Tomoko Sawada, Mirrors @Zabriskie

JTF (just the facts): A total of 30 small scale color works, framed in brown wood and matted, and hung in the main gallery space and back viewing room. All of the photographs are digital c-prints, made in 2009, sized roughly 4x7, and printed in editions of 8. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Japanese photographer Tomoko Sawada has already made a sizeable photographic career out of the simple idea of changing her outward appearance. From arrays of photobooth self-portraits to school girl class pictures and arranged marriage shots, she has used nuances in clothing, makeup, hairstyle, and facial gesture to generate literally hundreds of variations on herself, quietly commenting on cultural traditions, societal roles and norms, and the creation of personal identity along the way.

Her newest body of work continues in this same vein, this time using paired portraits of herself which are identical except for small changes in superficial details (hence the title of the show, Mirrors). In what might be pictures of twins, sisters, or futuristic (and creepy) clones, all is exactly the same except for the manipulation of one mundane, everyday variable: the color of a blouse, the style of the hair, or the tilt of a head. What is altogether surprising is how much these small external characteristics seem to imply about age, class, and personality, as well as the subtleties of mood and emotion.
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I think it's overly easy to connect Sawada's work to that of Cindy Sherman or Nikki Lee, and there certainly are obvious parallels in terms of mimicking of appearances and the chameleon-like approach to outward transformation. What I think is slightly different here (especially in her new work) is that Sawada doesn't recede into "character" or the staged environment quite so much; while there is an element of play-acting, the spoofing and satire is a little less overt in these pictures, the approach a bit cooler and more deadpan conceptual. Perhaps another way to put this is that while Sherman and Lee often "become" their characters, I never seem to lose sight of Sawada the artist, even when she has modified her appearance significantly.

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Collector's POV: Each of the works in this show is priced at $1300. While Sawada is on her way to becoming increasingly well known here in the US, her work has not yet reached the secondary markets for photography in any significant volume, so no detailed auction price history is readily available. As such, gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Interviews: Artkrush (here), Pingmag (here)
• Heavy Light, 2008 @ICP (here)
• Review: NY Times, 2003 (here)
• Book review: School Days, Japan Exposures (here)

Tomoko Sawada, Mirrors

Through July 9th
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Zabriskie Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Auction: Photographie, June 3, 2010 @Villa Grisebach

Villa Grisebach has its photographs sale in Berlin next week, and statistically speaking (number of lots, total value on offer etc.), it is almost an exact copy of its sale last November. This time around, Man Ray images, including several multi-picture pages from family albums, are the cornerstone. Overall, there are a total of 182 lots on offer in this sale, with a Total High Estimate of 666400€. (Catalog cover at right, via Villa Grisebach.)

Here's the breakdown:
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Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 167

Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 470400€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 15

Total Mid Estimate: 196000€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 0

Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 1240, Lotte Jacobi, Die Tanzerin Niura Norskaya, 1929, at 20000-22000€. (image at right, via Villa Grisebach)

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Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by three or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

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Man Ray (12)

Andreas Feininger (4)

Dieter Appelt (3)

Manuel Alvarez Bravo (3)

Mario Giacomelli (3)

Thomas Ruff (3)

Julius Shulman (3)

Louis Stettner (3)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
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Photographie

June 3rd

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Villa Grisebach Auktionen

Fasanenstraße 25

D-10719 Berlin

Auction Results: Photographs, May 20, 2010 @Phillips London

The results for the Photographs sale at Phillips in London last week were generally solid, if somewhat unremarkable. The buy-in rate was just over 30% and the total sale proceeds covered the total Low estimate.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 127
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £842500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1166500
Total Lots Sold: 86
Total Lots Bought In: 41
Buy In %: 32.28%
Total Sale Proceeds: £901375

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 57
Low Sold: 40
Low Bought In: 17
Buy In %: 29.82%

Total Low Estimate: £173500
Total Low Sold: £143000

Mid Total Lots: 61
Mid Sold: 40
Mid Bought In: 21
Buy In %: 34.43%
Total Mid Estimate: £628000
Total Mid Sold: £464575

High Total Lots: 9
High Sold: 6
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 33.33%
Total High Estimate: £365000
Total High Sold: £293800

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The top lot by High estimate was lot 54, Robert Mapplethorpe, X, Y, Z Portfolios, 1977/1978, at £60000-80000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £73250.

93.02% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of 7 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 1, Sebastiao Salgado, Dinka man at cattle camp of Kei, Southern Sudan, 2006, at £16250

Lot 14, Terry O'Neill, Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins, Reynold's Revue Bar, London, 1985/Later, at £10000

Lot 22, Nobuyoshi Araki, Untitled, 1986/2003, at £6875 (image at right, top, via Phillips)

Lot 58, Andre Kertesz, Untitled, 1979, at £8125

Lot 86, Julius Shulman, Case Study #22, Los Angeles, Pierre Koenig, Architect, 1960/Later, at £4875

Lot 115, Rene Burri, Sao Paolo, Brazil, 1960/2000, at £6000

Lot 121, Cornell Capa, Bolshoi Ballet School, Moscow, 1958/2001, at £5250

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Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Phillips De Pury & Company
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Auctions: Photography, with the Vogel Collection and Contemporary Art, May 31, June 1, and June 2, 2010 @Lempertz

Kunsthaus Lempertz has a group of sales coming up in Cologne next week, a various owner Photography sale, a single collector sale that includes photography, and a Contemporary Art sale that includes photography. Lempertz does the smart thing of pulling all the photo lots into one printed catalog, so collectors don't have to dig through all the various catalogs to find the photo lots of interest (they are separate online however). Overall, there are a total of 264 photo lots on offer across the three sales, with a Total High Estimate of 883700€.

