TEFAF Maastricht celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012 with 72,000 visitors over the course of the fair, held from March 15 to 24. Of these 44% came from outside the Netherlands with a marked increase in buyers from Russia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. 85% of visitors describe themselves as private buyers, of which more than 21% were visiting for the first time.
Ben Janssens, Chairman of the Executive Committee commented, “Having participated in the Fair from the outset in 1988, I have been astounded by the number of new clients I have met and sold to this year.”
Collecting interests of visitors were spread almost equally between the three biggest areas of the Fair - Old Master paintings (30%), antiques (36%) and modern and contemporary (34%). More than 34% of all visitors stayed at least one night in Maastricht or the surrounding area.
A major painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, a powerful portrait of the English king Henry VIII, a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and an important and historic piece of silver were just some of the sales.
Noortman Master Paintings of Amsterdam had a strong start to the Fair selling two important still lifes by Dutch painters - Flowers in a terracotta vase by Jan van Huysum and Adrian Coorte’s Three peaches on a ledge. The Fine Art Society from London is exhibiting a contemporary take on classic Dutch still lifes with Rob and Nick Carter’s Transforming Still Life Painting, a three hour digitally engineered film of one of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder’s greatest paintings. Bob Haboldt, an Old Master paintings dealer at TEFAF, bought one of the limited edition films for his private collection leaving just one available for purchase. An unconventional work from a much earlier age, A reversible anthropomorphic portrait of a man composed of fruit by the 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo was sold to a European private collector by French & Company of New York.
Silver sales were also strong with an American private collector buying The Walpole Inkstand for which Koopman Rare Art of London was asking $5 million. This important and historic piece is one of only two made by the great silversmith Paul de Lamerie in 1729 for Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The other is owned by the Bank of England. John Endlich Antiquairs from Haarlem sold a classic piece of 17th century Dutch silver, a tazza made by the Delft silversmith Cornelis van der Burch in 1604, which was once in the Ritman Collection, for an undisclosed sum.
A rare Egyptian limestone relief depicting Queen Hatshepshut, one of the first women to rule in her own right rather than as the wife of a male Pharaoh, attracted huge interest before the Fair and was quickly sold at the private view to an American private collector for “a substantial six figure sum” by Rupert Wace Ancient Art of London. Very few images of Hatshepshut, who ruled from 1479 to 1458BC, have survived. Another antiquities dealer, Royal-Athena Galleries of New York, sold a Roman bronze torso of Aphrodite 1st-2nd century AD which had an asking price of $375,000, while Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg of Amsterdam sold a very early bronze Villanova/Italic two-wheeled model of a chariot from the 8th-7th centuries BC to the Allard Pierson Museum at the University of Amsterdam.
TEFAF Modern also performed well with Gana Art of Seoul, Korea selling an untitled 2011 stainless steel sculpture by Anish Kapoor to a European collector while Daniel Blau of Munich sold more than 20 of his exhibition of 1950s drawings by Andy Warhol for prices in the region of 50,000 to 60,000 each. The drawings proved so popular that he had to re-hang his stand. In TEFAF Paper an American collector bought nine vintage silver prints by Josef Sudek from photography dealer Johannes Faber of Vienna.
TEFAF Maastricht hosted 265 specialists from 19 different countries. Between them they exhibited more than 30,000 works of art, antiques and design objects from pre-history to the present day with an aggregate value of more than 3 billion euros. “At TEFAF you get spoiled foreve,r” commented American collector, Jean Doyen de Montaillou.
TEFAF is often referred to as a museum in which everything is for sale. The displays created by dealers during the Fair are admired by collectors and museum professionals throughout the world. Susan Lynch, Chair of the Board of Directors and Patrons of the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, USA, commented that, “TEFAF is inspiring, educational and a delight.” Over the course of the Fair TEFAF attracted over 238 museums from 21 countries.
Before the Fair opened each object was examined for quality, authenticity and condition by 175 international experts on 29 separate specialist committees. TEFAF Antiques is the biggest section in the Fair with 102 exhibitors. This is followed by the TEFAF Paintings with 59 and TEFAF Modern with 51.
During the Preview and the run of the Fair, visitors consumed 15.000 glasses of champagne; 31.000 wine; 75.000 cups of coffee; 10.000 pastries; 50.000 sandwiches and 11.000 oysters, which were served by 2300 waiters having been prepared by 515 cooks.
It is not only the works of art on display that attracts plaudits, the Fair itself is renowned for its presentation. ” There is no other Fair that looks like TEFAF”, commented Leo Villareal, whose specially commissioned light sculpture welcomed visitors in the entrance hall of the Fair.
Building the Fair is a major construction project that requires 220 men and women to work for 23 days of which 11 days are around the clock. On the Monday before the Fair opened 20 people worked throughout the night to lay 15.000m of carpet in the aisles of the Fair. The entrance hall was decked with 800m of padded panelling. The stand builders drank 30,000 cups of coffee and used 250kg of sugar.
Flowers form an important element of the display at TEFAF Maastricht and the 2012 Fair was no exception. In 2012 over the duration of the Fair, the entrance display used 33,000 Avalanche roses; the corridors, squares and cafés decorated with 40,500 of the most exclusive multi-coloured long-stalked French tulips, augmented by 4,500 branches of magnolia or cherry blossoms while the arrangements in the Place de La Concorde used 24,000 multi-coloured short-stemmed Dutch tulips.
2012年3月27日星期二
2012年3月19日星期一
Art for mart’s sake
Britain is bust but sharp ironies beset its bankruptcy. The government proposes cutting taxes for the rich, the summer Olympic Games are costing billions of pounds and last week, the National Galleries of England and Scotland, with added money from government and patrons, bought a single painting
from the Duke of Sutherland for 45 million (approximately R3,600 million). They said they were “saving the painting for the nation”.
The Duke of Sutherland, though richer through the sale, has been lauded for resisting the temptation to sell it on the open market. He patriotically, it is said, sacrificed twice or more of that sum through this sale.
The painting is Titian’s Diana and Callisto, acknowledged as one of the great works of the Renaissance and one of a pair, its twin being Titian’s Diana and Actaeon. Together they have fetched 95 million and have been valued at three times that price — hence the praise for the Duke’s patriotic sacrifice.
The paintings are not in any sense part of Britain’s heritage. Titian was born Tiziano Vecelli in the state of Venice and his paintings were commissioned mostly by the Italian church and nobility. In later years, he was patronised by Phillip II of Spain who married Queen Mary of England, but Titian’s works didn’t come to Britain through such an alliance, though the Diana paintings were commissioned for the Escorial in Madrid.
Classical and Renaissance artefacts were acquired by the aristocracy of Europe through the ages and changed hands through coercion or commerce.
The joke that circulated in Britain after the urban riots and open looting in British cities in the summer of last year was: Question: “Where did these young looters get the idea that you could break in and take stuff that didn’t belong to you?” Answer: “Er... have you ever been to the British Museum?” .
The price of art has always been bewildering, but then so has the fact that boys and girls who sing songs can become billionaires overnight as their offerings climb the charts. In the same bracket of annoyance are the wages of professional footballers who, with an enviable skill and luck, can earn in a week more than billions of people earn in a lifetime.
In a higher bracket of indignation — causing frustration — are the bonuses that bankers and controlling capitalists pay themselves for fooling around with other people’s money and living off the sweat of other people’s labour while maintaining the pretence that they are in some unfathomable sense the ‘creators’ of wealth.
Even so, I would agree that Titian’s Diana and Callisto is in the top rank of civilisation’s artefacts and though judgement of a painting is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, few would equate a Titian or a Tintoretto with the efforts of, say, a contemporary Indian artist who illustrates horses in a faux-modern style.
