Play-by-Play, Day-by-Day: A Recap of Frieze and the Auctions
Xin Li. (Patrick McMullan Company) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition of GQ. The...
Won’t See You Tuesday…
Unimaginable in today’s art market: buyerless artworks by stars Alex Israel, Wade Guyton and Richard Prince, laid to rest. (Rendering by Kenny Schachter). Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect...
Art & Money: The Great Divide
A delicious Lucien Smith pie painting. Photo: Salon 94. Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition...
Day Tripper: Kenny Schachter at the London Day Sales
An untitled Kippenberger from 1996 that sold for about $703,000 at Christie’s. (Courtesy Christie’s) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and...
Avoidance Behavior: Gallery-Going in St. Moritz
Andy Warhol’s eye-popping 1986 self-portrait, at Caratsch.Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition...
Further Adventures in the Wade Guyton Market
‘Untitled’ (2006) by Guyton.Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition of GQ. The opinions...
X-Rated: On the Hunt for a Guyton, Wary of the Self-Gazump
An untitled painting by Wade Guyton in ‘Empire State’ at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome in April. (Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha...
What Goes Up Must Go Up: A Sneak Peek at Kenny Schachter’s Fall 2013 Gloom, Boom & Doom Report
A Kandinsky being handled at Christie’s London last week. (Photo by Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid, and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he...
Nothing But Time, Paul Thek Revisited, 1964-1987
Kenny Schachter is a private dealer and curator living in London. His latest curatorial project is a show of Paul Thek’s work at Pace Gallery that will be on view from September 25th to November 9th at 6 Burlington Gardens. The show, Nothing But Time, Paul Thek...
Ecstasy at Kunsthaus Zurich
Installation view of ‘The Hubert Looser Collection.’ (Photo by Lena Huber/© Kunsthaus Zürich) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid, and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is...
Jay-Z, Baby
Pace is the place for art’s celebrity arms race Turning up today is Jay-Z and band with plenty of fawning art stars in hand like self absorbed kids playing in sand No matter your chops nothing will stop the gallery from showing you the art world from blowing you There...
Kenny Schachter’s Basel Diary, Part 2
Lucio Fontana canvases at Helly Nahmad's Art Basel booth. No more disclaimers this time around, let’s just jump back into the thick of it, starting—where else?—with more dinners and parties, of course. During the relentless march of fairs and biennials, the art world...
It’s Groundhog Day at Art Basel 2013
The scene at Art Basel 2013. Forget about you, dear reader, how will I manage not to bore myself to tears with this? Art Basel feels like round 87 in a long, drawn-out boxing match and I shudder to think that I have to put fingers to the keyboard so quickly after the...
A Dealer’s Diary of Frieze Week NYC
The crowd at Jeff Koons's opening at David Zwirner Gallery The art fairs that have proliferated in every town and time zone the world over have come to take up such a signficant portion of how I view art that remembering my bearings at one—am I in Brussels this week,...
An Auction House Morality Tale
Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition of GQ. The opinions expressed here are his own. Some...
You Can Ring My Bell: Kenny Schachter at an Art World Quiz Show
Oliver Barker, Quizmaster. (Photo by Lucy Ward) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid, and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition of GQ...
Off to the Turtle Races: Kenny Schachter, Our Man in Maastricht.
Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid, and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek, and he is a contributor to the British edition of GQ and Swiss money manager Marc...
Art Cologne – A Premature Call
In 2009 I wrote about the death of the Cologne Art Fair, having served on the selection committee for 2 years prior, but it was a premature call. It’s still a great place to see art without the usual European and American art mongering suspects breathing down your...
Status Anxiety: Kenny Schachter Dives into Facebook’s Art-World Trenches
Kenny Schachter’s Facebook profile image. In the age of hunched-over iPhone overachievers, Facebook has birthed a hybrid form of participatory art chat, a free-for-all dialogue sometimes charged with a level of meanness that would do an HBO series proud. These heated...
Miami Art Week
A rainbow ring in the clouds over Art Basel Miami Beach News reports leading up to the 10th iteration of Art Basel Miami Beach were more concerned with where to find the parties rather than the art. But the insurance value of the art clocked in at $2.5 billion, so...
A Trip to Beijing With Zaha Hadid
Patrik Schumacher, director of Hadid Architects, and Hadid. (Courtesy Kenny Schachter) Kenny Schachter is a London-based art dealer, curator and writer. His writing has appeared in books on architect Zaha Hadid, and artists Vito Acconci and Paul Thek. He is also...
