Blog

Today we chat with Crispian Riley-Smith, Co-Founding Director of Masters Drawings New York (MDNY), coming up January 25 – February 1, 2020. Crispian has over three decades of experience in the art market, he has worked for the four main auction houses in London and is the founding director of London Art Week and co-founder of Master Drawings New York. He has worked as an independent dealer in drawings for over 20 years and now focuses on art valuations and consultancy in all areas of the market. So, we are excited to see what he’s up to!

Why did you start MDNY in 2006 and how has it grown and transformed over the years?
The motivation was to encourage and grow the market for works on paper and engage with buyers and those with a similar passion in the arts. When I co-founded it with Margot Gordon, the aim was very similar to the sister event I formed in 2001 called ‘Master Drawings London’, now ‘London Art Week’. Simply to promote the expertise of dealers; promote their stock; get the public to come into the galleries and provide an educational element.

The event has grown now to include paintings and sculpture dealers. Also, the event has grown since the appointment of Allison Wucher as a Director. She has been instrumental in growing the cultural links within the city of New York and with the key stake holders, from museums to auction houses to cultural societies such as ‘Drawing New York’ and the wider cultural environment in the US. Now, we have a symposium every year with ‘Master Drawings Journal’, and this year also sees the second event held at ‘The Met’. In addition, we have our third museum loan exhibition, and this year it is from Bowdoin College of Art. This is very exciting since it is one of the earliest collections of drawings formed in the US.

What else will be showcased at MDNY besides old masters through to contemporary drawings?
Paintings and sculpture throughout the ages from antiquity to modern masters. In 2018, we decided to broaden the event to include these key disciplines for a number of reasons. Firstly, there were already some dealers also showing these objects in the city and it made sense to connect the dots. Secondly, the auction houses and also ‘The Winter Show’ were exhibiting these works. Thirdly, many collectors and museum curators cross collect.

However, the branding for ‘Master Drawings New York’ was one all our exhibitors wanted to keep since this is the best event focused on this discipline in the US. It became clear that the model for drawings could be applied to other areas of the market, and this is illustrated by the growth of MDNY and London Art Week.

Is there a particular theme or focus this year?
Yes, it was not really deliberate, but the focus is women as artists, collectors, dealers and academics. It has sort of developed into this theme for 2020.
For ‘Women as Artists’ we have an event at The New York Historical Society called, ‘Artist in Exile: The Visual Diary of Baroness Hyde de Neuville’, in addition we have carefully selected for the cover of the Master Drawings New York 2020 Brochure ‘Blue Morning Glory’, a beautiful drawing in gouache by Barbara Regina Dietzsch; For ‘Women as Collectors and Dealers’ we have an event held with ‘The Society for the History of Collecting’, interviewing four women collectors and dealers; and ‘Women as Academics’ we have the symposium in partnership with the Master Drawings Journal where the editor, Jane Turner, is focusing on Felice Stampfle, who was the journals founding editor – the journal is now in its 58th year.

When it comes to collecting art, there is such a variety of media, styles and classifications. If a collector is looking to purchase drawings for the first time, what should they know?

There is no substitute for looking. We all have to start somewhere – it requires going to museums, exhibitions, art fairs and dealers. Absorbing oneself in the subject and just reading and looking. Buying a drawing, or any object, requires a connection with the object, and that is usually immediate. The buying component sometimes takes time and research.

Can buying a drawing be a good investment? If so, what should a buyer consider?
Interesting question. The simple answer is yes and no.

I would advise buyers to buy what they really like, and what they can afford to buy, and also take a long-term view on their purchase. The idea of ‘flipping’ the purchase in a year or two is not something I would recommend. That is what dealers do and spend all their energy doing. That is not to say it is not possible to make good purchases. The opportunity for collectors is enormous. I would say that if a collector chooses an area to focus on, and I mean really focus on, whether it be illuminated manuscripts or French 18 century drawings, take two random subjects. If they become THE collector in that field, over time they will find that dealers offer them the first and sometimes best buys. Also, the collector is able to make discoveries of their own. It is an endless field and full of exciting buys. As a dealer, I am never bored by what is appearing new on the market.

Read more about and register for Masters Drawings New York (MDNY) here!

Jacqueline Towers-Perkins, Senior Specialist, Head of Sale, Post-War & Contemporary Art at Bonhams and course instructor in our Art Advisory 201 Program, discusses the key points an advisor should consider when helping clients with sales and transactions.

What are the key points to consider for an art advisor’s clients before helping them to sell a work of art?
The following should definitely be considered:

• Does your client have title to the work?
• Do they have the right to sell it?
• What are their expectations from the sale?
• Do you have the expertise to sell this work?

What is the difference between international and regional auction houses, and how does this affect an art advisor’s advice?
The main differences between international and regional auction houses, are their client reach, costs and location. It is best to understand the market for the item you are selling to have the best idea of where to place it and to understand which business will best serve your client.

At the end of your presentation, you mention the importance of paperwork in art transactions. Could you expand on why that is important?
It is important to keep records of all transactions to maintain and uphold the agreement between you and your client and to ensure that they are receiving the services you obtained for them from either an auction house or gallery. This information may also be required for tax, resale or provenance purposes later on.

Find out more about The Sales Process in Detail with Jacqueline Towers-Perkins. Enroll in our Art Advisory 201 Program today!

Well, there are serious art collectors and then there are trend-followers. Where do you fall? There’s also a big difference between building an art collection and buying a piece of art. Creating an art collection takes skills, passion and dedication to develop personal tastes, industry relationships and buyer confidence.

Having a good sense of instinct and intuition will help you on your way, but for most successful art collectors, having a strategic process for buying art is required. The art market is a tricky terrain to navigate as trends change and artists come in and out of favour. Every collector has their own method they follow, but most start out with a well thought out plan to build their art collection.

Think of buying art like a journey, which you can make as simple or complex as you like depending on your objectives. As you test out strategies, don’t be afraid to ask questions and get opinions from others more experienced than you. If your goal is to become a knowledgeable and confident art collector, you’ll have to master a few skills and understand your options as seen here in our video Demystifying Art Collecting.

You’ll need to invest time in learning, advancing your skills and building relationships or consider investing in the services of a qualified and reputable art advisor. An art advisor should be knowledgeable about the art market and specifically about the historical genre and medium you gravitate to. Finding the right art advisor can be a challenge on its own as anyone can call themselves an art advisor, hence why we created our online Art Advisory 101 and 201 professional programs to help set a benchmark in the industry. If this is a route you wish to explore, make sure your art advisor is experienced, established, reputable, and you know their fees upfront.

Art collectors to some extent tend to initially collect what they are familiar with and buy art from certain artists, time periods and mediums. It pays to keep an open mind and investigate emerging artists and new mediums like performance, digital or video art. Consider getting involved in your local art community to meet collectors with similar interests and look for more experienced collectors that can mentor you along the way.

Visit museums, galleries and art fairs and browse gallery sites, art auctions, industry reports and market news to boost your knowledge and confidence. Make art galleries part of your routine to build relationships with dealers and artists as well as see art in the flesh as oppose to online. Learn about what new artists are coming on the market and what the industry trends are.

While buying directly from the artist is typically the less expensive option, galleries have been known to offer discounts to first time buyers, as well as flexible financing options. When it comes to medium, don’t be afraid to look at works with multiple editions like photography and prints that usually have a lower price point.

Art auctions can be intimidating, but if you understand how they work, they can be a unique experience and lot of fun! You can find an auction house in pretty much every major city and once you’ve participated once or twice, you’ll get the hang of it. Auctions can also be very affordable and with a bit of luck, you might pick up a gem for a steal.

You don’t need to be a millionaire to be a successful art collector. Figure out what your budget is and be sure to take into consideration extra costs for framing, shipping, insurance, auction buyer’s premiums and other bits and bobs that come with owning art such as regular maintenance and care. Whether you are buying out of personal passion or as a financial investment, it is also important to ask the right questions to the right people, at the right time as seen in our video The Habits of Successful Collectors.

Now, if your buying art simply as investment, we advise you to think again. Art can bring more joy than stocks and bonds, as you can hang the asset on your wall, so first buy what you love. Spotting rising stars is a challenge for even the most experienced art advisors and dealers. It is very hard to truly predict if an artist will actually achieve fame in their career. Factors such rarity, provenance, medium, period, market trends, condition and the artist’s reputation can all impact the future value.

Once you’ve fallen in love, done your research, sought opinions of experts and you’re ready to put down your money, make sure you receive the certificates of authenticity and provenance. These documents will be crucial in establishing authenticity and value.

One Art Nation is committed to demystifying the process of buying art from start to finish. Access free videos to learn from prominent art experts as they address topics from building, maintaining and protecting an art collection, to tax and financial aspects of owning art. Watch Now

Today we chat with Juliet Helmke, the Senior Editor of Arts and Culture at Observer who helped design the agenda for the upcoming Business of Art Observed coming up on November 12th in NYC.

Prior to joining Observer, Juliet was an editor at Modern Painters magazine, and before that she gained experience both in book publishing and communications. Her interest in covering the arts lies in how such a seemingly specific field puts one in contact with so many issues and avenues for discovery—from art made about social upheaval to works that introduce you an influential figure, a little known historical event, a new species, and beyond.

Observer has been offering an original take on the latest in news, culture, politics and luxury since its inception in 1987, and you come from an arts background. How have you seen the art market change over the years?
The biggest change I see is the host of new technologies coming to the market that disrupt how we buy, protect, and trace the provenance of fine art. Their potential to take the world by storm is immense. Just recently, we’ve looked at a social media platform connecting artists and encouraging a collaborative model for monetization, numerous entities trying to harness blockchain to protect against theft and forgery, and startups changing the way people with an interest in art become collectors. Tech has certainly unsettled the industry, but I, for one, am excited!