Even so, I was till recently pleasantly surprised by the prices that the work of hundreds of Indian painters was fetching. An old friend, a dealer who lives and works in Dubai, attempted, after a few rum cocktails, to give me an explanation for this sudden popularity of Indian art. It’s bought, he said, for a price in India and then finds its way to a tax-haven such as Dubai where it is publicly auctioned. The agents of the owner clandestinely bid for the artefact, raising their paws to indicate very large multiples of the original price thus acquiring the painting. A receipt for the sale changes hands and legitimises the large sum of money transferred, possibly turning what we call ‘black money’ into ‘white’. The art laundry?
That such a mechanism enriches artists or puts higher and higher premiums on their work is fine. In a sense it’s a more ‘honest’ and purposeful inflationary device than the snobbery, fakery and emperor’s-new-clothes-ism that infests the sale of fraudulent western ‘artists’ who subsist without the least mastery of craft on ‘installations’ of empty echoing rooms, stuffed dead animals or dirty ruffled beds strewn with the detritus of a vain life.
The sin of envy is based on comparison and on a perception, through some unfair vicissitude of fortune, on missing out. On hearing of the sum paid for the Diana I couldn’t help but recall a persistent family legend:
In my father’s childhood, his grandfather Jamshedji Saklatwalla had acquired from a French collector in Paris a painting which was arguably the ‘missing’ one of a trio of Titian Venuses. Jamshedji’s expensive acquisition was titled Venus Reclining to Music and portrayed the nude figure of the goddess doing just that. Jamshedji had framed and mounted it in the sitting room of the ancestral home in Byculla, Mumbai.
One story goes that a visiting Parsi priest, who wasn’t very up on Renaissance art, was mesmerised by the nude figure as he waited for my great-grandfather to emerge and when he did asked in as polite a way as Parsi Gujarati would allow, “What induced Jaiji to indulge this fancy?”
Jamshedji travelled with his Venus through the length and breadth of Europe trying to get her authenticated as a Titian but, despite being not openly discouraged by the art experts of the time, never got a definite endorsement. ‘Of the school of’ was as far as the experts would go.
from the Duke of Sutherland for 45 million (approximately R3,600 million). They said they were “saving the painting for the nation”.
The Duke of Sutherland, though richer through the sale, has been lauded for resisting the temptation to sell it on the open market. He patriotically, it is said, sacrificed twice or more of that sum through this sale.
The painting is Titian’s Diana and Callisto, acknowledged as one of the great works of the Renaissance and one of a pair, its twin being Titian’s Diana and Actaeon. Together they have fetched 95 million and have been valued at three times that price — hence the praise for the Duke’s patriotic sacrifice.
The paintings are not in any sense part of Britain’s heritage. Titian was born Tiziano Vecelli in the state of Venice and his paintings were commissioned mostly by the Italian church and nobility. In later years, he was patronised by Phillip II of Spain who married Queen Mary of England, but Titian’s works didn’t come to Britain through such an alliance, though the Diana paintings were commissioned for the Escorial in Madrid.
Classical and Renaissance artefacts were acquired by the aristocracy of Europe through the ages and changed hands through coercion or commerce.
The joke that circulated in Britain after the urban riots and open looting in British cities in the summer of last year was: Question: “Where did these young looters get the idea that you could break in and take stuff that didn’t belong to you?” Answer: “Er... have you ever been to the British Museum?” .
The price of art has always been bewildering, but then so has the fact that boys and girls who sing songs can become billionaires overnight as their offerings climb the charts. In the same bracket of annoyance are the wages of professional footballers who, with an enviable skill and luck, can earn in a week more than billions of people earn in a lifetime.
In a higher bracket of indignation — causing frustration — are the bonuses that bankers and controlling capitalists pay themselves for fooling around with other people’s money and living off the sweat of other people’s labour while maintaining the pretence that they are in some unfathomable sense the ‘creators’ of wealth.
Even so, I would agree that Titian’s Diana and Callisto is in the top rank of civilisation’s artefacts and though judgement of a painting is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, few would equate a Titian or a Tintoretto with the efforts of, say, a contemporary Indian artist who illustrates horses in a faux-modern style.
Even so, I was till recently pleasantly surprised by the prices that the work of hundreds of Indian painters was fetching. An old friend, a dealer who lives and works in Dubai, attempted, after a few rum cocktails, to give me an explanation for this sudden popularity of Indian art. It’s bought, he said, for a price in India and then finds its way to a tax-haven such as Dubai where it is publicly auctioned. The agents of the owner clandestinely bid for the artefact, raising their paws to indicate very large multiples of the original price thus acquiring the painting. A receipt for the sale changes hands and legitimises the large sum of money transferred, possibly turning what we call ‘black money’ into ‘white’. The art laundry?
That such a mechanism enriches artists or puts higher and higher premiums on their work is fine. In a sense it’s a more ‘honest’ and purposeful inflationary device than the snobbery, fakery and emperor’s-new-clothes-ism that infests the sale of fraudulent western ‘artists’ who subsist without the least mastery of craft on ‘installations’ of empty echoing rooms, stuffed dead animals or dirty ruffled beds strewn with the detritus of a vain life.
The sin of envy is based on comparison and on a perception, through some unfair vicissitude of fortune, on missing out. On hearing of the sum paid for the Diana I couldn’t help but recall a persistent family legend:
In my father’s childhood, his grandfather Jamshedji Saklatwalla had acquired from a French collector in Paris a painting which was arguably the ‘missing’ one of a trio of Titian Venuses. Jamshedji’s expensive acquisition was titled Venus Reclining to Music and portrayed the nude figure of the goddess doing just that. Jamshedji had framed and mounted it in the sitting room of the ancestral home in Byculla, Mumbai.
One story goes that a visiting Parsi priest, who wasn’t very up on Renaissance art, was mesmerised by the nude figure as he waited for my great-grandfather to emerge and when he did asked in as polite a way as Parsi Gujarati would allow, “What induced Jaiji to indulge this fancy?”
Jamshedji travelled with his Venus through the length and breadth of Europe trying to get her authenticated as a Titian but, despite being not openly discouraged by the art experts of the time, never got a definite endorsement. ‘Of the school of’ was as far as the experts would go.
2012年3月6日星期二
Shock and bore: is 'traditional' art making a comeback?
It wasn't your usual London street party. On this balmy 1990s afternoon, a group of young artists were part of a bizarre get-together called A Fete Worse than Death.
The most eye-catching contribution came from the ever-entrepreneurial Damien Hirst. Dressed in a clown's costume, for 50p he offered passers-by a sneak peek of his testicles, which he'd spot-painted that morning.
Two decades and an estimated 215m [$321m] later, over 300 of Hirst's rather more respectable spot paintings are being shown worldwide at all 11 of Larry Gagosian's galleries. In April, he will be given a retrospective at Tate Modern, London's flagship show during the Olympics. As the world turns its eyes on London, art's biggest showman is taking centre stage. The clown, it seems, is having the last laugh.
Or is he? Sticking two fingers up at the establishment has of course become Hirst's trademark. Nearly 25 years after the enterprising Goldsmiths student staged a headline-grabbing show in a disused warehouse, and went on to exhibit a variety of pickled animals in various states of putrefaction, to say he still divides opinion would be an understatement. "Detestable and f------ dreadful" is how the Evening Standard critic Brian Sewell described one recent show. "Simple-minded and sensationalist" is Australian critic Robert Hughes's verdict on an entire career.
Last month David Hockney entered the fray. According to the BBC's Andrew Marr, when asked if a poster in his gallery reading, "All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally", was a sly dig at Hirst, Hockney nodded. Hockney has since denied attacking Hirst personally. Either way, art's enfant terrible is more than used to swipes at his use of 160 "assistants" to execute his artistic ideas. As he himself said: "I only made five spot paintings myself . . . And the spots I painted are shite." But Hockney went on to make a more telling point. "It's a little insulting to craftsmen, skilful craftsmen," he told Marr. "I used to point out . . . you can teach the craft, it's the poetry you can't teach. Now they try to teach the poetry and not the craft."
