Art Basel Miami Beach, December 2COOL DEALS: THE SALES SCENE
Seven-Figure Sales
More big-ticket transactions at Art Basel Miami Beach: Galerie Gmurzynska of Zurich sold Joaquin Torres-Garcia's 1936 painting, Construction in Black and White, for $1.6 million. The gallery also had a six-figure deal: Monica Sitting, Tom Wesselmann's unique sculpture in laser-cut, painted steel from 1986, sold for $120,000. A strong reserve hovered over the stand's beautiful and generously scaled Willem de Kooning painting, Untitled (1971), which boasts a $2.8 million price tag.
James Cohan Cleans Up
Multiple sales at the booth of New York's James Cohan Gallery included a new work by the 28-year-old artist Trenton Doyle Hancock, In the Blestian Room; the painting, which includes a very threatening-looking vegan, sold for $50,000. *** Roxy Paine's computer-manufactured acrylic painting, PMU #24, sold for $25,000, as did his exotic, plant-filled vitrine, Cocklebur, for the same price. Both works date from 2005. *** Yinka Shonibare's elaborate sculpture in metal, fabric, resin and leather of a headless, though ornately costumed rider, Lady on Unicycle, sold for $155,000. *** The entire edition of five of Erick Swenson's shiny white and antlered creature, made of plastic resin (Untitled), sold at $20,000 each. A group of brilliant conceptual drawings by Robert Smithson, all dating from 1968-69, sold at $50,000 apiece.
Changing the Life of an Autistic Artist
Matthew Higgs, director of New York's White Columns, was one of four nonprofits invited to participate in the New Art Dealers Alliance (Nada). And as with most of the other galleries there, its sales exceeded expectations. It nearly sold out its solo show devoted to Auri Ramirez, an artist in her late 40s who suffers from a form of autism and who lives with her mother in California. Her work, which reflects her disability, has attracted the likes of artist-buyers Chris Ofili, Cecily Brown and Rita Ackermann-and their interest has created a ripple effect. The gallery, long associated with young and emerging artists, is looking now at exceptional older and overlooked artists. It takes 25 percent of the selling price of a work, with the artist getting the balance-between $900 and $2,500 in Ramirez's case. "The sales we've generated," Higgs says, "have changed Ramirez's life."
Sales Machine
ArtInfo can barely keep track of the copious sales at Nada: A group of claymation videos by Nathalie Djurberg, a Swedish-born, Berlin-based artist who will have her first show with the gallery in July, will be staying in Miami. Zach Feuer sold them for $5,000 a pop to Don and Mera Rubell. And it looks like Charles Saatchi has been buying actively. After picking up some things at Feuer's booth, he bought two new paintings by Bart Exposito at Los Angeles gallery Black Dragon Society for around $10,000 apiece. Perhaps it was their cheery titles that sealed the deal: One is called Slanted/Enchanted, and the other The New Face of Smiling.
Sales in Brief
The Sara Meltzer Gallery of New York sold: Two large-scale 2005 paintings depicting urban/suburaban mayhem by Jason Middlebrook, Searching for Usable Material and Country Club Road, at prices ranging between $22,000 to $35,000. *** Lehmann Maupin of New York experienced strong demand for gallery newcomer, the 28-year-old Essen painter Christian Hellmich; buyers snapped up the two available paintings, both from 2005, Trinkhalle and Treppe, at $21,000 and $12,000 respectively. Suling Wang's lush, landscape abstraction, Untitled (2005), sold in the $20,000 range.
MIAMI HEAT: INSIDE THE FAIR
A Model Couple
At the design.05 opening night event, model Stephanie Seymour and her publishing magnate husband Peter Brant spent a lot of time hanging out at the Patrick Seguin Galerie, which features 20th century French furniture by such designers as Jean Prouvé and Le Corbusier.
Overheard
Henry Urbach is closing his Chelsea gallery devoted to architecture-related art and new media. *** Kim Heirston, the well-known art advisor, was heard promoting the importance of a late work (2003) by Robert Rauschenberg on view at London's Waddington. *** The major collector Beth Rubin De Woody let on that she has been buying up a storm. Her prized purchase, she revealed, was a 1961 Jim Dine Black Painting with a real belt buckle embedded in it. *** Did you hear the one about the collector who says to the dealer, "Will you give me the collector's discount?' To which the dealer, enjoying the current supplier's market, replied, "Your discount is that I'm giving you the chance to buy it."
A, B, Crash!
Heads turned when a loud crash that sounded like breaking glass was emitted from the booth of Galeria Fortes Vilaca. Turns out some inattentive fairgoer had walked right through a stack of ceramic letters of the alphabet, an untitled work by the artist Valeska Soares. Although the pieces were scattered about the floor, none appeared damaged, and gallery workers quickly reassembled the work.
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