If you ever said to yourself that you wanted a Sigmar Polke photograph for your collection, now would be a good time to acquire one: there are 16 Polkes in the Vogel sale, the most I have ever seen at auction at one time (Lot 1140, Sigmar Polke, Untitled (from the series: Paris), 1971, at 12000-15000€, image at right, via Lempertz.) There are also a number of excellent Becher winding towers (all groups of 4 images) available (Lot 1010 Zeche Bonifacius, Essen, 1981-1982, at 15000€, image at right, bottom, via Lempertz.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 233
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 398200€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 30
Total Mid Estimate: 425500€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 1
Total High Estimate: 60000€

The top lot by High estimate is lot 951, Andy Warhol, Untitled (The Dirty Half Dozen), 1969, at 50000-60000€.

Here's the list of photographers who are represented by three or more lots in the three sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Sigmar Polke (16)
Bernd & Hilla Becher (8)
Heinrich Kühn (7)
Albert Renger-Patzsch (7)
August Sander (6)
Nobuyoshi Araki (5)
Candida Höfer (5)
Peter Keetman (5)
Richard Hamilton (4)
Clemens Kalischer (4)
Alfred Stieglitz (4)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (4)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (3)
Robert Doisneau (3)
T. Lux Feininger (3)
Edmund Kesting (3)
August Kreyenkamp (3)
Hedda Hammer Morrison (3)
Man Ray (3)
Leni Riefenstahl (3)
Jeanloup Sieff (3)
Miroslav Tichy (3)
Umbo (3)

The complete lot by lot online catalogs can be found here (Photography), here (Vogel Collection) and here (Contemporary Art).

Photography
May 31st

The Vogel Collection
June 1st

Contemporary Art
June 2nd

Kunsthaus Lempertz
Neumarkt 3
D-50667 Köln

Julian Faulhaber, Lowdensitypolyethylene II @Hasted Hunt Kraeutler

JTF (just the facts): A total of 11 large scale color works, unframed and hung against white walls in the three front rooms of the gallery. All of the prints are digital Lambda prints, mounted on aluminum Reynobond and covered with white plexi. Sizes range from roughly 32x26 to 47x60. The works in the show were made between 2005 and 2010, and all of the prints are available in editions of 7. An unrelated show of 11 black and white fashion images by Richard Avedon is on display in the back gallery. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: German photographer Julian Faulhaber's images of futuristic candy-colored architectural details capture unexpected places in the moment before they are actually put into use. Before the wear and tear has begun, before we ordinary humans inadvertently scratch the paint, scuff the floors, and dent the walls, Faulhaber has documented these malls, parking garages, and locker rooms in their pristine, antiseptic perfection.

While these locations will all eventually be high-traffic public spaces, in Faulhaber's world, there is a chilling unreality in their current emptiness, their vivid colors and super cleanliness full of expectant optimism. Fragments of parking meters, toll booths, merchandise racks and cabinets have become abstracted, eye-popping compositions, reminiscent of the pared down diorama effect in the work of Thomas Demand or Josef Schulz. They have an air of utopian purity, an unblemished, disinfected clarity that hopes for an immaculate and uncontaminated time to come.

Unfortunately, life is altogether a messy affair and these dreamlike spaces will soon be less than extra perfect (as an aside, it might be intriguing to pair these works with some of Brian Ulrich's images of end of the line malls to see the before/after contrast more sharply). As such, these pictures work on a couple of levels: as vibrant, decorative architectural abstractions and as more subtle commentaries on the difference between the streamlined future we imagine for ourselves and the actual, rougher truth.

Collector's POV: All of the works in this show are priced in rising editions. Most start at $7500 and continue to $10000, depending on the place in the edition. Two of the smaller works range between $5500-8000 and $6500-9000 respectively. Faulhaber's prints have not yet made their way to the secondary markets, so no pricing history is readily available. As such, gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point. An earlier piece from this same series was also included in the Reality Check show at the Met in 2008 (here).

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Reviews: New York (here), Conscientious (here), Artforum, 2007 (here)
• Profile: Foam (here)

Julian Faulhaber, Lowdensitypolyethylene II
Through June 26th

Hasted Hunt Kraeutler
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Results: Photographs, May 20, 2010 @Sotheby's London

If not for the solid performance of a handful of top end lots, several of which were Irving Penns, the results of the Photographs sale at Sotheby's in London might have looked significantly worse. As it was, the buy-in rate was over 50% and the total sale proceeds just covered the total Low estimate.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 125

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1118000

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1557000

Total Lots Sold: 58

Total Lots Bought In: 67

Buy In %: 53.60%

Total Sale Proceeds: £1150950

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 6

Low Sold: 1

Low Bought In: 5

Buy In %: 83.33%
Total Low Estimate: £24000

Total Low Sold: £6875

Mid Total Lots: 110

Mid Sold: 50

Mid Bought In: 60

Buy In %: 54.55%

Total Mid Estimate: £1138000

Total Mid Sold: £600575

High Total Lots: 9

High Sold: 7

High Bought In: 2

Buy In %: 22.22%

Total High Estimate: £395000

Total High Sold: £543500

The top lot by High estimate was lot 76, Irving Penn, Two Liqueurs, New York, 1951/1960, at £60000-80000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £145250.

