This summer great plans and a lot of movement in Beijing, chosen as the capital for the Olympic games 2008, where athletes from all over the world are landing as well as a special team of sportsmen selected by Andy Warhol. Indeed, the Chinese city has decided to host, from the 26th July in the venue of the Faurschou gallery, a famous collection of portraits by Andy Warhol dedicated to some very notorious athletes.

New York, NY – Christie’s New York leads its fall season with the eighth edition of First Open on September 9, which includes over 230 lots of Post-War & Contemporary Art and is expected to realize in excess of $6-8 million. First Open displays another stunning array of works for this highly anticipated and successful sale. Highlights of the sale include an exciting assortment of paintings, sculpture, drawings and photographs from both well-known and emerging artists. With estimates ranging from $1,500 to $500,000, First Open is an exceptional opportunity to acquire works at a variety of price points, whether you are building an existing collection or starting anew.

The first semester for the art market is about to come to an end and before its conclusion Christie’s auction house is going to try itself out with an auction completely dedicated to author prints. Indeed, on 31st July Christie’s New York is going to propose a very interesting sale that will attract many neo-collectors, thanks to the very low estimates that vary from 300 to 18 thousand dollars. “Prints & Multiples” will auction 357 lots, including 29 works by Pablo Picasso, 23 by Joan Mirò and 5 by Marc Chagall. If we look through the catalogue we will see many interesting works that could give an excellent result to this sale dedicated to prints and multiples, a sector considered as one the minor sectors of the art market.

Last 1st June the world of fashion came to a halt to commemorate the death of Yves Saint Laurent, the French fashion designer considered one of the greatest fashion creators of the twentieth century who started his career at the Christian Dior maison to then found the homonymous label (Yves Saint Laurent) with his life and business partner Pierre Bergè.
His mark in the world of fashion and luxury remains recognizable and his name will always be symbol of style, becoming symbol of sophisticated but also innovative elegance.

LONDON - The July 2008 Evening Sale of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s London achieved the phenomenal sum of £94,701,550 ($188,853,831) against a pre-sale estimate of £67.4 – 96.6 million, making it the most successful Summer sale of Contemporary Art in Europe. The sale had numerous high points throughout the evening, with records achieved for 11 different artists.

A Richard Prince “Nurse” and an Antony Gormley “Angel of the North” were among 10 works to set records for their makers at Sotheby’s contemporary-art auction in London, where a Francis Bacon portrait was the star attraction and Irish rock band U2 among the sellers.
Bacon’s status as the world’s most expensive postwar artist was bolstered last night by the sale of a painting of his lover George Dyer, which fetched a top price of 13.8 million pounds ($27.5 million) with fees.
Sotheby’s is testing demand after wealthy buyers from Russia and elsewhere shrugged off economic slowdown to pay record prices in New York in May. Yesterday’s auction made a total 94.7 million pounds with fees, the second highest for a contemporary-art sale in Europe, said Sotheby’s. Former tennis champion John McEnroe sold an Andy Warhol portrait and U2 sold a Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“People are more interested in quality than price”, London dealer Serge Tiroche said. “In the old days they used to look at a work’s size and period. Now they’re looking at aesthetics”.
Sotheby’s said 71 of the 75 lots found buyers. The sale had been estimated to make 67.4 million pounds to 96.6 million pounds. Its total missed the 95 million pounds made by Sotheby’s, London, in February. (Bloomberg)

London – Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale took place this evening (30 June 2008) and realised £86,241,600 / $171,879,508 / €108,578,174 - the highest total for the category at Christie’s in Europe.  The top lot of the auction was Three Studies for a Self Portrait by Francis Bacon (1909-1992), a rare self-portrait triptych that the artist painted while in Paris in 1975, which sold for £17,289,250 / $34,457,475 / €21,767,166.

Since American artist Jeff Koons, during the late seventies, started exhibiting his first inflatable works, he has never left the footlights. Having reached very soon world celebrity, Koons has triggered countless debates within the contemporary art world and wherever he goes he is followed by a multitude of reporters, while his exhibitions are invaded by figures of the star system, billionaire collectors, art lovers and curious people attracted by this artist who has transformed his life into art creating an aureole of gossip around him.

translated by Giorgina Arcuri

2008 really seems to be the year dedicated to artist Mario Schifano. Ten years from his death, the Italian art system seems to be setting to work to celebrate this author who is considered by critics the greatest talent of Italian Pop Art, acclaimed as the spiritual heir to Andy Warhol and considered, together with Tano Festa and Franco Angeli, “the damned painter” who founded the Piazza del Popolo School, an essential reference point for Italian and European contemporary art.
Schifano’s figure can be considered a rather singular presence in the art panorama of the late twentieth century, for the variety and eclectic quality of his oeuvre, inclined to delving into the languages of modernity, as well as for his tormented life inspired to the idea of the myth of the artist.
His fame as the damned artist preceded him without him doing anything to elude it, actually Schifano continued stoking it up with the myth of the handsome and damned.