Earlier this year, Observer hosted its inaugural Business of Art Conference in New York City. What was the main highlight for you?
Personally, a highlight was having the opportunity to speak with Sean Kelly, who delivered a riveting fireside chat that candidly covered issues many dealers are facing, like how to put artists ahead of profits, why gallerists are feeling the push to expand to different territories, and how art fairs are affecting brick and mortar businesses. Beyond that, being able to network with a number of former colleagues and peers all in one space made for great opportunity for connection, and I came away from our panel on art and digital technology with a hunger to learn more about that burgeoning field—it really is the future, and we should prepare for it now.

What are you doing differently in the Business of Art Observed Conference this fall?
We’re digging deeper. The last iteration served as a great jumping off point for bringing our colleagues in the arts together to hear what challenges they are facing. Now, we’re taking all that we’ve heard and tailoring it so that attendees can feel like they’re walking away with some ideas for solutions. For example, we’re going to host a talk about art fairs that I hope will help honestly tackle how they’ve drastically changed the industry. We’ll be looking at the great positives of having so many debut in the last few years, but also the ways in which we can mitigate the strain that the pressure to participate puts on some gallerists.

The conference discusses important trends and challenges affecting the art world at large. More specifically, what topics will you be addressing?
Beyond the fairs panel, we will be looking at the antiquities trade, asking not only how laws should change, but what moral obligations museums and collectors have in contributing to the ethical handling of cultural property and patrimony. We’ll also be delving into the way that blockchain technologies can specifically address the issue of authentication, and in a panel featuring some of the greatest minds working at prominent auction houses, we’ll be tracking millennial buying trends.

Why are these topics important when it comes to the evolution of the art market?
It’s not just technological advances, our attitudes towards social and moral questions have been rapidly developing with the help of an interconnected global village. When should art be repatriated to a country from which it was removed? Is there a price simply too high to justify spending on any one work of art? How do we support artists and advocate for the arts in a world with so many pressing needs? None of these questions have simple answers, and they’re just a few of the many issues confronting arts professionals around the world. The health of the art market depends on having frank conversations that allow us to address these concerns.

Annelien Bruins, independent Chief Marketing Officer, former CEO of Tang Art Advisory, course leader and instructor in our Art Advisory 201 Program, discusses the importance of a strong brand for an art advisory business.

What does marketing mean for art advisors?
Art advisors often operate as single-owner-businesses and therefore have limited resources available in terms of money and staff to assist with marketing. Therefore, it’s important to use marketing strategies that are appropriate for your company: a service business that is focused on an affluent, educated clientele. In Module 3 of this course I will discuss the two most effective marketing strategies for art advisors in more detail.

Why is the sales funnel so important in marketing?
The sales funnel is an important concept in marketing and for good reason. It explains how a customer (i.e., your potential client) makes the decision to engage you. Understanding this process means that you’ll be more effective in selling your services because you know what message to send out at what stage of the sales funnel.

The art market is based on personal relationships. What does that mean for marketing an art advisory business?
The art world is a small world based on personal relationships and as such, trust is an important factor. A collector is less likely to engage your services if they don’t trust you or know you, or if you haven’t been recommended to them by someone they trust. This means that your marketing has to focus on helping you establish that trust with potential clients and referral sources.

Why is it important to have a strong online presence?
The way in which we buy services and goods has changed tremendously in every industry. Even if you don’t get your clients through your online presence but rather through personal recommendations, prospective clients are likely to research your company online before they commit to engaging you and they’ll most likely also research the competition. Showcasing your expertise through thought leadership in your niche helps to nurture your personal brand which in turn will help you to establish trust with your clients and referral sources.

Find out more about Effective Marketing Strategies for Art Advisors with Annelien Bruins. Enroll in our Art Advisory 201 Program today!

Katherine Wilson-Milne and Steven Schindler, Partners at Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP and course instructors in our Art Advisory 201 Program, discuss common conflicts and explain how the art market has changed from a legal perspective.

What are the most common sources of conflict that you come across in your work as art attorneys and how could those conflicts be prevented?
By far most of the conflicts stem from not having written agreements between artists and galleries, collectors and dealers or between other collaborators. Parties often think they are on the same page, but writing business and relationship terms down really helps to make sure all parties are really clear on their respective responsibilities.

How do you feel the art market has changed over the past 20 years from a legal perspective?
The higher price and profile of art, especially with respect to contemporary art and cultural property/appropriation issues, has made the risks for art market players much greater. The potential liability with respect to one work of art can easily be millions of dollars. That risk makes parties more inclined to document transactions, engage in better due diligence and have written agreements. The art world is not fully professionalized in this way, but it is moving in that direction due to market realities.

What would your number one piece of advice be for new art advisors starting their own business?
Do not handle your client’s money. Of course, some advisors are also dealers, but those roles are distinct. If you feel like you may have a conflict of interest, you should consult an attorney and make sure any dealings with your client are well documented.

What is the difference between a fiduciary and an agent?
An agent is someone who may legally bind her principal (i.e., sell a work of art on the principal’s behalf), because the principal has given her that authority. Examples of agents are gallerists with respect to artists they represent, dealers with respect to their consignors and money managers or financial advisors with respect to those on whose behalf they are investing. Agents always owe fiduciary duties to their principals, which means that they must act in the best interests of the principal. There are other types of fiduciary relationships (e.g., attorney-client). If you are providing specialized advice to a client and they are relying on your advice with respect to spending money or selling art, you should assume you have fiduciary obligations to that client.

Find out more about Business and Legal Issues for Art Advisors with Katherine Wilson-Milne and Steven Schindler. Enroll in our Art Advisory 201 Program today!

Note: This interview is not intended to be a source of legal advice for any purpose. Always seek the legal advice of competent counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.

Annelien Bruins, independent Chief Marketing Officer, former CEO of Tang Art Advisory, course leader and instructor in our Art Advisory 201 Program, discusses how the art advisor’s role has changed over the past decade.

Why did you develop this course with 1AN?
Before my career switch to luxury marketing I was an art advisor for 20 years. I know from experience that there is very little support available for art advisors in terms of how to set up your business, how to come up with an appropriate fee structure and how to understand the legal ramifications of operating as an art advisor. With the Art Advisory 101 (geared towards aspiring art advisors) and Art Advisory 201 (focused on art advisors with some experience) courses we hope to address that gap in the market.

How has the role of art advisors changed over the last 10 years?
Art advisory used to be a fairly informal occupation. In other words, it was not considered a real profession. Times have changed, however. These days, with through-the-roof art values and more complex art transactions, an art advisor is expected to be a well-rounded professional with a working knowledge of not just art but also areas such as taxes, art law and conservation so that they know when to call in the experts in these respective areas. An art advisor really is, or should be, a collector’s quarterback at all times.

Can an art advisor do other things, like running a gallery?
Many art professionals take on a couple of different roles in the art market: appraisers who advise on art transactions; gallery owners who provide art advisory services. Aside from any legal restrictions that may apply to each of these professions (i.e., the USPAP standard for appraisers), I personally don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to fulfill more than one role, as long as you are completely transparent with your clients and charge them appropriately. Needless to say, when in doubt, always ask an experienced art attorney about the legal ramifications of your particular business model.

Find out more about Understanding Best Practice in Art Advisory with Annelien Bruins. Enroll in our Art Advisory 201 Program today!

Today we chat with Mary von Aue, Editorial Director of Observer and host of the inaugural Business of Art Observed.

Mary joined Observer from the start-up publishing world, where she built editorial strategies and new outlets in the media landscape. She has a master’s degree from Columbia University that focused on Arabic literature and for years covered contemporary art and literature from the Middle East. Today, she continues to focus her editorial lens on the ways in which the arts intersect with current events and the business world.

Observer is known for bringing the latest in news, culture, and luxury. Why are you putting more attention back on art specifically?
We have a long history of covering art at Observer, but this year I wanted to take the conversation to the next level and explore the industry in a specific Observer way: that is, looking at the power players that are influencing the industry. I think that at this moment, Observer is best equipped to cover the shapeshifting art world and the innovation that is transforming it. Thanks to a team of writers and experts who cover both the cultural and business beats, we’re able to approach the industry holistically and capture the ecosystem from different angles. That tends to yield more nuanced, cross-sectional reporting, and for an industry that is changing as rapidly as the art world, it’s needed.

You hosted your inaugural Business of Art conference in New York on May 21. What was the reason for bringing this format of conversation to the market?
I think it was long overdue. When you’ve got an industry that has seen several disruptions in the last decade, being able to measure that impact is imperative. We wanted to bring all different players from the art world to an interactive platform not only for discussion and debate, but to ask what’s next. It’s not easy to stay ahead of innovation or point to the next big disruptor, but these conversations can help the art community build better businesses.

What topics did you address and why do you feel they are important?
What didn’t we cover!? Observer’s online strategy has always been to understand industries through their players, technologies and diverse influences as a way of capturing the zeitgeist. I think this event was a clear reflection of that strategy, as evident in our far-reaching topics. We looked at how the rules are changing for everyone in the business of making, buying, selling or displaying art, how regulation is impacting the market and how technology solutions can drive the industry forward.

We tackled everything from art fairs to risk management, and yet this is just the tip of the iceberg. I walked away with a wealth of new insights from our panelists, but also with a sense of excitement because there’s still so much more to discuss. That’s why we’re hosting another Business of Art Observed on November 12, this time as a full day event, with more opportunities for the art community to share insight and collaborate.

Educating the industry to create greater transparency and standards is something we are passionate about. What art business professionals do you feel would benefit most from attending this conference?
It’s tough to point to just one professional who would benefit most, as our last event created a welcome space for artists, gallery owners, auctioneers, lawyers, private collectors and beyond. Again, I feel these events are a clear reflection of Observer’s editorial brand, which offers our readers rare access to industry news from a nuanced perspective. If you work in the art world and you’re looking to share your knowledge, experience or challenges with the community, we’ve created a space for exactly that kind of discourse.