Toxic Shock: Kenny Schachter on the Final Two Episodes of Bravo’s ‘Gallery Girls’
Amy. (Courtesy Bravo) Seeking a professional opinion on the Bravo reality series Gallery Girls, we asked the London-based art dealer, curator and writer Kenny Schachter to weigh in. Last time around we set him up for a GChat with a real, live Gallery Girl, and thought...
The Adventures of Amy: Kenny Schachter (the Hans Ulrich Obrist of Awful) GChats With a Real Live Gallery Girl
Amy. (Courtesy Bravo) Seeking a professional opinion on the Bravo reality series Gallery Girls, we asked the London-based art dealer, curator and writer Kenny Schachter to weigh in. With Episode Five, we detected that he was, in his way, warming to the show a bit,...
Free at Last: Kenny Schachter on Episode Five of Bravo’s ‘Gallery Girls’
Two of the Gallery Girls meet the Sucklord. (Courtesy Bravo)Seeking a professional opinion on the Bravo reality series Gallery Girls, we asked the London-based art dealer, curator and writer Kenny Schachter to weigh in. Episode four had him mad as hell, and all but...
Playing to the gallery
Tour de force: Richard Serra’s huge ‘Promenade’ is erected in Paris’ Grand Palais as part of the annual Monumenta exhibition, 2008. Correct me if I’m wrong, but an artist has not, as of yet, actually cured cancer – though many certainly behave as though they have. I...
I’m (Especially) Mad as Hell: Kenny Schachter on Episode Four of Bravo’s ‘Gallery Girls’
Terence Koh and Holzer. (Courtesy Bravo)Seeking a professional opinion on the Bravo reality series Gallery Girls, we asked the London-based art dealer, curator and writer Kenny Schachter to weigh in. His most recent recap, of episode three, had us convinced that the...
The Gold Standard: FERRARI AND PICASSO
We are facing an unprecedented confluence of international macroeconomic conditions that have collided with the unintended result of pushing prices for rare and desirable collectibles far into the stratosphere. Never before have these forces raged with such ferocity...
Gallery Gossip Girls: Kenny Schachter on the First Two Episodes of Bravo’s ‘Gallery Girls’
(Courtesy Bravo)Seeking a professional opinion on the new Bravo reality series Gallery Girls, we asked the London-based art dealer, curator and writer Kenny Schachter to weigh in on the show’s first two episodes. Stay tuned for further musings on the program from Mr....
Logical Volume Identifier: Kenny Schachter on Episode Three of Bravo’s ‘Gallery Girls’
‘Gallery Girls.’ (Courtesy Bravo)Seeking a professional opinion on the Bravo reality series Gallery Girls, we asked the London-based art dealer, curator and writer Kenny Schachter to weigh in. After his recap of the first two episodes, we weren’t entirely certain he...
A Streetcar Named Desire
Laptop on desk, photo of the family, Carrera RS (911 and 964 variety), 930 Turbo…Yup, just your normal everyday office. Kenny Schachter’s working environment is a shrine to Porsches and modern art.My car obsession, bordering on a fetish, sprang from being an alienated...
Kenny Schachter’s ART Basel Wrap-Up
Got off to an early start this year prior to the onset of the ART Basel fair(s), at 5am, and headed off to Zurich for a jump on the proceedings. I received more .pdf’s offering pre-fair fare than on any prior occasion, which can’t foreshadow a good thing for sellers...
Crazy Sexy Cool
Alia Al-Senussi It is no secret that young people are generally attracted to things that are shiny, new and edgy. Contemporary art is no exception to this rule. There is a new generation of art enthusiasts breaking through from the Western world but also from the...
Say Yes to the Art Boom
Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1992. $ 1,248,000. Sotheby’s New York, May 10, 2005. $14,082,500. Sotheby’s New York, Nov. 9, 2011. Why do so many art people seem to be hoping for an art crash? Why can’t they accept that in these uncertain, unstable times art has...
Kenny Schachter Reports from ART Hong Kong
I made my first trip to Hong Kong to visit ART HK 12, the 5th iteration of the fair, recently majority purchased by ART Basel. Now there is Basel Miami, Basel Switzerland, and Basel Hong Kong, a concept similar to that of Disney theme parks in Los Angeles, Orlando,...