98.28% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There was only one surprise in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 52, Irving Penn, Pablo Picasso at La Californie, 1957/1968, at £121250 (image at right, top, via Sotheby's)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Sotheby's

34-35 New Bond Street

London W1A 2AA

Andy Goldsworthy: New York Dirt Water Light @Lelong

JTF (just the facts): A total of 9 photographic "suites", 1 video triptych, and 1 sculpture/installation made of dirt, all displayed without frames, in the entry, a side viewing room, and the main gallery space. 8 of the photographic suites are made up of color inkjet prints: the individual prints range in size from 14x11 to 19x11 (or reverse) and are hung tightly in groups ranging from 14 to 40 prints. The other photographic suite is made up of black and white inkjet prints: a group of 20 prints, each 7x4, flanked by a pair of larger 30x17 prints. All of the photographic prints are unique. The video installation is made up of 3 HD video channels with sound, displayed on three 70x42 screens hung side by side. The dirt installation blocks an interior doorway in the back of the gallery. All of the works were made in 2010. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: For the better part of his career, British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy has been making art firmly and deeply rooted in the simplicity of the natural world. Sometimes ephemeral and fleeting, at other times more permanent, his works have consistently explored the fragile limits of found, local materials, always respectfully balancing the existing environment with his own personal point of view. Many of his more temporary sculptures, those that have been washed away by the incoming tide, melted by the sun, or just blown away by the wind, have been carefully documented via photographs, where changing light and passing time have become additional elements in his overall artistic process.

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In his new works, Goldsworthy has applied this grounded, natural sensibility to the frenetic, man-made world of New York city. With no large rocks, sticks, or leaves to use as his materials, the artist was forced to improvise with what was available in the urban jungle. The result is a series of time-elapsed photographs of streets and sidewalks, decorated with shapes and forms made from gutter water, dirt, and light.

While this description might sound either utterly ridiculous or possibly revolting, the actual effect is surprisingly elegant. In several of the works, Goldsworthy uses his characteristic back and forth snake-like squiggle (alternately rounded and jagged) to traverse a busy street or wander down a long sidewalk. The wet line starts out as deep black or white, and slowly fades as the water evaporates; cars pass, people walk right over it, and the sculpture disappears. In others, Goldsworthy uses the nighttime reflections from an ATM or the gaudy lights of Times Square to illuminate wet circles and improvisational splashes; lurid orange, red, and blue spots stand out on the heavily trafficked sidewalks and then slowly vanish. In the video, the artist lies down in the rain amidst the rushing pedestrians, leaving his outlined form on the cement like a chalk circle for a dead body.
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It almost seems like Goldsworthy has slowed down time, or altered our perception of it via his use of the city as a sculptural playground. His gestures look innocent and modest, almost otherworldly in the rough and tumble environment, but it is their utter simplicity that makes them effective. Who would have thought that a seemingly random wet circle in Times Square could become art, and thereby transform our view of the jostling world around us? Rather than being overly clever or grasping for attention, Goldsworthy's forms have remained humble. As a result, he has uncovered new and original moments of grace in this chaotic city, hiding in plain sight, drawn with an unremarkable fistful of muck from the gutter.
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Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The photographic suites range in price from $50000 to $95000, roughly based on size. The video triptych is $100000 and the dirt installation is $75000. Goldsworthy's photographs do come up for sale at auction from time to time. In recent years, prices have ranged between $5000 and $36000.

When we lived on the West coast, our young kids would routinely clamber around a sculpture of his at Stanford (here); now that we live in the East, we make the trip to Storm King (here), or just drive down a quiet dirt round not far from our house to see a private commission of his (called Three Roadside Boulders I think). While Goldsworthy's works don't fit neatly into any of our collecting genres, his photographic pieces still tempt us from time to time, and we remain drawn to some of his smaller, more intimate images.

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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Spire (here)
• Exhibits: Met, 2004 (here), National Gallery, 2005 (here)
• Interview: Time, 2007 (here)
• Review: NY Times, 2007 (here)

Andy Goldsworthy: New York Dirt Water Light

Through June 19th

Galerie Lelong

548 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001

Auction Results: Photographic Literature & Important Photographs, May 20, 2010, @Swann

The results of Swann's combination sale of photographic books and photographs last week were slightly weaker than those of the equivalent sale last October. In both sections of the sale, the buy-in rate was over 40% and the total sale proceeds fell well below the total Low estimate. Additionally, there were are high percentage of lots that sold below their estimate range (over 50% in the photographs portion of the sale).

