Si bien algunos de los cambios del año pasado han sido bienvenidos y las ofertas en línea son cruciales, los coleccionistas son unánimes: no hay nada como lo real.
Art|Basel / Brian Boucher / Febrero 11, 2021 / Fuente externa
https://www.artbasel.com/stories/art-market-covid-collecting-brian-boucher
¿Qué es la "recopilación de COVID"? Pista: observar y aprender, pero seguir con lo probado y verdadero por ahora Brian Boucher
Si bien algunos de los cambios del año pasado han sido bienvenidos y las ofertas en línea son cruciales, los coleccionistas son unánimes: no hay nada como lo real.
Los últimos doce meses han sido un momento como ningún otro en la memoria viva, con la pandemia de COVID-19 reduciendo las actividades normales de muchos. La industria del arte se ha adaptado, a medida que las ferias de arte y los marchantes pivotan, junto con tantas otras industrias, a una existencia en línea mientras nos sentamos hasta que las vacunas generalizadas dejaron atrás este hechizo histórico.
Los coleccionistas de arte de todo el mundo han observado con entusiasmo cómo las ferias de arte y las galerías se han reinventado. Ellos también han tenido que modificar su forma de actuar y ha surgido una especie de "colección COVID". La consigna es precaución, ya que los coleccionistas observan y esperan, permaneciendo con lo familiar por ahora.
En un raro y bienvenido punto brillante, Art Basel y UBS 'The impact of COVID-19 on the Gallery Sector: A 2020 mid-year survey', escrito por la Dra. Clare McAndrew, fundadora de Arts Economics, indicó que un tercio de Los coleccionistas de alto valor neto encuestados en realidad estaban significativamente más interesados en el arte que antes. Después de todo, tienen más tiempo para perseguir su pasión mientras están encerrados en casa, navegando en Instagram, visitando las salas de visualización en línea de la feria de arte y viendo la presencia en línea reforzada de las galerías.
Denzil Forrester, Swarm, 2020. La obra del pintor británico forma parte de la colección del coleccionista Joel Lubin, con sede en Los Ángeles. Copyright Denzil Forrester. Cortesía del artista y Stephen Friedman Gallery, Londres.
El coleccionista de Los Ángeles Joel Lubin es una prueba viviente. "Al comienzo de COVID, tenía curiosidad acerca de cómo la pandemia afectaría el compromiso de las personas con las bellas artes dadas las restricciones prácticas de ver solo arte en línea", dice. “Pero, por supuesto, nos adaptamos y, para mí, mirar el arte, en cualquier medio, ha sido algo meditativo. Como resultado, en realidad pasó más tiempo mirando arte y descubriendo nuevos artistas de lo que pensaba ".
Pero, ¿ha alterado este período los hábitos de los coleccionistas de aprender sobre arte y descubrir nuevos artistas de manera duradera? ¿O volverán a sus costumbres anteriores a COVID tan pronto como puedan? ¿Qué cambios en la forma en que el mundo del arte hace negocios han encontrado saludables?
Algunos coleccionistas de arte experimentados compartieron sus observaciones del mundo del arte desde sus respectivos lugares en casa en todo el mundo, y rápidamente surgió un consenso. Si bien han aprovechado las ofertas mejoradas en línea, tienen un gran deseo de experimentar el arte en persona. "Ver arte en persona y reunirse con artistas en su estudio no es una experiencia que pueda reemplazarse por una virtual", señaló Lubin.
Es posible que estos coleccionistas hayan aprendido sobre una gran cantidad de arte nuevo en sus pantallas, pero están postergando la recopilación de artistas desconocidos a través de clics.
Antony Gormley, SET V, 2019. El coleccionista de Mumbai Shyamal Bodani adquirió la obra del escultor británico en noviembre de 2020. Imagen cortesía del artista y White Cube, Londres y Hong Kong.
"Lo que he comprado son artistas que ya estaban en mi radar, cuya práctica y cuyo trabajo ya conocía", dice el coleccionista de Mumbai Shyamal Bodani. Encuentra que las ferias en línea y los sitios web de galerías mejorados han sido útiles, hasta cierto punto. "Si no puedes experimentar el arte en persona, el impacto simplemente no está ahí", dice. Como tal, no ha considerado el trabajo de ningún artista cuyo trabajo no le sea familiar. "Ni una sola compra", dice.
El coleccionista con sede en Atenas, Harry David, tiene la misma opinión: "Revisé mis registros durante el último año", dice. "Hice una sola compra de un artista cuyo trabajo era nuevo para mí." Una conversación en un stand de feria de arte puede tener cierta serendipia: "Digamos que empiezas a hablar con un comerciante sobre el trabajo de Lisa Brice", dijo, señalando al el trabajo del artista en una pared detrás de él durante una conversación de Zoom. “Pero luego terminas hablando también de otra cosa. Eso simplemente no sucede de la misma manera en línea ".
Así que está esperando volver al ritmo de las ferias de arte, así como visitar galerías y estudios de artistas. Pero mientras tanto, ha encontrado su propio tipo de "coleccionismo COVID".
"Un ángulo que he seguido", dice, "es el trabajo que se ha visto afectado por COVID. Vez obras de arte influenciadas por la forma en que los artistas viven en cuarentena. Por ejemplo, Anxious Red Drawings de Rashid Johnson. Como estar familiarizado con él, fue muy fácil tomar una posición en el trabajo.
What is ‘COVID collecting’? Hint: watching and learning, but sticking with the tried and true for now
Brian Boucher While some of the changes of the last year have been welcome, and online offerings are crucial, collectors are unanimous: There’s nothing like the real thing Log in and subscribe to receive Art Basel Stories directly in your inbox.
