When I first started in gallery work in 1996, I was a fresh-faced kid straight out of college. I knew I wanted to work in the arts but, like all starving artists, had no idea what direction that might ultimately take. One of my early passions growing up was animation. It proved incredibly laborious and time consuming, so I migrated to comic books and political cartooning while still in school. So when I was coincidentally hired at a gallery specializing in animation cels (Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Walter Lantz, Dr. Seuss, et cetera, et cetera) an insatiable appetite was created for knowing anything and everything I could about the media, the history and the collectibility of these works. I clinically examined each work within my budget to determine precisely what the best use of my hard-earned (and scarce) funds might be. When I bought Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel’s (1904-1991) “Cat Carnival in West Venice”. My friends looked at me as if I had three heads. “You spent what?”… “On that?” It was $1,200.

Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, “Cat Carnival in West Venice”, Serigraph ( 31” x 29) Patron Proof LXII/XCIX (62/99) Full edition: 375 plus 99 P.P. plus 55 C.P. plus 8 Printer Proofs (537 total) Purchased, 2001 for $1,200. SOLD, 2010 for $4,500.

As I was fielding offers nearly a decade later for said “Cat Carnival”, a final sale price of $4,500 was settled upon. This sum represented a nearly fourfold increase, despite the worst recession since the Great Depression. Let’s think of it as my own Bailout. While this is not a huge sum by modern investment standards (or, for that matter, the interim of my career), intervening years have proven that I am not too bad at prognosticating the world of art investing, albeit now on a much grander scale.

This is not a science as much as it is educated guess-work. Art is not regulated as a security because it can, and often does, devalue itself. The reason is that art-flippers often know as much about art as they do about quantum mechanics. Stock brokers and fund managers have developed a skill in clinically examining a set of criteria over a long period of time, processing enormous amounts of information which involves many moving parts and often a complex overview of disparate factors. Conversely, day-traders are often arm-chair quarterbacks who throw the occasional touchdown pass. (Even a stopped clock is right twice a day).

Richard MacDonald, “Nureyev” (Third Life) Bronze Edition of 90 (30.5” x 16” x 11”) Private sale, 2000, $28,500., Private sale 2001, $29,000. Private Sale 2004, $35,000.

Similarly, true art advisers and consultants are examining multitudes of data from auctions, private and gallery sales, authenticity, controversy, forecasting, movements in art, epochs and eras, phases within an artists own career, popularity and rarity of various themes, among other factors. None of these factors can be taken as sole, concrete criteria for an art purchase. The Arts are a living, breathing organism capable of creating the biggest stars and one-hit wonders at the same time. Therefore, speculation about artwork must be ventured with a hearty dose of scrutiny and a trusted, relatively impartial source.

-If you read about the Art auctions… you only get part of the story.

-If you study an artist without knowing his/her most important phases… you only know some of what you will need to know.

-If you speak to one art dealer about purchasing another Art Dealer’s work… you might not get as truthful of an answer as you might hope because there is a disincentive for them to endorse someone else’s product.

The truth is that no art adviser can be an expert in every type, phase or media in art. Further, even the most forthright and honest advisers sometimes simply get it wrong. You would not ask a plastic surgeon to perform neurosurgery, despite the fact both are surgeons. But you would know either way, surgery is always risky.

One of the things I have figured out since the purchase of “Cat Carnival” is that buyers generally striate themselves into several plateaus of purchases. Works which are purchased from $1-5,000 are generally passion-based or impulse purchases. These are things that we like, feel are beautiful, are opportune, but may or may not carry an intrinsic, historical or monetary value into the future. Works between $5-10,000 represent a gray area in which there may be passion-based motives, but also a speculative intention. Whether or not this speculation trends upwards or downwards is dependent on the artist, the diligence with which the specific work was selected and the prospects that the artist will have staying power beyond the time-frame in which it was purchased. (i.e. are they a phase that will fall out of favor in the coming years?) Above $10,000 buyers are generally investors on some level as they demographically disposed to higher income, higher education, higher net-worth and greater risk-assessment capabilities that come from experience with high-end purchases. This does not imply that all buyers are motivated by the desire to “make money” on their art. Many, if not most, would never sell the works they procure through their collecting lifetimes. (By some estimates, only .5% of art is resold by the original owner.) However, along with their greater accumulation of wealth comes pragmatism to critically examine their purchases for some form of monetary security. Even if you do not break even on your purchases, they still should hold some degree of solidity as they are, at a minimum, physical.

Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989) “Space Venus" (1977-1984) Edition of 350 with 35EA in bronze. 65cm (including base). Literature: Catalogue Raisonne "Le Dur et le Mou" by Robert & Nicolas Descharnes, pg. 239, Ref #616. Examples: Sold Privately, 2004, $18,000., Sold Privately 2004, $19,000., Sold Privately 2005, $23,700., Sold Auction 2005, $31,215, Sold Auction 2005, $25,797., Sold Privately 2006, $27,500., Sold Privately 2006, $27,500., Sold Auction 2008, $33,051.

According to an article from CNN.com, “In 2005, the Mei/Moses Fine Art Index showed compound annual returns of 14.52%, while total returns for the S&P 500 were 4.9% and the U.S. Treasury 10-year notes returned 2.68%” (“Add Picassos To Your Portfolio?“, February 2006). Mei/Moses generally sticks to auction-only sales of names you may be familiar with if you took a college art history course: Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Auguste Rodin, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, Francis Bacon, Amedeo Modigliani, Edouard Manet, Joan Miro Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and a host of other 19^th and 20^th Century masters. This is because they can serve as a barometer of the auction market as a whole, and while most of us will not rush out to purchase the first Picasso that crosses our path, we may be inclined to locate a well-priced, hand-signed and numbered aquatint or lithograph from him. A bronze from Salvador Dali can be in the $10-50,000 range, whereas a painting can be hundreds of thousands. Each has a prospective upside if you know which works to get, how much to pay for them and what questions to ask to know that the work will endure.

Can any dealer promise a four-fold increase in less than a decade? Not without holding two fingers behind their backs.

But what we can do is serve as honest arbiters of information about the purchases you wish to make, whether they are purely impulse driven or purely investment motivated (or somewhere in between). By giving impartial advice and by building a network of references who will vouch for the record we can, at a minimum, provide you with an honest sounding board from which you can make decisions which will serve you and your heirs for generations to come.

Now… How about a replacement for my Seuss?

Dali Prices Surge at Auction!

With Top Quality Offerings, Sotheby’s Nets $181 Million

By Paul Chimera
Publicity Director of the
Original Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio

In the early 1970s, LIFE magazine published an in-depth article on Salvador Dali’s success as a world-renowned artist. It was titled “Dali’s Dollars.”

Nearly 40 years later, Dali and dollars continue to complement each other quite well. Recent auction sales are very strong evidence that the long-awaited surge in Dali prices may finally be upon us. Just like several years ago when his contemporary, Andy Warhol’s prices rose dramatically in a short period of time, Dali seems poised to make his move. The Dali market is now enjoying an up-tick nearly as pronounced as his upturned mustache.

Work on paper sells for 9 times high estimate


Dali:”Girafe en feu” (Giraffe on Fire)

Take, for instance, what occurred on November 4 at Sotheby’s in New York. Salvador Dali’s 1937 gouache, “Girafe en feu” (Giraffe on Fire), 22-1/4 in. by 30-3/8 in., went on the auction block with an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It brought an astounding $1,870,000. It was not only a record for any work on paper by the Catalan master, but sold for an astounding 9 times its expected price, indicating that even the professionals underestimate the willingness of Dali collectors to back up their passion with their pocket books.

To see the Sothebys auction, click here.

It was a shining star in a galaxy of bright financial news at Sotheby’s, which saw its 56 paintings, drawings and sculpture fetch a staggering $ 181,000,000.

My fiancé recently decided that we were long overdue for a spring cleaning of the closet in my office. She needed the space for her design portfolios which had been mounting up in recent weeks as her own business has been building and thriving (Yay!). It had been somewhere on the order of four years since we had actually undertaken a spring cleaning, all the while moving from two fairly large houses to our present condo. Among the random detritus I found boxes of bent and faded photos, old college IDs, bygone sketch books, unopened mail, and dozens of other memorable trinkets from our time together… and (gulp) before. Among the items I uncovered in my trip down Amnesia Lane was a box of 161 comic books. Now, I have not bought a comic book since 1993 but, as she was so eager to point out, that was well within my college years.