The summary statistics across the two portions of the sale are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total of Both

Total Lots: 454

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $1345400

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1956100

Total Lots Sold: 264

Total Lots Bought In: 190

Buy In %: 41.85%

Total Sale Proceeds: $962612

Photographic Literature Only

Total Lots: 195

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $302800

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $438150

Total Lots Sold: 110

Total Lots Bought In: 85

Buy In %: 43.59%

Total Sale Proceeds: $191580

Important Photographs Only

Total Lots: 259

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $1042600

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1517950

Total Lots Sold: 154

Total Lots Bought In: 105

Buy In %: 40.54%

Total Sale Proceeds: $771032

Here is the breakdown, separated into two sections (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Photographic Literature Only

Low Total Lots: 186

Low Sold: 106

Low Bought In: 80

Buy In %: 43.01%

Total Low Estimate: $286150

Total Low Sold: $132180

Mid Total Lots: 9

Mid Sold: 4

Mid Bought In: 5

Buy In %: 55.56%

Total Mid Estimate: $152000

Total Mid Sold: $59400

High Total Lots: 0

High Sold: NA

High Bought In: NA

Buy In %: NA

Total High Estimate: $0

Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate in the book section was lot 22, Doris Ullman, Roll, Jordan, Roll, 1933, at $25000-35000; it was also the top outcome of the session at $28800.

Only 64.55% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range in this portion of the sale. There were two surprises in this section (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 85, Irving Penn, Irving Penn, 1984, at $6480

Lot 113, Harold Edgerton, Moments of Vision: The Stroboscopic Revolution in Photography, 1979, at $3840
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Important Photographs Only

Low Total Lots: 236

Low Sold: 140

Low Bought In: 96

Buy In %: 40.68%

Total Low Estimate: $1122950

Total Low Sold: $542192

Mid Total Lots: 23

Mid Sold: 14

Mid Bought In: 9

Buy In %: 39.13%

Total Mid Estimate: $395000

Total Mid Sold: $228840

High Total Lots: 0

High Sold: NA

High Bought In: NA

Buy In %: NA

Total High Estimate: $0

Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate in the photographs section was lot 279, Edward Weston, Nude (Charis), 1935, at $35000-45000; it was also the top outcome of the session at $33600.

Only 49.35% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of six surprises in this section (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 210, Felix Beato, Album of old Japan, 1872, at $26400 (image at right, top, via Swann)

Lot 216, Paul Strand, Wall Street, New York, 1915/1916, at $9000

Lot 244, Wilhelm Von Gloeden, Untitled (frontal nude, seaside), c1900, at $4080

Lot 269, (Crime), 29 New York-related crime photographs, 1920-1930s, at $9600

Lot 374, Berenice Abbott, Group of science photographs, 1958-1961/1982, at $7500

Lot 420, Eliot Porter, Group of nature studies, 1968-1974, at $16800 (image at right, middle, via Swann)

Complete lot by lot results for both sessions can be found here.

Swann Galleries

104 East 25th Street

New York, NY 10010

Anton Litvin, The Shining @Sputnik

JTF (just the facts): A total of 7 large scale color photographs, mounted to plexi and not framed, and hung in the single room gallery and the back viewing space. All of the works are inkjet prints on Cranson Infinity paper, made in editions of 4. The prints are either roughly 25x35 or 39x58, and were all made in 2010. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Anton Litvin's cropped and abstracted images of the famed gold onion domes of the Orthodox churches in Moscow take a simple visual cliche and give it new life. Taken up-close, his images capture the flare of the sun reflected in the gleaming metallic shine of the iconic examples of Russian architecture, without subjecting the viewer to the all-too-familiar form of the dome etched against the sky.

While we might assume that the domes are uniformly covered in expensive and precious gold leaf, Litvin exposes the lesser known reality: the structures are actually blanketed in colored sheets of other metals, welded or nailed together in modular grids and geometric patterns. The glare of sunlight bouncing off the rounded structures creates blisters of brightness that diffuse across the surface, and the shiny skin is full of seams and edges, decorated with scratches, scrapes, and other evidence of hard weathering.

Litvin's fragmented golden domes reminded me of Ola Kolehmainen's architectural studies, where repeated patterns cover sleek façades and expanses of perfect wall. While Litvin's images have a few too many technical imperfections and blurs (likely a result of the long distance shots), overall, I found this fresh approach to a tired subject to have plenty of subtle radiance.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The smaller 25x35 prints range in price from $2500 to $3500, based on the place in the edition; the larger 39x58 prints range from $3000 to $5000. Litvin's works have no secondary market history to date, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Escape Program (here)

Anton Litvin, The Shining
Through June 12th

Sputnik Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Auction Results: The Photographs Sale, May 19, 2010 @Bloomsbury London, Rome and New York

Bloomsbury's triple play of London, Rome, and New York photographs auctions last week delivered discouragingly dismal results, with all three sales tallying buy-in rates of 50% or higher and total sale proceeds far beneath each of their respective total low estimates. New York was the weakest of the three, with a buy-in rate above 70% and and total sale proceeds just over a third of the total low estimate. It appears that the first major problem is a lack of real bidders, likely a result of a combination of less enticing material, a smaller client database, and not enough additional publicity. While we'd like to see Bloomsbury have some success, these are tricky, interrelated issues, and until they make progress on all of them, I'm afraid this photographs department will continue to struggle.

