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The collectors Peter and Jill Kraus in their apartment with Pope.L s Sunny Day White Power. Speculative buyers are flocking to crypto art while blue-chip collectors are holding back, fearing legal gray areas and copyright issues. Via Peter Krauss via The New York Times.
by Zachary Small
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- A handful of auctions this month testing the appetite for a type of investment known as NFTs seemed likely to prolong the nascent fad for ownership of works that exist only in the digital world. Missing from those transactions, however, were the blue-chip collectors who typically drive the art markets sales. Industry experts have observed a growing wedge between a new generation of digital speculators and an older school of art collectors who say their concerns about the quality, ownership and authenticity of NFTs have gone unresolved, even as their fears of legal challenges grow. More than a dozen collectors interviewed for this
From left: Brooke Lampley, Amy Cappellazzo, and Mari-Claudia Jiménez. Photo by Julian Cassady for Sotheby’s.
The Art Detective is a weekly column by Katya Kazakina for Artnet News Pro that lifts the curtain on what’s really
going on in the art market.
Amy Cappellazzo’s future at Sotheby’s has been the subject of speculation in the art trade for months now. The star executive joined the auction house in January 2016 after it agreed to shell out $85 million for the advisory firm she co-founded. Her five-year contract ended in January. Both Sotheby’s and Cappellazzo have been mum on what happens next.
Stephen Brooks Courtesy: Phillips
The Phillips auction house announced today that the former Christie’s board member and chief financial officer Stephen Brooks will become its new chief executive on 1 September, replacing Edward Dolman. Dolman will take on the role of executive chairman of Phillips holding company and work closely with Brooks and with Phillips’ global chairwoman, Cheyenne Westphal.
“I am truly delighted to be joining Phillips as chief executive officer,” Brooks says in a statement. “I have admired the rapid and impressive development over recent years and seen the exceptional results that have been delivered by an outstanding, innovative and talented team. I am honoured and excited to be joining them and look forward to helping Phillips realise the very significant growth potential of the firm in the coming years.”
Frieze Week 2020.
Lisson Gallery (Cork St)
Photo by Linda Nylind for Frieze.
A version of this story first appeared in the spring 2021 Artnet Intelligence Report, which you can download in full for free here.
“Imagine a world where you could not fly around the globe anymore. How would you conduct business?”
That was the “thinking-out-of-the-box” assignment that a consultant gave Phillips executives at the auction house’s annual strategy meeting in January 2020. “We looked at each other, like, ‘What is he talking about?’” Cheyenne Westphal, the company’s chairman, recounted.
“Just imagine there might be a volcano erupting,” the consultant told the assembled honchos, many of whom had traveled to New York for the occasion.
Yinka Shonibare CBE RA to receive Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon 2021
Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, 2014, Photo: James Mollison.
LONDON
.-Whitechapel Gallery announced that Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (b. 1962, UK) is the eighth artist to receive the prestigious annual Art Icon award, generously supported by the Swarovski Foundation. On Monday 22 March 2021, the award will be presented during a virtual gala celebration hosted by Iwona Blazwick OBE (Director, Whitechapel Gallery), and feature an exclusive musical performance from four-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo. To protect the safety and welfare of all attendees, the event will be hosted on a digital platform and will celebrate the Gallerys continued commitment to youth programmes and educational activities through an evening of live presentations.