The Tamesis
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, art news Newsletter about the art market and beyond. Register here Receive it every Wednesday.
Happy Venice Week and everyone at the Biennale, please stay dry. Here’s a roundup of art trade dynamics.
Industry trends
• Robert Therrien Estate leaves Gagosian for David Zwirner: The Broad Museum in Los Angeles recently conducted a survey of the late sculptor’s work.
• Olney Gleason now represents Jill Magid: The artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery will open on June 11. She is currently exhibiting at Mister Fahrenheit Gallery in New York.
• Zhong Tianyue joins Marianne Boesky Gallery: Chung’s work will be on display at the gallery’s Art Basel booth in June, followed by her first solo exhibition in New York in 2027.
• Africanus Okokon, jointly represented by OCHI and management: Based in Providence, Rhode Island, the artist is known for his films, installations, paintings, assemblages, and other works that engage with the concept of memory.
• Seung Ah Paik has joined Bortolami: Her current exhibition at the New York gallery coincides with a presentation of her artwork at the Rubell Museum in Miami. Bortolami will represent her with Gratin Gallery in New York.
• Sebastian Gladstone Gallery now represents the Estate of Franne Davids: A solo exhibition of Davis’ work will be on view at the Los Angeles gallery through May 16. Sebastian Gladstone will represent the estate alongside Ricco/Maresca.
• Khalif Tahir Thompson heads to Victoria Miró: The London-based gallery, which represents the artist along with Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, will show new work by the artist at Frieze New York, followed by a solo exhibition in the British capital in October.
• Miriam Machado appointed director of the Patricia and Philip Frost Museum of Art: She previously served as interim director and served on the museum’s leadership team for more than 15 years.
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big numbers
$1 million.
This is roughly equivalent to the cost of retrofitting a Biennale venue with basic infrastructure such as electricity and air conditioning before an artwork can be exhibited. In Venice, many spaces were not built for exhibitions, so organizers effectively turned historic buildings into temporary museums on a tight schedule. Add in rent, and the price could reach $30,000 to $50,000 per month when complex transportation routes, security and installation are taken into account. Holding an exhibition in a city is less about hanging art than it is about building a working system from scratch.
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according to The Art NewspaperThe Venice Biennale no longer pretends that it is not a market. This year, Christie’s is hosting an invitation-only auction show at Palazzo Cadario, featuring works by Lucas Cranach Sr., Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois and others, with prices ranging from $500,000 to $50 million, while other shows across the city are selling quietly or publicly. The article makes clear that this is not a sudden shift, but a change in tone. Dealers and collectors have been sponsoring Biennale shows for years, covering production, shipping and staffing, but now they’re more willing to loudly state the obvious: They need to sell to make the whole enterprise work. Add to that Italy’s new 5% value-added tax on art imports, and the fact that many works are newly produced and priced on the primary market, and Venice begins to look less like a staging ground for future deals and more like a place where deals actually happen. —Daniel Cassady, arts business reporter