Hockney's views are echoed by the artist George Shaw. "I became incredibly frustrated at art school . . . that you needed a philosophical language to understand contemporary art, rather than a pictorial one," he says. Shaw, 45, a painter in an old-school realist tradition, won acclaim last year for his images of the Coventry housing estate he grew up on. For him, art is about works that "an art historian and his mother could both enjoy . . . But that wasn't what [the tutors] were looking for."
Many feel Shaw was scandalously overlooked for last year's Turner Prize, losing out to installation artist Martin Boyce. But was it down to the Hirst effect? Certainly, there was already a well-established shift away from orthodox art education when Hirst arrived at Goldsmiths in the late 1980s. In the 1960s - under the influence of minimalism and conceptualism - art schools nationwide had decided intellectual pursuits were as important as technical ones. Painting was dead, the US minimalist Donald Judd declared, and curating, theorising and art history soon became as important as draughtsmanship.
The painter Gabriella Boyd can't see what the fuss is about. "Drawing's still taught and it's still popular," she says.
In hard times, we might even expect to see a return to old-school disciplines on cost-grounds. Paints and pencils are a darn sight cheaper than tanks of formaldehyde. There's already talk of a new austerity aesthetic, one wholly at odds with Hirst's $100 million, diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God (2007).
Gregor Muir, director of the ICA, isn't sure. "Often in times of trouble, you see the rise of fantastists, surrealists and other artists looking to escape it all. In the film world, The Artist is a good example, a light-hearted movie perfectly timed to cheer us all up." Muir insists Hirst hasn't cloned a generation of artists. "Categorically not. Damien's a unique case. A brand unto himself, really."
Hirst's sales figures confirm this. At the now infamous 2008 Sotheby's sale, when Hirst auctioned off 223 works, his Golden Calf sold for 10.3m. Now the plentiful supply of spot paintings , one of which sold last year for 1.8m, ensures Hirst keeps himself within the price range of not-quite-so-rich buyers too.
In spite of global economic meltdown, Sotheby's sales in contemporary art shot up by 34 per cent in 2011 as investors increasingly turn to art to hedge against volatile markets. But how much of this rise is down to Hirst-style installations? "We tend not to take on too many big installation works nowadays," says James Sevier of Sotheby's. "The top lots in our recent sale were abstract paintings by Gerhard Richter, for instance. I wouldn't say Damien has brought about a seismic shift." The three canvases by the 80-year-old German painter sold for over 4m. Evidence that things are looking up for lovers of traditional painting?
The most eye-catching contribution came from the ever-entrepreneurial Damien Hirst. Dressed in a clown's costume, for 50p he offered passers-by a sneak peek of his testicles, which he'd spot-painted that morning.
Two decades and an estimated 215m [$321m] later, over 300 of Hirst's rather more respectable spot paintings are being shown worldwide at all 11 of Larry Gagosian's galleries. In April, he will be given a retrospective at Tate Modern, London's flagship show during the Olympics. As the world turns its eyes on London, art's biggest showman is taking centre stage. The clown, it seems, is having the last laugh.
Or is he? Sticking two fingers up at the establishment has of course become Hirst's trademark. Nearly 25 years after the enterprising Goldsmiths student staged a headline-grabbing show in a disused warehouse, and went on to exhibit a variety of pickled animals in various states of putrefaction, to say he still divides opinion would be an understatement. "Detestable and f------ dreadful" is how the Evening Standard critic Brian Sewell described one recent show. "Simple-minded and sensationalist" is Australian critic Robert Hughes's verdict on an entire career.
Last month David Hockney entered the fray. According to the BBC's Andrew Marr, when asked if a poster in his gallery reading, "All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally", was a sly dig at Hirst, Hockney nodded. Hockney has since denied attacking Hirst personally. Either way, art's enfant terrible is more than used to swipes at his use of 160 "assistants" to execute his artistic ideas. As he himself said: "I only made five spot paintings myself . . . And the spots I painted are shite." But Hockney went on to make a more telling point. "It's a little insulting to craftsmen, skilful craftsmen," he told Marr. "I used to point out . . . you can teach the craft, it's the poetry you can't teach. Now they try to teach the poetry and not the craft."
Hockney's views are echoed by the artist George Shaw. "I became incredibly frustrated at art school . . . that you needed a philosophical language to understand contemporary art, rather than a pictorial one," he says. Shaw, 45, a painter in an old-school realist tradition, won acclaim last year for his images of the Coventry housing estate he grew up on. For him, art is about works that "an art historian and his mother could both enjoy . . . But that wasn't what [the tutors] were looking for."
Many feel Shaw was scandalously overlooked for last year's Turner Prize, losing out to installation artist Martin Boyce. But was it down to the Hirst effect? Certainly, there was already a well-established shift away from orthodox art education when Hirst arrived at Goldsmiths in the late 1980s. In the 1960s - under the influence of minimalism and conceptualism - art schools nationwide had decided intellectual pursuits were as important as technical ones. Painting was dead, the US minimalist Donald Judd declared, and curating, theorising and art history soon became as important as draughtsmanship.
The painter Gabriella Boyd can't see what the fuss is about. "Drawing's still taught and it's still popular," she says.
In hard times, we might even expect to see a return to old-school disciplines on cost-grounds. Paints and pencils are a darn sight cheaper than tanks of formaldehyde. There's already talk of a new austerity aesthetic, one wholly at odds with Hirst's $100 million, diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God (2007).
Gregor Muir, director of the ICA, isn't sure. "Often in times of trouble, you see the rise of fantastists, surrealists and other artists looking to escape it all. In the film world, The Artist is a good example, a light-hearted movie perfectly timed to cheer us all up." Muir insists Hirst hasn't cloned a generation of artists. "Categorically not. Damien's a unique case. A brand unto himself, really."
Hirst's sales figures confirm this. At the now infamous 2008 Sotheby's sale, when Hirst auctioned off 223 works, his Golden Calf sold for 10.3m. Now the plentiful supply of spot paintings , one of which sold last year for 1.8m, ensures Hirst keeps himself within the price range of not-quite-so-rich buyers too.
In spite of global economic meltdown, Sotheby's sales in contemporary art shot up by 34 per cent in 2011 as investors increasingly turn to art to hedge against volatile markets. But how much of this rise is down to Hirst-style installations? "We tend not to take on too many big installation works nowadays," says James Sevier of Sotheby's. "The top lots in our recent sale were abstract paintings by Gerhard Richter, for instance. I wouldn't say Damien has brought about a seismic shift." The three canvases by the 80-year-old German painter sold for over 4m. Evidence that things are looking up for lovers of traditional painting?
2012年2月12日星期日
Local Citizens Band Together To Draft Prescott Art Policy
"The first artisans to arrive in Prescott were the men and women that built the Governor's mansion and the Territorial Legislative Assembly meeting place with hand tools and the materials that they found locally. These works of art, completed in the Fall of 1864 stand today on the grounds of the Sharlot Hall Museum, which has been financially supported by the City of Prescott since the original founding agreements in 1927.
"With the first Governor's party, musical instruments were brought so that the children could celebrate Christmas in 1864 with music, dancing and gifts.
"Their work was preceded by the creation of the Citizen's Cemetery with the earliest interment in 1864. Soon after elaborate and ornate tombstones started to appear, and then native stone wall in the 1930's.
"Throughout the early years in Prescott, performances were created, costumed and acted by the townspeople and families stationed at the Army Post in Fort Whipple. Opera houses and small theatres built by entrepreneurs popped up over the years, until through a popular subscription campaign the Elks Opera House came into existence.