Fair fatigue at Art Cologne 2012
A beauty shot of Kolnmesse, site of Art Cologne 2012 In 2008 I wrote an obituary for the Cologne Art Fair, and guess what? It’s still dead. Call it fair overload. Markets are driven by a degree of psychology: when stocks go down, the good, bad and ugly all get dragged...
Celebrity Protection Ltd.
In 1974, art dealer Tony Shafrazi spray-painted Picasso's Guernica, which hung in the Museum of Modern Art, with the words "KILL LIES ALL" (probably a typo in the heat of the moment). It is believed that Shafrazi was protesting something or other and as a result,...
My other car… is a coffin
This is about death, cars, outsider art, and the power of contemporary art to suck it all in and spit it all out. I took my wife and four boys on a world-wind trip to Ghana to visit the Joseph Ashong (aka “Paa Joe”) Workshop outside Accra, a folk artist specialising...
Article for an Upcoming Conde Nast Car Publication
We are facing an unprecedented confluence of international macroeconomic conditions that have collided with the unintended result of pushing prices for rare and desirable collectibles far into the stratosphere. Never before have these forces raged with such ferocity...
Requiem for an Engine
VMAX JUNE 2 Why are wheels being soda blasted ? They are chromed , no cost for refurbing wheels ? That alone could add thousand or so ? What's the guarantee offered ? Dyno sheet from engine ? VMAX JUNE 2 Charged twice for dyno £880 No piston or liners listed ? ...
A Porsche to Die For, or Dying Made Fun
This is about death, cars, craft, and the power of contemporary art to suck it all in and spit it all out, or shit it out in this case. I took my wife and four boys aged 14, 13, 11 and 8 on a world-wind trip to Ghana to visit the Joseph Ashong aka Paa Joe Workshop...
Simon’s Bar Mitzvah
We were leaving a party in Jerusalem and decided to forego the bus back to Tel Aviv and make a dash to the hotel. We got into a random taxi outside the Dung Gate (a highly memorable designation) of the old city and the driver was of Saphardic descent. My wife asked:...
Wet Run
It was raining so hard I had to run (didn't have to but need to seize the initiative when it crops) with no glasses on, the result was kind of like Mr Magoo. I am a step or two away from legally blind not to mention a stigmatism—my corrective lens need to be ground...
Gold and Picasso: Going Topless
Sotheby’s (BID), the world’s largest publicly traded auctioneer said second-quarter earnings rose 48 percent for its best quarter ever, though the share price is, at the time of this writing, down over 40% since May 2011. It has been repeatedly pointed out that about...
Art4August
Today's art collecting tidbit: Do NOT purchase art at art fairs, any, ever. Demand steeply exceeds supply (or so you are led to believe) and one is bound to get caught up in the irrational exuberance and impulse of unconsidered buying. The same applies for auctions;...
Freudian Slip
freud was very much like uk version of phillip pearlstein, a stubborn realist. his early paintings AND drawings are kooky, weird and eccentric and should, in the long term, be the most esteemed. 7 days a week he had a dinner reservation at the wolseley-he painted the...
Info Mafia
From an Observer article on Ted Talks, "Is 'Facebookistan' the most powerful country on Earth? Rebecca MacKinnon of the international bloggers' network Global Voices Online claims it is starting to act like one. Private companies are starting to behave like...
9/11 10 Years On: An Admission
I was sleeping recovering from something or other, probably self-induced, when the phone rang and my wife informed me a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. Knowing her propensity to hyperbolize, I dismissed it as at best a random small aircraft incident, but...
$12 Million Drivel: What a Cow
“Bright colors do better than pale colors. Horizontal canvases do better than vertical ones. Nudity sells for more than modesty, and female nudes for much more than male. A Boucher female nude sells for ten times the price of a male nude. Figurative works do better...
Race-ism
Kenny Schachter Nowadays, jokes involving race and religion are not funny even when they are funny and not racist. I am clearly not speaking about the joke that is galiano and james brown (uk hairdresser in this case). But here’s one nevertheless: Lewis Hamilton...
Hong Kong Art Fair: A Feint Whiff (of Business and Ai Weiwei)
Judd Tully provided excellent HK art fair coverage for artinfo.com. He noted that In the first few hours of the preview, one dealer sold to a European collector she already knew. Another gallery that featured a Chinese star “fielded significant interest” at $2 million...