ZSONA MACO. MEXICO ARTE CONTEMPORANEO, will take place at the Centro Banamex, Hall D in Mexico City, from the 22nd through the 26th of April 2009, organized by Cultura y Arte Contemporáneo Zeta S.A. De C.V., under the direction of Zélika García.

The Selection Committee for 2009 is:

Patricia Ortiz Monasterio & Jaime Riestra
OMR, MEXICO

Daniel Roesler
NARA ROESLER, BRASIL

Thomas Krinzinger
KRINZINGER PROJEKTE, AUSTRIA

Silvia Ortiz & Inés López Quesada
TRAVESIA CUATRO, SPAIN

Pablo León de la Barra
DE LA BARRA, UK

Ludovica Barbieri
MASSIMO DE CARLO, ITALIA

This year’s fair will include 90 galleries from around the world, representing more than 800 artists in over 10 000 square meters of exhibition space.

The Main Section will host galleries with more than five years of experience that meet the standards of quality as determined by the Selection Committee. Booths in this area afford a variety of dimensions: 40, 60, 80 or 120 square meters.

The New Proposals Section will host galleries with less than 5 years’ experience, presenting emerging artists in booths measuring 20 square meters.

The Publications Section will include more than 40 press and internet media outlets, both national and international.

ZSONA MACO SUR is a new section devoted to solo projects curated by Adriano Pedrosa. The section will host 12-15 booths of 24m2 each with solo exhibitions sponsored by galleries selected exclusively by invitation. The section will privilege emerging and mid-career artists from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly those who have not had significant exposure in the Mexican scene.

Our Collector’s Program, organized by Pablo del Val, will include a socio-cultural program with visits to private collections, museums in the city, as well as dinners and festivities with international museum representatives, curators and art professionals.  Invitations will be tailored to each exhibitor’s needs, and we have increased their number for this coming April.

ZsONA MACO. MÉXICO ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO, se llevará a cabo en las instalaciones de Centro Banamex, Sala D en la  Ciudad de México del 22 al 26 de Abril del 2009, organizada por la empresa Cultura y Arte Contemporáneo Zeta S.A. de C.V. , dirigida por  Zélika García.

El Comité de Selección para el 2009 es el siguiente:

Patricia Ortiz Monasterio y Jaime Riestra
OMR, MEXICO

Daniel Roesler
NARA ROESLER, BRASIL

Thomas Krinzinger
KRINZINGER PROJEKTE, AUSTRIA

Silvia Ortiz e Inés López Quesada
TRAVESIA CUATRO, MADRID

Pablo León de la Barra
DE LA BARRA, INGLATERRA

Ludovica Barbieri
MASSIMO DE CARLO, ITALIA

Contaremos con la participación de alrededor de noventa galerías internacionales presentando a más de 800 artistas en 10,000m2 de exposición.

Se presentará la Sección de Galerías con stands de 40, 60, 80 y120 metros cuadrados y en este espacio participarán las galerías con más de 5 años de operación que cumplan con el criterio de calidad determinado por el Comité de Selección.

En la sección de Nuevas Propuestas exhibirán las galerías con menos de 5 años de apertura que presenten a artistas emergentes en espacios de 20 metros cuadrados.

La Sección de Publicaciones contará con más de 40 medios impresos y de Internet nacionales e internacionales.

Por primer año, ZsONA MACO. MÉXICO ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO 2009 contará con el proyecto especial
ZsONA MACO SUR, a cargo del curador Adriano Pedrosa, enfocado a la presencia de las galerías de vanguardia más interesantes del sur del continente americano, y el cual será únicamente por invitación. Se pretende que este proyecto inaugure un verdadero encuentro en América Latina para las mejores galerías del continente, atrayendo a coleccionistas y especialistas de la región.

El Programa de Coleccionistas encabezado por Pablo del Val, se enfocará a un programa socio-cultural con visitas a colecciones privadas, museos de la ciudad, cenas y fiestas con la presencia de museos
internacionales, curadores y profesionales del arte. Hemos enfocado este programa a invitaciones más específicas de acuerdo a las necesidades de los expositores e incrementado el número de invitaciones a coleccionistas mexicanos y extranjeros.