Admittedly, I am a comic nerd.

I had a vast collection of horror comics my father discarded one day when the neat stack I made fell over. He had been very clear about the instruction not to have them strewn about the floor, and I guess he meant it. (Side Note: Many of those same comic books sell between $500-10,000 now. Thanks Pop!) When I was a bit older, I remember purchasing my first comic book, G.I. Joe #1 for $1.50 at the BX Bookstore on Balgat Air Force Base in Ankara, Turkey. I was probably about 10 at the time and I thought that book was the coolest thing I had ever seen. In the intervening years, I subsequently amassed a collection of several thousand comics between that moment in 1982 and college. In fact, much of my first year was paid for using proceeds from their sale.

For a prolonged period, I wanted to be a comic book illustrator until I sadly realized my ambitions were only tempered by my skill with a pencil. Not that I am a bad illustrator, but some of the artists I idolized: Frank Miller, George Perez, John Byrne, Simon Bisley, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Mike Zeck, Neal Adams, Boris Vallejo, Will Eisner, John Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Joe and Andy Kubert, etc, etc, (ad nauseum), had talent that, at best, proved humbling to someone of my skill-level. Therefore, I turned my attention to writing about art and art history and am much happier for it. However, I have maintained my giddy fascination with the greats in comic art and come back to them time to time throughout my career.

As a natural extension of my childhood fascinations, I could not help but notice the connections between our comic past and its inevitable transitions into contemporary fine art. Often thought of as “outsider” art, comics consisted of pulp material to keep kids occupied (the place now occupied by Wii). However, many of the great masters of the genre: Will Eisner, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Stan Lee (and even Dr. Seuss) used the media for biting political satire and worldly commentary. One of the first covers of “Superman” featured our hero handily beating up both Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirohito. As comic artwork became more sophisticated it bridged the gap into collectibility outside the magazines themselves.  This naturally led artists to the utilization of comic imagery as a satire on the art world in general, whose bourgeois sensitivity alienated the proletariat. Comic art offered a way for low-brow collectors to hobnob with the society folk. Both Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol became enamored with shoehorning comic art into the establishment. This was particularly interesting as 1960’s seemed geared toward rebellion against everything establishment in one form or another. Pulp comic imagery provided a stylized palette in which each of them could reach out to these sensibilities and utilize much of the skills honed during their own careers in commercial industry (Warhol as an illustrator and Lichtenstein as a sign maker) and transitioned them into fine art using comic images as subjects.

(L) Andy Warhol “Superman” (RT) Roy Lichtenstein “Whaam!”

Just as I found myself drawn to the comics themselves, their spiritual fine art descendants (and in many cases antecedents) similarly drew my attention. Warhol and Lichtenstein obviously made names for themselves in this vein, but contemporary artists continue to stroke the same outsider sentiments by using comic imagery in their own work. Graffiti and Street-artists such as John “Crash” Matos, Shepard Fairey, Bask and Banksy regularly use comic images to portray their subjects in a satirical (or, at a minimum familiar) light. While not perhaps the iconic bucking of the system that occurred during the upheaval of the 1960’s, the creative forces around the world are still determined to make waves and provide a somewhat voiceless and hapless proletariat with a hero to believe in. Bask (Ales Bask Hostomsky) juxtaposes the resurgent popularity of the Transformers (another mainstay of my youth) in media which is ironically and purposefully unsophisticated and coarsely-textured. Not the polished chrome of the Michael Bay “Transformers”, but an Optimus Prime that we can get mentally dirty with, just like it was 1985 all over again.

French sculptor Alexandre Nicolas blatantly and unapologetically portrays these same heroes as fetuses not quite ready for the greatness their station will imbue them with. Each figure in Nicolas’ “Predestinates” collection (which includes fetuses of Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Invisible Man, The Hulk, Silver Surfer, Batman and Catwoman) is a prenatal gestation floating in a sea of transparent amniotic Red Bull, veritably bursting to get out and fight for truth, justice and the American way. Nicolas’ “Predestinates” in and of themselves have become a spiritual lightning rod for many adults around the world to embrace, or re-embrace comics, or at least collect art that allows them to be a kid again.