"Artists of all genres have made Prescott their hometown over the years. Actors brought writers, followed by painters, sculptors, choral and musicians.
"In 1964, when this building was constructed, Paul Coze, then the Honorary Consul to Arizona from France, was asked to paint this mural in Council chambers. Also within the Council chambers are two paintings by "Artist of Arizona" Kate T. Cory-the 1880's Courthouse and the first school in the territory-now the Washington traditional school on East Gurley.
"Clearly, Prescott enjoys remarkable assets, both natural and man made. From the original design of the townsite, to street embellishments, historic buildings, magnificent sculptures and murals. The only missing element is for the City of Prescott to adopt policy and procedures in the form of an ordinance to call out the specifics of a public arts policy to provide the appropriate guidance for the elected and appointed officials, and especially for the citizens.
"Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council was formed as a non-profit in 1974 to seek out funds to bring arts and culture to the City of Prescott. Its very first endeavor was to bring "ARTRAIN" to the Santa Fe Depot for five days, so that children from throughout the county could see displays of art from around the world. Five cars were filled with the very best art for children to experience and enjoy. This gathering was the largest gathering of people in Prescott until our recent BEST FEST. Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council was involved with Best Fest from the very start, and put together the best of artists from across the State for that celebration, and will be doing that again this upcoming weekend in Phoenix.
"PAAHC mission is to support, promote and advocate for the arts. In cooperation with the City of Prescott, we have accomplished this for the past several years by administering the City's art grants funding. These funds have been utilized over the years for organizations offering wonderful public art events like: The Phippen Museum's Western Art Show and Sale, Mountain Artist's Guild Mother's Day Show, The Smoki Museum's Southwest Indian Arts Festival, Blue Grass Festival, Tsunami on the Square, Chalk It Up!, Prescott Center for the Arts "Ghost Talk" and many, many others. The City's Department of Tourism recognizes the importance of art in our community ... Don Prince, Director of Tourism has stated that "Art is a major tourism destination driver." And just yesterday, Prescott's Arts and Culture video went live on the Tourism website featuring some of the very best in art that Prescott has to offer.
"A small group of individuals, citizen volunteers, have come together to DRAFT an Arts and Culture Policy for the City of Prescott. I would like to recognize these individuals now: Elisabeth Ruffner, Historian and Founder of PAAHC Gregg Payne-can't be here today. Former Commissioner for the Arts in Chico, CA and a founding member of that Commission ... and a public artist Elynn Colaianni, Art Teacher at Northpointe High School Debra Owen, Arts Activist and Community Organizer Cindy Gresser, Executive Director Smoki Museum.
"With the first Governor's party, musical instruments were brought so that the children could celebrate Christmas in 1864 with music, dancing and gifts.
"Their work was preceded by the creation of the Citizen's Cemetery with the earliest interment in 1864. Soon after elaborate and ornate tombstones started to appear, and then native stone wall in the 1930's.
"Throughout the early years in Prescott, performances were created, costumed and acted by the townspeople and families stationed at the Army Post in Fort Whipple. Opera houses and small theatres built by entrepreneurs popped up over the years, until through a popular subscription campaign the Elks Opera House came into existence.
"Artists of all genres have made Prescott their hometown over the years. Actors brought writers, followed by painters, sculptors, choral and musicians.
"In 1964, when this building was constructed, Paul Coze, then the Honorary Consul to Arizona from France, was asked to paint this mural in Council chambers. Also within the Council chambers are two paintings by "Artist of Arizona" Kate T. Cory-the 1880's Courthouse and the first school in the territory-now the Washington traditional school on East Gurley.
"Clearly, Prescott enjoys remarkable assets, both natural and man made. From the original design of the townsite, to street embellishments, historic buildings, magnificent sculptures and murals. The only missing element is for the City of Prescott to adopt policy and procedures in the form of an ordinance to call out the specifics of a public arts policy to provide the appropriate guidance for the elected and appointed officials, and especially for the citizens.
"Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council was formed as a non-profit in 1974 to seek out funds to bring arts and culture to the City of Prescott. Its very first endeavor was to bring "ARTRAIN" to the Santa Fe Depot for five days, so that children from throughout the county could see displays of art from around the world. Five cars were filled with the very best art for children to experience and enjoy. This gathering was the largest gathering of people in Prescott until our recent BEST FEST. Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council was involved with Best Fest from the very start, and put together the best of artists from across the State for that celebration, and will be doing that again this upcoming weekend in Phoenix.
"PAAHC mission is to support, promote and advocate for the arts. In cooperation with the City of Prescott, we have accomplished this for the past several years by administering the City's art grants funding. These funds have been utilized over the years for organizations offering wonderful public art events like: The Phippen Museum's Western Art Show and Sale, Mountain Artist's Guild Mother's Day Show, The Smoki Museum's Southwest Indian Arts Festival, Blue Grass Festival, Tsunami on the Square, Chalk It Up!, Prescott Center for the Arts "Ghost Talk" and many, many others. The City's Department of Tourism recognizes the importance of art in our community ... Don Prince, Director of Tourism has stated that "Art is a major tourism destination driver." And just yesterday, Prescott's Arts and Culture video went live on the Tourism website featuring some of the very best in art that Prescott has to offer.
"A small group of individuals, citizen volunteers, have come together to DRAFT an Arts and Culture Policy for the City of Prescott. I would like to recognize these individuals now: Elisabeth Ruffner, Historian and Founder of PAAHC Gregg Payne-can't be here today. Former Commissioner for the Arts in Chico, CA and a founding member of that Commission ... and a public artist Elynn Colaianni, Art Teacher at Northpointe High School Debra Owen, Arts Activist and Community Organizer Cindy Gresser, Executive Director Smoki Museum.
2012年1月18日星期三
Is Asia's Red-Hot Art Market Heading for a Slowdown?
The abandoned buffet table spoke to the allure of the art falling under the hammer next door. Drawn by paintings by modern Indonesian masters from art auctioneers Borobudur and Larasati, few bidders were distracted by glazed shrimp or sautéed beef. The Jan. 12 sale notched up a record $11.5 million in revenue, a new high for both Southeast Asian auction houses. Further evidence of the Asian art market's resilience could be found at a government-sponsored art fair held at the same time as the auction. 'Art Stage Singapore,' which attracted hundreds of high-end art galleries from across the world, sold signature works like a $1.52 million abstract painting by German artist Gerhard Richter.
The buoyancy of both events is but another example of the resiliency of the Asian art market. It has been rising steadily over the last decade, barely slowed by the 2008-09 global financial crisis and, more recently, appears to be ignoring a two-year-old European debt crisis that has otherwise stalled stock and property markets across most of Asia. In 2004, for instance, global auction house Christie's grossed $179 million from its Asia-based sales. By 2011, the auction house had grossed $904 million from sales in the region
Even so, experts say, the explosive growth of the last six to seven years appears to be slowing somewhat. "The market is not as strong as it was a year ago," says Jasdeep Sandhu, owner of Gajah Gallery in Singapore, which represents auction market darlings like Indonesian artist I. Nyoman Masriadi. At the Borobudur/Larasati auction, for example, very large paintings like Indonesian master Affandi's "Barong and Rangda," a 1960 work depicting the shadow dance between the Balinese spirits of good and evil, generated enthusiastic bidding and finally fetched $500,000 (excluding the buyer's commission), roughly double its high estimate. Yet a striking 1974 nude entitled "Nude and the Snake" by Sudjojono, a contemporary of Affandi and a pillar of Indonesian modernism, sold for far less, $107,000 (excluding commission), below the upper end of its estimated range.
