Monkdogz Artblog

Whenever I hear of stories of forgeries added to mistaken or erroneous authentications with fake provenances often provided by still living family members, I find myself secretly snickering. These so called “experts” getting their comeuppance – serves them right!

In this instance, it is the work of French artist César Baldaccini that was forged. Baldaccini (1921 – 1998) who was at the forefront of Nouveau Réalisme was best known for his “compressions”; sculptures made by squashing cars or fridges or other consumer goods into dense metallic squares or oblongs and his “expansions”; sculptures made from polyurethane foam.

Ten people are on trial including the two Piedoie brothers who are accused of masterminding and making 130 César sculptures and selling them to art galleries and dealers for around $11,500. Two well known art dealers are also amongst those accused, of selling them for approximately $67,500 each. The dealers are protesting their innocence saying that they were duped by fake César signatures applied to the works by the Piedoie brothers and by certificates of authenticity supplied by art experts and by César Baldiccini’s last girlfriend, Stéphanie Busuttil.

In true French fashion, while much of this was going on, César’s wife and daughter were contesting his will and the inheritance to his mistress, which should have alerted the experts as unknown works were being blocked from appearing on the market until the matter was resolved.

The French police came across this deception purely by accident while investigating the theft of other art which led to 8 years of investigations.

According to the Independent among the experts who signed certificates of authenticity, in good faith according to the prosecution, was Denyse Durand-Ruel, the woman who edited the definitive catalogue of César’s work.

In conclusion the Independent asks: “Both César’s own mistress and the art critic who catalogued his work could not tell authentic “compression” sculptures from fake ones knocked off in a garage. Awkward questions therefore arise. Were César’s “compression sculptures” really art? Are the Piedoie brothers con-artists or true, accidental artists themselves?

The trial in Grasse, in the south of France starts today and continues until Friday. If you want a juicy read that’s better than fiction this is it!

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 takes place 3-6 December. There are an additional 17 satellite fairs this year including Red Dot, Scope, Art Asia and Ink. Basel has increased the floor space and the number of galleries that will be participating this year to over 250.

Guarded optimism seems to be the key words in the industry which is strong on ‘talking-up’ everything from mood, value and prices. Art is selling around the world; the Chinese auctions of modern and contemporary Asian and International art did well, although modern masters did considerably better than contemporary artists. Russian art sales in London which start today also expect to do well after similar sales in New York in early November did better than expected.

Basel being the premier art fair in the United States it is expected to be a barometer of the current art market. Collectors will be looking for good deals in this buyers’ market. Established and proven artists with good prices will always find buyers. The prices of emerging artists will have to be seriously considered to find any traction in this economy.

Artinfo have an interesting selection of 45 of the artists who will be exhibited at Basel including prices of some of them.

Everyone will be holding their breaths until the first sales are made.  Would you like to make some predictions?

I came across an article in the Times today about the Saatchi Gallery’s show of the latest young British talent titled “Newspeak” which is currently showing in St Petersburg and will be transferring to the Saatchi Gallery in London next summer.

Anthony Gardner suggests that although Charles Saatchi is very intuitive in identifying new talent very early on and buying from young dealers. He also supports early sales of an artist. However he then goes on to quote Bridget Brown an art advisor that “It isn’t simply a question of a collector buying low and selling high — an awful lot goes on in between, with dealers working very carefully to develop artists’ careers. Critics, museum directors and curators all play a huge part.” Gardner says that “Hirst may have risen faster than most, but this was thanks to his business sense and genius for self-promotion rather than any Saatchi-assisted short cuts.”

The article is worth reading for mini interviews with six of the artists who are in the “Newspeak” exhibition, explaining their relationship with Saatchi and this exhibition. It doesn’t seem as easy a route as one might imagine, there are some pitfalls associated with this enigmatic collector.

Sending you all blessings wherever you are for good health, happiness and extraordinary creativity.