How important is it for a professional to stay up to date on trends and issues to advance their career?
To be honest, I can’t imagine professional success in any industry without that kind of participation. Just in the last few weeks, Observer has discussed how artificial intelligence is affecting art collectors and curators, how policy is changing the international art market, how blockchain is altering the process of art dealing. We wanted to host this conference to give people an opportunity to acknowledge these ripple effects and discuss ways in which they can navigate the challenges as a community.

View recordings from the inaugural Business of Art Observed Symposium as leading figures from the art industry share their experience. WATCH NOW!

Women artists—from old masters to those just out of art school—have slowly gained traction in museums and on the art market for years. If you’re thinking of collecting art by women, now is the time.

This year appears to be a watershed. “Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future,” an exhibition of work by the Swedish modernist that closed in April, shattered records at the Guggenheim, pulling in 600,000 viewers.

In January, Victoria Beckham joined forces with Sotheby’s during Masters Week to spotlight 21 works by 14 women in a show called “The Female Triumphant,” including gold-standard artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi and Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun. Sales exceeded estimates, realizing $14.6 million.

The 2018 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth survey conducted by Bank of America found that the proportion of its clientele of highnet worth women investing in art more than doubled from the previous year—from 16 percent to 36 percent.

Collecting art takes passion, and it takes work. If you’re put off by the head-scratching research, the hushed austerity of white cube galleries, the competitive bustle of art fairs or the prospect of competitive bidding at auction, Julia Wehkamp of One Art Nation recommends hiring an art advisor. Read more about investing in female artists here!

For many collectors, their interest in acquiring art is a passion. People spend their entire life time building their collection and it can make up a substantial part of their net worth. But, unlike the thoughtful planning that is often intrinsic to other assets, the majority of collectors have not crafted a plan of action for their art collection.

Should the unlikely happen and you are no longer here tomorrow, what would become of your collection? Have you communicated with your family and friends about your works and their value? Have you laid out a comprehensive plan so your collection can go from one generation to the next or to the greater community to enjoy?

So how do you prepare for the inevitable? Read More Here.

Since the early 2000’s our perception of street art has evolved from the discussion of whether it’s vandalism or not to the question of how much a Banksy will bring at auction. Since entering the mainstream contemporary art market as a category to be taken seriously in its own right, millions of dollars of urban art has sold every year at the big auction houses and top galleries. Buyers range from art lovers interested in purchasing their first piece to seasoned art collectors who are looking at urban art as worthwhile investment. Corporate and consumer brands spend big bucks to incorporate street art into their branding.

Annelien Bruins sits down with Muys Snijders, Head of the America’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Department at Bonhams, and Tony “Rubin” Sjöman, Manhattan based mural and studio artist to interview them on how street artists increasingly dominate the contemporary art market and how they have managed to turn graffiti into a sought-after investment.

What is the difference between Graffiti Art and Street Art?
Some say there is no difference and that they are all one in the same. But generally, Urban Art is overarching. Graffiti Art is more word-based social commentary and Street Art is more visual and image-based and grew from Graffiti Art. Keith Haring and Jean Michael Basquiat were not what you’d consider “traditional” Graffiti artists.

How do you go from creating art on walls to selling it in galleries?
There’s no simple answer. It’s a gradual process where one thing leads to another. When you start creating work in a studio, it can lead to exhibition spaces and galleries.

Has Street Art attained a position in the contemporary market?
Absolutely. Artists that started on the street are coming in and out of the market through the gallery world and secondary market. Bonhams has been offering sales of Street Art since 2008. Artists are going main stream and are ending up in the top evening sales.

Street Art in general is more accessible across different mediums from skateboards and billboards. And, unlike other art categories, it’s very international. The market will continue to grow as more attention is given to these artists. The works also speak to a younger generation of art collectors that easily identify with and understand the works.

Is there a big international client base?
It’s amazing what Instagram has done to the growth of the international Street Art market. It has propelled Street artists to the international forefront. It’s also a great tool to use when identifying which artists have come to market. Artists can show their work and the process behind it as opposed to just selling work on the platform.

What makes a good Street artist and does the same criteria apply as it does in the contemporary art market?
One of the ideas behind Graffiti Art is to not follow any rules. But nowadays, there are just so many rules. If the work is honest and authentic, that’s all that matters.

Sadly, there are a lot of fakes across all categories including Street Art. When making any significant investment, do your research and homework. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Where do you buy Street Art?
Visit artist’s studio to get to know the artist and actually see the process. The process can be more important than the actual work. Other viable options are a gallery show or contemporary art fair such as Moniker Urban Contemporary Art Fair.

How do you feel about art being removed and sold from walls?
If you do something illegal on the streets, unfortunately you don’t have much claim to it. But when it comes to ethics, of course it’s not correct. So where do you draw the line?

You can listen to the audio recording of the discussion here.

Prologue
As an art lawyer, I am interested in the intersection between art, law and politics — particularly in reference to the body politic. As a founding board member of Performa, Roselee Goldberg’s New York-based visual performance art biennale and for years involved in representing artists who work in the public sphere on percent or corporate commissions, my interests are particularly in art which challenges and interacts with existing hegemonic political structures and efforts by artists to cut through existing stereotypes and biases, to assert cultural and personal identities often marginalized or invisible. Such art often brings engagement in critical, sometime humorous dialogue with an audience to the forefront. Thus, in planning my agenda to review the 58th Biennale, I was particularly interested in visiting National Pavilions appearing at the Biennale either for the first time, such as Ghana and India, or National Pavilions with an emerging contemporary art scene not known globally, such as Mongolia. Having been inspired by the second edition of the Mongolia Pavilion Venice 2017, I visited Mongolia in October 2018 to experience the nomadic lifestyle and culture by a visit to the Golden Eagle Festival in the Altai mountains of western Mongolia, October 2018 and the art scene in the capital, Ulaan Batuur. I was also interested in the Pavilion of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I have been following Iran and its art scene since I had the privilege of visiting and learning about its ancient and rich cultural heritage during a visit in 2017. And in the interest of transparency, I was thrilled to see Martin Puryear represent the United States. Many New Yorkers and visitors to Madison Square Park are aware of his magnificent sculpture installation entitled Big Bling (c) (2016) , commissioned by Madison Square Conservancy. That commission inspired the Conservancy to apply to sponsor Martin and the Pavilion to the Department of State that selects the curator and artist for the US Pavilion, which is owned by the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Madison Square Park Conservancy is the first public park organization to have been selected for this role. I have followed Martin’s career and amazing work for years, as well as representing him on a number of public art projects, including for the Getty Museum and the US Embassy in Beijing.

This year there were 90 National Participants or Pavilions located principally in the Arsenale, the Giardini and with about thirty throughout Venice . The curated International Exhibition is different from the official National Pavilions and is displayed in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini, as well as the Corderie of the Arsenale. The artistic director is selected by the Bienale foundation and sets the agenda for the Bienale and the International Exhibition.

Rugoff’s Curated International Exhibition

The ostensible non-theme for this year’s Biennale, selected by the artistic director Ralph Rugoff, was based on a fictitious Chinese proverb “may you live in interesting times.” Notwithstanding that the Venice Biennale started having themes in 1972, Rugoff stated that the 58th International Art Exhibition will highlight a general approach to making art and a view of art’s social function as embracing both pleasure and critical thinking. The title was meant to suggest and represent false news. Rugoff selected 84 contemporary living artists to participate. He explains his choices as follows: “all of the artists in this exhibition were selected because in some way their work acknowledges the open ended character of this exchange with the viewers own associative responses and interpretations to give meaning to their works of art. May You Live In Interesting Times has been formulated in the belief that an exhibition, like a work of art, is most deeply engaging when it provokes a vivacious inquisitiveness and encourages us to wonder and to question, and to try to better understand how different pieces of the world fit together.”

In a departure from Biennale practice, Rugoff gave each selected artist space in the Arsenale (Proposition A) or in the Giardini Central Pavilion (Proposition B). This was not a particularly successful endeavor for all artists, nor was the entire curated installation. While there were many successful installations and important works by artists both established and emerging, the International Exhibition as a whole in my opinion did not work as a curated exhibition: the artistic director’s description of the curated exhibition was too general to present any real order or direction to the the installations which ranged from mini gallery exhibitions to large scale installations. Far from highlighting “artworks that explore the interconnections of everything,” I found it difficult to experience how the artists spoke to each other.

The lack of curatorial vision or agenda made me recall with nostalgia some of the brilliantly curated themed exhibitions by other artistic directors over the years.

For example, the 52nd International Art Exhibition, directed by Robert Storr, Think with the Senses – Feel with the mind: Art in the present tense; the 54th International Art Exhibition, curated by art historian and critic Bice Curiger, ILLUMInations; the 55th International Art Exhibition, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, curator at the New Museum, The Encylopedic Palace. In that exhibition, performance artist Tino Sehgal was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist, the first time a performance artist was a recipient of this award. Angola, a first time Pavilion, deservedly won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation with an extraordinary site-specific installation by photographer Edsen Chagas, “Luanda Encyclopedic City”, in the rented Palazzo Cini, a museum of Renaissance art, with wonderful paintings by Pontormo, Giotto, Botticelli and Piero della Francesca. There is a significant overlap in artists selected in this International Exhibition and that of The Encyclopedic Palace.

After two walkthroughs, I still really longed for the clarity and the vision of the recently deceased Okwui Enwezor, artistic director for the 56th International Art Exhibition titled All The World’s Futures, and Okwui’s even more brilliant artistic curatorship of Documenta11 (2012). There are definitely others who prefer the more flexible curatorial approach of Rugoff, which can include any artist he likes.