London: Session I

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 120
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £174200
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £252100
Total Lots Sold: 56
Total Lots Bought In: 64
Buy In %: 53.33%
Total Sale Proceeds: £119011

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 113
Low Sold: 50
Low Bought In: 63
Buy In %: 55.75%
Total Low Estimate: £190100
Total Low Sold: £72651

Mid Total Lots: 7
Mid Sold: 6
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 14.29%
Total Mid Estimate: £62000
Total Mid Sold: £46360

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: £0
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session was lot 27, Eugenio Courret, Vistas Monumentos Y Tipos De Lima, 1870, at £10000-15000; it was also the top outcome of the session at £15860.

71.43% of the lots that sold had proceeds above or in the estimate range. There was only one surprise in this session (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 6, Adolphe Braun, Views in Switzerland, c1865, at £3660

Complete lot by lot results for London can be found here.

Rome: Session II

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 178
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 202250€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 282050€
Total Lots Sold: 89
Total Lots Bought In: 89
Buy In %: 50.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: 126330€

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 175
Low Sold: 87
Low Bought In: 88
Buy In %: 50.29%
Total Low Estimate: 243050€
Total Low Sold: 104330€

Mid Total Lots: 3
Mid Sold: 2
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 33.33%
Total Mid Estimate: 39000€
Total Mid Sold: 22000€

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session was effectively tied between lot 227 (the cover lot), Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, N.Y.C., 1976, at 10000-15000€, and lot 280, Elio Luxardo, Pietro Donzelli, Federico Vender and others, Con una piccola Rondine, 1951, at 12000-15000€. The Mapplethorpe sold for 11000€; it was tied for the top outcome of the session with lot 318, Julia Margaret Cameron, Holy Family, 1872, which also sold for 11000€. The Luxardo et al. did not sell.

Only 67.42% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 3 surprises in this session (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 237, Sebastiao Salgado, Lisbon, Portugal, 1975 at 2400€
Lot 329, Willy Ronis, Place Vendome, 1947/1980, at 2200€
Lot 348, Cesare Colombo, Apprendisti N. 1, c1970, at 1000€

Complete lot by lot results for Rome can be found here.

New York: Session III

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 126
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $330000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $490700
Total Lots Sold: 37
Total Lots Bought In: 89
Buy In %: 70.63%
Total Sale Proceeds: $114314

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 123
Low Sold: 36
Low Bought In: 87
Buy In %: 70.73%
Total Low Estimate: $438700
Total Low Sold: $104554

Mid Total Lots: 3
Mid Sold: 1
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 66.67%
Total Mid Estimate: $52000
Total Mid Sold: $9760

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: $0
Total High Sold: NA

The top photography lot by High estimate in this session was tied between lot 417, Imogen Cunningham, Nude, 1932/1960 and lot 426, Marilyn Minter, Mardi Gras, 2007, both at $15000-20000; the Cunningham sold for $9760 and was the top outcome of the session, while the Minter did not sell.

70.27% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were no surprises in this session (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

Complete lot by lot results for New York can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London W1S 1PP

Palazzo Colonnavia della Pilotta 19
00187, Roma

6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

American ReConstruction @Winkleman

JTF (just the facts): A group show containing 24 works from 6 different photographers, variously framed and matted, and hung in the entry and main gallery spaces. The show was organized by collector Michael Hoeh, who writes the Modern Art Obsession blog (here). (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers have been included in the exhibit, with the details of the works on view to follow:

• Matthew Albanese: 3 c-prints on plexi, unframed, sized either 20x30, 40x21, or 50x33, in editions of 10+2 or 5+2, made in 2009/2010.
• Jowhara AlSaud: 3 c-41 prints, mounted but unframed, either 30x40 or 50x60, in editions of 5+3 and 5+2 respectively, made in 2009.
• Jeremy Kost: 3 Polaroid collages, framed in white with no mat, ranging in size from 17x23 to 25x50, each unique, made in 2010.
• Mark Lyon: 4 archival pigment prints mounted to poly metal, framed in white with no mat, ranging in size from 36x23 to 36x54, in editions of 8+3 or 8+2, made in 2009/2010.
• Curtis Mann: 7 works made of synthetic polymer on bleached chromogenic prints, framed in white with no mat, each 19x23, each unique, made in 2010.
• Cara Phillips: A total of 4 works from two different projects. 2 of the works are digital c-prints mounted on cintra, framed in white with no mat, 30x38 or reverse, in editions of 5+1, made in 2006 and 2010. The other 2 works are gelatin silver prints, framed in black with no mat, each 30x24, in editions of 5+1, made in 2010.

Comments/Context: The abstract idea of constructing something - a truth, an identity, an environment, or a picture - has become an entire subculture of 21st century art and life. We're constantly building - walls, facades, worlds - recreating and seeing ourselves in ways that go beyond the simple outward appearance. We've been given the tools to remake ourselves and our surroundings, and we're busy doing it in a myriad of ways. This smart collection of new photography comes at this rather broad concept from a variety of angles, weaving disparate ideas and bodies of work back into a more complex fabric of current photographic practice.

The "constructions" in this show span both the literal and the figurative. Matthew Albanese's spewing volcanoes, angry tornadoes, and broken ice sheets are actually carefully built tabletop models, photographed in a way that mixes the appearance of truth and the obvious details of artifice. Curtis Mann's works are also deeply rooted in process; he takes images found on the Internet (in this case of the Golan Heights), and subjects them to bleaching, which alternately leaves parts of the picture visible and obscure. These particular works have been folded, creating elegant mirror image blobs and smears, allowing us to glimpse only portions of the underlying story.