For those of you who will be enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner:

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

The Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funded a survey of American Artists and how they are weathering the recession, commissioned by Leveraging Investments in Creativity, a nonprofit artist-support organization in conjunction with Princeton Survey Research Associates International and Helicon collaborative, a consulting firm that advises nonprofit organizations.

The survey was conducted in July and August with 5,300 artists from fields including music, film making, architecture, fine art, writing participating in the online project.

The results were predictable but it is useful to have statistical evidence to back up what we know anecdotally.

The New York Times reports that “slightly more than 40 percent said that in 2008 they earned 20 percent or less of their total income from their art” of which most were visual artists (who made up half of the respondents) and writers.

While the majority of artists have college degrees, only 6 percent said they earned $80,000 or more. Only 28 percent said creative work accounted for 80 percent or more of their income. Eighteen percent of those who responded said their income had dropped 50 percent or more in the last year.

Did you participate in the survey? Did you know about the survey? How are you weathering the recession?

There is a thread on Jerry Saltz’s Facebook wall about “ended up liking the Terrence Koh performance last night after not liking his work.” It made me start to wonder about what galleries will be showing next in the name of art. Lectures, movies, music, performance, pornography…..what next? I’m just curious. That’s the joy of the art world that we can’t predict and we shouldn’t be prescribing what should or shouldn’t happen. I might or might not like what I’m seeing but that’s ok too.

A classic example was that moment when I was standing earlier this week in front of a solo show of geometric art created on large canvases with colored stickers. I overheard an artist passing by muttering “too f*!#ing lazy to use paint”. What a laugh!

It’s also interesting to see galleries looking at other revenue streams. There’s a new TV show called “White Collar” about a master criminal who deals in art who ends up working for the FBI. This week’s show revolved around a stolen painting which was used to hook the criminal using a sting at the Yvon Lambert gallery on 21st Street in Chelsea. They even named the gallery. To get paid for advertising your gallery and being portrayed as the good guy has got to be the proverbial case of getting your cake and eating it!

I walked into the Nicholas Robinson Gallery this week which is exhibiting their second show of German artist Florian Süssmayr. He creates monochromatic photorealism with oil on canvas with intriguing skill.

The first works I saw appeared to be politically or socially driven images which I thought I would initially dismiss but strangely pulled me back. It was then that I saw “Interieur – Lindwurmstuberl”, a large canvas (71 x 70 inches /178cm x 180.3cm) depicting a dining room of perhaps a casual local restaurant.

I had to look twice to make sure that it was a painting and not a photograph. The gallery’s press release says “Süssmayr’s interiors create an evocative atmosphere that is simultaneously disquieting, banal and even on occasions, gloomy or sinister.” Curiously, I found the painting very warm and anticipatory of an imminent evening of gregarious camaraderie; the kinetic power within the painting was very powerful.

Further into the gallery, self-portraits in various forms are exhibited. Plus the real bonus was Lee who works for Nicholas Robinson Gallery. He provided a very friendly but un-obtrusive presence at the reception desk – a rare treat!

I found this an intellectually stimulating show; on view until December 19th 2009 at 535 East 20th Street, Chelsea, New York.

The latest and most interesting shows in Chelsea are not so easy to see. They are not in the best known galleries in Chelsea or Soho, they’re not in private galleries or collections, you don’t have to know the right people and move in the right circles. They’re not in the museums or schools or in the homes of people you don’t know.

You just have to look extra hard and they’re everywhere. Street art in Chelsea is proliferating. Paintings and drawings, sculptures and collage, photographs and mixed media. It’s amazing what’s out there.

Perhaps the closing of numerous galleries in New York and the reduction in funding for non-profits is driving emerging artists into the streets. I would obviously prefer the economy to be in a better state, but having said that if this is the result with artists being creative in how and where they show their work as well as being creative in their creations, it has to be the silver lining on the heavy grey financial clouds that we’re wading through right now.

Talk around town continues to be in the vein of “things are starting to move” or “we’re seeing some movement” whatever that means. However Bob and I were invited to a round table breakfast discussion today in mid-town and the prognosis from the commercial realty and recruitment industries was that things are likely to continue to go downhill for much of 2010 and any “movement” not going downwards would likely to stagnate for a while into 2011.

