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Afraid of sharks? Do you suffer from Selachophobia? Now there’s a cure:
Who wouldn’t want to be eaten by this adorable guy?
[ via Nerd Bastards ]
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
—Stephen King, from The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower series)
This week Sotheby’s sold Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture, L’Homme Qui Marche I, for $104.3 million, pushing Picasso out of the highest grossing spot. The importance of this news isn’t the sheer amount of the purchase, which went to an unknown buyer out of New York, but the fact that the work auctioned for three times the amount Sotheby’s originally anticipated.
Does this mean the wealthy have decided that art is once again a safe investment? The answer appears to be a resounding yes. Great news for both artists and art lovers around the world that have been witnessing a downward spiral of the art market over the last year.
Another interesting point is that the Giacometti purchase could signal a rising dominance of modern art in the marketplace. Most of Giacometti’s work falls between 1940-1965, possibly signaling a move away from the market dominance of great masters and towards more contemporary—and potentially still producing—artists.
When Hugh Grant bought an Andy Warhol painting of Elizabeth Taylor for £2million, he was hailed as a true collector and art connoisseur. Six years later his image as a collector further increased when he sold the painting for an £11million profit. What was the secret to his success?
Grant, 49, had been on a two-day drinking spree when he ordered an assistant to bid for the painting at an auction in New York.
He said: ‘And to my horror, she did, and even worse, got it.’
‘I slightly regret selling it now, even though it made me rich.’
[via Daily Mail]
Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian billionaire and future Bond villain, announced that he’s offering a $100,000 prize to an artist 35 or younger. The Future Generation Art Prize will be awarded every other year. Five runners up will be selected for the $20,000 artist-in-residency program and mentored by some of Pinchuk’s collected artists that include Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, and Damien Hirst. The contest opens January 18, 2010 and is open to any artist in any country. Twenty artists are then selected for the shortlist to have their work displayed at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev in October and the final winner will be announced in December.
For more info and to apply online visit futuregenerationartprize.org
(photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
According to a report released by the National Endowment for the Arts, attendance for arts and cultural events is at the lowest point in 27 years. Factors affecting the arts include the rising price of gas, a drop in overall consumer spending, and of course the deteriorating economy. Perhaps the scariest part is that the data was collected in 2008, which means any 2009 statistics from when the recession seriously dug in have yet to be analyzed. Prepare for things to get worse.
Notable findings:
- Fewer students are taking art classes and lessons, a drop by 6-23% depending upon the art form (the rates are even worse when directly compared to 1982: music education has dropped 30% and visual arts by 50%).
- Audiences for live music, events, and performances are both declining and growing older.
- People with higher education (the go to group for the arts) have consistently curtailed participation in the arts each year
However, not all the findings were bad. Internet and broadcast media have made it easier for people to engage with the arts, and more are doing so each year. Additionally, photography/videography/film-making has increased so much in popularity that it now ranks as the top creative activity.
So while no one may show up to your gallery opening, at least someone might look at your work online or document your destitution. There’s always that.
In November the Andy Warhol silk-screen “200 One Dollar Bills” sold for $43.7 million at auction. The Atlantic Wire has an interesting article about what makes a Warhol so valuable, even if he didn’t do the work.
“It is precisely because the 1965 Red Self Portraits were made without Warhol’s on-the-spot supervision that they are so critically important. They are the kind of transitional works museums and collectors particularly value because they show Warhol groping toward the working method he would adopt in the following decade, when his participation in the creation of his own paintings was often limited to choosing the image and signing the picture.”
Like him or not, Warhol was one marketing genius.
His latest installation for Maison Hermés in Tokyo. See more of his art here.
Featured at Design Miami:
[via Gizmodo]
