GALLERIES FEELING THE SQUEEZE?
from Artforum
The Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Jörg Häntzschel looks at the impact of the bank crash on the art market in New York. Although he suspects that galleries and auction houses will be hit hard, no one has yet issued a statement about the financial crisis. “No comment from the three big auction houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips de Pury,” writes Häntzschel. The city’s most important galleries—Gagosian, Zwirner & Wirth, Marian Goodman, Deitch Projects, and Gladstone—have also remained silent. “And who wants to talk down a nervous market with bad news? No one could say anything about the Frieze Art Fair in London in October, about the auctions at the beginning of November. Only a director from Yvon Lambert was willing to provide information: ‘The last two weeks have been noticeably quiet.’” Although a few collectors here and there have apparently taken their names off waiting lists, there is no trace of panic among New York dealers, who can still choose among buyers.
“What distinguishes this crisis from others is the new internationalism of the market,” writes Häntzschel. “When New York investment bankers drop out, Moscow oil barons jump in. There are fewer risks for artists whose works have obtained spectacular prices in the last years. . . . But things could turn out to become slightly tougher for younger names.”
