Archives For Galleries

The Rise of the David Zwirner Gallery

December 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

Nice profile about the rise of the David Zwirner Gallery and a excellent fly on the wall view into the obtuse workings of the art world by the folks over at The New Yorker.

“One of the reasons there’s so much talk about money is that it’s so much easier to talk about than the art,” Zwirner told me one day. You meet a lot of people in the art world who are exhausted and dismayed by the focus on money, and by its dominance. It distracts from the work, they say. It distorts curatorial instincts, critical appraisals, and young artists’ careers. It scares away civilians, who begin to lump art in with other symptoms of excess and dismiss it as another garish plaything of the rich. Of course, many of those who complain—dealers, artists, curators—are complicit. The culture industry, which supports them in one way or another, and which hardly existed a generation ago, subsists on all that money—mostly on the largesse and folly of wealthy art lovers, whether their motivations are lofty or base”

via The New Yorker article:

Dealer’s Hand

by Nick Paumgarten

via: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/02/131202fa_fact_paumgarten

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What Competing With Amazon Means To Your Art Gallery

July 9, 2013 — Leave a comment

Amazon is actually moving into your territory in a big way and this is a very big wake up call for small galleries. It’s all about the user experience online now, its all about eyeballs on your art, its all about distribution networks.

If Amazon is getting into the game you know they spent millions studying it and they see an opportunity here. Should you jump in with Amazon? Hell no… This is a wait an see moment as Amazon is the Wall-mart of the Internet and their site is terrible at showcasing anything. They make it easy to buy. They are very bad at creating a good way to look or find art. ( see ArtSpace  and Artnet as they are the best at it and they only work with galleries – which is the way to go.  SaatchiOnline has an interesting site as well.

What this means from a business perspective is galleries will need to align themselves with one of these online giants or perish. You think I am wrong? I wish… I have vast experience in this online take over game. This same thing happened in the stock photo industry a few years ago (now decimated), The same thing happened in the music industry with Itunes  and now it’s happening to your industry. Why is this going to effect your bottom line? Because giant corporations don’t care about you. They just want a piece of the sale and if they don’t get a piece of your sale they could care less. It’s a numbers game to them. They will make up for it in volume.

If I owned a gallery I would sign up as a user with the big online Art Gallery sites and see which one fits and which one feels right. But the days of the single gallery online are over boys and girls. You have to be with an online group and where the eyeballs are and these big sites will be where people go whether you like it or not.

Think about it; If a small site like Artspace has 200,000 members that’s a boat load of art buying eyeballs. When Amazon gets into the game its going to change the game immediately.  Lots of food for thought in this NYTimes article but the main point is when the 800-pound gorilla gets into your house you better pay attention. They make Getty look like small potatoes and Getty destroyed the mom and pop stock industry and more importantly the price of images plummeted once they got into the game.

New York Times Article Here

Survey which found Online art buying soars as almost three-quarters of collectors go online here

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Amazon Art Marketplace To Sell Art Online Again

July 8, 2013 — Leave a comment

Yes indeed Amazon Art Marketplace to sell art online again and once again changes the game in online art sales…

New York Times Article Here

Survey which found Online art buying soars as almost three-quarters of collectors go online here

Here is why:

A survey of more than 200 collectors by the international insurance company Hiscox, released in April, found that almost two-thirds had bought art online, without first seeing it in person, and that one-quarter of the collectors surveyed had spent $75,000 or more on works from online sellers or those they had seen only in JPEGs sent by galleries.

“We’ve seen that the price point people are willing to pay is rising,” said Catherine Levene, a co-founder and the chief executive of Artspace, which began selling art online in 2011. The company does not disclose overall sales figures but says that more than 200,000 people are now registered as members. Artworks pushing past the $100,000 mark have been showing up increasingly on the site, which charges a commission from galleries like 303 and Luhring Augustine in New York and Sadie Coles in London. Artspace has sold pieces like an engraved granite bench by Jenny Holzer for $125,000.

via The New York Times

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Best Gallery in Chicago Series: Stephen Daiter Gallery

June 21, 2013 — Leave a comment

Stephen Daiter Gallery offers fine and vintage examples of important American and European photography from the 20th century. Our areas of specialty are avant garde, experimental, documentary and photojournalism. They include the Chicago School of Design, the Bauhaus, the Photo League, and the André Kertész Estate. Our exhibitions and publications have been by turns interesting, challenging, and controversial. Our publications have stressed fine printing and original scholarship and we delight in bringing art and artists to light that have been heretofore overlooked or unknown.

Daiter Contemporary presents recent work by young, as well as established mid-career artists. These artists reflect the ever changing ideas and looks of contemporary photography and push the rules of how photos are made as well as how they are looked at. Within a separate yet conjoined space Daiter Contemporary maintains a concurrent exhibition schedule alongside that of Stephen Daiter Gallery. Our joint goal is to present the viewing public an opportunity to enjoy the diverse range of photographic art that we represent.

via the gallery web site

 

 

 

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Best Galleries in Munich Series: Schellmann Art

June 8, 2013 — Leave a comment

 

Since 1969 Schellmann Art has been producing and
publishing contemporary fine art editions: prints,
photographs, videos, objects and installation works.

via the website

Schellmann Art
Ainmillerstrasse 25
80801 München
tel +49 89 38666080, fax +332800
Tue-Fri 10 am – 6 pm

 

 

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