So the results from the London auctions are in, discussions with my associates who visited Frieze were had, Richard Polsky published his official (and kinda cheesy) buy, sell, hold “art market guide 2007” and then a handsome financial advisor from Chicago sent me this article from yesterday’s WSJ.
After processing all of this – these are my thoughts:
The most important info from the WSJ article is at the bottom when Rubell, the alpha collector, claims that its not the credit crunch affecting him, its the exchange rate. That was the same thing I heard from those with dollars at Frieze.
Then the article went on to say that only 19% of the buyers at Sotheby’s Contemporary auction in London were American. That is low (12% Asian, Middle Eastern & 42% European), really low and very telling of the future. So is the fact that the Chinese Contemporary sales did so well.
I missed the art market’s passing from Paris to New York, but I think I will live to see its move to London.
As for Polsky’s art market guide published on ArtNet News, his advice resonated well with WSJ and the auction results. He stamped Doig, Hirst, Yuskavage with a SELL in his guide. But re: his Yuskavage commment, I didn’t get it, I thought the opposite was true.
Overall, I thought his advice was very conservative and was surprised that Warhol was a BUY – but maybe he is doomed to claim that forever (if you don’t get it, you should be ashamed, please click here)
So, are the young contemporary Western artists going to suffer from this financial uncertainty? We will have to wait until December for the next round of auctions and fairs to see.