"The bidding isn't as crazy as it used to be," says Dexter How, a Southeast Asian specialist with Singapore-based auctioneer 33Auction. The relatively tepid autumn sales of Sotheby's and Christie's in Hong Kong last year prove his point. For both auction houses, the 2011 autumn sales generated roughly 10 to 25 per cent less than their preceding spring sales. And though the Borobudur/Larasati sale was considered a surprise success, some experts point out that the idea of pooling buyers together and shaving marketing costs by holding a joint sale is itself a sign of lowered expectations. Plus, says How, "some of the works were priced reasonably."
So is a sudden drop around the corner? Experts say no, pointing to the broadening of the Asian art world over the last decade as a stabilizing force. Asian collectors, for example, are increasingly diversifying their collections, branching out into works from other countries. Taiwanese collectors, for instance, are buying more Indonesian art. A recent surge in new museums and galleries, particularly in China, where an average of one hundred new museums opens each year, as well as more academic art scholarship about Asian art, has also underpinned the market. All of which makes a precipitous collapse, according to Jehan Chu, director of Hong Kong-based art consultancy Vermillion Art Collections, "hard to imagine."
The buoyancy of both events is but another example of the resiliency of the Asian art market. It has been rising steadily over the last decade, barely slowed by the 2008-09 global financial crisis and, more recently, appears to be ignoring a two-year-old European debt crisis that has otherwise stalled stock and property markets across most of Asia. In 2004, for instance, global auction house Christie's grossed $179 million from its Asia-based sales. By 2011, the auction house had grossed $904 million from sales in the region
Even so, experts say, the explosive growth of the last six to seven years appears to be slowing somewhat. "The market is not as strong as it was a year ago," says Jasdeep Sandhu, owner of Gajah Gallery in Singapore, which represents auction market darlings like Indonesian artist I. Nyoman Masriadi. At the Borobudur/Larasati auction, for example, very large paintings like Indonesian master Affandi's "Barong and Rangda," a 1960 work depicting the shadow dance between the Balinese spirits of good and evil, generated enthusiastic bidding and finally fetched $500,000 (excluding the buyer's commission), roughly double its high estimate. Yet a striking 1974 nude entitled "Nude and the Snake" by Sudjojono, a contemporary of Affandi and a pillar of Indonesian modernism, sold for far less, $107,000 (excluding commission), below the upper end of its estimated range.
"The bidding isn't as crazy as it used to be," says Dexter How, a Southeast Asian specialist with Singapore-based auctioneer 33Auction. The relatively tepid autumn sales of Sotheby's and Christie's in Hong Kong last year prove his point. For both auction houses, the 2011 autumn sales generated roughly 10 to 25 per cent less than their preceding spring sales. And though the Borobudur/Larasati sale was considered a surprise success, some experts point out that the idea of pooling buyers together and shaving marketing costs by holding a joint sale is itself a sign of lowered expectations. Plus, says How, "some of the works were priced reasonably."
So is a sudden drop around the corner? Experts say no, pointing to the broadening of the Asian art world over the last decade as a stabilizing force. Asian collectors, for example, are increasingly diversifying their collections, branching out into works from other countries. Taiwanese collectors, for instance, are buying more Indonesian art. A recent surge in new museums and galleries, particularly in China, where an average of one hundred new museums opens each year, as well as more academic art scholarship about Asian art, has also underpinned the market. All of which makes a precipitous collapse, according to Jehan Chu, director of Hong Kong-based art consultancy Vermillion Art Collections, "hard to imagine."
2011年12月22日星期四
Desert artists collaborate to share art in our valley
A small confederacy of local artists has joined together like the Three Musketeers — all for one and one for all — to present its art and services to the community.
Called the Desert Artists Gifts and Collectibles, it displays wall murals and oil paintings, faux finish and stained glass, gem stone jewelry and ceramics for sale, even more if you scour the nooks and crannies of the new store.
Opening day was Wednesday at 370 N. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. The store is only 900 square feet in size but packed floor to ceiling with art and collectibles, including vintage “Herend” Hungarian porcelain and hand-crafted jewelry.
“We have six artists now,” said Veronkia Pickett, a Palm Springs resident who speaks with the remnants of a Hungarian accent from her birthplace in Budapest, tempered by her formative years in South Africa. “But we will have more in the future.”
Pickett plans to feature guest artists four times a year at the store. To cover the rent and overhead, the artists pay Pickett 10 percent of the sales price of their artwork, “which is affordable and practical” for each artist, she said.
Pickett, who moved to Palm Springs in 1989, is a faux artist who can transform a beat-up piece of furniture from a garage sale into a thing of beauty. Using paint, stains and glaze, an old wooden table can be restored to appear like marble, stone or oak. Faux is a color-blending technique that can be used on walls, floors, furniture, countertops and other places. She sells instructional videos in faux painting and offers classes in the store.
Represented at the co-op is Barbara Andrik of Palm Springs, known for her murals, some of which have graced the homes of Liza Minnelli and other stars. The exterior mural at the original Las Casuelas restaurant next door is one of Andrik's. So realistic are her murals that one person walked into a wall thinking a door painted on it was real, she said.
Randyn Seymon, a painter from Cathedral City, is also a singer known locally for his musical renditions ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles. Self-taught in both art and music, his paintings could be classified as photo-realism. He is currently showing images of pears on a large canvass, some measuring up to 8-by-8 feet.
A local photographer, Brook Pestana, has a display of photos printed on canvas, showing architecture from Spain and France. Alongside the photos are pieces by Laura Knight, a specialist in metal art with a soft and curvy quality depicting horses and other animals.
If the artwork is not enough for your senses, you can sample the tea in the shop or take some home. Pickett has blended Rooibos tea, which is touted as a soothing antidote for headaches, insomnia, indigestion and other ailments, with raspberry, orange and other teas to create an aromatic and healthy beverage.
Called the Desert Artists Gifts and Collectibles, it displays wall murals and oil paintings, faux finish and stained glass, gem stone jewelry and ceramics for sale, even more if you scour the nooks and crannies of the new store.
Opening day was Wednesday at 370 N. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. The store is only 900 square feet in size but packed floor to ceiling with art and collectibles, including vintage “Herend” Hungarian porcelain and hand-crafted jewelry.
“We have six artists now,” said Veronkia Pickett, a Palm Springs resident who speaks with the remnants of a Hungarian accent from her birthplace in Budapest, tempered by her formative years in South Africa. “But we will have more in the future.”
Pickett plans to feature guest artists four times a year at the store. To cover the rent and overhead, the artists pay Pickett 10 percent of the sales price of their artwork, “which is affordable and practical” for each artist, she said.
Pickett, who moved to Palm Springs in 1989, is a faux artist who can transform a beat-up piece of furniture from a garage sale into a thing of beauty. Using paint, stains and glaze, an old wooden table can be restored to appear like marble, stone or oak. Faux is a color-blending technique that can be used on walls, floors, furniture, countertops and other places. She sells instructional videos in faux painting and offers classes in the store.
Represented at the co-op is Barbara Andrik of Palm Springs, known for her murals, some of which have graced the homes of Liza Minnelli and other stars. The exterior mural at the original Las Casuelas restaurant next door is one of Andrik's. So realistic are her murals that one person walked into a wall thinking a door painted on it was real, she said.
Randyn Seymon, a painter from Cathedral City, is also a singer known locally for his musical renditions ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles. Self-taught in both art and music, his paintings could be classified as photo-realism. He is currently showing images of pears on a large canvass, some measuring up to 8-by-8 feet.
A local photographer, Brook Pestana, has a display of photos printed on canvas, showing architecture from Spain and France. Alongside the photos are pieces by Laura Knight, a specialist in metal art with a soft and curvy quality depicting horses and other animals.
If the artwork is not enough for your senses, you can sample the tea in the shop or take some home. Pickett has blended Rooibos tea, which is touted as a soothing antidote for headaches, insomnia, indigestion and other ailments, with raspberry, orange and other teas to create an aromatic and healthy beverage.