The past twelve months have been a time like no other in living memory, with the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing normal activities for so many. The art industry has adapted, as art fairs and dealers pivoted, along with so many other industries, to an online existence as we sit out the time until widespread vaccinations put this historic spell behind us. Art collectors the world over have watched eagerly as art fairs and galleries have reinvented themselves. They, too, have had to alter their ways, and a kind of ‘COVID collecting’ has emerged. The watchword is caution, as collectors observe and wait, staying with the familiar for now. In a rare and welcome bright spot, Art Basel and UBS’s ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the Gallery Sector: A 2020 mid-year survey,’ authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics, indicated that fully a third of high- net- worth collectors surveyed were actually significantly more interested in art than before. After all, they have more time to pursue their passion while locked down at home, scrolling on Instagram, visiting art fair Online Viewing Rooms, and checking out galleries’ beefed-up online presence.
Denzil Forrester, Swarm, 2020. The British painter's work is part of Los Angeles-based collector Joel Lubin's collection. Copyright Denzil Forrester. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.
Los Angeles collector Joel Lubin is living proof. ‘In the beginning of COVID, I was curious about how the pandemic would impact people’s engagement with fine art given the practical restrictions of only seeing art online,’ he says. ‘But, of course, we adapt and, for me, looking at art, in any medium, has been somewhat meditative. As a result, I’m actually spending more time looking at art and discovering new artists than I thought I might.’ But has this period altered collectors’ habits of learning about art and discovering new artists in a lasting way? Or will they snap back to their pre-COVID customs as soon as they can? What changes in the way the art world does business have they found salutary? Some seasoned art collectors shared their observations of the art world from their respective perches at home around the globe, and a consensus quickly emerged. While they have taken advantage of enhanced online offerings, they deeply hunger to experience art in person. ‘Seeing art in person and meeting with artists in their studio is not an experience that can be replaced with a virtual one,’ Lubin pointed out. These collectors may have learned about a great deal of new art on their screens, but they are holding off on collecting unfamiliar artists via clicks.
Antony Gormley, SET V, 2019. Mumbai-based collector Shyamal Bodani acquired the British sculptor’s work in November 2020. Image courtesy of the artist and White Cube, London and Hong Kong.
‘What I have bought is artists who were already on my radar, whose practice and whose work I was already familiar with,’ says Mumbai-based collector Shyamal Bodani. He finds that online fairs and enhanced gallery websites have been helpful—up to a point. ‘If you can’t experience art in person, the impact just isn’t there,’ he says. As such, he hasn’t considered the work of any artist whose work isn’t familiar to him. ‘Not one purchase,’ he says. Athens-based collector Harry David is of the same mind: ‘I looked over my records for the last year,’ he says. ‘I made only one purchase of an artist whose work was new to me.’ An art fair booth conversation can have a certain serendipity: ‘Let’s say you start talking to a dealer about work by Lisa Brice,’ he said, gesturing to the artist’s work on a wall behind him during a Zoom conversation. ‘But then you end up also talking about something else. That just doesn’t happen in the same way online.’
So he’s waiting to get back on the art fair beat, as well as visiting galleries and artists’ studios. But in the meantime, he has found his own kind of ‘COVID collecting.’ ‘One angle I’ve pursued,’ he says, ‘is work that has been affected by COVID. You see artworks influenced by the way that artists are living under quarantine. For example, Rashid Johnson’s Anxious Red Drawings. Since I was familiar with him it was very easy to take a position on work like that.’
Left: Toyin Ojih Odutola, Routine Inspection, 2019. Right: Rashid Johnson, Untitled Anxious Red Drawing, 2020. Both works were acquired by collectors Harry David and Lana de Beer recently. Courtesy of the Harry G. David Collection, Athens.
Lubin, too, has tracked the impact of the massive shift on artistic production. ‘I suspect that when we look back on this time period,’ he says, ‘we will see it as a moment that inspired some very dynamic art, fueled by both the profound turbulence so many have faced, and, for others, the collective pause that allows sustained time for contemplation.’
With vaccine rollouts proceeding unevenly across the globe, on-and-off lockdown remains the norm for many. Bodani hasn’t traveled more than a fifty-kilometer radius from home in a year. There have been baby steps, like Mumbai Gallery Weekend, which kicked off January 14, where he was ‘thrilled’ to see art in the flesh. But while we will get back to experiencing art in person together soon enough, collectors and dealers alike predict that the pandemic will bring on some long-term changes. McAndrew’s report found that dealers may reduce art fair participation; there were already ‘debates over the density of the calendar.’
Joana Choumali, There Is No Finish Line, 2019. The Ivorian artist’s mixed-media work is among the ones that entered David and de Beer’s collection recently as well. Courtesy of the Harry G. David Collection, Athens.
Collectors strike a similar note. ‘I do believe that when everyone feels safe again there will be a pent-up desire to travel and congregate and see art and other cultural happenings,’ says Lubin. ‘It is just human nature. And at the same time, we will have learned how to be more efficient and when to experience things virtually versus live.’ To collect international art, collectors travel internationally; Harry David will also resume a lot of business travel post-vaccine, he says. But by necessity, he’s taken a lesson from the last year.
‘I don’t need to travel as much,’ he says. ‘Maybe I’ll pick what is relevant and really important to attend in person.’ And there may be more lasting and profound impacts on the art market of the last year, says Bodani. The first of Art Basel's Online Viewing Rooms in March last year may have set a precedent by publishing price ranges for every artwork on offer, inaugurating an increased democratization of the industry.
‘Hopefully,” says Bodani, ‘the era of opaqueness in the art world is over.’ Top image: Joana Choumali, There Is No Finish Line (detail), 2019. Courtesy of the Harry G. David Collection, Athens.