It has almost made it o.k. for me to keep my comic book collection…. Almost.

‘Nuff Said. (apologies Stan Lee. Couldn’t help myself)

http://www.soulofmiami.org/2010/04/19/release-selling-andy-warhol-in-your-pajamas/

Miami Art Dealer Turns Art World on its Ear by Selling High-End Works Online

The typical morning starts at 6am. Miami art dealer and curator Reed V. Horth wakes up before sunrise and checks his Blackberry for the most urgent international clients who have emailed during the night seeking investment artworks. He virtually hop scotches from Hong Kong to Dublin, London, Toulouse, Dubai and finally Hanover. After quickly prioritizing his emails into incoming dealer inquiries and outgoing client inquiries, he sets to work on locating precisely the correct sculpture or painting for the given client, whether corporate or private, investment or decorative, figurative or abstract. Obviously, the biggest names carry the most weight and receive the biggest priority. As the day progresses he works his way from time-zone to time zone locating art and placing the art in the hands of clients and partners who are best suited to benefit from the connection.

Horth is part of a growing number of business-owners working from home as the market for traditional brick-and-mortar businesses is tightening and most are turning to alternate modes of commerce. His internet-centric company, ROBIN RILE FINE ART (www.robinrile.com) specializes in the location and procurement of investment-level paintings and sculpture with prices starting at $5,000 and working their way to over $20 Million. Many of the world’s most important masters have had works come through Horth’s hands in the past 13 years, including works from Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Arman, Marc Chagall, Rembrandt van Rijn, Julian Schnabel, Fernando Botero, Frederick Hart, Richard MacDonald and others. He also has a growing contingent of emerging talent in figurative and contemporary paintings and sculpture. RRFA conducts exhibits, such as the highly successful SATELLITE Art & Design show during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, and other Art openings throughout Miami and South Florida. This allows both established clients to edify themselves as to the physicality of ROBIN RILE FINE ART, as well as exposing new collectors to both Mr. Horth and his stable of artists. Future plans include international traveling exhibitions with a combination of both emerging talent and established masters.

“It is the blue-chip names that get your foot in the door”, says Horth, dressed in his customary work pajamas. “You know, [Andy] Warhol, [Pablo] Picasso, [Marc] Chagall, [Salvador Dali]. But, once you are chatting with clients, they tend to throw out some other, often obscure, names that they really want to collect. What is nice is that they also tend to “discover” my emerging artists and are surprised by the level of talent we have located. One of the luxuries I have is that I am not bound by space, time, geography or budget in my searches. If a client is serious about locating a major work, I go out and find it. If a client wants a particular emerging artist… I go out and locate them. If I know a client is serious, it may take me months, but I will find what they want at a price which is fair to both buyer and seller.”

After having been in the gallery business throughout Florida since 1996, Reed has mastered the art of sales-floor selling. But, in 2003 he developed a nearly complete virtual model for perpetuating online sales. “While I still enjoy doing exhibits and meeting clients face-to-face,” notes Horth, “the online model is a way many high-end clients are developing relationships with a dealer they trust to give them objective advice before actually committing to purchase. The world is a much smaller place now and clients want a small group of trusted people to weed the wheat from the chaff.” Obviously, he notes, reputation is key to success with this model. After a successful transaction, he asks each client to give him one referral of a friend or associate that might benefit from his expertise and inventory. “After all, their friends are generally in the same tax bracket”. Beyond this, he also must be extremely selective about what to present and what not to present. “There are a lot of Charlatans out there who want you to move works without proper documentation,” Reed warns. “You only get one chance with a client at this level. If the paperwork is wrong, the best thing that can happen is that the client never speaks to you again. The worst is that you end up in court. Why would anyone take a chance like that with their clients? So I reject about 90% of the art I am presented with.”

In this economic climate you might expect fewer people buying art as it is traditionally seen as a luxury expense. Horth finds that most of his collectors are active simply because their financial position allows them more leverage in this market than others. “Not having to pay for a second rent, power, phone, light bulbs and everything else that goes into a galleries allows me to give my clients the great deals they are looking for right now. While not a miracle worker, this flexibility keeps my inventories from going static. I was completely set up with this business model at just the right time. The market slumped and I hit my stride all at the same time.”