The International Exhibit is always been a place of discovery: Pipoletti Rist, Ever is Overall (1997), El Anatsui, DUSASA II (2007), Tabimo (2007), and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (2013). These artists have gone on to well-deserved art world success. Anatsui and Yiadom-Boakye are in the Ghana Pavilion. This year, I also made new discoveries. For example, Michael Armitage: his work was installed in the Arsenale as almost a mini-gallery exhibition. He also has some beautiful pen and ink drawings in the Giardini. Armitage hails from Kenya and works in Nairobi and London, represented by White Cube. In October, he will have a solo exhibition curated by Thelma Golden, at MOMA. He is definitely an artist to watch.

For those with extremely limited time who nevertheless want to see the International Exhibition, my suggestion is to get a detailed map from the Biennale website or the Exhibition catalogue, which indicates where particular artists are located in both the Arsenale and the Giardini and seek out only those artists.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Teresa Margolles are artists who I have followed and put in my own “curated” exhibition, When the Body Becomes Art (c) (2015). Hamdan focuses on the politics of listening, whilst Margolles trains a feminist lens onto the brutalities of narcoviolence that pervade her home country of Mexico. Having throughout her practice thematised governmental negligence, the social and economic cost of the criminalisation of drugs, and the specific textures, smells and physical remains – that is to say, the materiality – of death. For Mura Ciudad Juarez in the Central Pavilion, she installs sections of a concrete wall with barbed wire riddled with bullet holes to depict violence. She was awarded special mention by the jury. I found perhaps this section of the International Exhibition, including also the works of Shilpul Gupta, Untitled (c) 2009 (mobile gate) and Sun Yuan (1972) and Peng Yu (1974) China, Can’t Help Myself (c) (2016) and Christian Marclay, The Scream (c) (2018) the most successful curated part of the International Exhibition. I experience a sense of emotional fear and uncertainty collectively expressed by these artists for the times in which we live. Particularly Can’t Help Myself, with the constant interplay between the fluid and the robotic – and the works title, with its evocation of impulsive compulsive behavior – raises questions about the different and interrelated vulnerabilities of the organic and the mechanical. My own associative responses and interpretation were enhanced by the difficulty I had in finding the exit to the Central Pavilion – a sense of panic and fear that I would be late for a lunch meeting hosted by an international gallerist with artists from China. I still don’t know if the guard in front of the Mura, I asked to assist me finding the exit who responded “I’m not here to help you”, was a performer in the Margolles installation or an exception to the usually kind Venezia Polizia.

Two other artists have mini exhibits which are strong: Nicole Eisenman in the Giardini (B) and my New Orleans Prospect discovery , Njideka Akunyili Crosby represented then by Victoria Miro and now by Miro and David Zwirner.

In theory, most works of art in a Biennale are not for sale. That is actually no longer the case. Increasingly, Biennales have become a venue for galleries and collectors to acquire artists and works of art. The entire site, specifically the 2013 Angola Pavilion of Edson Chagas, although not the Palazzo Cini, was acquired at that time by collector Jochem Zeitz and is now exhibited as part of the collection at Zeitz MOCA in Capetown, South Africa.

Artsy recently reported on the winning gallery for artists’ represented in Venice: “Notably, there are no artists represented by Gagosian in the Biennale this year; Pace and Hauser & Wirth have just one artist apiece. White Cube, Jay Jopling’s hugely influential outfit with spaces in London and Hong Kong, as well as an office in New York, has the most artists in the 2019 Venice Biennale, with seven. Five White Cube artists are featured in Rugoff’s exhibition: Julie Mehretu, Danh Vō, Christian Marclay, Michael Armitage, and Liu Wei. In the National Pavilions in the Arsenale, Xiangyu will be one of the four artists representing China, and Ibrahim Mahama is one of the six artists in Ghana’s Pavilion.” Marian Goodman has four artists: Leonor Antunes, Nairy Baghramian, Julie Mehretu, Kemang Wa Lehulere and Danh Vō. Worthy to note given its influence on establishing visual performance art, Performa participants in this year’s Biennale include Zanele Muholi, Mehretu, Lehulere, Christian Marclay, Joan Jonas (collateral event Ocean Space), Ed Atkins and Defne Ayas, curator of the first four Performa editions, originator of the Dutch Pavillion 2017 and co- curator of the Ganwgju Biennale 2020 (the International Jury).

National Participation Pavilions

Paolo Burrata at the US Pavilion talking about the importance of the National Pavilions

 

The pavilions I have selected, for the most part, represent the particular interests and biases stated at the beginning of this article. Coincidentally, as the press has appeared, it does seem that many of my choices do seem to overlap with the choices of “first responder art world pundits”. One of the themes in play in my analyses of the pavilions I have selected is the meaning of “National Pavilion” in the context of the Venice Biennale. There has been much criticism on a variety of levels of the National Pavilions. Perhaps one of the most trenchant was the brilliant artist and intellectual Alfredo Jaar when he represented Chile in 2013. His artwork called Venezia, Venezia presented a model of the Giardini submerged in water to suggest that the entire infrastructure had lost its meaning in the fluidity of globalized world culture.

The National Pavilions I discuss for the most part do not reject the concept of National Pavilions, although the meanings poured into the concept differ. In this sense, they reflect Rugoff’s view of art in general in its complexity. In his introductory essay, he quotes the artist Ian Cheng who objects to the idea that art must be meaningful. “I think this is a misunderstanding he has observed. Maybe the real purpose of art is to wrestle with the relationship between meaning and meaninglessness and how they transform each other.”

My discussion of the pavilions is organized more or less by location and proximity to each other.

United States Pavilion – Liberty/Libertà
Martin Puryear

Martin Puryear is one of the most highly respected and acclaimed contemporary sculptors practicing today, although globally he is underrecognized. Known for his historically engaged, deftly hewn wood forms, Puryear has honed his woodworking skills since the 1960s, when he learned the craft techniques of West Africa, while serving in the Peace Corps. He continues to use such techniques to develop organic forms that speak to the natural world, African-American history, and salient cultural issues. As the press release states, “Martin Puryear’s enduring approach has galvanized his art for more than five decades: issues of democracy, identity, and liberty have long propelled him.” Martin’s works in the US Pavilion reflects the understated elegance and superb craftsmanship combined with the subtlety of the power of its form and inherent symbolism for which he is known. Martin has long recognized how utilitarian object can evoke monotonous labor, seasonal ritual, oppression or emancipation.

A Column for Sally Hemings, 2019, in the foreground, is dedicated to the African American slave owned by Thomas Jefferson, who was the father of her children. Puryear’s iron stake at the crown also destabilizes and offers a critique of the Pavilion built in 1930, on the Palladian principles of Monticello, Jefferson’s home, a slave. Puryear is not the first artist chosen to represent the US to critique the symbolism of its architecture. Puryear’s predecessor Mark Bradford in 2017 had garbage strewn in the yard of the Pavilion. One of the most memorable for me was that of Ann Hamilton’s myelin in 1999, who placed a veil of water glass that framed and distorted the image of the building seen through it. Inside the Pavilion, she had a fuchsia-colored powder sifting down the gallery walls, collecting on Braille dots that spelled out verse about human suffering.

Cloister-Redoubt has been characterized by Puryear as a meditation on the mystery of religious belief and a view of faith as an elaborately constructed edifice. Other objects in the Pavilion play on Puryear’s investigation of headwear, like the historical Phrygian cap or the aso oke (c) (2019). The latter is part of contemporary Nigerian dress and there is also reference to Yoruba textile and weaving.
There is no question that the intelligent elegance of the installation and the beauty of the artistic execution of the works made this Pavilion an artist’s, collector’s, art critic’s and curator’s choice. In conversation, an internationaly exhibited artist told me she thought that the US Pavilion was perhaps one of the best pavilions she had ever seen.

It made me curious to see how many times in recent history the US had actually had its Pavilion selected. Surprisingly, I found out that although the process was somewhat different in 1964, Robert Rauschenberg who represented the US Pavilion in 1964 was awarded the Golden Lion for painting. Critics stated that this signaled the end of European dominance of the art world, and further that it cemented pop art as a marketable artistic commodity. In 1988, Jasper Johns represented the US with Jasper Johns: Work Since 1974. Apparently this was taken as a statement that the US was still interested in participating in an international art world and hordes of collectors from the US arrived for the pre-opening festivities. He was awarded the Golden Lion for painting

Canada Pavilion – ISUMA
Isuma Collective

Artist collective Isuma, founded by Norman Cohn and Zachariah Kunkun, for the past two and a half decades has made films and videos in the Inuit experience. This marks the first presentation of art by Inuit in the Canadian Pavilion.

Consistent with the view that national pavilions represent the spirit and mood of a nation at that time, is the Canadian Pavilion. Few countries are as enlightened when it comes to the recognition of indigenous or First Peoples as Canada, notwithstanding that the Pavilion deals with episodes of mistreatment of the indigenous people of Baffin Island. The Isuma collective is made up of artists and indigenous people and has a mission of preserving indigenous language and culture, including through indigenous language TV. In a sense, the Pavilion shows artists who in one generation have gone from “the age of stone to the digital era.” Isuma means “state of consciousness” in the Inuktitut language. The International Exhibition artist who opined to me about the superiority of the US Pavilion commented when I had indicated my interest in Canada, “I am tired of National Geographic in a Pavilion.” I disagree. The exhibitions in the Pavilions of Brazil and Canada are not only appropriate because the events which they depict and the issues raised are at the center of current major legal socio-political debate, but also because the insight and talents of the artists take these out of the realm of ethnographic documentaries.