2011年12月21日星期三
Taylor auction is a gem, sales top $157 million
Auctions of Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewels, gowns, art and memorabilia broke records last week on their way to totaling more than $150 million worth of live and online sales, Christie's said on Monday.
Four days of live auctions in New York and a 10-day online auction from the Hollywood film legend's collection took in a total of $156,756,576, or more than three times expectations.
Taylor's world-renowned collection of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, emeralds and more accounted for the vast majority of the haul, selling for a combined $137 million and becoming by far the most valuable jewelry sale ever.
Records were set for pearls, emeralds, and Indian jewels, while per-carat records were broken for a rubies, yellow, and colorless diamonds.
"My mother always acknowledged that she was merely the temporary custodian of the incredible things she owned," said Taylor's son Chris Wilding, who is a member of the Elizabeth Taylor Trust.
"My family is proud that our mother's legacy as a celebrated actress, tireless AIDS activist, and accomplished businesswoman touched so many people's lives that they wanted to have a part of it history," he said.
Taylor's couture gowns and apparel sale also set a record for the most valuable private collection ever sold at auction, taking in more than $5 million including commission.
The marathon sales' statistics spoke for themselves and highlighted the worldwide interest in the Hollywood legend who rose to fame as a young star of the movie "National Velvet" and went on to claim two acting Oscars for "BUtterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."
Taylor, who died in March at age 79, lived a glamorous life of numerous marriages to often wealthy and powerful men who lavished her with jewelry and other fine things.
Among the highlights of the sale: every one of the 1,778 lots offered sold; 26 items sold for more than $1 million and six sold for over $5 million; final prices soared to as many as 400 times their pre-sale estimates; bidders at the live auctions spanned 36 countries.
Since September, some 58,000 visitors viewed highlights of the collection on a world tour that stopped in Moscow, London, Dubai, Paris and Hong Kong, with nearly half that total paying $30 to see the offerings at New York's 10-day exhibition.
The online component alone took in nearly $10 million, with more than 57,000 bids.
Even catalogs -- some signed, limited edition offerings priced at more than $2,000 -- were a hot item. Proceeds of a portion of the exhibition, catalog and other related events went to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
The top price paid during the series of auctions was $11,842,500 for the historic La Peregrina, a 203-grain (equivalent to 55 carat) pear-shaped 16th-century pearl once owned by England's Mary Tudor and later by Spanish queens Margarita and Isabel.
Taylor's husband Richard Burton bought the pearl in 1969 at auction for $37,000, and Taylor commissioned Cartier to design a ruby-and-diamond necklace mount. The piece was estimated to sell at $2 million to $3 million.
Taylor's famous 33-carat diamond ring, another Burton gift now renamed The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, went for $8.8 million, setting a per-carat record for a colorless diamond.
Even the star's charm bracelets drew intense competition, with one estimated at $30,000 soaring to more than $325,000.
Similarly, the top lot of the online auction -- Hiro Yamagata's "Portrait of Elizabeth Taylor" from 1991 -- sold for $108,000, against a pre-sale estimate of about $250. Other top prices paid online for ranged from $45,000 $78,000.
Among memorabilia, Taylor's script from "National Velvet" fetched $170,500, against a $2,500 estimate.
More artwork from Taylor's collection will also be offered in February at Christie's in London during its auctions of old master paintings and Impressionist and modern art.
Four days of live auctions in New York and a 10-day online auction from the Hollywood film legend's collection took in a total of $156,756,576, or more than three times expectations.
Taylor's world-renowned collection of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, emeralds and more accounted for the vast majority of the haul, selling for a combined $137 million and becoming by far the most valuable jewelry sale ever.
Records were set for pearls, emeralds, and Indian jewels, while per-carat records were broken for a rubies, yellow, and colorless diamonds.
"My mother always acknowledged that she was merely the temporary custodian of the incredible things she owned," said Taylor's son Chris Wilding, who is a member of the Elizabeth Taylor Trust.
"My family is proud that our mother's legacy as a celebrated actress, tireless AIDS activist, and accomplished businesswoman touched so many people's lives that they wanted to have a part of it history," he said.
Taylor's couture gowns and apparel sale also set a record for the most valuable private collection ever sold at auction, taking in more than $5 million including commission.
The marathon sales' statistics spoke for themselves and highlighted the worldwide interest in the Hollywood legend who rose to fame as a young star of the movie "National Velvet" and went on to claim two acting Oscars for "BUtterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."
Taylor, who died in March at age 79, lived a glamorous life of numerous marriages to often wealthy and powerful men who lavished her with jewelry and other fine things.
Among the highlights of the sale: every one of the 1,778 lots offered sold; 26 items sold for more than $1 million and six sold for over $5 million; final prices soared to as many as 400 times their pre-sale estimates; bidders at the live auctions spanned 36 countries.
Since September, some 58,000 visitors viewed highlights of the collection on a world tour that stopped in Moscow, London, Dubai, Paris and Hong Kong, with nearly half that total paying $30 to see the offerings at New York's 10-day exhibition.
The online component alone took in nearly $10 million, with more than 57,000 bids.
Even catalogs -- some signed, limited edition offerings priced at more than $2,000 -- were a hot item. Proceeds of a portion of the exhibition, catalog and other related events went to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
The top price paid during the series of auctions was $11,842,500 for the historic La Peregrina, a 203-grain (equivalent to 55 carat) pear-shaped 16th-century pearl once owned by England's Mary Tudor and later by Spanish queens Margarita and Isabel.
Taylor's husband Richard Burton bought the pearl in 1969 at auction for $37,000, and Taylor commissioned Cartier to design a ruby-and-diamond necklace mount. The piece was estimated to sell at $2 million to $3 million.
Taylor's famous 33-carat diamond ring, another Burton gift now renamed The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, went for $8.8 million, setting a per-carat record for a colorless diamond.
Even the star's charm bracelets drew intense competition, with one estimated at $30,000 soaring to more than $325,000.
Similarly, the top lot of the online auction -- Hiro Yamagata's "Portrait of Elizabeth Taylor" from 1991 -- sold for $108,000, against a pre-sale estimate of about $250. Other top prices paid online for ranged from $45,000 $78,000.
Among memorabilia, Taylor's script from "National Velvet" fetched $170,500, against a $2,500 estimate.
More artwork from Taylor's collection will also be offered in February at Christie's in London during its auctions of old master paintings and Impressionist and modern art.
2011年11月2日星期三
PoMo Art Association hosts annual sale by members this weekend
Still life, portraits and Mother Earth in her glory will be among the subjects shown this weekend at the 44th annual Port Moody Art Association sale — one of the most highly anticipated events of the year for Tri-City artists and collectors.
Some 50 PMAA members will have about 160 acrylic, watercolour, oil and mixed media paintings up for grabs: all of them new and, best of all, original.
PMAA spokesperson Tracey Costescu said Friday night will be the hottest ticket in town as buyers pack the opening reception, wanting to get the first pick of the offerings.
“Our members have been working all year to get ready for this show,” she said. “And we insist that we have only new artwork and no repeats. We find that if we have prints, it brings another dimension so we prefer originals because it really adds to the excitement for the crowd.”
One PMAA member showing four works at the sale — and for the first time — is Leesa Hanna, a Port Moody resident who uses a variety of media such as photography, collage, charcoal, and acrylic, watercolour, oil and encaustic paintings.
Though Hanna has displayed in solo and group shows regularly since 2008, including at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, she hopes to focus more on her craft, especially now that she has settled into her film set decoration career and that her preschool daughter is getting older.
In fact, the 43-year-old artist recently took three months off and spent time in her studio at 2709 Esplanade in Rocky Point Park, often with her girl in tow. Hanna gave her a paint brush and canvas, and the pair found inspiration in a Georgia O’Keeffe book. Her daughter’s creation impressed Hanna so much that “I framed it and put it on my wall,” she said, proudly, “and it was really enjoyable to have her by my side.”
