Chanos Among Art Buyers in Miami as Car Scraps Fetch $3 Million
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Dominique Levy, whose namesake gallery sold more than two-thirds of the works in her booth at Art Basel Miami Beach, said the fair attracts collectors who are looking to spend $100,000 to $1 million.
Some spent far more than that as the five-day fair ended yesterday with dealers reporting robust sales. The works in Levy’s booth went for prices ranging from $75,000 to $3 million. A painted, three-foot-tall sculpture made of crushed car metal by John Chamberlain sold for $3 million at Mnuchin Gallery. One of Damien Hirst’s giant mirrored medicine cabinets at White Cube fetched 4 million pounds ($6.3 million).
Collectors didn’t take a breather at the 13th edition of the largest contemporary art fair in the U.S. following record auctions in New York last month, in which $2.3 billion of art was sold. Some dealers reported almost selling out the works in their booths at the Dec. 3 preview for select guests. Many galleries had brought additional works to replace the early sellers.
“I try not to be reassured by anything,” said Marc Glimcher, president of Pace Gallery. “But if you need reassurance in the art business right now, you have serious trust issues because it’s going pretty well.”
Colorful Abstracts
Among the trends at the fair, which drew 73,000 visitors, colorful mostly abstract paintings for $500,000 or less were a draw. George Condo’s “The Clown,” a bright pastel work of a semi-surreal face and polka-dotted body, sold for $400,000 at Skarstedt Gallery. At Mitchell-Innes & Nash, two vivid abstract paintings by Keltie Ferris sold for $30,000 to $50,000. At the Sean Kelly gallery, two saturated, ornate paintings of women set against leafy backgrounds by Kehinde Wiley sold for $125,000 each.
Sculptures — glowing, crumpled, or merely stone — were also in demand. At Paula Cooper Gallery, a black, reflective “Mirror” sculpture by Sherrie Levine sold for about $150,000. At the booth of Paul Kasmin Gallery, a circular light-box sculpture by Ivan Navarro went for $150,000 and two abstract sculptures by Saint Clair Cemin were purchased for more than $250,000 each.
Collectors including J. Tomlinson Hill, vice chairman of Blackstone Group LP and celebrities such as Michelle Williams toured the booths at the VIP preview. James Chanos, the founder of hedge fund firm Kynikos Associates who is known for betting against companies and markets, said he thought a slew of works at the fair were overpriced.
Price Ranges
“Some of the prices for living artists are too expensive,” Chanos, an art collector, said at a cocktail reception Dec. 5 at his South Beach home filled with art including works by Theaster Gates and Daniel Arsham that he purchased last week in Miami. “If you are paying that much, you need to be rethinking things.”
When gallerist David Zwirner was told that the works in his booth were out of a journalist’s price range, he pointed out a small photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans.
“It’s only $8,000,” he said. “We always make sure there’s such a thing out there. We know that not everybody has tons of money.”
Collectors hit up the satellite fairs around the city, where they were more inclined to find gentler prices. At New Art Dealers Alliance’s preview on Dec. 4, people packed the aisles, severely restricting movement.
Homework Done
“People are coming with purpose,” said Simon Preston, whose gallery is on the Lower East Side of New York. “They know the work, they’ve done their research, and they’re coming to buy.”
Jack Hanley Gallery sold four works by Alicia McCarthy for $3,000 to $8,000 and nine paintings by Alain Biltereyst priced at $3,000 each, all within the first hour. As Hanley recited the prices, three collectors attempted to buy a painting by McCarthy that was already sold.
“Today has been frantic,” Hanley said at the preview.
Pulse and Scope fairs reported strong sales as well.
“The purse strings were definitely not closed tight,” said Helen Toomer, director of Pulse, which was located in a tent near the beach boardwalk.
At Scope, which was in a massive, light-filled tent directly on the beach, several paintings by Korean artist Sanggon Chung sold for $13,500 at London-based Kashya Hildebrand’s booth.
“It’s not just that works have sold here,” said Hildebrand, who is the wife of former Swiss National Bank president Philipp Hildebrand. “This has led to much bigger sales in our gallery.”
To contact the reporter on this story: James Tarmy in New York at jtarmy@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net Mary Romano, Josh Friedman
