi-tion from painting to fashion and back to painting was very natural and it did not af-fect my career in any way. Fashion was an experience which I certainly appreciated, but I wanted to leave a mark in history as a painter rather than as a fashion designer.

Why are your interested in art?At school, I was interested in the hu-manities and had no talent for science. so I chose to go towards creation either through writing or painting. The choice of painting was natural. At the age of eleven, my mother wanted to enroll me at famous art school in Moscow. I was not accepted and forgot this option until I reached the age of sixteen, when the passion came back. I started on the spot, in artists stu-dios, where I enjoyed watching them at work. one of my four daughters was ac-cepted at the same school, so the succes-sion is secured.

How would you describe your art?I do not create because of some desire to belong to a stream, I represent what I like with many allusions to the world of fashion. I use art as a mean to express my feelings. I have no artists I refer to and I use each of my paintings a mean of expression. Thus, each painting is a story connected to a particular moment of my personal history. A celebrity can be represented because he would be linked to my professional or personal history at the moment. however, I have characters who often return. This is particularly the case with Audrey hepburn. I have been painting her for ten years and dedicated an exhibition to her, as I did with Jim Morrison. over the years, my style ab-

sorbed all my encounters, all the coun-tries I have visited.

You are known for testing various tech-niques and different mediums, do you have any preference?When I paint, I listen to my feelings with-out limiting myself to any logic or coher-ence with my previous work. Because of that, I tried many mediums and styles before returning to painting, my favourite medium. I actually tried collage, photog-raphy and sculpture. The knowledge and understanding of all these techniques came through both my studies and my stay in the army when I was called to mil-itary service. This two years-long period, was strictly a formative experience. In fact, being an artist in the Russian army means ensuring the fulfillment of all or-ders of the army, whether it is portraits of generals, sculptures, stained glass or tattoos, very popular at the time. In fact, I do not wear any because I have done so much of them for my fellow soldiers. Di-versity in orders allowed me to practice a variety of techniques and mediums, to learn on the spot and develop my imagi-nation. This experience has also allowed me to travel a lot.

Do you have a favourite series?The series that is the most important to me are the portraits presented at the beginning of March 2013 in Paris and in particular the self-portraits series by art-ists such as van gogh, gauguin, Basquiat, dürer. What amuses me in this series is to see how artists saw themselves. I worked on this self-portrait in my own way.like any artist, I am aware that I cannot be able to please everyone. The only thing assuring unanimity is money. But I am glad to be able to please enough people so that I can live freely. I consider the interest in my work as gratitude.

Can you tell us about the new series you are currently creating?I use painting to experiment with a new

form of cartoon style. I have had this topic in mind for some time, because it is once again a wink to the fashion world. In fact, this series revolves primarily around the mythical Al Capone. This figure still has an aura of mystery and it is the trait that I wish to explore. you can also recognize in this series Al Pacino and Tom Wails.

Vincent Van Gogh (artworks detail)2013, oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cmAndrei Sharov

The artist, 2011, Oil on canvas, 100x80 cmAndrei SharovPhotos: all rights reserved

FocuS oN RuSSiA’S ART ScENEiNTERviEW WiTh ANdREy ShARov



Documents

100-en