Le bilan de la maison Christie's sur les six premiers mois de l'année 2008, publié aujourd'hui, annonce une somme de ventes internationales de 1,8 milliard de livres sterling, soit approximativement 2,3 milliards d'euros (10% de plus que l'année dernière à la même date). Dans les salles de vente Christie's du monde entier, 457 œuvres ont été vendues à plus d'un million de livres sterling (soit 1,2 million euros).

 

...et bein l'art se porte bien !!! y'a pas de quoi s'inquiéter sur l'économie et tout le reste, l'art reste toujours le refuge ultime...

lu sur : http://artandyou.over-blog.com/article-21451783.html

THE art collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé is to be sold in Paris by Christie's auction house.

Saint Laurent died last month, aged 71. He and Mr. Bergé, who co-founded the Yves Saint Laurent couture house in 1961, amassed a collection of artworks that is believed to be worth as much as $599 million, according to the Art Newspaper.

After the legendary designer's death at the beginning of June, Berge told WWD that he intended to auction the collections, and now it could be as soon as February next year, with half the proceeds going to the Yves Saint Laurent and the Pierre Bergé Foundation and the other to Berge, who was joined with Saint Laurent in a civil ceremony shortly before his death.

With everything from works by Matisse and Goya and furniture from Eileen Gray and Pierre Chareau at Saint Laurent's Rue de Babylone residence to the Renaissance pieces at Berge's Paris apartment.

The specific date and contents of the sale have yet to be announced, London-based Christie's said.

Check out my latest article in Digital Journal to get a feel for where this market is headed. It's short but delivers the message quite clearly. Could the art market be coming to a close?

Find out >>

Also, in good news, The Saatchi Gallery blog appears to be interested in running stories on Nelson Diaz and Julio Aguilera. So, I have to get off my ass and do some writing soon. Hopefully, I can bang those articles out today.

*Buzz: New York magazine tackles the tantalizing topic of MGMT's buzz building methods.

*Beatles: John Lennon's handwritten lyrics sheet for "Give Peace a Chance" recently sold at auction through Christie's for $833,000. Seems like a lot considering all the readily accessible song lyrics sites out there today.

*Localish: The Wall Street Journal talks to the Hold Steady: "If you're going to have a drink, at least climb on top of the water tower to do it."

*Fashion: Lindsey Lohan leggings have kneepads built in.

*Off topic: PaidContent was acquired by The Guardian. TechCrunch is in acquisition talks with AOL? The latter seems like a great way to consolidate loathing. [buzz machine]

*Off topic: Bic is launching a line of disposable pre-paid cellphones. Perfect for all your drug acquisition and/or distribution needs.

*Feelings: Economic charts and graphs are making me nervous. VERY NERVOUS.

LONDON - Christie's auction house has sold John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance" for $833,654.

The lyrics were written during Lennon's 1969 Bed-in protest for peace at the Queens Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

Christie's spokeswoman Zoe Schoon said Lennon gave the sheet to 16-year-old Gail Renard during the eight-day Bed-in.

Lennon wrote the lyrics and recorded the song in the hotel room with about 50 guests, who included singer Petula Clark and beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

Source: Telegraph India

EMERGING PAKISTANI ARTISTS  Rashid Rana occupies a unique position among Pakistan's contemporary artists and has been a hit internationally. Rashid Rana is a star, whether it's in Lahore, Mumbai or Hong Kong. The Pakistani artist wowed the crowds who flocked to his Mumbai show in November 2007. And he received an equally rapturous response last month at HK 08, the inaugural Hong Kong Art Fair.

The overwhelming response to Rana's eye-catching work didn't come as the slightest surprise to two Mumbai art galleries. Chatterjee & Lal and Chemould Prescott Road jointly organised the show of Rana's digital photo-montages at HK 08 and they were absolutely certain that it would receive critical acclaim. "It was all sold out," says Mortimer Chatterjee, partner, Chatterjee & Lal.

Artist names attracting attention

Rana occupies a unique position among contemporary Pakistani artists and he has made a huge name for himself internationally. But he isn't the only artist from across the border who's attracting the attention of connoisseurs in India. In the last two months, three shows by Pakistani artists like Bani Abidi, Ali Kazim and Muhmmad Zeeshan have been held across Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. And many more are planned in the coming 12 months.

Collector Anupam Poddar buying Pakistani art with plans for show

Or take a look at art collector Anupam Poddar, who has built a sizeable collection of contemporary Pakistani art. His Devi Art Foundation is doing the groundwork for a show in March 2009, which will be curated by Rana.