Hanna started in the art scene as an apprentice to a fashion photographer. She branched out on her own, snapping mainly black and white pictures, but found the profession didn’t suit her.
She took a few classes at Emily Carr University of Art and Design but never graduated.
“Life,” she said, “just ended up happening.”
Hanna added, “I think that if I’m going to win the lottery, I’m going to go back to art school because the biggest thing that I lack is the technical aspect. I have books. I have the internet. I have lots of artist friends. But I really want to master painting and just immerse myself in the whole culture.”
These days, Hanna’s artwork is being sold at Chartreuse Living, a furniture store in Suter Brook village.
Some 50 PMAA members will have about 160 acrylic, watercolour, oil and mixed media paintings up for grabs: all of them new and, best of all, original.
PMAA spokesperson Tracey Costescu said Friday night will be the hottest ticket in town as buyers pack the opening reception, wanting to get the first pick of the offerings.
“Our members have been working all year to get ready for this show,” she said. “And we insist that we have only new artwork and no repeats. We find that if we have prints, it brings another dimension so we prefer originals because it really adds to the excitement for the crowd.”
One PMAA member showing four works at the sale — and for the first time — is Leesa Hanna, a Port Moody resident who uses a variety of media such as photography, collage, charcoal, and acrylic, watercolour, oil and encaustic paintings.
Though Hanna has displayed in solo and group shows regularly since 2008, including at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, she hopes to focus more on her craft, especially now that she has settled into her film set decoration career and that her preschool daughter is getting older.
In fact, the 43-year-old artist recently took three months off and spent time in her studio at 2709 Esplanade in Rocky Point Park, often with her girl in tow. Hanna gave her a paint brush and canvas, and the pair found inspiration in a Georgia O’Keeffe book. Her daughter’s creation impressed Hanna so much that “I framed it and put it on my wall,” she said, proudly, “and it was really enjoyable to have her by my side.”
Hanna started in the art scene as an apprentice to a fashion photographer. She branched out on her own, snapping mainly black and white pictures, but found the profession didn’t suit her.
She took a few classes at Emily Carr University of Art and Design but never graduated.
“Life,” she said, “just ended up happening.”
Hanna added, “I think that if I’m going to win the lottery, I’m going to go back to art school because the biggest thing that I lack is the technical aspect. I have books. I have the internet. I have lots of artist friends. But I really want to master painting and just immerse myself in the whole culture.”
These days, Hanna’s artwork is being sold at Chartreuse Living, a furniture store in Suter Brook village.
2011年11月1日星期二
Child artist Kieron Williamson to hold new exhibition
The oil, watercolour and pastel originals are expected to fetch between £1,000 and £15,500 each.
He has already earned enough from art to buy a house on the Norfolk Broads.
The latest paintings include scenes from Kieron's home county and abroad.
Kieron's last exhibition at the Norfolk gallery in 2010 caused a stir across the art world, with his collection of works selling out in 30 minutes.
Fans camped outside the gallery days before the sale, with people from as far away as Arizona in the US snapping up his paintings.
His last exhibition was at the Delamore Arts Festival in Devon in May, where his works sold out before the event began.
"It's lovely to see a nine-year-old boy keeping traditional landscape painting alive," said Kieron's mother, Michelle.
"The new paintings reflect Kieron's continuing passion for capturing Norfolk landscapes, as well as dipping his toes into foreign waters.
"We see massive progress in Kieron's work every three months or so and so you can't help but celebrate and share this progress with family, friends and the public."
While giving some of his earnings to charity, Kieron's parents have so far invested much of his fortune in property.
He bought his first house in Ludham on the Norfolk Broads, where the famous watercolour and oil-based artist Edward Seago once lived, in March.
Plans are still in place for the family to move to Cornwall in the near future, hoping it will further develop the young artist's talent.
Mrs Williamson also confirmed a retrospective exhibition and sale has been organised at Picturecraft Gallery for next year's Holt Festival, to coincide with Kieron's 10th birthday.
He has already earned enough from art to buy a house on the Norfolk Broads.
The latest paintings include scenes from Kieron's home county and abroad.
Kieron's last exhibition at the Norfolk gallery in 2010 caused a stir across the art world, with his collection of works selling out in 30 minutes.
Fans camped outside the gallery days before the sale, with people from as far away as Arizona in the US snapping up his paintings.
His last exhibition was at the Delamore Arts Festival in Devon in May, where his works sold out before the event began.
"It's lovely to see a nine-year-old boy keeping traditional landscape painting alive," said Kieron's mother, Michelle.
"The new paintings reflect Kieron's continuing passion for capturing Norfolk landscapes, as well as dipping his toes into foreign waters.
"We see massive progress in Kieron's work every three months or so and so you can't help but celebrate and share this progress with family, friends and the public."
While giving some of his earnings to charity, Kieron's parents have so far invested much of his fortune in property.
He bought his first house in Ludham on the Norfolk Broads, where the famous watercolour and oil-based artist Edward Seago once lived, in March.
Plans are still in place for the family to move to Cornwall in the near future, hoping it will further develop the young artist's talent.
Mrs Williamson also confirmed a retrospective exhibition and sale has been organised at Picturecraft Gallery for next year's Holt Festival, to coincide with Kieron's 10th birthday.
2011年10月30日星期日
Graffiti artist makes an impression at Swaffham Visual Arts Festival
The Swaffham Visual Arts Festival, organised by the Swaffham Rotary Club, finished today with a demonstration by Mik Richardson, 48, from Aylsham, who started his business Abacus Art five years ago.
He gave a demonstration at the town’s Assembly Rooms, alongside dozens of pieces of fine art, handmade jewellery and pots, which were for sale.
Mr Richardson, who used to be an avionics non-commisioned officer at RAF Coltishall, said: “I felt elated. It was lovely to be invited to do something quite modern. It really was nice that graffiti art was recognised. The response has been absolutely fabulous.
“Opening up people’s eyes to controversy is not bad. The word graffiti makes people think of vandalism but I’m trying to get across that there is a better element to spray art.”
This was the first time he had spoken to people about his art in a formal galley setting but said he enjoyed the experience.
He currently works with the police, Norfolk County Council, Norwich schools and the development agency Creative Arts East, based in Norwich.
“I try to bring a bit of life and colour to dark areas,” Mr Richardson added.
As well as graffiti art he also competes murals and painted two of the elephants which featured in Norwich’s Go Elephant project in 2008, where decorated elephant sculptures were placed in different parts of the city.
Stephen Ward, chairman of Swaffham Rotary Club, said: “What we would like to do is produce something which is fresh and new so it is not just about watercolours and oil paintings, it is about art in general.”
The visual arts festival started on October 7 and has featured a foreign film, a talk by Holme Hale artist Chris Hollick and an exhibition of contemporary architecture in Breckland.
This was the 16th year the rotary club has put on an art exhibition and last year it changed its name to the visual arts festival. That event raised £5,500 which was donated to charity.
Hundreds of people have attended this year’s festival, according to Swaffham Rotary Club member Denis Bishop, who added: “Its been really well received. We have never had anything like graffiti art before.”
He gave a demonstration at the town’s Assembly Rooms, alongside dozens of pieces of fine art, handmade jewellery and pots, which were for sale.
Mr Richardson, who used to be an avionics non-commisioned officer at RAF Coltishall, said: “I felt elated. It was lovely to be invited to do something quite modern. It really was nice that graffiti art was recognised. The response has been absolutely fabulous.
“Opening up people’s eyes to controversy is not bad. The word graffiti makes people think of vandalism but I’m trying to get across that there is a better element to spray art.”
This was the first time he had spoken to people about his art in a formal galley setting but said he enjoyed the experience.