Interview with producer and writer of the film One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk

Installation view of the video One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk

Brazil Pavilion – Swinguerra
Barbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca

Swinguerra is a film commission for the Pavilion of Brazil. In representing Brazil at the Biennale, filmmaking duo Barbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca spotlit the underrecognized Swingueira dance groups of Recife, Brazil. Swinguerra takes its title from swingueira, a popular dance movement in the north-east of Brazil, fused with the word guerra, meaning war. The artists, Wagner and de Burca, worked out popular expressions of contemporary culture in Brazil and their complex relationship to race, gender, identity, and desire. The film provides a deep and empathetic view of contemporary Brazilian culture at a moment of significant political and social tension. The predominantly black bodies, many of non-binary gender, are in many ways “the focus of contemporary disputes around visibility, entitlement and self representation in Brazil.”

A clip from Swinguerra

France Pavilion – Deep See Blue Surrounding You
Laure Prouvost

Laure Prouvost is the third woman to be chosen for the French Pavilion after Anette Messager in 2005 and Sophie Calle in 2007. I encountered a young man of African descent at the entry of the Pavilion engaged in conversation with a journalist. When I asked him if he was the artist, he said, “No, it’s the other black man.” When I looked at him questioning, he said, “No, it’s me.” I told him I could interview him after seeing the Pavilion. Not knowing at that time the ethnicity of the artist who had been selected, I went through the Pavilion thinking that finally a person of African descent had been selected to represent France. It was interesting how it changed my perception of the experience of the Pavilion. On leaving, when I asked to speak to the artist, I was told that she had gone out for coffee. It turns out, the “artist” I had encountered was in fact one of the actors in Prouvost’s film. Unlike several of the other pavilions discussed in this article – India, Ghana, Mongolia and even the United States – Prouvost questions the concept of “national representation” and more broadly the question of identity.

Belgium Pavilion – Mondo Cane
Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys

This was a pavilion of parallel realities, which was awarded special mention by the jury.

Mongolia Pavilion – A Temporality
Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar (Jantsa) – an interactive sound performance by Mongolian traditional throat singers, accompanied by renowned German artist Carsten Nicolai, aka Alva Noto

Performance at Palazzo Grassi of artist and co-curator Carsten-Nicolai aka Alva Noto, with throat singers Ashit Nergui, Davaasuren Damdin,Altangerel Undarmaa and Damdin Khadkhuu

It is fitting, if art represents culture, the National Pavilion of Mongolia’s focus, in part, is on its intangible heritage. Mongolian ancestors that have traced back over 3 millennia have maintained a nomadic lifestyle where developments and the accrual of tangible creations, such as literature and art, were impeded due to the pastoral way of life, which required constant movement. Because of this limited context, oral traditions emerged and evolved as a principal means of expression and passed down through generations. With the progression of time, techniques of oral expressions acquired unique and complex forms. Originally, Mongolians practiced throat singing as a means of communicating with their inner selves, surroundings and animals. Sounds differed depending on the environment and evolved minds, bodies and spirits of the people emitting them. Throat singing was inscribed in 2010 on the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO under the convention for the safeguard of the Intangible Heritage (2003).

Curator Gantuya, who also organized the first and second editions of the Mongolian Pavilion, holds a degree in economics from Harvard and runs a contemporary gallery in Ulaan Bataar, commissioned the artist Jantsa to create sculptural installations to complement the brick-walled, interconnected cramped rooms of the old Venetian house. Jantsa’s sculptural pieces made of hybrid plastic and raw construction materials are created specifically for the Mongolian Pavilion. By juxtaposing contemporary works with the spirit of the old Venetian house, the sculptural installations of Jantsa offer viewers moments of fleeting forgetfulness and reminiscence where artists can interact with the space and objects with the form by emitting traditional throat singing techniques and electronic music. Jantsa, who has studied in the US, is nevertheless greatly aware of his roots and is intrigued by Mongolian tales, riddles, proverbs, and the intellectual communicative mindsets that have occupied his nomadic ancestors. Jantsa pays homage to the sculptors Ursula von Rydingsvard and Nari Ward, who recently had his first long overdue solo retrospective show We the People at the New Museum in New York, imbued with the magic and power which has previously inspired Jantsa.

The Mongolia Pavilion is located outside the Arsenale. Walk past the Arsenale entrance turn right over the bridge and you will find it, as well as Pakistan.

Ghana Pavilion – Ghana Freedom

Ghana’s first pavilion at the Biennale was much heralded. The Pavilion brought together Ghanaians from the diaspora as well as a younger generation of Ghanaian artists. It was a celebrity artist pavilion designed by celebrity architect Sir David Adjaye O.B.E., known in the US for being the architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (I was on the selection committee for what was then the Faith Ringgold Museum for Art and Storytelling in Harlem, which selected Adjaye for his first US project). The Pavilion includes an amazing three-screen video installation by John Akomfrah (1952) the noted pioneer filmmaker and artist who was a founder of the influential Black Audio Film Collective in London in 1982; large scale drape sculptures by El Anatsui (Golden Lion for lifetime achievement 2015); a large video/sculptural installation by Ibrahim Mahama, a younger generation Ghanian artist (1987) who uses the transformation of materials to explore themes of commodity, migration globalization and economic exchange; a video installation by photographer and glass artist Selasi Awusi Sosu (1976); portraits and photographs by Felicia Abban (1935), a true discovery with photographs much in the same genre as Malien photographers Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keïta, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s (1977) paintings are a tour de force. The advisor for the Ghanaian Pavilion was Okwuchukwu Emmanuel Enwezor (1963-2019) to whom the catalog of the exhibition is dedicated. Consistent with one of the themes of this article, a catalog essay by Taiye Selasi, of Ghanaian Nigerian origin, “Who’s Afraid of a National Pavilion?” posits the question “if the National Pavilion is so problematic – anachronistic at best, imperialistic at worst – why would any nation want one? Why would Ghana? What business has a post-colonial nation with a biennial based on colonial nationalism?” The answer posed is that “to the curator and the artists of the Ghana Pavilion take precisely that control, illuminate the complexity, flexibility, and multiplicity inherent in the notion of Ghana itself. Here we find Ghanaian creators involved in the project of imagining not a Ghanaian self, but Ghanaian selves; and doing so exultantly, unapologetically under the banner of nation.” And further, she provided as one answer “to give Ghanaian artists, whose relationship to nation and self we allow to be opaque, the space to perform their interrogations on a global platform they deserve.”

At the opening of the Pavilion, I had the opportunity to interview , Selasi Awusi Sosu. Sosu’s Glass Factory II, 2019, was inspired by desolate and defunct state-owned industrial glass manufacturers in Ghana’s Western region. In its prime the factory provided a livelihood for thousands of Ghanaians. Sosu visited the abandoned site on numerous occasions seeking to capture transient and past moments. She interviewed former employees of the factory who revealed a nostalgia for the past because many of them have since resorted to illegal small-scale gold mining which, unfortunately, processes gold by using mercury, detrimental to their health, the community and the natural environment. When I talked to Sosu, she indicated that being in Venice was more than a dream come true not only because she was participating in the Ghanaian Pavilion but also because she had tried unsuccessfully to work in glass in Ghana without much success. It was in fact a dream for her to envision working in Murano and learning how to use her envisioned medium of artistic expression.

I had the opportunity to speak with Selasi Awusi Sosu

India Pavilion – Our time for a future caring

India has a long history but it has taken the Indian art and cultural community quite some time to unite on the presentation of an Indian Pavilion at a Biennale. The curated presentation is a call to understanding Mahatma Ghandi’s ideas in commemoration of his 150th birth celebration. The Pavilion weaves together contemporary artworks by eminent artists – Nandalal Bose (1882) (Haripura Posters 1937), MF Husain (1915), Atul Dodiya (1959), Ashim Purkayastha (1967), Jitish Kallat (1974), GR Iranna (1970), Rummana Hussain (1952), Shakuntala Kulkarni (1950) – emphasizing historical moments concerning Ghandi or invoking critical thinking in imaginary staged encounters. As the Indian Minster of Culture, Arun Goul stated, Secretary Ministry of Culture, “Mahatma Ghandi’s life was his message… Ghandian values have always been an intrinsic part of the Indian ethos. Art is nothing but an expression of a nation’s culture. The installation and artworks at the Indian Pavilion are an expression of the universal Ghandian values of truth, nonviolence, compassion towards fellow beings and nature, self-reliance, simplicity and sustainability.”

GR Iranna, India Naavu (We Together), (c) 2012

Having migrated to New Delhi to study and practice art more than two decades ago, Iranna reflects on the atrocities of an increasingly brutal world, critiquing forms of violence, also appealing to resist provocations and unnecessary aggression.

In recent years, Iranna has taken to working with the unpredictable medium of ash, engaging with the ephemeral, with marks and traces and the dematerialization of matter. Subsequently, he has worked with commonplace objects such as padukas, or Indian slippers traditionally made of wood, associated since antiquity with spirituality and reverence. Doing away with Gandhi’s widely identifiable eyeglasses, the spinning wheel or walking staff, Iranna turns to a less referenced object-symbol. Ghandi’s padukas (indicative of his adherence to non-violence in the rejection of leather) allude to his idea of Satyagraha (passive political resistance), attained through the collective mass action of walking/marching. Gandhi, it is believed, in the forty years of his active political life, on an average, walked twenty kilometers every day.

Chile – Altered Views
Voluspa Jarpa

The project is a result of years of research into the reality of Latin American countries through CIA declassified documents. It is composed of three reversed cultural spaces/models: The Hegemony Museum, the Subaltern Portrait Gallery, and the Emancipating Opera. Voluspa Jarpa is the first woman to represent Chile at the Biennale.

