Warning to collectors

“Fewer than half of the modern and contemporary artists listed in a Christie's or Sotheby's catalogue 25 years ago are now offered at any major auction.

“Of the 1,000 artists who had serious gallery shows in London and New York during the 1980s, only 20 were still being shown in comparable venues in 2007.”

John Preston reviews The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art and Auction Houses by Don Thompson in the New York Times

Choc full of surprises

By now you must have seen the chocolate ad on TV where the visitors to the “Louvre” get to eat the arms of the Venus de Milo. The Venus de Milo is quite closely modelled on the real thing as is, bar the poppy eyes, the Mona Lisa. Next to the “Mona Lisa” are a couple of more contemporary paintings, something you are unlikely to come across in the Mona Lisa Gallery, as you would have noted in the pic posted here last week of people photographing the armour glass covered painting. Having said that, the combination of recent works with early ones, is not unheard of at the Musée du Louvre. In 1947 Picasso was asked to exhibit his work in the Grande Galerie and Braque did that ceiling painting everyone always talks about. More recently people like Jacques Derrida, Peter Greenaway and Julia Kristeva were invited to curate exhibitions in the famous museum. Then there was a series of shows curated by Régis Michel, Conservateur en chef at the Musée du Louvre, including the exhibition La Peinture comme Crime (Painting as Crime) in 2001. The title was taken from a manifesto proposed by the Actionist Schwarzkogler who died leaping from a window in emulation of Yves Klein's Leap into the Void. Even more to the point, the Louvre’s own website says, “Exhibits interspersed with contemporary artworks aim to stimulate fresh approaches to the Louvre's hallowed heritage collection.” Maybe those chocolate guys are more with the programme than we thought.

RSVP

We are hanging out for museums to start blogging. What fun it will be. Unfortunately, apart from a couple of false starts (Adam Gallery and Litmus), it has been very quiet on the blog front, well silent really. From the Govett-Brewster, who you might have expected to lead the charge, "Through programmes that extend beyond its walls, the Gallery also aims to foster the development and interpretation of contemporary art by developing new audiences and new possibilities for artists within contemporary culture," - not a peep. But wait, action might be closer than we thought. The Auckland Art Gallery has made its first baby steps. We are hanging out for an invite. When we get the key to the door we'll let you all in.
Thanks again C. For information like that we'll come cap in hand.

Naked balloon guy

The latest issue of Parkett arrived in the weekend. The next issue will offer an artist edition by Pavel Althamer. We had never heard of Pavel so imagine our delight, as art inflatable fans, to find out he made the beauty pictured above.

Image: Pavel Althamer 2007 (21 x 6.71 x 3.66 meters)

You gotta be in to win

One of our regular readers has insisted we hold an overthenet sweepstake on who will represent New Zealand at the next Venice biennale. So, as CNZ nominations closed last Friday, let’s get started. There’s a free overthenet cap (yes, it’s in production) and possibly something even grander, for the best top 5 list of artists who are most likely to be selected. To kick things off, here’s the one sent in by the RR.

Michael Parekowhai
Boyd Webb
Francis Upritchard
Bill Culbert (with or without Ralph Hotere)
Phil Dadson

RR also added McCahon and Len Lye, but as we say, list 5 artists.

To add to the mix we will ask CNZ for all the nominations they have received.

Image: the lucky winner (simulation).

When good sculpture turns bad 3

The Liverpool arts company Brouhaha International has finally been charged, along with artist Maurice Agis, two years after their inflatable sculpture Dreamspace broke its moorings killing two people and injuring 13 others. The company Brouhahha is owned by the artists son and was created for him by Agis who described it as “surreal, magic, like swimming in a sea of changing colours”. You can read the original story here.

Image: Clockwise from top left, Dreamscape breaks loose

Lifestyle section

Our Lifestyle reporter has identified the beginnings of another gallery trend. This time it’s the introduction of parties into the gallery entertainment mix. The Adam Gallery offers a party instead of the usual opening tonight, and next week the City Gallery follows up its Festival offering opening with, you guessed it, a ‘post-opening party’.

Listen up

If you zip over here you can listen to …

Rob Cherry, art consultant: [When I was working there] “there was this talk about having to compete with other forms of entertainment. ‘What are people doing? They’re playing on PlayStations, they’re going to the movies. No-one’s coming to the museum. How can we change that?”’And I just couldn’t believe it. A museum has to provide an alternative to that sort of entertainment, not compete with it.”

Chris Saines, Director of the Auckland Art Gallery: “It’s bringing people into museums who otherwise might not have had cause to go into them.”

Seddon Bennington, CE of Te Papa: “Te Papa has really achieved the best of both worlds.”

… on the link Te Papa Turns Ten. They are discussing ‘Does our national Arts gallery fulfil its role?’ on Kathryn Ryan’s Wednesday edition of Nine to Noon.

Smile

You could be excused for thinking this was a Paris/Britney Press-panic. The Paris part is on track, but you’d be wrong about the blondes. The dark haired woman they are photographing is altogether older. Taken by one of our readers a couple of weeks ago, this is a camera feeding frenzy in front of the Mona Lisa on show in the Louvre.
Image: Brian Joseph

A gift

Te Papa is 10 years old today and, in the spirit of celebration, we offer this fun-for-the-kids marketing concept, spotted on Google Earth, free of charge.
Image: Giant thumbprint maze by artist Chris Drury in a park in Great Britain.

On the Road 2

Thanks C.

Bingo

Starkwhite has pulled the Quinella for this year’s Basel Art Fair. We have already mentioned that SW gallery artist Dane Mitchell has been invited to join the Art Statements exhibition, a selection that was impressive in its own right. Now Starkwhite has been asked to exhibit et al. in Art Unlimited, the über exhibition that runs as part of the Basel Art Fair. Last year’s Art Unlimited included New Zealander Michael Stevenson’s installation Persepolis 2530. Art Unlimited is presented by the Art Fair as “a hall of larger works... and more like an exhibition.” Over the years it has featured many of the world’s leading artists. et al’s. selection comes after Starkwhite director, John McCormack, visited the last Basel Art Fair. Initially selected for the Tripofalifetime tour, McCormack resigned the position and chose to travel on his own dime. CNZ has yet to announce who they intend to fund for this year’s Basel Art Fair.

Images: Top showing the scale of the Art Statements and Art Unlimited exhibition space. Bottom, detail of Michael Stevenson’s installation Persepolis 2530 in Art Unlimited 2007

Art is where you find it

The latest news magazine on the Corrections Department’s Web site has this natty pic of Auckland Art Gallery curator Ron Brownson and the Hon. Judith Tizard participating in a “Walk of Art” to view artworks donated by prisoners to the Auckland Hospital.

Go figure

There we were, walking through Chittagong in Bangladesh, thinking about McCahon and Warhol. These shop shutters are numbered to help replace them in the right order when closing up for the night

Look alike

Here’s something for all you lovers of trainers replicated in card. Ricky Swallow is no longer your only port of call. Check out this paper Puma by Mike Leavitt

Images: Left, Puma by Mike Leavitt. Right, Ricky Swallow Together is the new alone 2002