He currently works with the police, Norfolk County Council, Norwich schools and the development agency Creative Arts East, based in Norwich.
“I try to bring a bit of life and colour to dark areas,” Mr Richardson added.
As well as graffiti art he also competes murals and painted two of the elephants which featured in Norwich’s Go Elephant project in 2008, where decorated elephant sculptures were placed in different parts of the city.
Stephen Ward, chairman of Swaffham Rotary Club, said: “What we would like to do is produce something which is fresh and new so it is not just about watercolours and oil paintings, it is about art in general.”
The visual arts festival started on October 7 and has featured a foreign film, a talk by Holme Hale artist Chris Hollick and an exhibition of contemporary architecture in Breckland.
This was the 16th year the rotary club has put on an art exhibition and last year it changed its name to the visual arts festival. That event raised £5,500 which was donated to charity.
Hundreds of people have attended this year’s festival, according to Swaffham Rotary Club member Denis Bishop, who added: “Its been really well received. We have never had anything like graffiti art before.”
2011年10月27日星期四
Vincentennial Offers A Richer View Of A Horror Icon
It surprised us to learn that only two years after Richard Warren Sears moved to Chicago and joined forces with Alvah C. Roebuck, their catalog featured fine art. Perhaps the oil paintings for sale in that 1895 catalog weren't what the Sears Catalog ended up being known for (we still remember it primarily as a compendium of fantasies about what Santa might, in our wildest dreams, bring us). The point is that it would not have been surprising when, in 1962, Sears asked someone to curate and acquire a 2,700-piece art collection to be merchandised nationwide, with costs as low as $5 down and $5 per month. It does seem surprising, to many of us today, who they chose to head it up: Vincent Price.
Yet it should not surprise us. Price was much, much more than the staple of ghoulish cult classics and the owner of a voice heard everywhere from Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare to Michael Jackson's Thriller. The St. Louis native's acting career had a very respectable pre-horror phase, with wonderful performances in movies such as The Ten Commandments, The Baron of Arizona and (one of our favorites) Otto Preminger's Laura. It was as a hard-working and generous professional who was always game for a laugh at the expense of his typecast persona, and famously as a collector of art, that he was remembered by many: he left behind 9,000 works now housed in the Vincent Price Art Museum on the campus of East Los Angeles College.
To commemorate what would be his 100th year, and to mark the holiday closest to the spirit of his memory, the Portage Theater hosts Vincentennial this Saturday night. Victoria Price, Vincent's daughter, will be on hand for a double feature featuring two of the actor's very best films, The House on Haunted Hill and The Last Man on Earth. Price, who authored a book about her father, will give a presentation on the life and career of her father and answer audience questions.
We say fortify yourself with a bowl of poblano chile soup from Vincent Price's own recipe (you did know he was a cookbook author, right?) and enjoy an afternoon of very fitting tribute to the man behind icon.
Vincentennial goes down at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 30 at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave. Come meet Price's daughter, Victoria Price, and watch a double feature of The House on Haunted Hill and The Last Man on Earth. Doors open at 1pm. Tickets are $13 in advance (available online), $15 at the door.
Yet it should not surprise us. Price was much, much more than the staple of ghoulish cult classics and the owner of a voice heard everywhere from Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare to Michael Jackson's Thriller. The St. Louis native's acting career had a very respectable pre-horror phase, with wonderful performances in movies such as The Ten Commandments, The Baron of Arizona and (one of our favorites) Otto Preminger's Laura. It was as a hard-working and generous professional who was always game for a laugh at the expense of his typecast persona, and famously as a collector of art, that he was remembered by many: he left behind 9,000 works now housed in the Vincent Price Art Museum on the campus of East Los Angeles College.
To commemorate what would be his 100th year, and to mark the holiday closest to the spirit of his memory, the Portage Theater hosts Vincentennial this Saturday night. Victoria Price, Vincent's daughter, will be on hand for a double feature featuring two of the actor's very best films, The House on Haunted Hill and The Last Man on Earth. Price, who authored a book about her father, will give a presentation on the life and career of her father and answer audience questions.
We say fortify yourself with a bowl of poblano chile soup from Vincent Price's own recipe (you did know he was a cookbook author, right?) and enjoy an afternoon of very fitting tribute to the man behind icon.
Vincentennial goes down at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 30 at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave. Come meet Price's daughter, Victoria Price, and watch a double feature of The House on Haunted Hill and The Last Man on Earth. Doors open at 1pm. Tickets are $13 in advance (available online), $15 at the door.
2011年8月23日星期二
Unknown artists and local legends
Hundreds of donated art works will be sold on Saturday, September 3 in a brand new valley event called Art From the Attic.
Doors at the Invermere Community Hall (located at 1709 10th Street) will open at 9 a.m. sharp, and customers will be invited inside to view and purchase works of art including posters, prints, paintings and photographs until 4 p.m.
A huge variety of current art will be available, with original pieces by local artists such as Lynn Grillmair, June Thomsen and Carney Oudendag. Also on offer are prints by Canadian artists Robert Bateman, Albert Casson and David Veres.
A selection of vintage art will also be available including oil paintings for sale, watercolours, drawings and lithographs. There are even a couple of paintings on velvet. If you are looking for a particular subject for your collection or a Christmas gift, try browsing through the specialty items including wildlife photographs, needlework and movie posters.
Where possible, information about the artists will be provided. However, many works are by unknown artists.
“You may just find something that’s worth a lot of money,” says event manager Elinor Florence, “but more likely, you’ll find something that you just fall in love with.”
Art supplies will also be on sale including frames, mats, glass and canvasses suitable for recycling.
“We urge buyers to use their imaginations, as there are some very high-quality frames for sale,” says Florence.
All art will be pre-priced and organizers will not accept offers. A half-price sale will be held for the last hour of the day. If you spot something you love, you can take a chance that it will still be there later and return from 3 to 4 p.m. for an even better deal.
Please note that the organizers will not accept credit or debit cards, so bring your cash or personal cheques with you. Because the event is for charity, buyers will not have to pay any taxes.
Fifty percent of all proceeds will go towards the Invermere Health Care Auxiliary, which raises money for the local hospital. The other half will go to the Columbia Valley Arts Council, which supports the visual and performing arts in our community.
Doors at the Invermere Community Hall (located at 1709 10th Street) will open at 9 a.m. sharp, and customers will be invited inside to view and purchase works of art including posters, prints, paintings and photographs until 4 p.m.
A huge variety of current art will be available, with original pieces by local artists such as Lynn Grillmair, June Thomsen and Carney Oudendag. Also on offer are prints by Canadian artists Robert Bateman, Albert Casson and David Veres.
A selection of vintage art will also be available including oil paintings for sale, watercolours, drawings and lithographs. There are even a couple of paintings on velvet. If you are looking for a particular subject for your collection or a Christmas gift, try browsing through the specialty items including wildlife photographs, needlework and movie posters.
Where possible, information about the artists will be provided. However, many works are by unknown artists.
“You may just find something that’s worth a lot of money,” says event manager Elinor Florence, “but more likely, you’ll find something that you just fall in love with.”
Art supplies will also be on sale including frames, mats, glass and canvasses suitable for recycling.
“We urge buyers to use their imaginations, as there are some very high-quality frames for sale,” says Florence.
All art will be pre-priced and organizers will not accept offers. A half-price sale will be held for the last hour of the day. If you spot something you love, you can take a chance that it will still be there later and return from 3 to 4 p.m. for an even better deal.
Please note that the organizers will not accept credit or debit cards, so bring your cash or personal cheques with you. Because the event is for charity, buyers will not have to pay any taxes.
Fifty percent of all proceeds will go towards the Invermere Health Care Auxiliary, which raises money for the local hospital. The other half will go to the Columbia Valley Arts Council, which supports the visual and performing arts in our community.
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