Under his watchful eye, museums, private and institutional investors, collectors and designers have sought his advice on projects and curation. While not exactly Hugh Hefner, the pajamas are certainly one distinguishing characteristic this high-end dealer has found that set him above from the rest in a tough economy.
More can be seen at www.robinrile.com and www.robinrile.com/blog.
Contact:
Reed V. Horth or Kat Barrow
ROBIN RILE FINE ART
info@robinrile.com

from: http://motornewsflorida.com/mnf/2009/10/28/automotive-art-series-viktorija-bulava/

Automotive Art Series Viktorija Bulava

Latvian-born Viktorija Bulava has emerged in the United States and worldwide as a successful artist, recently gaining recognition for her work with fine classic automobile forms combined with the always classic and beautiful female form.  Her self-proclaimed “auto-erotica” showcases her refined and unique techniques which include mixed media oils, gold and silver leaf and washed on linen.  Bulava earned her Masters of Art and Science from the Latvian Academy of Arts painting department in 1996 and is a member of the Artists Union of Lativia. Graceful and flowing, Viktorija’s auto-erotica features lush, rich colors and maintains her themes of dance and rhythm. Her work is immaculately executed, clearly proving her ability utilize her refined, often complex techniques.  The automotive forms and the female forms compliment each other perfectly, both emanating an aura of sensuality and power, while remaining feminine and delicate. Bulava’s works are featured in the Citadelle Art Foundation in Texas, among many others worldwide.  She’s hosted solo exhibitions in her home country of Latvia as well as Denmark and Canada.  She is featured in local galleries and is part of private collections in Canada, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Finland. For more information visit: www.robinrile.com

The art world has but a few watershed moments these days. However, the recent purchase of Giacometti’s “Homme qui Marche” for $104M USD is one of them. This is a BIG deal to a great many people for a great many reasons. Obviously, the sale means a great deal both to the buyer and the seller of this masterpiece. However, its significance to the art world as a whole and the to the broader world cannot be underestimated or easily quantified.

The fact that a bronze sculpture, one of 10 in the world, could command the type of pricing generally reserved for a one-of-a-kind painting is nothing short of ground-breaking.

PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF DRESDNER BANK AG ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (Swiss, 1901 – 1966) L'HOMME QUI MARCHE I height: 183cm. Executed in 1960 and cast in bronze in a numbered edition of 6 plus 4 artist's proofs. The present work was cast in 1961 and is a life-time cast. Inscribed Alberto Giacometti, numbered 2/6 and with the foundry mark Susse Fondeur Paris Estimate: 12,000,000—18,000,000 GBP Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 65,001,250 GBP

The sale of “Homme qui Marche” represents a diametric shift in the perceptions of editioned and/or serialized sculptures. Never again can multiples be derided as being of less value than a signature work from a painter. Throughout the 20th century, the issue of rarity and speculation has become a hallmark of our art-buying culture. Whether or not we, as collectors, ever have chosen to “invest” in artwork, the idea of rarity is a prized concept for the art-buying public. The appeal of having the “original” of a particular work is singular. No one else has YOUR work in the world. However, the “original” in sculpture is often misunderstood as the general public is often unaware of the process involved in the production of a bronze. The “original” in sculpture is often destroyed in order to produce the end result, the bronze edition. In an age that permits artists to produce nearly identical serialized work in quantities and still maintain high quality controls allows self-marketability and broad distribution capabilities. A byproduct of this production in the 20th century however, has been that the public often seeks rarity within specific composition’s editions. Many clients will make specific requests of ”Artist Proofs” (which formerly carried a negative connotation, but is now thought of as a desirable, rare edition), or the lowest numbers in any given edition. At this point, there is no clear-cut correlation between high prices for Artist Proofs or low numbers in a given edition versus standard edition works. While this may change as we move forward, this is more often than not, a misnomer presently.