Lithuania Pavilion – Sun & Sea (Marina)
Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė

“Art is not a message that we can simply decipher and comprehend; indeed, interesting artworks do not offer us conclusions so much as deeply engaging points of departure. They provide unexpected pleasures and a residual sense of surprise and uncertainty; we might end up feeling that we simultaneously understand and do not understand them.” Ralph Rugoff said, “May You Live In Interesting Times.” This quote is indeed apt for the winner of the best Pavilion. A number of national pavilions might have received the Golden Lion, however the selection of Lithuania, funded by a Go-Fund Me campaign, cannot really be questioned. “The piece has to do with ecological issues and the Anthropocene,” Grainytė said. “But I didn’t want to be didactic because it’s such a big topic and it was important to find a subtle, romantic language.” My friend Yates Norton, a curator of a space in Lithuania and a collaborator and artist in the Pavilion talked about the challenge deliberately imposed of the eight-hour performance schedule.

As someone interested in opera and performance, I agree, it was really quite brilliant. Coincidentally, I learned Lithuania has won four other recognitions since its participation in the Biennale. Not only was I privileged to attend the performances before the announcement of the award, I subsequently learned that Performa’s gifted former curator and co-curator of the next Gwanju Biennale was also member of the jury that awarded the prize to the Lithuanian Pavilion. Given last year’s award of the Golden Lion to Anna Imhoff’s installation, Faust, in the German Pavilion, and the addition of performances during preview week as a collateral event, it seems visual performance art has been recognized as an important medium of expression in international contemporary art.

Unfortunately, for non-preview week visitors, the eight-hour opera performed by the beachgoers will only occur on Saturdays.

Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė, Sun & Sea. Vocals in this clip by Yates Norton

Taiwan Pavilion – 3X3X6
Shu Lea Cheang

Giacomo Casanova said, “One who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.” Reflecting upon the transformation of surveillance techniques since the panopticon to include contemporary 3-D facial recognition, AI, and the Internet, Shu Lea Cheang’s 3X3X6 restages the rooms of the Palazzo delle Prigioni — a Venetian prison from the sixteenth century in operation until modern times — as a high-tech surveillance space.

The Taiwanese Pavilion for me was one of the most forward-looking, creative and intellectually interesting. The complexity of the imagery and the ideas cannot be easily transmitted in this article. By way of illustration, some of the subjects addressed in various video and imagery include (i) the inverted electronic panopticon, (ii) Cassanova in pharmacopornographic times, (iii) Sade and the social contract in the age of sexual cyborgs, (iv) Foucault in Warsaw, and (v) the myth of the non-white rapist. As the curator Paul B. Preciado wrote in the catalog, “hacking digital surveillance technologies and social media, Chaeng uses the historical site of the Venetian renaissance prison to create a real time dissident interface that the visitor is invited to enter… whereas modernism negotiated the tension between craft and the emergent technologies of its era, the digital avant garde develops out of the reassessment, critique and collapse of modern aesthetics by post-internet technologies including data mining and mass surveillance. This digital avant garde movement undertakes two oppositional moves: one, Chaeng uses and misuses the possibilities of producing and distributing art specific to the internet; and second: She questions the hegemonic narrative that criminalizes sexual, gender and racial minorities… the norms that have established the difference between the normal and the pathological, the real and the virtual, the socially recognized and the invisible.”

Iran Pavilion – Of being and singing

The Iranian Pavilion, located off-site in a house at Fondanco Marcello, is an exhibition of three artists, two from Tehran, Reza Lavassani (1960), Samira Likhanzadeh (1967) and Ali Meer Azimi (1984) who lives and works in Esfahan. The curator of the Pavilion states that it is “an homage to life and to precious moments of the past, present and future. The exhibition carries a message of piece from the cultural and artistic scene of Iran, a message seldom relayed to the world by contemporary media. Representing Iran are three artists hailing from various disciplines who magnify the glory of being and kind, identity and memory, reality and dreams. Challenging the clichéd notions of Iranian art as mostly composed of local elements and motifs, these artists represent the universal aspects of Iranian art through their artistic terminology.” The banner which begins this article is “life.” Through a deliberate choice of paper maiche, the artist underlines the literal and symbolic significance of recycling and portrays the artist’s belief in recreation and the eternal cycle of life. For more immersion in contemporary Iranian art, visit The Spark is You: organized by Parasol Unit, London, curator Ziba Ardalan, in the Conservatorio di Musica Palazzo Pisani Campo Santo Stefano. The collateral exhibition brings together 9 Iranian artists of different ages, like Siah Armajani and New York-based YZ Kami, who now live and work the US with those working in Iran, who have had a similar early education and grounding in classical Persian poetry.

After five intense days of biennial events in Venice, it was refreshing to take a break to visit Murano. A quick vaporetto ride from near San Marco, I visited Glasstress, an exhibition curated by Vik Munez and Koen van Mechelen, artists include Carlos Garaicoa, Aiweiwei, Jaume Plensa, Sudarshan Shetty and Fred Wilson, among others. In its sixth edition, the exhibition for me was less interesting than two years ago and the space a bit crowded. Notwithstanding, there were some interesting works. Even more fun was to take another vaporetto for a twenty-minute from Murano ride to Burrano and relax with a marvelous, typically Venetian seafood luncheon at Il Gato Nero. My Italian friends shared a valuable tip: Buy the app Che Bateo, instead of Goggle Map for vaporetto time tables and GPS.

 

This month, our featured member is a speaker and a licenced sport pilot. Oh and we should also mention that he is a self-taught photographer whose career started at age 20. He quickly became one of the youngest high-profile photographers in the world and has worked with President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, the Dalai Lama and others. Let’s see what else we can find out about Jon Carmichael!

Tell us about the trajectory of your career up to this point. 
I actually never meant to be a professional photographer, so it’s funny how my career path has unfolded. I taught myself how to use a camera when I was 20 as merely a hobby. For almost ten years I never showed anyone my artwork or even printed a single photograph. Then my father passed away and everything changed. I had many regrets of not sharing my work with him, so in his honor I spent a year learning the printing process and created my first artist proofs. Through this miraculous grapevine, as if it was fate, the day I finished my first proofs Elton John, one of the biggest collectors of photography, heard my story and invited me to his home to see the prints. He became my first collector, encouraged me to share my work and introduced me to the art world.

Who are your biggest influences?
I tend to find most of my inspiration through philosophers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Carl Sagan was my biggest influence growing up and is the reason I became curious about astronomy, which later evolved into my passion and career of being an astro-photographer. Other influences are Buckminster Fuller, The Dalai Lama, and Elon Musk.

What does your work aim to say?
I try to tell a story with my work and instill curiosity. To me, there’s nothing more mysterious or awe-inspiring than the universe and natural beauty of our planet. It’s very humbling. Unfortunately we have too much light pollution now due to electricity. Because of this, we cannot see much of the night sky and have lost our sense of awe and wonder that our ancestors had. I try to reignite that in my work. What I love most about photography is being able to push the boundaries and unveil parts of reality we cannot see with the naked eye.

Bonus Question: What tip would you give our members about collecting photography?
We as humans are social creatures and storytellers. I would encourage members to collect works that have a story which move you personally – something that has meaning and is not just aesthetically pleasing. Anything can be photographed beautifully, but it’s often the story behind it that gives it true value. If you’re walking through an art fair or gallery and a photograph stops you in your tracks, I encourage you to ask more about the image and the story, as it might surprise you.

And this is why we love our “Get To Know Our Members” feature… we have so many inspirational members, whom we are so proud of, just like Jon! Please find more of his work here. Next month, we’ll select a new member to feature… it could be YOU!

Today we chat with Tina Ziegler, Director of Moniker Art Fair, who has been at the progressive forefront of the urban and new contemporary art scene since 2010. Having curated well over 100 exhibitions across countless countries, and in doing so introducing collectors and art lovers to thousands of artists, she acts as a leading authority within the scenes, heading Moniker as a hub for new art movements while continuing to operate on the fringe of the industry to ensure that boundaries continue to be pushed.

In 2018, she expanded the previously-London-centric fair to New York, introducing new context and a new dimension to the already-renowned, stylistically eclectic and trendsetting event.

First of all, congratulations on the 10th year anniversary of Moniker Art Fair! Can you please give us a quick version of the history of the fair?
Moniker started 10 years ago to fill a gap that was notably missing in the scene: a platform for truly pioneering urban contemporary art, and specifically art that had something to say; a message worth amplifying. We’ve grown from there to two fairs a year in London and NYC, additional smaller events throughout the year, and more international potential unlocking as we speak.

Why did you decide to take the London-based model across the pond to NYC and what will the similarities and differences be between the two fairs?
Like London, there’s a very strong collecting scene in NYC, and like London there’s an enthusiasm, a willingness to come out to something new or different. Having said that I think you can push boundaries more in New York, perhaps because it’s a key birthplace of urban art, so you can take each step forward in their stride. It also means you can start to engineer retrospectives of the city’s relationship with urban works, as we’ll be doing with WK Interact this year.

Similar to One Art Nation, you recognize the importance of creating transparency in the art market. How are you achieving that through the fair?
We’ve always tried to create strong open dialogues between the collectors, the artists, the gallerists and the fair itself, and that’s the crux of how we create the transparent environment, I think. We need to be honest with ourselves about the appetite for art, the way artists are treated and encouraged and actually the way collectors are treated and encouraged. All we can do in that sense as a fair is to listen to what the community needs and programme the fair around those needs. It’s not rocket science, but it’s notable how easy it’s been for the art fair industry to assume it can just do whatever it wants and collectors will hand over their money. We can think bigger than that; we should.

How is Moniker a truly unique experience for art-fair-goers, especially in a climate so full of art fairs?
Our installations are something particularly unique, I think, and that’s perhaps because of the lineup we curate each year. We’re working with hyper-relevant ideas, modern contexts, and crucially good art. Contemporary art has an almost unfair level of scrutiny to it because it’s not enough to provide striking social commentary, it’s not enough to be a good artist, it has to be both. And we provide that to a unique level – we listen carefully to the scene and bring the best of that emerging talent to the forefront, but we’re also connected enough to go to more established, critically acclaimed artists and say “what would you do if we gave you a lot of space to create something unique in?” They rise to the challenge astonishingly and it’s always gratifying to see our collectors and audiences react to the spectacle of the whole thing.