Indian interest in Pakistani art

"Interest in Pakistani art is increasing in India," says Peter Nagy of Delhi's Nature Morte, who held the first solo show of Rana's work in India and then helped take his work overseas.So, is Pakistani art the next Big Thing in India? Many art experts believe the interest in Pakistani art is only natural. Says Chatterjee: "There are so many lines of inter-connection between the concerns of Pakistani artists and the lives of normal Indians that often the subject matter is entirely relevant to an Indian audience."There's also, as Rana says, "a kind of mutual obsession on both sides of the border, fostered by shared histories, the trauma of Partition and the years of hostility and inaccessibility."

Pakistani art more visible in auctions and fairs

Certainly Pakistani art, like Indian art, is suddenly becoming more visible at international art fairs and auctions. For instance, works by Talha Rathore and Nusra Ali Qureishi sold at auctions held by Christie's and Saffronart recently.

Bani Abidi - female video artist

For Bangalore-based GALLERYSKE's founder, Sunitha Kumar Emmart who had been following Pakistani video artist Bani Abidi's work, then, art fairs provided an opportunity to view the work of the Pakistani artist at first-hand. That led to a show by Abidi recently. "Regardless of nationality or gender, we have been interested in Bani's work primarily for the strength of her practice and the clarity of her artistic vocabulary," says Emmart. Abidi's themes went down well with Bangalore art lovers. In the video piece, Reserved, she shows a city coming to a halt for a political bigwig. It has images of schoolchildren waiting to wave crumpled paper flags at a motorcade that never arrives - it was a theme, obviously, that Indian viewers could relate to.

"I'm interested in talking about a more complex identity formation along linguistic and cultural lines, rather than religious ones," says Abidi, who was surprised by the response to her show. "This is the first time I've had a solo show in India. So, it was a first for me that this kind of attention was given to my work here and I value that," she adds.

Ali Kazim - watercolours

Meanwhile, Ali Kazim's mastery over watercolours drew a huge response at Delhi's Gallery Espace. The show was held in collaboration with Green Cardamom, a UK-based institution that promotes South Asian artists.

Mohammad Zeeshan - contemporary miniatures

And in Mumbai, art lovers got to see Muhammad Zeeshan's contemporary miniatures in his show, What Lies Beneath, organised by Delhi's Anant Art Gallery.

"There's a certain understanding regarding art that I find in Indians. And it feels good to be a foreigner only 40 minutes across the border and be identified with my imagery as an international artist," says Zeeshan, who has shown in Delhi, Agra and Calcutta since 2005. Miniature artist Muhammad Zeeshan wants his images to tease the imagination as in Let's Make A Great Pattern I and Untitled II.

2005 show in Mumbai was turning point

Pakistani artists are addressing issues like gender, politics and ethnicity in a language that's contemporary and international, says art critic Quddus Mirza.

India's interest in Pakistani art has been building gradually. The canvas was prepared by curators like Pooja Sood in India and Salima Hashmi in Pakistan, and institutions like Khoj International Artists' Association and VASL Artists Residency in Delhi and Karachi, respectively. Khoj and VASL have held artists' residencies since the late 1980s. Early shows like "Mappings: Shared Histories" curated by Sood too helped.

But till 2004, when Nature Morte held Rana's first show here, public interest was low. Recalls Nagy: "There was good response from the art community but not from collectors." That has changed now. One catalyst was the large show, Beyond Borders: Art from Pakistan, at Mumbai's National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in 2005. It was co-curated by Pakistani artist and art critic Quddus Mirza and NGMA's then director Saryu Doshi.

"I didn't realise it would create such a stir. It was the first time that we were recognised as contemporary to India in art," says Mirza.

Pakistan's art described as contemporary, international, cutting-edge

Since then, the momentum has picked up, spurred by galleries and artists. Says Muhammad Umer Butt, artist and creative director, Grey Noise, a new virtual art gallery based in Pakistan: "Rashid [Rana] has played an instrumental role in introducing us Pakistanis to India."

Mirza believes that apart from the "newness" factor, the similarities and differences between the two nations have attracted Indians. Shows like Beyond Borders also revealed that Pakistani artists aren't "making Islamic calligraphy or veiled women". "We're painting nudes, addressing issues of gender, politics and ethnicity in a language that is contemporary and international. So perhaps that shattering of pre-conceived ideas was one source for the Indian attraction," he says.

