The more things change, the more they stay the same. We all expected that things would change to become the new “normal”. At ground level people are looking to stay in charge of whatever they are busy with. For that matter, collectors of art do not want to see their “wealth trap”, or art collection, becoming a dusty attic of worthless art.
Thus, the world of art gave a sigh of relief when the outcome of the first virtual auctions showed more than promising results. The Covid-19 pandemic did not stop the art collectors from moving over to a new way of getting what they want, namely good collector pieces. The auctions, at this stage, have become a hybrid method between bidding on the phone, as well as online. It does not matter which method you use, the lights are on in the auction house, but there is nobody there, except the auctioneer and staff to hold up the art with their white gloves.
June figures for Sotheby’s and Christie’s of London netted $363.2 million and $541.8 million respectively. Strauss & Co of Cape Town netted R79 million, proving the point even in South Africa. The most interesting auction for me was the Sotheby’s auction, Rembrandt to Richter, on 28 July in London. This livestream auction of 65 artworks from seven centuries replaced its traditional summer marquee sales of old masters, impressionist, modern and contemporary art. This auction netted $192.7 million while last summer’s equivalent evening sales netted $283 million.
This amounts to $91 million less, showing that there are still collectors hanging back at this time. Some things look great online and others do not. Two categories can be distinguished here that work well. Bold images of modern art, like Joan Miro’s “Painture” which sold for $28.7 million could be an example of this. The other category is that of established old masters. Rembrandt’s “Self-portrait” sold for $18.7 million, while its estimate was $16 million.
Some collectors might well wait for things to return to normal where you can attend an auction in person and also see the who’s-who there and what they bought. After that, a visit to a nice restaurant might just be the thing to celebrate your victory of snatching “that” artwork away from your competition. Some might think it best to visit before opening night to inspect artworks in situ and not to rely solely on the reputation of the auction house.
A good example here is the success Banksy had in this auction. He sold his triptych, “Mediterranean Sea View 2017” and it fetched a cool $2.9 million. He is known for his anti-establishment graffiti art. His most well-known prank is to buy kitsch art from little junk shops and then to smuggle it into museums to exhibit it as part of their collection. It must be very much like a live cockroach in a fancy restaurant. Of his graffiti on the Palestine wall he says: “The possibility I find exciting is that you can turn the world’s most invasive and degrading structure into the world’s longest gallery of free speech and bad art”.
The triptych he sold can be called and assisted artwork, much like the moustache Duchamp scribbled on a print of the Mona Lisa. These paintings are not his, but he added life jackets washed up on kitsch beach scenes. This is to make a political statement about the refugees arriving on Mediterranean beaches from Africa. I wonder what will happen if the real artist suddenly materialises and demands his part of the booty! But is it art?
To finish my blog, I want to end off by using “Quotes by artists”.
An artist friend of mine, Eben van der Merwe, said the following:
“The more I see art, the less I know what art is.”