What role do art fairs play in the overall global art market today?
We have a lot more responsibility than I think many realise. Collectors want to take advice from the industry, they want to know who they’re buying and why, and not just because something is on-trend this year. We decide who they care about, and that means fairs are essentially kingmakers, so we need to be careful and thoughtful about who we’re putting to the forefront of the industry, and crucially who we could be missing. It’s why we take our curation seriously.

This month, our featured member is both an Art Advisor and Portfolio Manager from Barcelona based in London. Please meet Marc Sancho, whose life changed when a few months before enrolling in the army, a rugby injury led him to discovering Art and Philosophy. Since then, love – in all forms – has driven his career towards helping people manage their art collections. Marc expands on what he does, how he got there and what he would say to an aspiring art advisor.

What do you do in the art world?
As a Collection Manager, I basically love to help educate the tastes of collectors, manage the constant outcomes of an art collection and buy or sell on behalf of my clients to get the best deals (and returns). This work gives my clients the space to just focus on enjoying their art collections – I look after the rest. Through Art & Axia, every job I do is unique and depends on the needs of my client.

Did you receive any education, training or mentorship that has helped you excel in your career?
Indeed… I have two university degrees, several specialized courses (in arts and investments) and a Master in the Art Market up my sleeve.  But I don’t think I would be where I am today, if it weren’t for my mentors in the auction house that I worked at early in my career in Barcelona. My mentors taught me not just the ins-and-outs of the profession, but to read between lines.

What are the most interesting—or most challenging—aspects of your work?
I truly enjoy sharing my passion for art with my clients; most of them are as passionate as I. It is absolutely magic when (after months of scrupulous research, Excel spreadsheets full of numbers and graphics and dealing with international paperwork), we finally purchase a piece they love.

Any words of advice for emerging professionals trying to make it in the art world?
Being an independent art advisor means you are a One-Man-Band, so you have to prepare yourself in different fields. In addition to strong critical skills and sensitivity towards art, it is also necessary to have a deep knowledge of the laws, economics, languages, logistics, etc.

---

To help aspiring advisors with all of this and more, 1AN offers the Art Advisory 101 Program, created to guide aspiring art advisors on how to navigate the art world, set up a successful art advisory business and follow best practice. Already a practicing advisor? Then Art Advisory 201 will benefit those of you wanting to gain a deeper, more technical understanding of what it takes to run a successful art advisory firm.

One of the most valuable aspects of a curated museum exhibition is the accurate and logical perspective a visitor can gain from observing both the artwork on display and its comparison to similar categories and painterly styles in art. In fact, from an educational point of view, the old saying “the more you look the more you learn” certainly remains appropriate, particularly in the world of art. If you want to eventually secure your own opinion about contemporary art and receive an art appreciation education on your own, it is necessary to be an assertive private investigator of sorts, making evaluations, judgments and finally an informed analysis of overall quality and originality. Scholarly essays most often generate the most truthful and intellectual outlook with analytical reporting and assessments from art history that seem appropriate. The most satisfying reviews of an exhibition need to offer the reader a clear stance on what the artwork is all about, a detailed description of mark-making and the evolution of the artist’s technique and a factfinding report on how their work fits into the historical timeline and how it compares with similar art forms. Because of the concentrated grouping of works in a museum show, it is by far more educational and valuable (and private) to evaluate paintings there with a common denominator of methods and attributes than to sift through an entire art fair for hours, discovering hundreds of artists in a variety of mediums both new and old.

The current exhibition by Jill Krutick at the Coral Springs Museum of Art not only is a glorious show to visit in South Florida, but it affords a visitor with a close-up and personal display of an individual’s superb practices and recognizable style. Through this magical display we can perceive a lot about how creative pioneers set the developmental stage for other talents to follow. It’s been said that America has two distinctive forms of culture that we can call entirely our own. Abstract expressionism and American jazz (abstracted music), which were permanently, completely and uniquely stamped “Made in the USA!” These still retain the value of inventiveness and a revolutionary spirit but with a fresher approach and the thrill of something new to ponder. By the excellent reception Krutick has received to date and the sheer natural abstract beauty of her large-scale non-narrative “action” canvases, history not only is on her side, encouraging and persuasive, but she actually has added another exciting, singular chapter and dimension to important advances in contemporary abstract expressionist-infused color field painting. This certainly is a valuable opportunity for anyone who wants to learn more about competent professional picture-making on a grand and provocative measure.

One of the most anticipated museum exhibitions of the season in South Florida, a dazzling display of works by the New York and Miami based artist Jill Krutick, recently opened at the Coral Springs Museum of Art.

Within the impressive grand space of the museum’s main gallery, Krutick has put together an engaging and provocative show that demonstrates a professional commitment to exploring post-abstract expressionist theory. Large-scale canvases confront the viewer with a recognizable common denominator of an energetic visual spirit often punctuated with twisting swirls of paint accented with delightful shades of pastel colored backgrounds, some of which are supported with a foundation of molding paste, gloss and enamel that is gradually built up, resulting in brilliant spatial illusions and a composition that is free-flowing and pleasing to the eye.

Jill Krutick enthusiastically has traveled this eminent and original expressionist avenue through a keen perspective on art through the past and a devotion to securing her own distinctive voice that is evident in this compelling exhibition. Krutick certainly has assimilated a variety of standard elements important to the abstract expressionist/color field movement characterized by her signature gestural brushstrokes and spirited mark-making with a confident measure of necessary intellectual ingenuity and spontaneity. She has managed through vigorous investigation and diligent studio work to formulate her own identifiable take on the on the recognized components of abstract expressionism.

Krutick became interested in art at an early age, and like Hans Hofmann, she also studied piano, which seems to have implanted a subtle subconscious ambulatory rhythm in many of her works. A good example of the inherent illusionistic movement in her paintings is Moonstone, a rich impasto on canvas in which homemade textured surfaces contribute to an easy breezy composition of delightful repeat swirls and tunnel-like circular shapes. These disparate gestures could almost serve as a meteorologist’s aerial map of the Atlantic, forecasting the chance of a brewing high pressure system that could develop into a powerful storm of rich blues built on a foundation of white-capped waves and circular currents. Krutick reiterates this painterly mystical ocean voyage in an appropriately titled work called The Journey, which is a carefully crafted configuration of ribbon like-forms that are spiraling in a condensed perimeter as if looking for an opportunity to escape. The Journey is starkly spare in textured shades of azure, making it a task artistically but also a particularly powerful piece despite its lack of colors.

Krutick says that “Painting is a highly emotive form of self-expression, providing an outlet to embrace my spirit, untangle my thoughts, and connect with others. Upon finding the balance of shape, movement, light and hue, I unlock new discoveries about the world around me; fresh insights about myself; and embrace viewers willing to embark on a journey of self-reflection and critical thinking.” She continues to describe her methods: “I select a few colors and a base texture, then use a layering technique to reveal the topography of the piece. By this process, I capture the movement by blending and building color in order to create depth or subtle touches on the surface. I am spontaneous when I paint; the element of chance stimulates my creativity and allows me to interpret my world through a tactile experience.”
Judging by this ambitious show, Jill Krutick has mastered the essence of lyrical abstraction when it comes to evaluating the difference between a moderately acceptable picture and a truly engaging and exciting composition that’s full of rhythm and blues. Of course, not all paintings take on the tints of the ocean and many of these new works seem to take a cue from the earth’s surface with deep color combinations with tones of gold, tan, ochre and burnt umber, all accented with a purely harmonic blend of natural organic hues. In a work titled Rainbow Fish, Krutick demonstrates her ability to merge standard elements of land, sea and air in an uplifting festival with a literal rainbow that delightfully spans the color wheel spectrum in all its glory. In two particularly vibrant works titled Phoenix and Dance of the Caterpillars, she has employed a similar palette (if not the same mixing board) to produce a bountiful harvest of floating forms and interconnecting lines that could be attached to some rare plant life from another world. Although most of the works have no narrative components, both of these suggest a covert title. In The Journey, one might perceive the frozen aftermath of an Olympic skater’s icy track, swirling in a curvy poetic motion that stays visually quite comfortably within the parameters of the skating rink. For Krutick, an obviously talented and serious artist, painting is a conscientious occupation showing indelible signs of significant pictorial achievement that also is built on the intriguing history of women artists who took on the bold quest to make innovative paintings on an unequal playing field while celebrating their independence and permanently engraving their own personality and signature style for all of us to interpret and enjoy. Jill Krutick clearly has become a member of this exclusive club.

The exhibition at the Coral Springs Museum of Art (2855 Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs, FL 33065, T. 954 340 5000) continues through May 18, 2019. For more information: https://coralspringsmuseum.org/3326-2/. About the artist: https://www.jillkrutickfineart.com/

Drew Watson, Vice President, Art Services Specialist at U.S. Trust, Bank of America and course instructor of our Art Wealth Management Program shares the experience he gained from Christie’s, how collectors are making art part of their broader wealth strategy and how art loans can generate liquidity.

Tell us how your professional life first intersected at art and finance?
My first experience working at the intersection of art and finance was at Christie’s in New York. One of my responsibilities as a business manager for five different art sale departments was running a P&L and structuring consignment deal terms for live auction, private sales, and online sales. Auction houses employ a variety of deal structures to land consignments. These include enhanced hammers, guarantees, and auction advances, the latter effectively functioning as bridge loans to provide liquidity to the consignor leading up to a sale.

