SATURDAY LEGS
"Here Is Where You'll Find Me"
Among the two artists displaying diminutive photographs at this exhibit, you'll likely devote more time squinting at the noble works of Ashley Tibbits, who focuses exclusively upon the legs of her female subjects. Better luck next time, David Horvitz.
411: Opens Mar 22, noon-10pm, The Lab 101, 8539 Washington Blvd (W. of La Cienega), Culver City, 310-945-5974
So far, worries about the fall of the art market have been premature. At least that's the initial takeaway from the auction at Christie's on November 6 which started off the rollicking adventure known as the fall auction season in New York. It was thought that recent economic crises might have weakened the buying power of American art collectors. So far though it seems like the Americans are holding their own. Reuters reports that around half of the sale's buyers were American, one-quarter were European and one-quarter classified as "other." And it was business as usual with a bidding war erupting over Matisse's "L'Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue," which was expected to bring in $15 to $20 million but went for $33.6 million to an unnamed buyer.
The overall news wasn't entirely rosy though, Of 91 lots up for sale, 17 did not find buyers. And the overall sales totaled $394.9 million, which is healthily above the low end of the estimated sales, $348.6 million but still way below the $487.4 million high. Still, there always seems to be a fat wallet open when there is a Picasso around, other hot items included a few from the perennial favorite. "Seated Woman in a Turkish Costume (Jacqueline)," which was estimated to bring around $25 million went for $27.5 million. "Head of a Woman (Dora Maar)," brought in $16.2 million, which was far above the $8.5 million high estimate.
In a new book, Great Collectors of Our Time, James Stourton, the chairman of Sotheby's UK analyzes art collecting in the postwar era. While it still takes bucketloads of money, today's collector must combine his back account with a knowledge of the market, a bit of intuition and a single-minded passion that can stem from a variety of personal reasons. A collection, even one amassed for investment purposes, remains profoundly personal. The great collectors collect with their heart first and their wallet second. Which is the reason that anyone, even with a limited budget, can be a collector, just not at the fall sales in New York.
UPDATE: Uh oh, the news isn't so good from the Impressionist and modern art auction at Sotheby's in New York which Bloomberg calls "disappointing." Even paintings by some of the names that usually get snapped up in a moment like Picasso and Van Gogh didn't sell. Vincent van Gogh's yellow-and-blue `The Fields (Wheat Fields)'' which depicts the place where he later killed himself was estimated to sell for $35 million and received no bids. Paul Gauguin's Tahitian ``Te Poipoi (The Morning).'' had a high estimate of $60 million but sold for $39.2 million in a a lone telephone bid by Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau. The total sale was $269.7 million under the presale low estimate of $355.6 million. Did yesterday's Wall Street nose dive but a damper on the proceedings? It certainly looks like it didn't help.
In July, Sotheby's is auctioning a collection of watercolors by British artist J.M.W. Turner that could bring in as much as £15 million ($29.4 million). Turner is the artist behind Britain's most expensive paintings, with an auction record of £20.5 million. His highest priced individual piece was The Blue Rigi (pictured), which sold for £5.8 million last year. This particular collection was assembled by Baron Guy Ullens, a Belgian collector of the painter's works, who is planning on switching the focus of his art holdings to Chinese contemporary art.
Peter Beard is an artist and photographer who became famous during the 1960s for his work in Africa, where he "photographed and documented the demise of over 35,000 elephants" before working on several art installations, participating in fashion photography and collaborating on projects with Andy Warhol, Andrew Wyeth, Richard Lindner, Terry Southern, Truman Capote, and Francis Bacon. The Peter Beard Limited Art Edition Book is a collection of 200 pages of diaries and 300 pages of photo collages by Beard, and is accompanied by a volume with indexes and caption for all the images, as well as an interview with Beard and a good deal of biographical information. It is part of a limited edition of 2,250, each one signed by Beard and a wonderful piece for fans of the artist to add to their collection. Price: $1,900.
Here are the Most Expensive Sneakers according to Forbes. The first shoe featured are the Nike limited edition Air Force Ones, called Also Known As and produced in conjunction with a book celebrating the art of graffiti. The sneakers that were produced were only given to people involved with the release of the book, but Nom de Guerre has a pair on display. The shoes aren't currently for sale but are expected to fetch between $1,000 and $1,500 when Nom de Guerre decides to release them.
For more information, call (212) 253-2891 or visit www.nomdeguerre.net.
All that time spent scrawling in the margins during high school may, it turns out, serve a fashion purpose. The sneakers in Adidas's new retro-inspired White Series are not only designed to be scribbled on, they even come equipped with a box of multicolored markers to help you express your artistic vision. (Obviously our art department guy feels he missed his true calling as a street tagger.) Available in a choice of six styles, the line includes reissues of 1969's Superstar II as well as the original paint-it-yourself model, 1983's Adicolor Hi (above). New to the latter are laces bearing a highfalutin quote from Leonardo da Vinci: "For those colours which you wish to be beautiful, always first prepare a pure white ground." In the spirit of customization, we recommend removing them immediately.
If you like the concept of scribble style but are too lazy or uninspired to take matters into your own hands, alternatives abound. For Comme des Garçons' Spring 2006 collection, Rei Kawakubo festooned her jackets, shirts, and pants with lyrics and autographs from the Rolling Stones. Meanwhile, Martin Margiela's $335 white gumsole sneakers have been graffitied with everything from Christmas trees to the names of soccer teams the work, we're told, of a troop of ballpoint-pen-wielding Italian Boy Scouts. Three hundred and change strike you as too much to pay for sneaks? There's always the old standbya pair of Vans and a Sharpie.
Adidas White Series, $80-$300, available March 18 at Adidas Originals, 136 Wooster St., NYC, (212) 673-0398, www.adidas.com; Martin Margiela Austrian Army sneakers, $335, Maison Martin Margiela, 803 Greenwich St., NYC, (212) 989-7612; Comme des Garçons, $380-$1,190, 520 W. 22nd St., NYC, (212) 604-9200.
The thermos is stainless steel with a cover of gloss-coated baked enamel. The thermoses hold 16 oz. of hot or cold beverages and sell for $44 at Flax.
I think house numbers are an afterthought to most people, and few probably go farther than Home Depot to find a set of digits for their front porch. But the next time I find myself looking for a set of house numbers, I’m going to keep Chiasso in mind. They make a “Signo” line of distinctive and modern stainless steel numbers that each stand 6½” high and definitely can’t be missed by the pizza guy or FedEx driver. Chiasso’s Signo house numbers cost $18 apiece.
The Large Bathers
1906
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906)
Oil on canvas
82 7/8 x 98 3/4 inches
Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with the
W.P. Wilstach Fund, 1937
A small Kostabi painting, Sphere of Influence, sold at Christies in Milan on November 10, 2002 for 9,500 euro (approximately $9,500) -- more than double the estimate of 4,000 euro. This sets a new record for 18 x 24 inch Kostabi paintings. The highest known price paid for a Kostabi painting remains $60,000 for Gravity Fuels the Rocket to Inner Space, which is 72 x 48 inches.
KOSTABI WORLD NEW ADDRESS:
476 Broome Street New York NY 10013
(212) 334-7442
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