What’s most magical (and it’s nothing less) about Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict is discovering Guggenheim's voice through her voice. During the making of this documentary about the socialite, bohemian and art collector (1898-1979), 100 hours of tapes were unearthed....
Kenny Schachter on Why Art Basel in Miami Beach Is the End of Art History
Covering Art Basel Miami Beach since its inception 14 years ago I frankly didn’t think there would be any stories left to tell, yet there’s inevitable change and flux afoot though not entirely for the better. Miami is one of the few, if not only, places the art...
Kenny Schachter Gives the Dirty Details Behind the Big New York Auctions
Jim Shaw, Dream Sculpture (2006), Image: Courtesy of Phillips I covered the fall New York art auctions—focusing more than usual on the art itself for a change—for another art publication, and the editors there knew full well in advance that my writing voice verges...
The sky is falling on the art market, or is it?
In last week’s New York auctions of Impressionist and Contemporary art, $2.3bn was transacted in two weeks and though less than the last spate in May ($2.7bn, a record high), nevertheless it was above the $2.1bn presale estimate. Any diminution in value this season...
Vice in the Art World: Kenny Schachter’s Adventures at the London Auctions and FIAC
Postwar and contemporary art auction at Christies. Image courtesy of Kenny Schachter. The Auctions Vice Media dropped into my house in London a short while ago to shoot for an upcoming series on the art market that they’re in the midst of producing for HBO; I was...
Kenny Schachter On the Good, the Bad, and the (Very) Ugly of London Frieze Week—Part I
Kamel Menour at his booth at Frieze London 2015, with works by Camille Henrot. Photo: Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/FriezePhilip Roth with portrait by Kitaj. Image: Courtesy of Stephen Ongpin Gallery The Good, Bad and (Very) Ugly of Frieze Week Picking up...
Kenny Schachter Lays Bare the New Auction Season—Who’s Up, Who’s Down
I know this sounds like a set-up for a Richard Prince joke painting but it’s true: I went to a shrink to help cope with anxiety issues last week and when he found out what I did for a living, all he could ask about over the course of the next hour was art market...
UNLIMITED AMMO: THE SALE AND AFTERMATH
Nothing Captures the Essence of a City and Its Citizens Like the Things That They Are Enticed to Buy, Fear, Respect, or Be Amused By. We Consider the Hook, the Artifice, the Sale and Aftermath of a London & Los Angeles Driveby, All Through the Lens of Robert Landau....
Killed Deals, Crashing Markets, Flailing Flippers: What Does It All Mean? Kenny Schachter on the Summer Past and the Season Ahead
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kenny Schachter in the late 1990s. MARCO BRAMBILLA Could we be in for a rough ride this fall in the high-flying, gravity-defying top end of the contemporary art market? That was the billion-dollar question on the lips of the summer art crowd from...
The great debate: why galleries could take even more money from their artists
Magnus ReschA Twitterstorm erupted in the US last month over the findings of survey of 8,000 art galleries based in the US, UK and Germany. Cultural researcher and Larry’s List co-founder Magnus Resch found (no surprise here for those in the know) that running an art...
Kenny Schachter On What’s Really Going on at the Top End of the Art Market
Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate), (1962). Courtesy Sotheby's.Sotheby’s July 1 Contemporary Evening sale. Photo: Courtesy of Kenny Schachter. The school year for the international art world stretches from Frieze London in early October to the London...
Kenny Schachter On Why Art Basel Left Him Mentally and Physically Damaged
Eric Fischl. Photo: Kenny Schachter. Art Basel 2015 was a story both thrilling and catastrophic, ending with a real bang. Literally. But before I get to that, and the fair, I made a quick stop in Zurich prior to going up to Basel to see some art and art people....
Kenny Schachter On How Kenny Schachter on How Art Dealing Has Become Joyless, Boring, and Mean-Spirited
Kenny Schachter as the art court jester. Image: via Kenny Schachter. I began writing diaristic pieces for artnet.com more than 20 years ago, so it’s only fitting that I return to roost in 2015, where it all began. Only now the chronicle is beginning to...
Kenny Schachter’s New York Auctions Diary: Big-Game Hunters, Flipping In-N-Outers, and Passionistas
Photo: Courtesy of Kenny Schachter The megalith known as today’s art market has more personalities than noted 1970s schizophrenic Sybil. A recap of the hyped-up, rocket-fueled auction sales this past week might be better served in the form of an animated cartoon, but...
Polke Dance: In New York (Part 2)
Kenny Schachter wearing Daniel Steegmann Mangrané’s Phantom (2015) at the New Museum. On my second day in New York the snow was so heavy that I feared I would be forced to spend a terrifying night at the museum with “Surround Audience,” the New Museum’s just-opened...
A Truffle Pig Heads for the Piers: In New York (Part 1)
People look at works of art displayed during the The Armory Show in New York (photo: dpa) There should be a rule in art journalism: always lead with Damien Hirst. Hirst is having a fuck-all, wildly ambitious (over-produced?) show to coincide with his...
Polke Dance: Kenny Schachter in New York (Part 2)
Schachter wearing Daniel Steegmann Mangrané’s Phantom (2015) at the New Museum. The first part of Shachter’s Armory Week report is here. On my second day in New York the snow was so heavy that I feared I would be forced to spend a terrifying night at the...
A Truffle Pig Heads for the Piers: Kenny Schachter in New York (Part 1)
Razvan Boar, Ass Smile, 2015. There should be a rule in art journalism: always lead with Damien Hirst. Hirst is having a fuck-all, wildly ambitious (over-produced?) show to coincide with his soon-to-be-released tell-all book, written with help from James Fox, who...
L.A. Wildcatters, a Davos Doomsayer, the London Auctions, and the Future of the Art Market
Simcho Che I am convinced that the art market is in an extended bull run the likes of which have never been seen before. Sure, nothing goes up forever, but we are experiencing fundamentals fostering the fever to buy more art at ever escalating prices. A qualified...
‘I Coulda Been a Contender’: Kenny Schachter on L.A. Wildcatters, a Davos Doomsayer, the London Auctions, and the Future of the Art Market
Simcho Che. I am convinced that the art market is in an extended bull run the likes of which have never been seen before. Sure, nothing goes up forever, but we are experiencing fundamentals fostering the fever to buy more art at ever escalating prices. A qualified...
It’s Snowing Art Advisers: Best Of 2014, And Predictions For 2015
The Best of London in 2014 Let us put aside the oodles of money, the stupefying levels of celebrity worship and the trend of early retiring art brats and focus on the good stuff: the art, the artists, the museums, and the galleries, like it’s 1999 instead of 2014....