Since Damien Hirst made a killing in his Sotheby’s sale on the day that the US market dropped, there has been almost universal puzzlement over the future of the contemporary art market. Below are some conflicting headlines about the art market from the past few days - demonstrating that no one really knows what’s going on.

Image: boston.com

The Art Newspaper says:

Sign of things to come? New York art market shows evidence of weakness

HERE

From the Taipei Times:

At times of financial insecurity, art can be a surprising source of investor confidence

HERE

From Reuters:

Chinese contemporary art palls in Sotheby’s HK sale

HERE

Business Week says:

Pop Goes the Bubble in Chinese & Indian Art: Fallout from the global economic crisis hits the opening sale of modern and contemporary Asian art at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong

HERE

And Britain’s Daily Telegraph says:

The FTSE100 may have hit a four-year low but fine wine, art and stamps are holding their value – at least for now

HERE

Damien Hirst, The Explosion - Exalted, 2006. Image: ionarts.blogspot.com

VoCA loves reading FT art critic Jackie Wullschlager’s take on things. Here’s her take on Damien Hirst’s sale at Sotheby’s in London, which happens today.

“Warhol..and Jeff Koons…were prophets of this collusion, but (Damien Hirst’s upcoming Sotheby’s sale) “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” is its apogee. It does not matter what sells or flops.

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At this point, everything Mr. Hirst does is worth taking note of by art world observers.

Damien Hirst, the ultimate Art Star. Image: artdaily.com

His latest endeavors, from the Pharmacy bar/restaurant in London’s Notting Hill that closed with an auction of its contents to his now infamous diamond-studded skull that he, along with a group of investors purchased from his own gallery for 75 million Euros, have shocked the art world by aggressively pushing at its limits.

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Gehry’s 2008 Serpentine pavilion. Image: artdaily.org/Iwan Baan

London’s Serpentine Gallery, whose program of internationally renowned architect-designed summer pavilions has seen constructions by Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Oscar Niemeyer and Toyo Ito, among others, grace its front garden, opens the latest pavilion, designed by Frank Gehry.

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London-based film artist and VoCA favorite Mark Lewis will represent Canada at the 2009 Venice Biennale!

Mark Lewis, Isoceles, 2007. Image: marklewisstudio.com

Click HERE for the full article.

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…plus c’est la meme chose.

From Reuters: A Monet water-lily painting sold for 41 million pounds ($80.5 million) Tuesday, doubling the previous auction record for the artist and ensuring London’s key art market season got off to a flying start.

Claude Monet, Le Bassin aux Nympheas, 1899. Image: intermonet.com

“Le Bassin aux Nympheas” had been expected to fetch 18-24 million pounds, but after an intense bidding battle it smashed the previous Monet auction record of $41.5 million set in May…

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Rumour has it that London-based film artist Mark Lewis will be selected as Canada’s representative for next year’s Venice Biennale.

Mark Lewis, Rush Hour, Morning and Evening, Cheapside (2005). Image: marklewisstudio.com

We sure hope this rumour his true - Lewis has long been one of VoCA’s favorite artists and we think he’d be brilliant.

Stay tuned for the official announcement…

Mark Lewis’s website - click HERE

Mark Lewis is represented in Canada by Monte Clark Gallery - click HERE

Miuccia Prada and the artist Carsten Höller “are to set up a “Prada Congo Bar” in London in the autumn, a four-month installation project that will contain two bars, one African and one European, and an “in-between area”. Fashion meets globalisation in the hedonistic metropolis.”

Carsten Holler’s Upside-Down Mushroom Room, in the collection of the Fondazione Prada.
Image: nytimes.com

Read more about Ms. Prada’s plans for a new art foundation in Milan, designed by Rem Koolhaas. Click HERE.

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VoCA was pleased to hear that French architect Jean Nouvel has won the Pritzker prize for architecture. His Fondation Cartier in Paris is one of VoCA’s favorite exhibition spaces, and his Insitut du Monde Arabe is simply as magical as a university institution can get.

Jean Nouvel’s Fondation Cartier in Paris, 1994. Image: fondation.cartier.com

Click HERE for the Guardian’s article.

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The international art world is rife with forgery, fraud and misappropriation - which makes for some fascinating reading.

This article, from Portfolio.com is about the fall from grace of renowned New York art dealer Larry Salander.

It’s a fascinatingly gossipy account involving former tennis star John McEnroe and the actor Robert De Niro, among others.

Read it right HERE.

VoCA happened to notice that this sculpture - credited as “A crucified Christ, on display at the new Salander-O’Reilly Galleries” on Artnet.com:

Image: artnet.com

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