The silver lining on those grim statements were that there appear to be a significant numbers of clients with deep pockets around and very cheap realty and really talented recruits were being snapped up by these people. I think we’ve also seen this in the recent contemporary art auctions in New York where collectors have been aggressively bidding and spending in the millions for well priced works. It has become a buyer’s market

Being creative in how artists, dealers and galleries catch the eyes of savvy buyers and collectors is going to be key over the next few months. Ingenuity added to integrity, hard work and creativity hopefully will be what drives the market now.

The name that we pulled out of a hat of all those who responded to the 3rd question “Who is leading the way to the future in the art world” was artist James Armstrong from Illinois. His reply to the question was:

What a great thought provoking question. I’ve been pondering it for days. So much of what is out there is just so total crap. Somewhere along the way the art world was hijacked, probably by frustrated artists who couldn’t draw or who didn’t want to put in the time. I saw a segment on the CBS Sunday Morning Show (I think) about one of the curators at MOMA. His entire apartment is empty and white. He says he can’t compete with the beauty of Manhattan …so he lives in an empty apartment. And this is one of the ‘elites’ responsible for filling one of the most prestigious museums with ‘great art’. I’m sure he thinks his life is a piece of conceptual performance art (and I guess it is) and he thinks he’s great. But maybe if he had to decorate his own apartment likes he does the museum he’d realize that he has no taste. On the one end you have the ‘elites’ making Damien Hirst the richest artist alive for putting dead animals in formaldehyde and on the other end you have the masses triumphing Thomas Kinkade. I have a dream that in a 1000 years people will look back and know what the great art was. …and it won’t be 99% of what I saw at the new Modern wing at the Chicago Art Institute…or 100% of whatever they sell at Wal-Mart. For me, great art is the combination of talent, design, and originality glued together with hard work and dedication. (Even if the work of art was easy to make, it probably wasn’t easy getting there to make it.) I think as a society, as far as art is concerned, we just can’t see the forest through the trees. My hope is eventually we will see the beauty of the forest. So my choice for a work of art that best describes the current and future state of the art world is…
‘Can’t See the Forest Through the Trees’ by Jane Jennings (www.janejenningsart.com)
It was the first art image that showed up when I googled that phrase. I think the piece is a quilt made out of Indonesian batik fabrics. It actually looks pretty nice and I respect her artistic philosophy. (…so I didn’t just pick her work because it was the first thing that showed up on Google.) She also does art beyond fabrics so check her out.

James Armstrong who has exhibited at Monkdogz sculpts using kiln formed glass to create elegant sculptures that appear alive with soft gentle movement. Ed McCormack of Gallery and Studio Magazine says of his work; “their uniqueness lies in his ability to create shapes that appear to unfurl weightlessly in space, yet project a palpable presence that verges on the monumental.”

For more examples of James Armstrong’s work go to www.armstrong-art.com.

Congratulations James the sweatshirt will be on its way!

Touhami Ennadre is a Moroccan-born French photographer. He is a rare artist in this medium that has become so common place that everyone can own a camera and be a photographer. Ennadre works without a viewfinder on his Hasselblad, suggesting his approach prevents him from being a “voyeur”. He develops all his own film and creates his black and white prints that become one of a kind works, as he experiments with masks and exposures. His mastery of light and darkness adds the palpable depth and power to his prints.

His process skills however are only the tools with which he works his magic. In his first solo show with Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, Ennadre explores the darker side of New York, whether they be nocturnal activities or the seamier side of life, depicting the homeless, dancing couples, transvestite clubs and those asleep. Many of these situations could be unpalatable images for most, scenes that many would tray and walk past a little bit faster than normal. Ennadre however manages to achieve a wonderful dignity and beauty to these people that allows the viewer to feel a compassionate intimacy.

The exhibition is open until January 2nd 2010 at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, 547 West 27th Street, 2nd floor, New York.