Other works delve into the "construction" of self and personality. Jowhara AlSaud uses a darkroom process to eliminate the faces of her subjects, replacing them with large etched line drawings, soberly commenting on the practice of censorship (and how it affects the development of individuality) in Saudi Arabia. Cara Phillips comes at this same idea of creating an identity via her images of creepy plastic surgery offices (trying to change the surface appearance) and her unsettling ultraviolet portraits (uncovering what lies beneath the skin).

Jeremy Kost's collaged portraits of drag queens and young men have many layers of staging and construction: the staging of the scenes, the creating of new identities, and the Cubist layering of pictures reminiscent of David Hockney's photographic collages from the 1980s. And Mark Lyon's photographs of unlikely places covered by landscape mural wallpapers get at our desire to remake spaces in ways that mask their actual use; brightly colored outdoor scenes are oddly juxtaposed with the trappings of a nail salon, a laundromat, and a YMCA exercise room.

To my eye, the works by Curtis Mann, Mark Lyon and UV portraits by Cara Phillips are the most memorable and original of those on view. The others certainly fit the thematic structure of the show and interconnect tightly in terms of extrapolating on the main organizational idea, but impressed me less in terms of their ultimate durability. By design, group shows are supposed to bring together disparate works and provide alternate perspectives, nearly always leaving viewers with a sense of unevenness based on their own preferences. As such, I found this show to be thoughtfully organized and well "constructed", but naturally somewhat mixed in terms of the spread of likely longevity.

Collector's POV: The prices for the various works in the show are as follows, organized by photographer:

• Matthew Albanese: $1000, $1300 or $2000, based on size
• Jowhara AlSaud: $3500 or $6800, based on size
• Jeremy Kost: $3750, $4500, or $8000, based on size
• Mark Lyon: $1200, $1700, or $1800, based on size
• Curtis Mann: each $3000 (and most already sold)
• Cara Phillips: $2800 or $2900

None of these photographers has any secondary market history to date, so gallery retail will be the only option for interested collectors at this point. Curtis Mann was also included in the Whitney Biennial 2010 (here), and seems to be on a bit of a hot streak.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Review: Conscientious (here)
• Matthew Albanese artist site (here)
• Jowhara AlSaud artist site (here)
• Jeremy Kost artist site (here)
• Mark Lyon artist site (here)
• Curtis Mann artist site (here)
• Cara Phillips artist site (here)

American ReConstruction: An exhibition of new photography
Through June 12th

Winkleman Gallery
621 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Auction Results: Photographs, May 18, 2010 @Bonhams

Bonhams had a bit of a rough outing at its Photographs sale in New York earlier this week. With a buy-in rate approaching 50% and total sale proceeds that missed the low by a wide margin, there isn't much excitement to be found these results. Nearly a third of the lots that did sell came in under their estimate ranges, and there were only two positive surprises in the whole sale.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 132
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $722500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1039550
Total Lots Sold: 70
Total Lots Bought In: 62
Buy In %: 46.97%
Total Sale Proceeds: $481290

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 112
Low Sold: 61
Low Bought In: 51
Buy In %: 45.54%
Total Low Estimate: $545550
Total Low Sold: $247660

Mid Total Lots: 19
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 11
Buy In %: 57.89%
Total Mid Estimate: $439000
Total Mid Sold: $184830

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $55000
Total High Sold: $48800

The top lot by High estimate was lot 100, Richard Avedon, Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, 1981, at $35000-55000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $48800.

Only 67.14% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 2 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 76, Danny Lyon, Highway 49 from Jackson to Yazoo City, the Entrance to the Delta, 1964/1968, at $4880 (image at right, via Bonhams)
Lot 79, William Garnett, Train Crossing Desert near Kelso, California, 1974, at $13420 (image at right, top, via Bonhams)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Claude Monet: Late Work @Gagosian

I know, I know.

You come here for photography and this show has absolutely nothing to with photography. But having seen this incredible exhibit, I just couldn't resist the temptation to pass along a few thoughts. Since this is entirely outside the norm for this site (this is the very first deviation from photography-related topics in nearly two years of writing), I'm going to forgo the usual review structure/detail and just lay out some free form observations and conclusions.

Regular readers know that we reserve our highest "three star" rating for the best photography shows of the year, those shows that not only include superior pictures but add a layer of scholarship that forces the viewer to reconsider their understanding of an artist and his/her entire career. While I won't pretend to be an expert on Monet, I can say with authority that this group of late works entirely destroyed my original conception of the artist. The use of color and gesture is radical, explosive, and exuberant, and the connection to Abstract Expressionism, which would come decades later, seems downright unmistakable.

The first room of this show is the straight man, the "before" that we all recognize immediately: water lilies on the surface of the pond at Giverny, refined, soft, and delicate. The following three rooms bring together the "after", works from 1914-1924, and these are the ones that will blow your mind. The brush strokes get long, large, and swirling, with expressive, rhythmic gestures built in layers. The group of paintings in the third gallery use a palette rooted in deep purples and sublime blues. They're still water lilies, but they have become altogether more abstract, free and lively, the mesmerizing color pulsating from the canvas. In one image, perhaps my favorite in the show, the reflections of willow trees are transformed into thick vertical squiggles that shimmer down the surface.

