Great gossipy Philly sale
Drawing by Randall Sellers, Richard Heller Gallery’s booth at Pulse Art Fair Miami.
Artblog got an email blast from artist Randall Sellers with his latest news:
“Takashi Murakami bought two of my drawings at the Pulse Art Fair in Miami last weekend!!!
“(Richard Heller, my longtime dealer in Santa Monica, had a few drawings down
there. Miller Block, my Boston gallery, also represented me at AQUA.)”
Great gossipy Philly purchase
Untitled 2007 (let them eat mussels), Rirkrit Tiravanija
Mirrors, gas tank, mussel shells, EDITION/SET OF: 4
h: 90 x w: 90 x d: 90 cm / h: 35.4 x w: 35.4 x d: 35.4 in
Galerie Chantal Crousel
We ran into our buddy Mari Shaw and her husband Peter at the William Kentridge talk at PMA the other night and she confessed to a big new purchase from Miami. They bought a Rirkrit Tiravanija performance piece…and they bargained for annual performances at their house. The piece is a mussel piece set in a corner of a room on the floor with mirrors meeting in the corner — a reference to a Robert Smithson piece, they said. The performance is the cooking of mussels, the eating of mussels and the stacking up on the floor before the mirrors of the empty scrubbed shells. Each year the stack of shells will get higher. The Shaws met Tiravanija’s assistant at the gallery booth and it was through his intercession that they got the performance agreement. Image from Galerie Chantal Crousel on artnet.
Cerealart
Artblog spoke with Larry Mangel, Cerealart king.
“We had our best year ever. I’m not sure if it was the people there…or a lot of the things we were working on were finished. We got a new piece by Mickalene Thomas; new bronze by Nathan Marbry.
Mickalene Thomas, sculpture, resin and Swarovski crystals.
“It’s the first sculpture Mickalene did. It’s cast resin, painted and with Swarovski crystals. It was modeled in clay. It’s painted It’s two intertwined wrestlers. They have leopard jumpsuits and the crystals are on the stripes. It’s Micki wrestling with herself.”
Artblog: How did the Kehinde Wiley tapestry do? (The Gypsy Fortune-Teller — see post for image).
“We sold some. It was very well received.
“It’s an edition of 48 tapestries. Belgian tapestries made electronically with jacquard technique. It took over a year to make the file.
“Our booth was at NADA. 2003 was our first year there.”
Artblog: Will you go back next year and if so to what fair?
“Yes, if they’ll have me. It’s scary. You have to apply. I’m a member of NADA. I love that association. I love the quality of the work there…”
Artblog: I heard it was a circus down there…
“Most people had a good fair. A couple European dealers had to convert their prices to dollars because Euros were scaring people off.”
Gallery Joe
Rob Matthews, Shannon, from the Knoxville Girl series
Artblog spoke to Sarah Holloran, assistant to Rebecca Kerlin.
“It was good for us.”
Artblog: What sold?
“Philadelphia artists Rob Matthews (5 drawings including Shannon and several other portraits), Astrid Bowlby, Samantha Simpson sold. Also Lynn Woods Turner did well. She’s from Portland, OR.
“Those were the people people were most interested in.”
Artblog talked to gallery owner Christine Pfister.
Margaret Murphy painting, Pentimenti Gallery
Artblog: Did you have a good fair?
“Yes, definitely. The fair was very good for us. We’re very very happy. We did better than our expectations. We sold some works. I’m not saying which. The quality of the place…was like a forum. We saw many curators from all over–Texas, the Midwest, West Coast, New Zealand. That is one reason to do this…for the exposure.”
Some highlights for Pfister were:
- A French/German television crew was following a collector and shot footage in her space.
- There were a lot of Europeans because the dollar is weak.
- She had collectors from London, Chicago, Texas and Philadelphia who bought from her.
Artblog emailed gallery owner Chris Schmidt
Artblog: What sold?
“We sold multiple pieces by William Smith , Ruth Thorne Thomsen, Samuel Worthington and Csilla Sadloch.”
Artblog talked with gallery director Helen Meyrick
Artblog: What sold?
“We sold work. I took Jim Brossy, and he was very very well received. Susan B. Howard we took for the first time. She also had a nice response to her work. Alex Queral always does very well. Caleb Weintraub we had his drawings which we did sell — Only one left. Frank’s work we always sell. We did fine. We would have liked to have done better.”
Artblog: What do you mean?
“We did two fairs. At the Bridge (hotel fair) we did better than at the Red Dot Fair (hotel fair). They were across the street from each other. The Bridge rooms were all white and kind of hip. Red Dot rooms were darker.
“At Flow, the rooms were newly renovated and gorgeous.
“Art Basel Miami doubled the number of fairs this year from 12 last year to 24 or 26 this year. Oh heavens, it affected everybody. [Meaning there was too much competition for the available dollars.]
“[You could tell there’s] still an enthusiasm for the arts. Can you imagine it — 26 art fairs — happening in Philadelphia? Just that aspect that you can do that and be in Florida where it’s warm. It’s always a nice thing. You need to see what’s going on. It’s one stop shopping. You can see it all.
“At the Basel fair, things sold very quickly, the blue chip stuff. At the other fairs, things went a little slower.
“I did find that the audience was more selective [than previously]. It wasn’t I better buy it before everybody else does. …it was more like a buyer’s market. We did have a nice attenedance. We did sell work. We could always sell more work.”