Expresión en Corto es una explosión de voluntades que surgen alrededor de un deseo común: la creación de una cultura y una comunidad cinematográfica sólida, carente de exclusividad, porque las manifestaciones artísticas no deben serlo.

De esta VISIÓN ha nacido la relación entre los que ya han hecho cine, los que quieren hacerlo y los que sólo quieren disfrutarlo. Es un espacio donde se crean lazos que fortalecen el sentimiento de pertenencia, se estimula la fuerza que mueve, dirige e integra las ideas y tendencias de esta forma de expresión.

El FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE EXPRESIÓN EN CORTO, es un organismo sin fines de lucro que ha asumido el compromiso de sumarse a la lucha por rescatar la actividad artística fílmica, por medio de mecanismos educativos de intercambio internacional, becas para jóvenes creadores, talleres, conferencias, sensibilización y orientación para niños, apoyo en el desarrollo de guiones cinematográficos y, a corto plazo, el apoyo financiero para proyectos fílmicos y audiovisuales. También celebra a quienes han contribuido destacadamente en la construcción de nuestra cinematografía.

Expresión en Corto, tiene una convocatoria dirigida fundamentalmente a los jóvenes de todo el país, quiénes tienen la oportunidad de convivir en proyecciones, talleres, conferencias, mesas redondas y reuniones de trabajo con autoridades y personalidades de la industria nacional e internacional.

A grandes rasgos, EXPRESIÓN EN CORTO, AC, es un proyecto que suma los esfuerzos y el entusiasmo de un pequeño grupo de apasionados amantes del cine, dispuestos a trabajar por el desarrollo de las nuevas generaciones, en busca de una verdadera industria del Cine en México, sustentada en nuestros valores, ofreciendo nuestras expectativas, nuestros patrones estéticos y tradiciones; una industria que, en resumen, traslade a la pantalla grande, los diferentes rostros de nuestra realidad, bajo el espíritu de nuestro lema: “más cine, por favor!”

Results of the Contemporary art sales: seriously off the boil [Feb 09]

A week of sales in London Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury & Co tested the resilience of the contemporary art market which has been the most speculative and volatile compartment of the market over the last few years. After beating record after record in 2006, 2007 and the first half of 2008, even the most famous contemporary artists have run out of steam.

Just as The Art Market Confidence Index (AMCI) indicated that a 60% of the voters was still expecting prices to fall in the next 3 months, Sotheby’s inaugurated the contemporary art sales week with a selection of 27 lots, a few days before Christie’s (31 lots) and Phillips de Pury & Co (53 lots). Estimations that had only been slightly revised down failed to tease collectors into bidding for leading names like Mark ROTHKO, Anish KAPOOR, Francis BACON or Jeff KOONS.

Jeff KOONS, the must-have name on the contemporary scene, met with a mixed reception. Two of his works went for over a million pounds, Stacked a sculpture that fetched £2.5m at Sotheby’s on February 5 and the painting Monkeys (Ladder) that sold for £1.2m at Christie’s on February 11. The following day his Encased – Five Rows which was the catalogue cover at Phillips de Pury & Co, met with a stony silence and the piece was withdrawn without a single bid being made. The estimation made by Phillips de Pury & Co. said the work’s value had risen tenfold in less than 5 years. It had in effect been auctioned for the equivalent of £214,000 in May 2004 before selling for £2.2m on February 12 2009.

The previous day, Christie’s suffered a huge disappointment when it failed to sell Francis BACON‘s superb Man in Blue VI (1954). Privately owned for 38 years, the work depicts the muffled tension of the artist’s turbulent relationship with Peter Lacy, the model for the painting. Its low estimate was $4m but it had to be bought in. Since the rout suffered in the October 2008 sales, no Bacon picture has had any success in auction: all four paintings put up for auction between October and February failed to sell. And yet in 2007, Bacon’s popularity was soaring and his price index ended the year 120% higher. His annual sales for that year were $ 245m, second only to Pablo Picasso ($ 319m). In 2008, in spite of a very good first semester, this index registers a -56% fall at the end of the year.