But it isn't just cultural affinity that's attracting Indian art lovers to the work from across the border. The fact is that cutting-edge work is coming out of Pakistan. Says Saffronart co-director Dinesh Vazirani: "Wherever collectors are looking at art from outside, they're looking for innovation." Hammad Nasar, co-founder, Green Cardamom, believes this is partly because, "for most of its 60-year existence, Pakistan has remained a cauldron of political and social upheaval." He adds: "This has proved to be a fertile ground for artists to mine."

Two broad categories: new media and contemporary miniatures

Certainly, it has thrown up a diverse palette. The Pakistani art scene can be broadly divided into two: there are artists working in new media, and there are those that have given a contemporary twist to the miniature tradition.

Indians, says gallerists, are interested in both types of works. The big draw, of course, is Rana with his multi-layered images and messages. Take his Red Carpetphoto-montage series - Red Carpet-1 incidentally sold for a record $623,400 at Sotheby's recent Spring Sale of Contemporary Art. At first glance, the work appears to be a large Persian carpet. But when you look closer, there's a series of tiny photographs of scenes from a slaughterhouse. The work reflects, in a sense, Rana's formal and conceptual concerns. He says in his artist's statement, "In today's environment of uncertainty, we cannot have the privilege of a single world-view. Every image or idea already contains its opposite within itself."

Other artists names

Other contemporary Pakistani artists are also being noticed around the world. There are prominent names like Naiza Khan, sculptor-photographer Huma Mulji, Hamra Abbas, Faiza Butt, Mohammad Ali Talpur, and sculptor Khalil Chishtee, whose recent work includes sculptures with garbage bags. Mulji's Arabian Delight, for instance, was reportedly picked up by British collector Charles Saatchi for $8,000 at the recent Dubai Art Fair.

At a different level, there are the neo-miniaturists - Indian collectors who are familiar with miniatures are quite enthusiastic about this type of work. Miniature art is a strong discipline at Lahore's National College of Art (NCA), and it has turned out stars like Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq and Shahzia Sikander, who made a name for herself internationally in the '90s.Now there are newer miniaturists like Imran Qureshi, Aisha Khalid, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Hasnat Mehmood, Talha Rathore and Zeeshan. "These artists have taken the South Asian tradition of miniature to new heights, and then moved beyond the page to invent a new visual language, rooted in tradition but of the here and now," says Nasar.

Take Zeeshan, who began painting porn cinema posters before studying miniature work at NCA, and who combines the beauty of miniature with edgier themes of gender, dominance and violence. Zeeshan says he enjoys "teasing" the viewer. "And I think my images tease a lot. The oddity of the composition leads the viewer to dialogue and maybe, just for a second, ask, ‘What is this?" he says.

Pakistan's art educational system strong...

Pakistan's rich artistic output owes largely to its strong art educational system, especially since, unlike India, most practicing artists there also teach. "This has honed the critical edge of art here," adds Rana.

But market infrastructure underdeveloped

For Pakistani artists too, India is an attractive destination, especially since the gallery infrastructure in Pakistan is still very underdeveloped. Grey Noise's Butt says, apart from a few spaces like Rohtas 2 in Lahore: "We have showrooms but not galleries unfortunately." Abidi too says, "The art market (in Pakistan) is almost non-existent and the small one that does exist is very conservative." That's why Butt felt compelled to found Grey Noise. "We're the first virtual gallery to represent cutting-edge artists based in Pakistan," he says.

International buyers showing interest

Already, Butt is "overwhelmed" by the response from India on his site. "I get a decent amount of taps from around the world and India takes the lead," he says. Artists like Ayaz Jokhio, Mehreen Murtaza, Fahd Burki and Amna Hashmi are getting the most queries.

Even Indians living abroad are showing an interest in Pakistani art, according to Prajit Dutta, partner, Aicon Gallery, which is present in New York, Palo Alto and London. Last year, Aicon held two shows with Pakistani artists in London and New York. This year, it has done solos with Zeeshan and Talha Rathore in New York. Coming up in July is a show with installation and video artists Adeela Suleman, Jokhio and Fareeda Batool. And there's a possible Naiza Khan show in New York next year. Dutta is also planning to show these artists in India. "We've got a great response from Western and Indian collectors," he says.

Pakistani art attractive proposition

The boom in the international art market and growing interest in South Asia have made Pakistani art an attractive proposition, feels Rana, especially since art from South Asia is expected to emulate the global success of Chinese art. "Pakistani art benefits from a kind of trickle-down effect from this tremendous energy in the Indian art market," he says.

Shows planned

The Pakistanis are obviously eager to make their mark in the booming Indian art mart. Green Cardamom, for instance, is planning two exhibitions in India next year, one by the acclaimed Hamra Abbas, who works in everything from video to animation, miniature painting and sculpture. In her Lessons on Love series, she transposed the romantic figures of Indian miniatures into sculpture. Says Green Cardamom's Nasar: "India is a place where almost all our artists are keen to show. So we'll figure out ways to do this to their best advantage."

