Stories

Auctions

Ouattara Watts: The Thirty-Year Overnight Sensation

How did an Ivoirian artist Jean-Michel Basquiat discovered in the 1980s suddenly join two of the hottest galleries and become and auction star? Of all of the surprises that took place during the May sales in New York, one big one—the sale of Ouattara Watts’ Afro Beat from 2011 for a remarkable $781,200 during Christie’s 21st Century Evening sale—has gone almost unremarked upon.
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Art Fair

Art Basel Sales Report

Art Basel has opened for the VIP preview and that means the galleries are sending out the sales they've made in advance of the fair but confirmed in person or sold on the first day. This post will keep a running account of sales from the galleries that report directly and quote sales in the art press.
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Contemporary Art

FUTURES: Nicolas Party Isn't Ready to Leave Yet

Nicolas Party’s market has been growing steadily and progressively over the last three years. Normally we might expect sales to plateau at a new level after three successive years of growth and new record prices at auction each successive year. But that hasn’t really happened with Party’s auction market.
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Art Fair

On the Block: Special Art Basel Edition

Art Basel is the sanctum sanctorum of art fairs, the inner circle’s inner circle, the fair that world’s best dealers save their very best works for. But it’s also, in this season of passion for new names with fresh ideas, a place to discover great talent.
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