http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog Opinion Analysis Debate Fri, 16 May 2008 02:15:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sothebys latest Market Review, issued last night, strikes a slightly defensive but none-the-less optimistic tone, using two key arguments to support their optimism. The first is their contention that the market of today is unlikely to suffer a crash and sustained down period similar to that of the 1990s. ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/05/16/cause-for-optimism/ As part of the art world’s chattering class, we hold our breath in anticipation of contemporary art auctions only long enough to weigh in on their outcomes. Our stake in whether the sales fall short, meet, or exceed estimates runs I’d say on average to about 400 words. ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/05/12/the-price-is-right/ There is, again, a fair amount of buzz about the health of the Art market these days. Robert Frank at the Wall Street Journal recently raised the spectre of a decline, based on the 50% fall in Sotheby's share price over the last 6 months. He ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/30/of-stocks-markets/ Went along to the opening of the 5th China International Gallery Exposition (CIGE) here in Beijing on Thursday. Held at the snazzy central China World Trade Centre it gets cleaner and better organised each year. Sadly the Chinese works on display were mostly overpriced and familiar. ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/26/speaking-of-fairs/ Maastricht, Armory, Basel, Frieze, Arco, Miami, of course. But Bologna, Abu Dhabi, Rotterdam, Minneapolis and Stockholm? Who goes to these fairs and are they really necessary? Judging by a hilarious and despairing account of selling absolutely nothing at the recent Art Cologne (read his candid fair obituary here), dealer ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/24/art-fairs-don%e2%80%99t-die-they-just-multiply/ On the 14th, Artforum hosted a panel at the New School with the stripped down and self-evident title "Art and Money." The panelists included Tom Crow (much esteemed if somewhat dusty art historian currently installed at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts), Amy Cappellazzo (International Co-Head of Christies 's Post-War ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/18/notes-on-art-and-money/ The opening night of this year’s Art Dubai fair culminated in a sit-down dinner for 250 VIPs under a tent at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, hosted by Canvas magazine, a glossy local art publication. The invitation called for “lounge suit/national dress.” The smell of pungent flowers from the hotel’s garden ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/16/dubai-postcard/ Move over, cigarettes. The New York Times reports this morning that N.Y. State officials plan to offset government spending by levying a tax on museum gift shops. For years lawmakers have been asking why an Alessi corkscrew should be taxed in one kind of shop but not in another. Now ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/10/the-new-sin-tax-museum-tschotchkes/ “How come that title is still available?” I thought to myself as a smiling woman handed me a copy of ART WORLD magazine at the recent Armory Show in New York. The attractive U.K.-based bimonthly is unlikely to win any major writing awards, but it gets a friendly slap on ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/08/another-art-glossy-makes-a-go-of-it/ One of the leitmotifs running through much of the chatter about the just-closed fairs and the ongoing Whitney Biennial here in New York has to do with the palpablility of politics, or of political content, or of "commitment," in contemporary art. The question seems to be one of whether ... http://www.artworldsalon.com/blog/2008/04/04/dissent-and-its-consequences/