Nature Morte too will host a solo with Abbas in 2009 in Delhi and Calcutta. Besides, Abbas and Rana are part of a large canvas project Nagy's working on with auction house Phillips de Pury in London in November, which will then travel to New York in January.

Meanwhile, GALLERYSKE's Emmart too plans to mount curated shows by Indian and Pakistani artists. Even Vazirani intends to increase the Pakistan section of Saffronart's auctions. And he will hold a two-city show with Pakistani artists in Mumbai and New York in 2009.

Prices still low

To be sure, prices are one reason why Pakistani art is suddenly becoming popular here. As Indian art prices soar, there are better bargains to be had across the border. One art critic says that emerging artists from Pakistan offer "much better value than most Indian art now". Vazirani too says: "There are opportunities to discover new artists."

According to one gallerist, high-quality miniatures from Pakistan are typically priced between $10,000 and $20,000 though the masters are more expensive.Autumn II, a miniature by Zahoor-Ul-Akhlaq, for instance, sold at Christie's' auction of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art this month for over $39,000.

The artists, though, are sceptical of the commercialisation in the Indian art market. "What we have now is everyone trying to cash in, exploit the artist, and in some cases, the artist exploiting the buyer," says Abidi.

Yet the artistic exchange seems set to continue - barring the arbitrariness of officialdom. And as Chatterjee says: "This is just the beginning."

Image details: Rashid Rana

See:

• Full story with more images Telegraph India
• More on contemporary Pakistani art
• Images for contemporary Pakistani artists
• Contemporary Pakistani art books in Art Radar Asia store at Amazon

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia now

Gail Renard, Montréalaise d'origine, vit aujourd'hui en Angleterre. À l'âge de 16 ans, elle a participé au bed in de John Lennon et de Yoko Ono à l'hôtel Le Reine Elizabeth à Montréal pour s'opposer à la Guerre du Vietnam.

Le célèbre Beatle lui a laissé un souvenir de l'événement, le manuscrit des paroles de la chanson Give peace a chance créée pour l'occasion. Gail Renard a réalisé plus tard, compte tenu du retentissant succès de l'oeuvre, qu'elle était détentrice d'un document d'archives exceptionnel.

La vente aux enchères d'hier chez Christie's à Londres lui a été particulièrement favorable. Le texte de la chanson a rapporté quelque 840 000$ canadiens, sans compter la vente des photos qu'elle avait prises dans la chambre d'hôtel.

On ne connaît pas l'acheteur. Chose certaine, la planète est au courant ce matin, une fois de plus, que certains documents d'archives peuvent atteindre des valeurs monétaires considérables.

Last night's sale at Sotheby's reaped £51.5m ($101.5m), with 76.7% of the 91 lots selling.  According to the press release, 58% of those lots sold over their high-end estimate.

Christie's didn't manage to bring quite as much money in on Tuesday night, but then they also sold a much smaller number of paintings with only 48 lots offered.  Still, only 31 of those lots sold, making the sale total £24.1m ($47.5m).  However, Christie's did have a re-discovered French masterpiece by Jean-Antoine Watteau,  La Surprise, the location of which has been unknown for nearly 200 years and the painting was presumed destroyed.  The Watteau ended up selling to an anonymous buyer for £12.4m ($24.4m), well above it's estimate of £3m - £5m.  It seems the previous record for a work by Watteau at auction was established when Le conteur sold at Christie’s London on 13 December 2000 for £2.4m.  It also was a record for a French Old Master at auction.

At the moment, I don't have the information on the breakdown of buyers at Christie's, but I do know that 42% of the buyers at Sotheby's were British, 35% other European, and 16% American.  An interesting mix of numbers.  Good to see that the Old Master market is still going strong.

In what is quite a refreshing acceptance of pop culture as art, the prominent auction house Christie's recently featured many modern toys by such artists as Tilt, Mist, Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, Tristan, Sucklord and Kidrobot founder Paul Budnitz. Read his preview of the auction here. And here you can download a PDF of the catalog. Prices realized were as follows:

Kidrobot Huck Gee, 2006 - $625

Kidrobot Deph, 2006 - $625

Kidrobot Dunny Complete Sets (3) - $1,250

Kidrobot Visionaries 44 & 45 - $1,250

Joe Ledbetter Mr. Bunny, 2005 - $625

Natalia Gianinazzi Grusli Grli (2) - $313

Natalia Gianinazzi Grusli Grli (2) - $688

Suckadelic Graff-At, 2002 - $1,250 (The coolest thing in the sale!)

