Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013

THE ART WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL ARTISTS-DATA 2013


THE ART WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL ARTISTS -DATA 2013


"Based on data on Top 5000 most expensive works of visual art sold at open auctions before 2013.nb. (Data on closed private sales were ignored)". Pablo Picasso heads the rating,leaving the competitors far behind.Top-5000 includes 362 of his paintings with total value of $3 252,250 mln.The average price of Picasso's work is $8,984 mln.*The rating is presented by agency (Skate's ArtMarket Research).The presented Top-50 includes four living artists:Gerhard Richter,Jeff Koons,Jasper John, Damien Hirst .*A big part of the pleasure in collecting art has been the educational process and the gradual development of greater self confidence.Lucian Freud is a British Painter type: Contemporary Art,is said to be the "most expensive living artist at auction of the 21st Century'....,with a "Big Sue"painting.The painting called: "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" sold for $ 33.6 million or £17.2 million at Christies in May 2009.*A Pastel version of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch fetched nearly $120 million at Sotheby's in new York,setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.Experts had expected the master piece to break new ground at the famed New York auction house;its presale estimate of at least $80 million was the highest ever listed at Sotheby's.It sold  for $119,922,500,which includes the premium paid to Sotheby's.Previously,the most expensive artwork ever sold there was Picasso's painting "Nude,Green Leaves,and Bust",which brought in $106.5 million two years ago.*The previous record for a Munch work of art was just $ 38 million,the version of "The Scream" was one of four-two pastels and two paintings-executed between 1893 and 1910 and is one of the best known images in modern art.*It's also the only version a private collector can get their hands on at public auction.  By John Powell

 www.absolutearts.com/johnpowellpaintings

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 THE ART WORLD MOST POWERFUL 50 PEOPLE





  When you think of 20th Century Art , who first comes to your mind? Picasso, might be the first who comes to your mind? Well, what if i were to list a few names of the greatest figures of 20th-century art, such as:  Bonnard, Brancusi, Braque, Dubuffet, Giacometti, Gris, Leger, Matisse and Picasso.Who would you remember first/most? What if i were to further drag your memory for a walk and asked you about a few more instances,like, when it was being attempted to clean, 'THE MONA LISA' and it was 'FEARED' that, if it gets 'DAMAGED',it would be a NATIONAL DISGRACE...;You remember that intent? Or,in (MADRID) in 1997 when Bilbao was to Bid for (Guernica) and it was said that ,'The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has touched a political and cultural nerve in Spain by announcing that it wants to borrow Pablo Picasso's Guernica from the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid to celebrate its opening'.Did you know it was originally titled 'The Horrors of War (after Goya's famous work)? Lets touch your nerves,who are they? AS EXPECTED,THE BIENNIAL ASSESSMENT OF POWER IN THE ART WORLD RAISED A BUMPER CROP OF HACKLES:  (quote)"Could i suggest that a much more interesting survey would be of "the 50 most knowledgeable people in the art world?"  queried venerable British dealer Leslie Waddington. "I wonder how many of those who are listed as 'powerful' would get into that second category."(end quote); (quote), "All 50 of the most powerful people in the art world should be artists, " Opined David Ross,director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. "And quite frankly I'd be very happy with that state of affaire." (end quote);

"This tends to be about money," objected Robert Storr,curator of the department of painting and sculpture at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "The power of ideas is equally the power of economics." "I'll tell you who's powerful," declared New York dealer Andre Emmerich. "The different curators and directors who arrange the exhibitions. The museums have a lot to do with validating the latest fashion." All of these people,in their own way have a point.Which is why putting together a survey like this every two years or so can be both a challege an ordeal-but never a bore.Some in the art world were delighted to be on the list and to talk to us freely about new candidates,said (Ann Landi); While others were reluctant and didn't return calls including artists,who never cared about being in a 'who's who,' "some told ARTnews."But when spy magazine started doing a 'who's no longer  whom' a few years back, those who didn't returned calls dreaded being listed."

                                                                                                                                                      ONCE POWERFUL, ALWAYS POWERFUL...?

