Miami Art Week as a Microcosm of the 2016 Art World
On the evening of Tuesday, December 6th, two of the leading art world and art market journalists working today, Marion Maneker of the Art Market Monitor and Judd Tully of Art Info, touched on many of the more salient issues facing the art world of late and provided illuminating context for understanding where the art market may be headed in 2017. It was the first in a regular Conversation series focusing on the contemporary art world at Christie’s Education New York moderated by Academic Director Véronique Chagnon-Burke.
Professor Chagnon-Burke kicked off the evening providing interesting analysis and commentary on the recently concluded Miami art fairs and asked the two panelists for their own perspective on the developments of art in Miami and art fairs in general. Tully observed the bizarre juxtaposition between the high-flying, fast-paced art market converging upon Miami with the somewhat shocking display of stalled urban development in some parts of Miami with finally the even more shocking display of incredible amounts of current construction and development in other parts of Miami. Tully also noted the apparent strong presence of South and Latin American collectors participating in the Miami fairs. Nevertheless, it was not clear how much commerce was indeed transpiring as he noted a sense of general fatigue. Interestingly, Maneker disagreed somewhat making the point that, “it seems that galleries have become a place where you make a case for an artist while art fairs are all about the business….”
The discussion also touched on what all three participants agreed seemed to be a trend — that is, it has become increasingly difficult to get a sense of a particular gallery “personality.” Professor Chagnon-Burke commented that even in Miami, many of the dealers and gallerists seem to have brought “a little bit of everything” so that it was difficult for collectors to understand the taste of a particular gallery. Tully seemed to agree with her assessment commenting that “in a sense, this is a mark of a more conservative approach taking less risk and taking on fewer emerging artists.”
The discussion opened to the audience with a spirited Q&A session that delved into a myriad of art world issues from the Christie’s-Sotheby’s duopoly, to the apparent challenging lack of diversity amongst collectors in Miami, to the recent focused attempt by Phillip’s increase market share, to the exhibition curated by Drake at Sotheby’s.
Overall, it was a fascinating discussion between three art world cognoscenti and a welcome way to cap off a very interesting year in the art world.
Noah Kupferman is the Program Director for Art, Law and Business at Christie’s Education New York. Prior to joining the faculty, Kupferman was the Managing Director at Shapiro Auctions — a boutique fine and decorative art auction house in New York City.