Suckadelic Gay Empire Attack!, 2007 - $1,250

The VAC system seems to be doing its job and the wounds are getting better (I just wish it wasn't so painful to have the dressings removed and put on) I really can't explain how much it hurts sometimes ... well I can for some of you ... they have figured out the ONLY way to get the dressings sorted is if I am sucking in Entonox otherwise known as "gas and air" and is use a lot to ease the pain of child birth,

not a lot else to add ... I'm now walking around with a "dance partner" of a mobile stand so I carry the VAC system around ... but hey at least I'm mobile again :)

thats all for now and I'll update again soon ... so take care of yourself and those around you ... remember that life is to short to carry grudges around ... shout at them - let them know you not happy and then GET ON WITH LIFE...

Darran

See:

Billionaires from Russia Middle East new in top 10 art collectors

How Russians, Asians are changing the art market

Subscribe now to Art Radar Asia

You think a little obstacle like an SUV crashing into iO West can thwart our noble Big News writers from their sworn duty of writing jokes about the week's news?

Think again, bub!

Maybe we didn't have a show this past week. And maybe we won't be back on the iO West stage until Sunday, July 20 at 9pm (make your plans now). But just as the brave men and women of Trophy Wife rose to the occasion by finding humor in near-tragedy, so too do our courageous Big News writers forge ahead, continuing to bring down the high and haughty through the strongest weapon of all: comedy. (Disclaimer: Comedy in actuality not more powerful than bullets, bombs, knives, fists, or out-of-control SUVs.)

So here's some of the jokes we would have told had a drunk driver not mistaken our theater's bar for the parking garage of the Cosmo Lofts last Thursday. Look for more jokes from this past week a little later. And each week during our hiatus, check back as we post the Big News Report that we would have given from the iO West stage. If the hallway to that stage wasn't covered with tiny shards of glass.

In fact, why not start with some jokes about a certain June 26 accident on Hollywood Boulevard....

On Thursday, an SUV crashed into the bar of the iO West theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The driver justified his action by pointing out it was the only place he could find parking.

On Thursday, an SUV crashed into the bar of the iO West theater on Hollywood Boulevard. On the plus side, the iO bar has a new drink special: the $4 Twisted-Metal-and-Broken-Glass-er-tini!

On Thursday, an SUV crashed into the bar of the iO West theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The driver explained that he was running low on gas and it was cheaper to total the car than fill up the tank.

On Thursday, an SUV crashed into the bar of the iO West theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The driver lost control of the vehicle while trying to figure out how to get his new hands-free headset to work.

On Thursday, an SUV crashed into the bar of the iO West theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Luckily, no one was hurt, since all of the improv fans in the area were still in line on the sidewalk outside UCB, waiting for the Wednesday night shows to start.

On Thursday, an out of control SUV crashed into the bar of the iO West theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The driver, a Mr. Andy Dick, claimed he was looking for a drink and a little attention.

John McCain has called for a $300 million prize to whoever can invent a battery that will surpass the gas-saving abilities of current hybrid and electric cars. In contrast, Barack Obama has offered $5 to any American voter who can tell the difference between strong presidential leadership and hosting a science fair contest.

According to a new poll, more voters feel John McCain is better suited than Barack Obama to handle Iraq because of McCain's experience. The others feel Obama is better suited to handle Iraq because they think that's where he's from.

According to a new poll, more voters feel John McCain is better suited than Barack Obama to handle Iraq because of McCain's experience. His experience in The Crusades.

After months of brutal violence and threats on his life, opposition party leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from Zimbabwe's election and fled to Holland when he was told that government soldiers were going to storm his house. When asked to comment, Hillary Clinton said: “Quitter.”

Queen Elizabeth II has stripped Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of his knighthood. Mugabe has responded by changing the name of the Zimbabwean city of Fort Elizabeth to “Bitch Town.”

After fifty-four years, the last of the US nuclear "gravity bombs" have been withdrawn from the UK. The completion of this operation frees up the resources needed to remove the next greatest US blight on British soil: Madonna.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quickly airlifted out of Tel Aviv after an Israeli police officer shot himself. French official are at a loss after the incident as they have been unable to determine who to surrender to.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quickly airlifted out of Tel Aviv after an Israeli police officer shot himself. The Israeli cop killed himself after seeing "You Don't Mess with the Zohan."

The Supreme Court ruled that Exxon must only pay $500 million in punitive damages for the 1989 oil spill, cutting the amount from $2.5 billion. To come up with the $500 million dollars, Exxon will sell a barrel of oil.