In most fields and endeavors,it's fairly easy to say who has the power.Forbes lists the richest; technology magazines look for the most innovative;But the relatively small and ever-fluctuating network that invests its life-blood in art operates on other criteria and those can change from generation to generation.Thirty years ago,for example,a handful of art critics wielded enormous influence;Today that's just a curious blip in the continuum. ANN LANDI said, (quote) The job would certainly be a lot simpler if we confined the list to artists but who would ever see their work if it were not for the dealers?
And how would a larger public come to take note if museum curators weren't scouring galleries and studios?If collectors didn't do their passionate best to assemble outstanding works through time,  today, the economic bottom would fall out. And though most critics no longer have the power to make or break reputation,the press and among the art-loving public are indebted to them for their legs and eyes. So these are the factors that were taking into account in naming "the 50 most powerful": money and taste;creativity and innovation;market muscle and brain power; the recognition of the new and the integrity of commitment. And sometimes-even if we like to think that esthetics transcends timeliness-it  all boils down to the obstinate newshound's favorite question: (Who's hot and who's not?                     "THE 50"              * WILLIAM AQUAVELLA (Dealer,(New York) One of the few who favored to conduct auctions at Sotheby's "conducted some major private deals with museums and collectors throughout the world."His recent show of Lucian Freud's latest work was widely praised; *JEAN-CHRISTOPHE AMMANN Director, Museum of Modern Art,Frankfurt "I find it amazing how many extraordinary artists there are who are known only to a few people,"says the tenacious Ammann ,looking ahead,the director quotes Malraux:"The 21st century will be intellectual,or it will not be at all."*ERNST BEYELER Deal and collector,Basel plans to open the museum housing his legendary collection of 20th-century art in  the Basel suburb of Riehem,he organized a show of 50 paintings and sculptures from private Swiss collections for the Mitsukoshi Museum in Tokyo ,he also loves Barnett Newman and Jackson Pollock,whose paintings he has added to his own holdings.*ELI BROAD Collector,Los Angeles   The chairman and executive officer of SunAmerica Financial services Company oversees not one but three collections.There is the personal one,for which he and his wife Edyth commissioned a 60-ton sculpture from Richard Serra and acquired important works by Calder, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg and Picasso,among others. Then there is the family foundation,offering a "lending library" to more than 2000 museums and university galleries.The financier is also the founding chairman of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. A collector since the 1960s,"He's one of the steadiest buyers and supposters of contemporary art,year in and year out," *DIANA D.BROOKS President and chief executive officer,Sotheby's Holdings, Inc., New York  who rose rapidly through the ranks of the 250-year old auction house, Brooks has been charged with guiding Sotheby's into the 21st century .Splitting of the Pierre Matisse Gallery with William Acquavella.Sotheby's profile should be higher still in the contemporary market,though some people are alarmed at the blurring of divisions between the big auction houses and major galleries."Brooks pulled off the Onassis auction,which she calls one of the highpoint of Sotheby's history."  *FRANCOISE CACHIN Director of French National Museum ,Paris. The scholarly granddaughter  of Paul Signac has been overseer of some 1,000 art institutetions in France,including the Louvre and Versailles.She has being fighting to increase the acquistions budget for museums and taking steps to return Nasi-confiscated artworks to their rightful owners. * LEO CASTELLI  Dealer,New York.He has a starstudded stable that includes Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Bruce Nauman and Frank Stella."The great rush to inherit the Castelli mantle is not going to happen,"remarks one curator. "There's no one who will be able to do it."  * GERMANO CELANT Curator of Contemporary Art, Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum,New York Widely respected for his extraordinary intellect,the founder of the arte povera movement in Italy and has turned his attentions to examining culture in its broadest sense. He 's brought his wide-ranging curiosity,straddling art both high and low,to exhibitions on the "Italian Metamorphosis," Claes  Oldenburg and most extravagantly, to the first fashion and art biennial in Florence. His ultimate goal,as he puts it, is to instigate a kind of "jam session of the art." *CHUCK CLOSE Artist,New York After Close appeared on ARTNews last list,one of his friends,a painter,approached him and demanded, (quote) "if you're so goddamned powerful,why haven't you done anything for me?" Close was dumbfounded but curator Robert Storr of the Museum of Modern Art claims the painter does more for colleagues than do most artists. "He spends a lot of time actively involved with foundations. "He's done a lot to open it up for younger artists." As for Close's own accomplishments, a full dress retrospective  at the Modern in the fall of 1998 will sum up nearly three decades of Close encounters with the human face.* PAULA COOPER Dealer,New York After 28 years in SoHo the soft-spoken dealer,who commands almost universal admiration,she's not afraid to go against the grain,has multiple exhibitions, in-depth historical presentations. * CHRISTOPHER DAVIDGE Chief Executive Officer,Christie's International London He is the third generation of his family to work at Christie's.His street savvy,innate diplomatic skills and workaholic habits secured his rise to managing director in 1989 and chief executive officer in 1993.(quote) "I very never been attracted to the art side of the business," says the 50-year-old chairman.end (quote) But his commercial talents have protected the auction house from takeovers, established it as a force in asia and pushed its share of the international fine-art market to 49 percent,taking Christie's head-to-head with rival Sotheby's for the first time. * PHILIPPE DE MONTEBELLO  (past) Director,the Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York The uncrowned Prince of Central Park,de Montebello continues to lead his institution towards the millennium.(NB). The current director of the Met/museum is Thomas P. Campbell-as of January 2009.*ANNE D'HARNONCOURT Director and chief executive officer,Philadelphia Museum of Art -the only female director of a United States museum with a budget over $25 million-has proved a formidable presence on the museum circuit,bringing the Brancusi and Cezanne retrospectives,along with hordes of visitors,to the City of Brotherly love. To the chagrin of some,she has demonstrated remarkable business acumen: the Cezanne show was even marketed on QVC,the home shopping Channel. * ANTHONY D' OFFAY Dealer,London We are now the largest contemporary gallery in Europe,"says d'Offay, who represents both the old guard (Ellsworth Kelly,Jasper Johns,Howard Hodgkin and William de Kooning,among others) and up-and-comers like Ellen Gallagher and Gabriel Orozco.His latest catch was sculpture Rachel Whiteread, whose controversial casting for the Holocaust Memorial in Vienna. Notes one reporter,(quote) "He represents a lot of winners." (end quote). D'Affay himself says (quote) his most significant contribution,apart from the gallery, is organizing exhibitions all over the world. *DONALD FISHER Collector, San Francisco Notoriously press-shy, the founder and chief execurive officer of the Gap clothing stores has built one of the outstanding collections of contemporary art. A member of the Dia Art Council,Fisher is also a major benefactor of the new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. * RUDI FUCHS Director, Stedelijk Museum,Amsterdam Credited by one critic with "injecting new,unexpected life into the Stedelijk," curated shows on Dutch and Flemish 20th-century art,intalling large public sculptures in Turin. His curatorial skills were  highly evident in "Views from Abroad," at the Whitney in New York and the Stedelijk, a show that incorporated works from both collections and was acclaimed for bringing an intuitive and Literary sensibility to the ongoing dialogue between American and European art. * LARRY GAGOSIAN Dealer,New York and Los Angeles Once derided as "nothing but a resale person,"but has broadened his profile and become a permanent fixture on both the east and west coasts.His show of David Hirst's provocations packed the downtown New York gallery. Of his new Richard Meier-designed gallery in Los Angeles, he says, "It's exceeded our hopes both in business and attendance. 
       