The last gallery confines its palette to earth tones and fall colors: rust, yellow, orange, brown, with remnants of green thrown in for good measure. These paintings move even closer to complete abstraction; they are nearly unidentifiable as the subjects they supposedly depict. In the three versions of the path under the rose arches (hung together for maximum effect), the layered piling up of colors varies just slightly, with minute shadings of light and dark creating three distinct impressions, each bold and earthy. And in one version of the Japanese bridge, the brush strokes become so wild and unruly that the subject ceases to matter, and the composition is transformed into an all-over blast of chaos and energy.

Sometimes it's easy to get trapped in the world of photography and lose sight of the bigger picture of the art world. So break out of the photography ghetto and go see this show. Go for the use of color, the masterful blending and mixing of tones, some of which will leave you hypnotized. Go also for the connections to the future, the hints of Abstract Expressionism in the flowing, eruptive gestures. But mostly go because it will make you break the foundation conclusions about Monet stuck in your memory from Art History 101 - I guarantee you'll leave this show with an entirely new perspective on one of the greats in the history of art. It's not photography folks, but it's certainly, undeniably, three stars.

Reviews: NY Times (here), New York (here), WSJ (here), Artnet (here), ArtObserved (here)

Claude Monet: Late Work
Through June 26th

Gagosian Gallery
522 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10011

Uta Barth: ... to walk without destination and to see only to see. @Tanya Bonakdar

JTF (just the facts): This show contains a combination of current work and reprints of work from decades ago. The main gallery contains 8 color works, all made in 2010, each a diptych or triptych. In these works, the left panel inkjet print is 41x32 and the right panel inkjet print(s) are 41x46. The works are printed in editions of 6+2 and framed in white with no mat. The rear gallery contains 7 works (ranging from 1 to 16 series prints each), made in 1979-1982 and printed in 2010. The black and white inkjet prints (framed in white with no mat) are all roughly 11x9, and are also made in editions of 6+2. A new monograph of the artist's work, The Long Now, was recently published by Gregory Miller and is available from the gallery. A companion exhibit of the same bodies of work is now on display at 1301PE Gallery in Los Angeles (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: I've recently been reading a book called Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, by Margaret Livingstone (here). As you might imagine from the title, it covers the technical underpinnings of how our human vision system works (rods and cones etc.), how the eye and brain connect and interact, how luminance and color are processed, and how central and peripheral vision work. It then goes on to show how various artists across the history of art have used color mixing, contrast and other optical techniques to achieve different effects. The reason I have been reading this book is that I have, of late, become more interested in the underpinnings of visual perception, as it relates to how we interact with and understand photography. Given this background study, you could say I was fully primed to enjoy Uta Barth's excellent new show, as her work has always thoughtfully explored the boundaries and ambiguities of seeing.

The large main gallery space is filled with diptychs and triptychs that have a common structure. In one panel, we look down at the sidewalk from the photographer's point of view, casting shadows across the field of vision that become two thick parallel lines. In the other panel or panels, we look up into the sky, where the blurs of hallucinatory trees hover overhead. In the downward looking shots, we often see the trace of a shoe or foot, the cracks and lines of the sidewalk, or stray leaves that dapple the greyness, giving us a hint to the perspective, but it is the strong vertical shadows that run edge to edge from top to bottom that seem strange and illusory, especially in the images that have been reversed as negatives. The upward shots have a calligraphic elegance in their shifting fogginess. Branches, leaves, berries and flowers have been abstracted into thin black lines and splashes of color - red, or yellow, or green, or blue, flashed against a blinding white sky. These upward glances seem to oscillate and vibrate, as if we were catching them out of the corner of our eye, out of focus, but still entirely identifiable. When the up and down views are juxtaposed together, there is movement, and wonder, and lyrical simplicity.

The smaller, black and white images in the back rewind thirty years, when Barth was just beginning her explorations of light, space, and time: light streams in through curtains and doorways, chairs are moved around a studio, and shadows divide a wall. Compositionally, the photographs are often consciously unbalanced, with large expanses of emptiness (floor, snow, wall) punctuated by the fragment of an object. It is easy to see where her conceptual ideas began, and then to walk back into the main gallery and see where those same motifs have evolved over her career.

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I must admit that as I stood in the middle of the main gallery and let the new works wash over me, I had that uncommon rush of positive feeling, the nodding head, that giddy "aha" that said these pictures were tuned just right. Maybe it was my recent biology diversion that made me acutely aware of Barth's controlled use of my vision, but regardless, I came away enchanted by the proof that simplicity can still be thrillingly new.