After the Supreme Court voted to overturn Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns, Justice Antonin Scalia noted, "The handgun seems to be America's weapon of choice because it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police." Scalia went on to point out that a gun can also be pointed at a convenience store cashier with one hand while the other hand takes money from the cash register.

The House of Representatives has passed the Captive Primate Safety Act by a vote of 302-96, taking one step further towards a complete outlawing of pet monkeys. This act is predicted to affect anywhere from four to five people.

One of Monet’s water lily paintings was sold by Christie’s auction house on Tuesday for $80.4 million dollars. The painting fetched the record price because it is an important piece from his late period, and because it came with a free gas fill-up.

Advocates for the blind want the U.S. government to set minimum sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid vehicles. Auto makers say that the adjustments are unnecessary since most blind people have a highly developed capacity to sense smugness.

Advocates for the blind want the U.S. government to set minimum sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid vehicles. The State of California reassured its sightless citizens that as of July 1st, all vehicles will be equipped with the distinct sound of motorists yelling into crappy headsets.

According to a new study, up to two-thirds of California's plants could lose their current habitat if temperatures increase over the next century. Two-thirds of Hollywood actresses would also lose their faces as their Botox melts.

According to a new study, up to two-thirds of California's plants could lose their current habitat if temperatures increase over the next century. The study also showed that no plants ever seem to make it more than a week in my house.

In April, home prices in the U.S. tumbled at a record rate. The prices fell while doing their impression of Amy Winehouse.

A woman in New York gave birth to a baby girl on a subway platform in Chinatown. Unfortunately, the girl was stolen when the woman was mugged.

A woman in New York gave birth to a baby girl on a subway platform in Chinatown. The baby was promptly put to work making knock-off Coach handbags.

A woman in New York gave birth to a baby girl on a subway platform. Meanwhile in Gloucester, Massachusetts, seventeen teenage girls simultaneously gave birth in a Subway restaurant.

A woman in New York gave birth to a baby girl on a subway platform in Chinatown. The birth went well and all is okay with the mother and her sister... her daughter... her sister... her daughter... her sister... forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

The president of the Mormon Church is asking California members to join the fight against gay marriage. Exceptions can be made, however, so that nobody has to fight the gay guys that work out a lot.

A judge in Louisiana has signed into law a bill that allows for the chemical castration of sex offenders using a drug that diminishes sexual impulses. If the drug doesn’t entirely kill the sex drive, the men will be forced to watch the Verne Troyer sex tape.

A judge in Louisiana has signed into law a bill that allows for the chemical castration of sex offenders using a drug that diminishes sexual impulses. The drug is called “Wedding Cake.”

And finally, legendary comedian George Carlin died June 22 of heart failure at age seventy-one. Carlin died right after completing his final routine, "Seven Words You Can't Say While Having a Heart Attack."

And finally, legendary comedian George Carlin died June 22 of heart failure at age seventy-one. Carlin's passing marked the biggest tragedy in the comedy world since the previous Friday, which saw the death of Mike Myers' career.

And finally, legendary comedian George Carlin died June 22 of heart failure at age seventy-one. There will be no eulogy at the service as it is full of words you can't say.

When does the madness stop?

The most expensive lot of the night was a set of three self-portrait studies by Francis Bacon, 1975, that went for £17.3m ($34.5m).  Jeff Koon's monumental Balloon Flower (Magenta), which has been on display in St. James' Square down the street from Christie's as it was too large to be in the auction house, sold barely above estimate for £12.9m ($25.6m) - although that was a world auction record price for Koons.  And Lucien Freud's Naked Portrait with Reflection, 1980, went for only £11.8m ($23.4m) compared to its pre-sale estimate of £15m.

14 of the lots last night had guarantees on them - minimum prices the auction house agrees to pay the seller.  If the sale price is higher than the guarantee, the consignor and house usually come to an agreement to split the excess.  If the guaranteed work fails to sell, the auction house (or a guarantor) will pay for the lot outright and own it.

Many art market professionals noted that Christie's estimates for last night were a bit on the high side and, while there is nothing wrong with the market, buyers won't buy when prices look high.  So, a Fontana and a Hirst, among others, failed to sell last night.

The Morning and Afternoon sales are today.