By John Powell

Artist

www.absolutearts.com/johnpowellpaintings

John Powell 'Passage ' Watercolor, 2013 - Premiere Artist Portfolio - absolutearts.com

John Powell 'Passage ' Watercolor, 2013 - Premiere Artist Portfolio - absolutearts.com

Monday, January 28, 2013

John Powell 'Swan Lake 3' Pastel Oil, 2013 - Premiere Artist Portfolio - absolutearts.com

John Powell 'Swan Lake 3' Pastel Oil, 2013 - Premiere Artist Portfolio - absolutearts.comI want to engage the viewer,charging into your space,inviting you to dance,the images trapped in time,listens and awaits you;The movement of the body is a language;You have people who can dance but the spirit don't dance,you first must dance in the spirit before you can dance; This piece is 3rd in an extension from the homage to "Swan Lake",dance series...;Swan Lake,by Tchaikavsky Pyotr.Nothing Compares with Swan Lake arguable the most loved of all classical ballets.From its first incarnation in 1877 in Moscow,this timeless story of a young man's love continues to capture audience and inspire new generations of dancers and dance lovers;During a hunting trip,Prince Siegfried falls inlove with Odette who has been transformed by the evil Von Rothbart's spell into a Swan by day,returning to her female form only at night by the lake side .Siegfried's love can break the spell because he has never loved before.But Von Rothbart's daughter Odette tricks Siegfried into declaring his love for her and all seems lost.The evil is broken when Siegfried and Odette drowned themselves in the lake and are united in death forever.When we are not loved as we need to be loved ,we often survive the deprivation through fantasy;We enter a fantasy of our own making