Contemporary sculptors such as M.L. Snowden (American, b. 1952) had issued editions of 100 numbered bronzes at the outset of her career and experienced a great deal of commercial success. However, with her recent editions of 25 selling out as quickly as she can produce them, she has opted to stick with rarer editions to promote fiscal growth in her oeuvre. Her popular composition “Solaris” sold out all 25 examples in a matter of months propelling her pricing from under $16,500 to over $85,000, based on rarity and consistent demand, all during a slow economic cycle.

M.L. Snowden's "Solaris". Remarqued Fournier Edition on 25 bronzes. SOLD OUT

Jackson Pollack’s “No. 5, 1948” which sold for $140M USD, Willem DeKooning’s “Woman III” which sold for $137.5M USD and “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” by Austrian Master Gustav Klimt which sold for $135M USD, have set the high-water mark for art sold in today’s world. Each were sold in private sales arranged by dealers, and each, as you can see, are paintings. The highest priced work ever bought or sold at auction is “Garçon à la Pipe“ after having sold for $104M USD in 2004. It too, obviously, is a painting. Never before have editioned sculptures been mentioned in the same breath as having broken the $100M USD plateau, much less becoming the highest priced work ever sold at auction.

In the 1980’s a Japanese investor offered $100M USD for a lifetime casting of French Master Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” (Large 181cm)… despite this translating to approximately $198M USD in today’s money…. no one who owned one would sell. Had this work sold, it would have changed the dynamic at work and perceptions toward editioned sculpture as there were approximately 10 examples which would have fit the buyer’s criteria. However, it did not, and nearly 25 years later we only now realize an edition as being on par with one-of-a-kind works.

One of Rodin's (1840-1917) most important works, "Le Baiser" (The Kiss") was cast 319 times (on four scales) by the Barbedienne Foundry in Paris during the lifetime of the artist, as well as being cast by other foundries at the time. Despite the proliferation of bronzes, an bronze of "Le Baiser" recently sold for $5.6M at Christie's in New York [Christie's New York, 3 Nov 2009, Lot #5

The inauspicious unveiling of French Master Edgar Degas’ wax modele of “Petite Danseuse de Quatorze ans” in 1881, prompted Degas to never issue bronzes of any of his works. Posthumous editions of his work were begun shortly after his death in 1917 by the Hebrard Foundry in Paris in collaboration with Degas’ estate. The Hebrard foundry cast no fewer than 29 “Petite Danseuse” bronzes between 1922-1937.  Despite the fact that they were posthumous editions and that the edition was considered large for the age, the work has experienced no diminution in interest or real or perceived value. One example of “Petite Danseuse” sold for $16.9M USD on February 3, 2009 at Sotheby’s London [Sotheby's London, 3 Feb 2009, Lot #8]. In an effort to institutionalize exclusivity, the French government adapted a law in 1978 mandates that bronzes “cannot in any case exceed twelve examples”. While exclusive to France, many artists internationally have adapted this as doctrine in subsequent years in an effort to create demand based on rarity and exclusivity.

The Flip Side:

In contrast to positive impact a sale of this nature brings to the art world, larger questions must also be asked. A respected friend and fellow historian recently questioned me thusly, “In the context of all that is required to save lives around the world in a disaster zone, the only diametric shift in my perception the sale triggers is one of extreme distaste at the implicit obscenity of such a purchase. Had this current age any semblance of grace, the proceeds from the sale…aka revenue to Deutsche Bank would be redirected to some program to support children in dire need or at least be put to use to combat human trafficking which is erasing future human resource and preventing the advent of a future Giacometti…that in itself is a crime don’t you think?”

Notwithstanding the audacity of the purchase price itself, yes… the world may be better served as a whole if those with disposable income at this level donated it to help those less fortunate. We live in, and always have lived in, a world which is inherently unfair towards the haves and the have-nots. In a time which was rife with disease and starvation, The Medici’s were commissioning some of the world’s greatest masterpieces, and at great personal expense. The Holy See continued to amass incredible collections of art and treasure, even while wars were waged and children suffered. Mere months after 9/11, the Gaffe Collection sold at Christie’s New York for a total of $108M, only a few blocks from where workers were toiling at recovery efforts at the World Trade Center… Other records were also set in the 2002 auctions, including by Giacometti whose “Grande tete de Diego,” sold for $13,759,500 [Sotheby's NYC, May 8, 2002] and Juan Gris set a record for the artist at the same sale, when his “Le Pot de Geranium” sold for $8,479,500. Records for Constantin Brancusi and Magritte were also set within 8 months of Sept 11, generally to American buyers.