I'm going to have a V.A.C.^® Therapy Unit fitted later today, which removes fluids and infectious materials, helps protect the wound environment, helps promote perfusion and a moist healing environment and helps draw together wound edges. all in all a good thing ... I think ;)

The system looks good and everyone I have spoken to about it (including a couple of people who are currently hooked up to it) are saying good things ... but as with most things medical, theres a lot of scary information out there ... or maybe I'm just to good at finding it ... not sure which it is to be truthful...

but I have found this makers site which has some good information about the system on it ... (just in case you're interested) http://www.kci1.com/82.asp and as always theres some that are complaining it doesn't work (how they want) but a quick look at Wikipedia give us some good info as well ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_Pressure_Wound_Therapy

... and lastly ... a quick thank you to those of you that have sent me e-greetings using the Chirsties website ... http://www.christie.nhs.uk/egreeting/default.aspx (see the post labeled "All is not well" for more information on that)

So enough for now ... take care of you and yours

Nano Nano

Darran

So, the sale.  Well, I have to eat my words.  I said I thought the £7m - £10m estimate on the Severini was a bit high.  It ended up selling for £15m ($29.9m).

Monet's Plage à Trouville went for £7.7m ($15.4m), just over the low-end estimate of £7m.  The Dufy I loved, Le Harve, 14 Juillet, ended up selling for £1.6m ($3m), above it's £900,000 - £1.2m estimate.

The sale total was £102.2m ($203.8m).  Yes, that's much lower than Christie's total, but not bad considering the Sotheby's sale lacked the masterpieces from the Miller Collection that Christie's managed to secure.

The operation seems to have been successful and they did not have to cut my thighs or do any skin grafts :)

now the bad news ... the "wounds" are not draining the way they should and have opened up a bit so I'll be here a little longer than I hoped ... but the doctors and the nurses (who are all angels by the way) are all hopeful so I am as well :)

a couple of you reading this have asked about sending cards etc ... well there no need to do that .. save a tree and send a e-greeting by visiting the page below ... put "Darran Lewis" and "Ward 10" in the boxes and your messages will get to me :)

http://www.christie.nhs.uk/egreeting/default.aspx

Christies are also looking at changing their name a bit  visit the page below and have your say ...

http://www.christie.nhs.uk/poll/default.aspx

Thats all for now and frankly I'm to tired to type more ... so take care of yourselfs and those you care about ...

Darran

Toch even reclame voor het eigen huis. De papa in actie! Gedreven al van voor ik op de wereld verscheen. De kleuren staan al van kleins af op mijn netvlies gebrand! Go dad!

View From the Terrace, Gurzuf - Konstantin Korovin 

Christie's and Sotheby's Russian auctions earlier this June had mixed results. Sotheby's sold just over $41 million, acceptably between the pre-sale estimate of $36-$52 million. Compared with their successes in recent months - Sotheby's April auction exceeded its high estimate - the June sale was a change of pace. Fewer bidders attended the sale and fewer lots were bid on competitively. The same was true for Christie's Russian sale on June 11th which missed its low estimate of $26 million pounds with a total of $22 million. Only 66% of the 298 lots sold. 

It's unclear what's behind the disappointing results of these auctions. Katya Dolgova, an art dealer in Moscow speculated that Russians are moving on to bigger and better things in the European art market. "Rich Russians aren't stupid. You can get a Matisse or Monet for two to four million dollars, so why spend that money on a Goncharova?" Cultural pride, however, seems to be an important part of the growing interest in Russian art. An interest in repatriating artwork has been one of the key motivating forces behind this boom. Last year, for example, billionaire Alisher Usmanov purchased the entire collection of Cellist Mstislav Rostpovich and donated it to the Russian government. Could Russian and Ukranian buyers have simply lost interest in their artistic heritage? Why, if European art holds such an appeal to this group of buyers would they have waited until now to focus on collecting it? Other dealers suspect that Christie's estimates were overly ambitious. 

In spite of the mixed overall results of the auctions, some individual pieces sold very well. At Sotheby's Konstantin Korovin's View from the Terrace, Gurzuf, sold for  $2,985,217  (well above its high estimate of $1,600,000) and set record for the artist at auction. At Christie's, Ivan Shishkin's Mast Pine Forest in Viatka Province sold for $2,761,900, more than double its high estimate of  $1,200,000.

Future auctions will make clear whether the results of these auctions are an anomaly, or the beginning of a trend. 

Update:

On June 24th at Christie's Impressionist and Modern sale, alongside work by Monet and countless other notable European artists, Natalia Goncharova's Les Fleurs (1912) sold for $10,965,900 to a Russian buyer, setting a record for the artist at auction. The great disappointment of Christie's auction earlier this June was that Goncharova's Crucifixion (est. $4,984,500)  failed to sell. Any doubts about the future of this artist, however, have been cleared. The sale of Les Fleurs seems to debunk the speculation by some that Russian buyers are losing interest in Russian work, and turning their attention to European art.  Vladimir Baranoff-Rossine's The Rhythm also sold very well, fetching $5,383,260 with fees. 