Mark ROTHKO suffered the same fate as Bacon. On February 11, his Green, Blue, Green on Blue (1968), which had a low estimate of £2.5m, was also bought in. The same work had sold for the equivalent of £2.6m on November 13 2007 in New York. In 10 years, the painting had risen ten times in value: it was first put up for auction at Christie’s London in 1996 and fetched £210,000. Another unsold item was an aluminium Anish KAPOOR sculpture (2004) estimated at £ 500,000-700,000 (Christie’s). Yet a piece in a similar vein, but smaller and older, sold for £840,000 at Sotheby’s a few days earlier.

In the circumstances, the first sales in February unsurprisingly posted no new records but at least they avoided disaster. Only 21% of Christie’s items remained unsold, but 52% of lots fetched less than their estimations… Sotheby’s pulled off the best sale of the week by selling 25 lots out of 27 and topping a million pounds for three of them. Apart from Koons, the best results were for Lucio FONTANA‘s Concetto spaziale which fetched £3.9m at Sotheby’s (which was, however, hoping for £5m), Gerhard RICHTER’s Troisdorf (£1.85m -Sotheby’s), Willem KOONING de’s Women Singing I (1966) which sold within its estimation spread for £700, 000 (Christie’s) and Alberto BURRI’s Combustione Plastica (1956) which went for £700, 000, or £100, 000 below its low estimate. After these sales, estimates will need to be revised down further…

(more…)

NEW YORK- Building on Miami’s overwhelming success, SCOPE launches its 2009 season with its flagship fair, SCOPE New York 09. SNY09, an invitation only edition of SCOPE art fairs, proudly returns to Manhattan’s most famous cultural icon, Lincoln Center, with a glass facade pavilion situated in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, at the corner of 62nd Street and 10th Avenue. SCOPE New York is just blocks from the Armory Show and serviced daily by VIP Zipcars, shuttles and pedicabs.

Last year’s fair featured galleries from four continents and 20 countries, including China, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, UK, Spain, and Canada. SCOPE New York 2009′s 50 invitees will uphold its unique tradition of solo and thematic group shows presented alongside museum-quality programming, collector tours, screenings, and special events. The fair opens to Press, SCOPE and Armory VIPs on Wednesday, March 4, 3-9pm with the FirstView benefit, a $100 charitable donation for all non-VIP cardholders.

Introducing artists, curators, and cutting-edge galleries to new audiences internationally has made SCOPE the most comprehensive destination for the emerging art world available anywhere. With art fairs in Miami, Basel, New York, London, and the Hamptons, SCOPE is proud to be an influential presence in the expanding global art market.

Location

Lincoln Center Damrosch Park
62nd Street and Amsterdam (10th Avenue)
New York, NY 10023

Opening Schedule

FirstView
for all VIPs and press
or $100 donation at the door
Wednesday | March 4 | 3pm-9pm

PressView
Wednesday | March 4 | 6pm-9pm
RSVP to press@scope-art.com

General Admission Fair Hours

Thursday | March 5 | noon – 8pm
Friday | March 6 | noon – 8pm
Saturday | March 7 | noon – 8pm
Sunday | March 8 | noon – 7pm

Admission

Free for VIP cardholders
FirstView | Wednesday Only | $100
General | Thursday – Sunday | $15
Student | Thursday – Sunday | $10

The Armory Show – The International Fair of New Art, has been the world’s leading art fair devoted exclusively to contemporary art since its introduction in 1999. The fair is the successor to the highly acclaimed Gramercy International Art Fairs that attracted thousands to their New York, Los Angeles and Miami shows between 1994 and 1998.

The Armory Show was first presented in February 1999 at the 69th Regiment Armory, the site of the now-legendary Armory Show of 1913 that introduced Modern art to America. The fair became part of the Merchandise Mart family in 2007. .

Articles about The Armory Show are available in the Press Room section of this site.

LOCATION

THE ARMORY SHOW is held annually in New York City, home to more galleries, artists, critics and art institutions than any other city in the world, a mecca for serious collectors. According to a 2007 survey, 56% of our 52,000 visitors to the fair were from outside New York City, and over a third of them came from outside the United States.