While not a justification, it becomes merely an indication that those with money always have and always will indulge themselves with it.

Further, this does not preclude those very same people from also being generous donors. Many of the world’s wealthiest people donate a significant portions of their time, resources and money to noble causes, all while still maintaining the lifestyle they and their families are accustomed to.

The Robb Report recently featured an article which noted that the average salary of a person purchasing the new Rolls Royce was $10M USD per year. The buyers generally paid cash and the vehicle was approximately $450k USD. Many felt this excessive at the time and scoffed at the audacity of someone to pay this amount for a car given the present economic climate. Their point though, was that the Rolls Royce buyer is spending an infinitesimal amount of his yearly salary for the vehicle, whereas someone making $80k per year and buying a $50k Lexus spends the vast majority on their yearly salary on a vehicle. Further, in a debt-ridden culture as we have here in the United States, the Lexus is not even owned by the driver, but rather by a bank.

I cannot sit here and justify the purchase price of this work. I am not in the position to identify with the mind-set of the buyer, nor do I know their contributions to the larger world. Is it a record? Yes. Is it astounding? Absolutely. Might it be an anomaly? Of course.

But either way… It is news.

“The world is a dangerous place to live;

not because of the people who are evil,

but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
Albert Einstein

“It” appears so harmless.

“It” is an inert life, captured in a moment between helplessness and peace. But, “It” is disturbing. “It” fills you with disdain, disgust and horror, not for “It’s” amniotic suspension, realism or political statement… but for “It’s” face. A face, as they say, only a mother could love…. And that too might strain credulity.

“It” is Hitler.

This is not the goose-stepping, vitriol-spitting, genocidal xenophobe who came to define the first half of the 20^th century and beyond, but instead a Hitler at his most helpless. A baby. An innocent baby. What’s more than that, “It” is a foetus… Or, in parlance perhaps we should call it a fötus. However, this fötus, floating harmlessly in a preservative cocoon in a Pre-Mengelian visualization, provides us a glimpse of a bottled beast, of the calm before the storm. In the process, it challenges our own morality and presents us with a dilemma.

What would you do? Would you smash the womb that contained this face? Would you nurture the child inside? Would you do either knowing what “It” would become?

“The sun also shines on the wicked”- Seneca

Without polemic on abortion, nature vs. nurture or the politics of the Third Reich, Parisian sculptor Alexandre Nicolas (b. 1970- see below) presents Hitler to us in the simplest of terms. Naked. Raw. Emotionless. It is only when we bring ourselves into the debate do we feel the gut-wrenching disgust and helplessness in knowing we are probably not strong enough, wise enough or prescient enough to take any action at all. And if we did… What would it say about us?

Nicolas has debuted on the international Art scene on touchy ground for a young, emerging talent. Perhaps this is where he is best suited, straddling the line between Damien Hirst’s “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (BELOW- Left) and Ron Mueck’s 17 foot long “A Girl” (BELOW- Right). Whereas Mueck’s photo-realist work, which uses its enormous scale and hyper-realism to discomfit viewers, Nicolas’ “Hitlerfötus” achieves revulsion because of the subject. Small, helpless and breathing it creates a moral question without taking sides. It neither condones action, nor does it condemn it. Neither Nicolas’ or Mueck’s works make implicit statements abortion, life or death, but they provide powerful allusions without revealing the artist’s respective positions on divisive issues. This is precisely why they are compelling. Each work is ratified by the viewers by the very act of feeling, positively or negatively.

In the simplest terms… each artist leaves it for you to decide. Whether you love it or hate it. Whether you want to own it or burn it… is up to you and you alone.

So, what does “It” say about you?

http://whatsupmiami.blogspot.com/2009/12/robin-rile-fine-art-concierge-stands.html

Sunday, December 6, 2009

ROBIN RILE Fine Art Concierge Stands Out @ MIAMI ART SPACE

by Jesus Manuel Rojas Torres.