Collector's POV: The color diptychs and triptychs in the show are priced at $30000 each. The smaller black and white works range in price from $5500 to $30000, based on the number of prints in the work. Barth's photographs have recently become available in the secondary markets, with a handful of lots coming up for sale in any given year; prices have ranged between $3000 and $38000.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• UC Riverside faculty page (here)
• Review: Frieze, 2008 (here)
• Interview: Journal of Contemporary Art, 1996 (here)

Uta Barth: ... to walk without destination and to see only to see.
Through June 19th

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
521 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Results: AFRICA, May 15, 2010 @Phillips

The results for the photographs in the AFRICA themed sale at Phillips last week fell solidly into the estimate range, led by works by Malick Sidibé and Zwelethu Mthethwa. Overall however, the total photo proceeds were significantly less than the BRIC and SEX themed sales earlier in the year.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 75

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $386300

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $554700

Total Lots Sold: 53

Total Lots Bought In: 22

Buy In %: 29.33%

Total Sale Proceeds: $477250

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 62

Low Sold: 41

Low Bought In: 21

Buy In %: 33.87%

Total Low Estimate: $272700

Total Low Sold: $205500

Mid Total Lots: 12

Mid Sold: 11

Mid Bought In: 1

Buy In %: 8.33%

Total Mid Estimate: $202000

Total Mid Sold: $191250

High Total Lots: 1

High Sold: 1

High Bought In: 0

Buy In %: 0.00%

Total High Estimate: $80000

Total High Sold: $80500

The top lot by High estimate was lot 61, Yinka Shonibare, Un Ballo in Maschera (I-X), 2004-2005, at $60000-80000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $80500.
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90.57% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 5 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

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Lot 1, Malick Sidibé, Nuit de Noel (Happy-Club), 1963/Later, at $9375

Lot 3, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Untitled from Sugar Cane Series, 2003, at $13750 (image at right, top, via Phillips)

Lot 33, Malick Sidibé, Regardez-Moi!, 1962, 2000, at $12500 (image at right, via Phillips)

Lot 169, George Rodger, The Champion of a Korongo Nuba Wrestling Match is Carried Shoulder High, Kordofan, Southern Sudan, 1949/1999, at $8750

Lot 185, Malick Sidibé, Les nouveaux circoni, 1983/1995, at $7500
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Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Phillips De Pury & Company

450 West 15th Street

New York, NY 10011

Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain @Aperture

JTF (just the facts): A total of 37 color photographs, framed in blond wood with no mat, and hung in the large gallery space, further separated by two dividing walls. The archival pigment prints come in two sizes 24x30 (or reverse), in editions of 10, and 40x50 (or reverse), in editions of 5; there are 25 small images and 12 large images in the exhibition. All of the works were made between 2006 and 2008. The show was curated by Elizabeth Brown. A monograph of this project has been recently published by Aperture and is available in the shop for $40 (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Eirik Johnson's contemporary photographs of the Pacific Northwest expose the gap between the promise and grandeur of the region's staggering natural resources and the 21st century reality of its depleted and declining industries and rural communities. It's a depressing and increasingly desperate portrait of the region, where man's encroachment on the environment seems to have gone too far, forcing the people dependent on timber and fishing to hang in the balance, looking to recover some kind of elusive sustainable equilibrium.

If you look back at the early 20th century photographs of Darius Kinsey (review here), the power of nature over man was obvious. Even though tiny loggers with hand saws were pulling down massive firs and cedars that dwarfed them in size, it was clear that the forest was king and we were insignificant interlopers. These people were pioneers and homesteaders, clawing out a rough living from the bounty that surrounded them. Kinsey's pictures have a palpable sense of romance and awe, with teams of men sitting on beasts they have just vanquished.

Fast forward a century and the scene has changed dramatically. Cut logs are now stacked in huge yards, entire landscapes have been clear cut, and seedlings are grown in greenhouses. The balance of power has noticeably reversed - man is no longer looking up at nature, but is now peering down trying to "manage" it for optimum profitability. The scale has increased dramatically: boards and planks multiply, sawdust piles up, and lumber offices stand ready to organize it all. And yet, the boom has already come and gone, and we're now left on the other side of the expansion, looking back at what happened and trying to make sense of the lost jobs, the empty fisheries, the crumbling dams and the ecological failure.

Stylistically, Johnson is travelling down a thoroughly American road, mixing understated portraits and unexpected landscapes in the same long form project - there are compositional connections to Joel Sternfeld, Mitch Epstein and Alec Soth, as well as tangential ties to other images of the region made by Robert Adams (West from the Columbia) and Frank Gohlke (Mount Saint Helens). Johnson is telling his complex story via the aggregation of many small pieces and vignettes that together paint a bigger picture of life in these communities: grey skies, dead fish, abandoned moss covered houses, truck cabs, hollow-eyed workers, salmon jerky, dryer lint artwork, and a dispiriting array of things for sale (sweaters, firewood, rusty trucks, Star Wars memorabilia, and porn).

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What I found most sad about this whole story was the leaden silence that seems to hover everywhere in Johnson's images. The rain falls, life moves on, the people stay or move away (it doesn't seem to matter), and quiet envelops everything. Individually, these subtle, often straightforward works don't shout from the walls, but their collective effect (particularly in book form) hits home with surprising force.
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Collector's POV: Since this isn't a selling show, there aren't any posted prices for the works on display. Eirik Johnson is represented by G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle (here) and Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco (here). His work has not yet become available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

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Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Henry Art Gallery, 2009 (here)
• Reviews: Artforum (here, scroll down), Another Bouncing Ball (here)
• Book Review: Conscientious (here)
• Interview: Ahorn (here)

Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain

Through June 10th

Aperture Gallery

547 West 27th Street

New York, NY 10001