New York City has designated Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., the fair’s parent company, to renovate and expand the exhibition spaces on Pier 92 and 94, opening the door to an eventual investment of over $100 million. Construction is projected to begin in late 2009 and, when completed in 2011, will establish an additional 150,000 square feet of exhibition space, along with a new infrastructure of restaurant spaces, restrooms, and trucking facilities for exhibitions and events.

Pierre Bergé sale – the big event of the year [Feb 09]

For at least six months, the sale of the Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent collection has been the focus of much media attention, described as the “sale of the century”. At a time when The Art Market Confidence Index (AMCI) is firmly in the red, the means allocated to the sale of some 691 lots are commensurate with the works being presented: exceptional.

Pierre Bergé has chosen Christie’s to officiate and the Grand Palais de Paris as the stage for this prestigious sale. Under the monumental glass dome, this auction marathon will last three days (from 23 to 25 February 2009) with pieces from the Far-East, others dating back to Antiquity, numerous sculptures and works of art, works in gold and silver, enamels from the 16th century, drawings from the 19th century, works signed by the major names in Art Deco and numerous Old and Modern masterpieces. Some signatures seldom seen at public auctions will be offered including Ingres, Franz Hals, Jacques-Louis David and Géricault. Among the five Théodore GÉRICAULT works on offer is one of the most famous double portraits in the entire history of painting: that of Alfred and Elisabeth Dedreux. Christie’s is expecting €6m for this work, a figure that would refresh the previous Géricault record held since 1989 by Portrait de Laure Bro, née de Comères which fetched €4.9m at Sotheby’s in Monaco.

In the Modern Art category, there is a whole series of star names: Giacometti, Juan Gris, Vuillard, Paul Klee, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Edward Munch, Odilon Redon, the Douanier Rousseau, Seurat, Manet, Gustav Klimt, and more. The collection contains some truly historic pieces including an oak wood sculpture by Constantin BRANCUSI entitled Madame L.R. (Portrait de Mme L.R.). This rarity could well fetch more than Brancusi’s current record for Oiseau dans l’espace ($24.5m in 2005 at Christie’s) if it reaches its high estimate of €20m. Before it joined the Bergé / Saint Laurent collection (where Pierre Bergé like to show it alongside a Sénoufo sculpture), Madame L.R. belonged to Fernand Léger. Apart from its artistic qualities, the ownership background of this piece is an undoubted bonus. No less than six works by Fernand LÉGER will be offered for sale, including the impressive painting La tasse de thé, a hymn to 1921 modernity. Should the work reach its €15m target, it will be among the artist’s four most expensive hammer prices. The art market, which rarely sees Piet MONDRIAAN paintings at auctions nowadays, will be offered three “neoplastic” Compositions by the artist on the same day (estimated at between €5m and €10m). The paintings are large formats. Nothing larger than 50 cm has been seen at auction for five years. The most recently sold large format Mondrian painting, New York, Boogie Woogie (95.2 x 92 cm) fetched $18.75m (€14.6m) at Sotheby’s NY in 2004. Christie’s expects to generate even more from a superb cubist work by Pablo PICASSO, Musical Instruments on a Pedestal Table (estimated at €25m to €30m).

Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent did not collect works of contemporary art, preferring to focus on historical works that represent the opening of the 20th century to contemporary art. One such work is Belle haleine – Eau de voilette, a ready-made bottle on which Marcel DUCHAMP appears dressed up as Rrose Sélavy from a photograph by Man Ray. This emblematic work is estimated at €1m to 1.5m.

In this turbulent period for the art market in which auctioneers have adopted prudent sales strategies at the major sales since the beginning of 2009 by minimising the number of lots offered, this sale represents a clear exception: the superb works on offer – with the cachet of their prestigious origin – will reach peak prices. As long as pieces are considered “major”, the crisis does not appear to be preventing new records from being set. This was the case, for example, of Petite danseuse de quatorze ans by Edgar DEGAS, which fetched £11.8m on 3 February 2009 at Sotheby’s (€13.2m), setting a new record for a sculpture by that artist.

Courtesy Fondazione Marconi, Milan

Mario Schifano, “Futurismo rivisitato” (1966). Enamel and spray paint on canvas and Perspex, 68 ½ in. x 11 ft.

(more…)