In some cases, art dealers buying at auction of the works of their own wards (artists who are not represented in the galleries. And how this affects the market works these artists?

In some cases, art-дилеры buy at auctions of works of their own wards (artists who are not represented in the galleries. How this affects the market works these artists? Is it legal?

You may be surprised, but — Yes, this is a legitimate practice. When an artist agrees to cooperate with a particular gallery, it specifies the size of the fee the dealer, the price on their work, the frequency of solo and group exhibitions and other similar questions. But there is another important aspect of cooperation of the author and the dealer, which is usually not advertised, — promotion of the artist outside of the gallery walls. To do this, some dealers are going to haggle, and even buy the work of their artists on open Torah@

for Example, in may at Christie's Manhattan dealer Michael Rosenfeld bought for a record 461 thousand dollars work of abstract expressionist Michael Goldberg (Michael Goldberg), whose legacy it represents. The dealer said he regularly buys at auction the work of their artists — as living, and those whose heritage is. According to the dealer, in the case of Goldberg's work estimate 100-150 thousand dollars was grossly underestimated and subsequently the work will be able to sell for a million dollarov@

Another Manhattan dealer, Renato Danese (Renato Danese), admitted that at auction raises their rates rates to a certain level, if the auction house had estimated the work of its artists too low. "I want to protect their authors from their work went lower than the estimate or no were sold, because it casts a shadow on this work and the artist", — explains Dante. Not the most good results at the auction can then impact upon the sale of works in the gallery. "I don't like then for hours in vain to explain to the client why a good job at the auction went for a quarter the price I'm asking for the same thing in the gallery, @says mdash Danese. — Artists expect me to protect their market and their reputation."

Public auction — a serious test for the career of an artist; appearance of the work at auction means that who-то wants to get rid of it, and the increased interest in the lot cannot be guaranteed. As a result, the dealer Danese sometimes tries to persuade the owners to sell the work through the gallery, where there is more time to find a new buyer and it is easier to hide the lack Sposa@

Some dealers go even further and signed with the buyers of works of several gallery artists agreements requiring customers to resell works exclusively through their gallery or to give them to the Museum. "These items are in my contract from the date of opening of the gallery", @says mdash dealer Andrea Rosen Andrea Rosen).

Artists usually count on the support of its dealers during the auctions. Says the artist Kiki Smith working with Pace Gallery, she expects from your dealer that he will take care of the market of her work and will do anything to avoid problems. And this does not necessarily mean that the dealer must buy back. For example, art-дилер John Heim gallery Cheim & Read tries to build on the work of their artists that falls on auctions, dear, not speculative Sobranie@

But not every artist believes that the dealer him-то needs beyond the walls of the gallery. The sculptor Vito acconci (Vito Acconci) says he never thinks about the relationship of the primary and secondary market. And the artist bill Jensen (Bill Jensen) asked my dealer not to intervene in the secondary market, because he did not wish them manipulirovat@

As a rule, all first rows in the auction halls filled with dealers. And not always immediately clear whose interests they represent. Dealers can bargain on behalf of what-то client, who wishes to remain incognito, or refill your own gallery collection. "Good job when one of our artists gets on the auction market, we often traded for it. Sometimes we can overpay for a rare work, and after you wait for a while. Often this purchase later turns out to be a good investment", — says Director David Findlay Jr. Gallery.

In the words of former employee of the Department of contemporary art at Christie's Pilar Ordovas (Pilar Ordovas), auction houses often send their catalogues to collectors interested in certain artists and also report that auctioned the work of an artist, his dealer. On the eve of the auction staff already have an idea of the level of interest in the work and can warn the dealer if it is not too high. Then follows the invitation of the dealer on Torgi@

Gallerist Rosenfeld says that when the gallery bought the work of the artist, it gives additional confidence to its customers. In addition, thus the gallery holds the promise given to the artists to protect their market robot@

Material was prepared by Maria Onuchin, AI

Sources: galleristny.com, artinvestment.ru

editor's Comment: And here read-ка after interview ARTinvestment.RU Svetlana Marich from Phillips, there are also a couple of interesting snippets about the support of dealers and gallerists their khudozhnikov@

In my opinion, there is nothing vicious in the request of the gallery owner or other "driving forces" (e.g., major collectors) to insure his artist at auction, to protect against accidental failure. Most often it is about to be sold at reserve price and not to spoil the statistics, which adversely affects the capitalization of work and the mood of the gallery pokupatelei@

Another thing that such support — stuff is very expensive, the purchase price, plus Commission, plus tax. And the thing is, not particularly necessary. Well, they will make one, make two, and then what? These costs only feasible for larger players, "jatkuva", "Gagosian", those who invest in artists and strategically shape the market. All the rest can't handle. One day will still come a time when they will be forced to "let go".

Our galleries of contemporary art auctions don't like. Public auction destroy intimacy in communicating with customers at prices that destroy illusions about the investment potentials and all that. Needless to say, our galleries are rarely seen in the support of their artists at foreign auctions. I cannot really think what-нибудь example. In the author's film by Yevgeny Mitta "Vinogradov and Dubossarsky: picture to order" (by the way, a good movie, I recommend) there is documentary footage of the halls Phillips (I assume from the auction of June 2007), where the hall is traded Ovcharenko and presents our entire Beau Monde of modern art. But it was more of a holiday, special occasion, useful action, but not regular. And indeed actual Russian art is not very frequent guest on international markets, especially after 2008. So acute is the problem of support, of Russian artists today not stoit@

In General, about the support from our galleries me to say nothing special, they don't get laid, the ads is not given, the auctions are not in control, concentrate resources on more important areas and properly dilaut@

more often I've encountered the practice, when conventionally private "investor" is promoting at auction his artist. If you do it tactfully, nothing wrong with that — creates the auction history that had something to rely on in future trade. But the keyword is — "tactfully". Needs endurance and the ability to rein in their greed. If "Woe-инвестор" suddenly begin to buy sharply at auction for $ 10,000 that yesterday was worth $ 1,000, he can one — the destruction of the market his artist career. Other collectors are not stupid, they also look at the database and see which way the wind blows, why this sudden price jump. As a result, those loyal customers who were willing to pay 1,000 dollars left behind, stop buying at these prices — possibly forever. And those for whom $ 10,000 — feasible money, too, will not buy, knowing that they "untwist". Conclusion: auction promotion techniques exist, they work, but require high skills on the part of organizers, a good sense of proportion and substantial resources. The class is definitely not for neofitou@

Vladimir Bogdanov, AI