UK Art Auctions

In Canada, the government is being called upon to regulate auction house guarantees and require full disclosure from the houses about conflicts-of-interest, and bid shilling.

Sotheby's is first Canadian house to offer guaranteed prices. 'It's like cowboy country ... something has to be done federally'

One of the most controversial hallmarks of the supercharged international art auction world officially arrives in Canada next Monday. It's the guarantee, or perhaps that should be The Guarantee: the secret minimum payment that an auction house agrees to pay the consignor of a particular art work regardless of how that Jackson Pollock (or Tom Thomson) performs at auction.

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"A body of law is something that's needed in Canada because if, for instance, there's a financial interest owned by an auction firm, there should be disclosure. Otherwise, the public is not getting the full picture of what's going on."

Read the indepth story by James Adams in The Globe and Mail

Lee Rosenbaum has an insightful interview on New York Public Radio to help explain how the art market is supporting roaring sales, even in the face of news about the economy faltering.

Listen to Lee Rosenbaum's commentary on WNYC New York Public Radio at her blog.

Sotheby’s, the auction house, is banking on a $70 million (£36 million) sale of Francis Bacon’s 1976 painting Triptych next week to offset what it calls uncertain economic times.

The auctioneer hopes that it will attract as much as $477 million from its sales of contemporary art in New York next week, when Mark Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow goes under the hammer, possibly for about $33 million...

Read the full article by Suzy Jagger of the Time Online

Southeby's loses money this quarter, CEO attributes loss to the credit crunch and guarantees

From the story:
Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auctioneer of art and collectibles, disappointed investors with a first-quarter loss and said revenue from auctions declined.

The shares fell $2.56, or 9.3 percent, to $24.91, at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has lost half of its value in the past year.

Read the full story by Philip Boroff and Dan Hart at Bloomberg.com

In case you haven't noticed graffiti art has gone mainstream. Spray paint art even has a new name; Street Art. Alice Fisher has an article in The Guardian explaining how Street Art has moved, with the help of the internet, from underground to mainstream acceptance by the establishment in short order.

From the article:

It's the anti-establishment movement that has taken the art market by storm, keenly collected by hedge-funders and Hollywood' s A-list. Now, even Tate Modern is giving Street Art its stamp of approval.

Read the full article by Alice Fisher in The Guardian