In your opinion, is art an investment asset? A financial asset? Both? Please explain.
Traditionally, collectors have acquired art primarily for aesthetic reasons. The aesthetic enjoyment is still the leading motivator for most collectors, but many are now also seeking a financial return. Our view is that art is a capital asset that can represent an important portion of a client’s balance sheet. Collectors are increasingly considering art as part of their broader wealth strategy by factoring it into their charitable giving, accessing capital by borrowing against their art, and using art to minimize estate taxes and capital gains taxes.

How can borrowing against their art collections be beneficial for art collectors and investors?
An art loan can allow collectors to unlock capital from an illiquid asset while still maintaining both ownership and possession of the art. We see many different strategic applications of art loans as a source of liquidity. Some recent drivers have been hedge fund and private equity principals unlocking capital from their collections as part of an arbitrage strategy. We have also seen developers using an art loan as a real estate development line, and business owners using an art loan as a working capital line for their business. An art loan can also generate liquidity needed to pay estate taxes, or even help accelerate an acquisition strategy to buy more art.

Find out more about Art Finance Solutions in Wealth Management and Estate Planning with Drew Watson. Enroll in our Art Wealth Management Program today!

For more information, contact U.S. Trust art services group at 646.855.1107, or visit ustrust.com/art. Neither U.S. Trust nor any of its affiliates or advisors provide legal, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions. Credit and collateral subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. Programs, rates, terms and conditions subject to change without notice. U.S. Trust operates through Bank of America, N.A., and other subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation. Bank of America, N.A. and U.S. Trust Company of Delaware (collectively the “Bank”) do not serve in a fiduciary capacity with respect to all products or services. Fiduciary standards or fiduciary duties do not apply, for example, when the Bank is offering or providing credit solutions, banking, custody or brokerage products/services or referrals to other affiliates of the Bank.

Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC. © 2018 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved. | AR9L3LFN | 08/18

This month, our featured member is well versed on both sides, as an artist AND a collector! Please meet Enrique Chiu who lives between San Diego and Tijuana. As an artist, his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America. He is the creator behind the “Mural of the Brotherhood” at the USA / MX border wall. But today, we learn more about Enrique-the-Collector!

Have you purchased art before and if so, tell us about the first piece you acquired?
Yes, I generally buy at auctions. I have about 200 works by both well-known and emerging artists. I purchased my first piece from a gallery in Long Beach, California in 2003 by Raul Anguiano – a lithograph signed on both sides from 1974.

What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
I would like to own a Basquiat, a van Gogh, a Modigliani, a Botero, a Picasso…. Something to continue my art collection and share it with generations to come.

We see you are a fairly established artist as well, so you are really on both ends of the story! How do you describe your art to people who’ve never seen it before?
I have been an artist for 20 years, and I have found a market in the United States, Mexico and throughout Europe. Finding collectors is more difficult when they do not know you, but my artistic work addresses the most relevant topics in life and history, as well as social matters and the phenomena that are experienced daily in our world, in a colorful, positive, surreal and abstract way that anyone could enjoy.

How does being an artist influence your collecting style?
As a collector, I think it is important to know the story of the artist and their work in order to understand the value of the piece. Knowing the history and trajectory of artist makes a purchase easier.

With so many inspirational members, 1AN has decided to feature one per month to share their thoughts on and experiences with art. One common thread we’ve found so far… every one of them loves art! That’s why we all get along! We start this feature off with Toronto-based criminal lawyer and art collector, Daniel Rechtshaffen, who shares why he loves art, how he got his first piece, and offers up a tip for emerging collectors.

How did you come to love art?
Back in 2002, a friend from law school introduced me to a photographer friend of hers and we hit it off immediately. That friend was my Art Mentor when I was first getting into this scene. Through her I met more and more artists and that amplified my interest in contemporary art. Living in that world made me fall in love with the artists as much as their art. I really prefer to buy work from people I love.

 
What was the first piece you ever acquired and how did you go about it? 
It was a Joshua Jensen Nagle photo shot on expired Polaroid film. Josh and I met at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair and I bought the piece out of his studio.
 
Do you have any advice for emerging collectors out there?
Buy what you love. If a piece of art appreciates in value then that’s a bonus, but you have to live with it every day. Make sure that investment hanging on your wall stirs something deep in your guts.

Steven Schindler of Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP and course instructor of our Art Wealth Management Program discusses which laws protect art collectors and investors, what to do if you acquire a fake and three must have protections in a buy sell agreement.

How did you get into art law?
Although I have always had an interest in art, I never thought I would be an “art lawyer.” I spent the first part of my career as a business litigator, representing clients in complex commercial disputes. When I was asked fifteen years ago to represent a large art gallery in a dispute over the ownership of a work by the Italian baroque painter, Guido Reni, it seemed like a natural fit. That engagement then led to others, appointments teaching “art law” at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and NYU, the creation of Schindler Cohen & Hochman’s Art Law Group, and the launch last year of The Art Law Podcast.

What are the main legal risks that art collectors and investors need to be aware of before getting into the art market? How can a collector or investor do due diligence to make sure they don’t buy a problem work?
The two main areas of risk relate to ownership of the work and authorship of the work. Fine art is generally only as valuable as it is authentic. Meaning the true identity of the artist is essential to its value. It is very difficult to be 100% sure you are buying an authentic work of art unless the artist is still alive. But with a deceased artist there are many things a collector/investor can still do. The first is to ask for a full provenance history of the work and make sure that the provenance makes sense.

The second would be to ask an expert to inspect the art and comment on its authenticity. This can be costly and many experts are hesitant to offer these opinions formally, but may do so informally. The most important and easiest thing a collector/investor can do is to work with a reputable art dealer that has a track record for honest dealing and who will be around and motivated to assist if something goes wrong down the line, even if they are not legally obligated to do so.

As for the ownership of the work, it is important to make sure the work of art is being sold free and clear of all claims and liens by the true owner of the work. A buyer can run a UCC search to see what, if any, liens exist on the work and can also get representations and warranties as part of any sale documentation attesting to clear title.

Are the legal risks different for different types of transactions (e.g. buying and selling at auction, through a dealer or privately)?
Yes. In general, buying from an auction house is safer because auction houses are regulated and have the staff and incentive to do a lot of critical due diligence on works of art prior to sale. They will also take work back within 5 years of sale and provide a refund if the work is found to be inauthentic.

In a private sale, the type and depth of due diligence done on a work prior to sale will vary by dealer or seller. It may be challenging to find the dealer or seller down to road or recover from them if they disappear or go out of business, or simply lack the liquidity to refund the payment. Unlike an auction sale contract, the law provides a buyer a right of rescission within four years if the work if found to be inauthentic.

Learn more about Legal Aspects of Art Transactions and Risk Factors in Art. Enroll in our online Art Wealth Management Program today!

Note: This interview is not intended to be a source of legal advice for any purpose. Always seek the legal advice of competent counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.

Katherine Wilson-Milne of Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP and course instructor of our Art Wealth Management Program discusses which laws protect art collectors and investors, what to do if you acquire a fake and three must have items in a buy sell agreement.

Which laws protect art collectors and art investors?
The Uniform Commercial Code, which regulates the sale and transfer of goods, and common law contract, fraud, mutual mistake, and negligence doctrines are some of the legal protections.

State laws such as the New York Cultural Affairs Law may also provide added protection for collectors and investors when purchasing works.

By far the easiest way to be protected is to have a sale contract with representations and warranties from the seller and to have done due diligence prior to acquiring the work.

What recourse does a collector have if they have acquired a fake, or overpaid for an artwork?
If a collector acquires a fake, she can sue the dealer for breach of the warranty of authenticity under the Uniform Commercial Code or the New York Art and Cultural Affairs law. Because the 4 year statute of limitations begins to run at the time of the sale, and the discovery of the fake often occurs years later, that remedy is not always available.

If there were representations made under a purchase agreement, the collector can sue for breach of that agreement, where the statute of limitations is often longer.

If the collector and dealer were both mistaken about the work’s attribution, the collector can sue for “mutual mistake,” and ask a court to rescind the purchase agreement, requiring the collector to return the work and the dealer to refund the purchase price.

If the collector has reason to believe that the dealer knew he was selling a fake, the collector may sue for fraud, among other claims.

We understand that every art transaction is different and that it’s difficult to generalize, but what are the 3 must have items that you would recommend collectors and investors include in a buy or sell agreement?
There are, of course, more than three important items in any agreement to purchase art, but the ‘must have’ items would include:

• A representation and warranty by the seller that he has clear title to the work and that the work is free of any liens or encumbrances;
• A representation and warranty that the work is “authentic”; and
• An agreement by the seller to indemnify the purchaser for any claims made by a third party relating to any of the seller’s representations and warranties, but particularly the two listed above.

Learn more about Legal Aspects of Art Transactions and Risk Factors in Art. Enroll in our online Art Wealth Management Program today!

Note: This interview is not intended to be a source of legal advice for any purpose. Always seek the legal advice of competent counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.

The program is an introduction to the art market from an investment perspective

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards will provide three hours of continuing education credit that counts toward CFP certification for a new online art wealth management course.
The program, created by New York-based Tang Art Advisory and online art community One Art Nation, is an introductory course on the art market from an investment perspective. It is the only active continuing education program that focuses solely on art wealth management, according to Mary Kay Svedberg, director of education at the CFP Board.

“There’s a lot of misconception on art and how different it is from the financial market, so we wanted to make a program for financial managers to give them an opportunity to learn what the art market really is,” said Annelien Bruins, chief executive officer of Tang Art Advisory, who is also acting as the lead for the new program.

It’s a market that has grown substantially. Sales in the global art market reached $63.7 billion in 2017, up 12% from the previous year, according to a 2018 study from Art Basel and UBS. The U.S. made up the largest share, accounting for 42% of the sales by value….Read more

Enroll in the new online Art Wealth Management Program today!