Cada Semana & Comentando la Nota

Además de nuestros programas en vivo!

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Solamente para coleccionistas con dinero de sobra. Un chaleco salvavidas del fatídico viaje del transatlántico RMS Titanic, nunca visto en público y de los únicos seis que existen actualmente, se vendió hoy por 68 mil 500 dólares en la subasta anual 'Transatlántico' organizada por la casa Christie's en Nueva York. El salvavidas fue rescatado por John James Dunbar cuando fue a Halifax (Canadá) a ayudar en las labores de limpieza, tras el hundimiento del Titanic en 1912, y desde entonces ha estado en manos de una familia canadiense, que hoy estuvo presente en la subasta.

El primer chaleco procedente del trágico accidente marítimo que se pone a la venta en Norteamérica fue subastado por algo más del mínimo estimado por Christie's, que lo había evaluado entre 60 mil y 80 mil dólares.

La casa de subastas informó que el objeto está "en excelentes condiciones, teniendo en cuenta su antigüedad y el tiempo que pasó en las frías aguas del Océano Atlántico", y añadió que las manchas que tiene son posiblemente de petróleo y sangre.

También se adjudicó por 56 mil 250 dólares una lista de pasajeros de segunda clase del barco, acompañada del relato del accidente realizado por la niña de 12 años que la guardó, y un mensaje de telegrafía de la compañía Marconi enviado a la pasajera Elizabeth Walton Allen después de ser rescatada, que superó los 6 mil dólares.

The entire Impressionist and Modern evening sale was supposed to bring in more than £90m for Christie's. The works being sold from the Miller collection were supposed to bring in more than £40m. Well, the Monet water lilies from the Miller collection alone managed to do that. Going for £40.9m ($80.5m), Le bassin aux nymphéas, 1919, well exceeded it's £18m - £24m estimate and set an artist record for Monet. It is now the second most expensive painting sold at a European auction. Tania Buckwell Pos, director of AMI arts consultancy, bought the painting from the front row of the saleroom while on the phone with a client. She declined to give her client's name or nationality.

I think the demand for this work of art has proved that the Impressionist market is far from dead. For great works, collectors will be willing to part with large sums of money.

To get the Monet, Ms. Buckwell Pos outbid Brett Gorby, a specialist in contemporary art at Christie's New York, who was also on the phone. However, Mr. Gorby was the successful bidder for Degas' Danseuses à la barre, which sold at £13.5m ($26.5m), more than doubling its high estimate of £6m.

The early fauvist portrait by Matisse, La Pudeur (L'italienne), 1906, failed to reach its estimate of £3m - £4m, selling for only £2.5m ($4.9m). Still, the sale did incredibly well overall, achieving £144.4m ($284.5m) for Christie's, the highest ever for a European auction.

The Miller collection includes one of the best Monets I have ever seen outside of a museum. Le Basin aux nympéas, 1919, is a large, rectangular painting of Monet's beloved water lilies. According to Christie's press release, it is one of a set of four paintings that were released by the artist during his lifetime. Of the other paintings, one is in a private collection, one is at the Met, and another was divided. It's a gorgeous painting, just the type of Monet that people think of when they envision a Monet, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs. The estimate is £18m - £24m. I'll let you know how it does.

They also have a monumental Henry Moore bronze from the Miller collection up for sale. Draped Reclining Woman, 1957/58, is number 5 of an edition of 6, with all the other editions in public collections. With an estimate of £2.5m - £3.5m, I'm pretty sure collectors will be clambering for it (or at least museums will be).

Degas's Danseuses à la barre, circa 1880, is also in the sale.  Pastel, gouache, and charcoal on paper, it's a lovely piece where one can literally trace a single crayon mark along the paper.  As with the Miller Monet, it's exactly what one thinks of when envisioning a scene of Degas' ballet dancers during practice.  Originally owned by the Havemeyers (American collectors of Degas during his life) and with an estimate of £4m - £6m, I think it will do very well.

There's a lovely fauvist portrait by Matisse from 1906.  La Pudeur (L'Italienne), is fantastically colorful and bold.  Bought by Sarah Stein (sister-in-law of Gertrude and Leo and a great patron of Matisse) during Matisse's life and with a rather complete provenance, the painting is estimated at £3m - £4m.

I'm looking forward to watching to sale, and I'll let you all know how it goes.  All photos courtesy of Christie's.