American Pop Art From Art Price oct.2008

American Pop Art – the bubble is leaking air… [Sep 08]

The general price index for American Pop Art – the epicentre of art market speculation since the beginning of the decade – is showing signs of waning. Although Andy Warhol is the third most expensive post-war artist, along with Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko, auction sales of his works since the start of 2008 have been less successful… Could this be a first sign of market saturation?

Much publicised, the images created or reproduced by the Pop Artists instantly rendered their works "emblematic". Some used highly recognisable symbols and icons from the contemporary America of their era, while others created works of art from standard consumer products carrying appeal for a very wide audience. Screenprints of the cult images were reproduced in large numbers and widely circulated. In theory, Pop Art should be available to a very broad public; however, the prices paid for its stars over recent years, particularly for the unique pieces, make the movement's art inaccessible for most buyers. Having seen its price index acquire a massive 75% in 2007, the momentum appears to be waning this year: between January and September 2008 the movement's index has lost 31%.

Over the last ten years, the individual price indices of Robert RAUSCHENBERG, Andy WARHOL, Roy LICHTENSTEIN, Claes Thure OLDENBURG and Tom WESSELMANN have gained between +320% and +540%!
The impressive figures generated by Warhol's pieces are far in excess of the price records generated by the other artists from the Pop Art movement. In May 2007, Warhol's Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) set his all-time record when it fetched 64 million dollars (more than 47 million euros) at Christie’s in New York. Already in 2006, 43 public sales of Warhol's works generated sums above the 1 million dollars threshold, 8 more than the star of the market Pablo Picasso… In 2007, no less than 68 Warhol pieces from the 1960s and 80s fetched sums above the million-dollar line pushing his price index up 89% in just one year! Such inflation encourages speculation. For example in November 2007 the actor Hugh Grant sold a Warhol Liz (portrait of Elizabeth Taylor created in 1963) for $21m at Christie's having paid only $3.25m just 6 years earlier and after a Liz from the same series fetched only $11.25m at Sotheby’s in 2005. Another example: Are you different? a small painting executed in 1985-1986 and acquired for the equivalent of €26,000 on 10 February 2005 in London fetched nearly 119,000 euros in June 2007.
After this exceptional year, Andy Warhol's price index appears to be relaxing: –5% between January and September 2008, with growing signs of weakness in the market. For example, a version of Campbell's Tomato Soup (red and black) fetched €682,000 in May 2007. Nine months later, an exactly identical piece sold for €66,000 less.

Jasper JOHNS is second on the Pop Art price record podium (but still $48.5m behind Warhol's record…) with $15.5m for his Figure 4, a sale that also took place on 16 May 2007. During the same month a new record was also set for Rauschenberg when his mixed technique Photograph from 1959 fetched $9.5m (roughly €7m) at Sotheby’s NY. Two days after his death on 12 May 2008 his Overdrive (1963) set a new record at Sotheby’s. Aside from the genuinely exceptional pieces, buyers have shown a certain restraint with respect to Rauschenberg's lesser quality works. For example, Blue Smile, Waterworks Series, a large mixed technique has already been bought in twice this year at Tajan; once with a low estimate of €80,000 and the second time with a threshold of €60,000.
Even if the market is showing some signs of contraction since the beginning of the year, it is becoming increasingly difficult to acquire the major works of the key figures in the Pop Art movement. One solution for less wealthy buyers is to focus on the multiples; but the market for the multiples is also showing signs of deflation.

In principle, prints, lithographs and other good quality multiples can be acquired at affordable prices. Apart from Andy Warhol's famous silk screen prints that usually fetch 5 or even 6-figure numbers, the multiples created by Claes Oldenburg, Tom Wesselman, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine and James Rosenquist are often accessible for less than 5,000 euros. However, care should be taken because the price index for these works is also beginning to deflate. Over the first 9 months of 2008 the values of these products have contracted 20%. Examples of this price deflation are becoming increasingly widespread. Beautiful Bedroom Kate, a Tom Wesselmann screenprint produced in a series of 90 copies, fetched €16,000 - twice its estimated price - at Sotheby’s London in September 2007. The version sold last June in Germany generated went under the hammer for only €9,000. A similar story can be traced with Roy Lichtenstein's multiples most of which have posted depreciation during 2008. His illustrious Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp - a screenprint with magna on aluminum panel inset in a wood frame and produced in 24 copies - sold for €342,000 in June 2007, then €502,000 in February 2008, and more recently fetched only €315,000 in July.

Aside from the observed value depreciation, buyer reticence has also been expressed by a sharp increase in the bought-in rate which has risen from 16% in 2007 to 37% for the first-half of 2008. And yet there has also been a 26% contraction in the number of lots presented for sale… a fact that should have provided support for this market where demand is focused on a limited supply. In short, these signs of market weakness on a segment that is normally very buoyant are fairly worrying for the other segments of the market that are traditionally the most speculative such as 'current' and 'emerging' art.

Le Clezio Prix Nobel Congratulations

J.M.G. Le Clézio (1940-)

One of the most translated modern French authors, whose first novel appeared when he was only 23 years old. Due to his early experimentalist approach to novel, Le Clézio has been counted among the avant-garde writers, but actually his work is difficult to pin down. Le Clézio's themes are cross-cultural. He moves freely, without restriction, from one continent to another, fusing ideas and images from different kinds of literature and culture. Le Clézio was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008.

"La guerre a commencé. Personne ne sait plus où, ni comment, mais c'est ainsi. Elle est derrière la tête et elle souffle. La guerre des crimes et des insultes, la furie des regards, l'explosion de la pensée des cerveaux. Elle est là, ouverte sur le monde, elle le couvre de son réseau de fils électriques, Chaque seconde, elle progresse, elle arrache quelque chose et le réduit en cendres." (from La Guerre, 1970)

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was born in Nice in 1940. Le Clézio's father, born in Mauritius, was a doctor, who moved from England to British Guyana, and then to Nigeria. Before the family was reunited, he lived years in Africa.

Le Clézio was raised in France. His early childhood Le Clézio spent in Roquebillière, a small village near Nice. At the age of eight Le Clézio started to write poetry and read comics. In 1947 he traveled to Nigeria with his mother and brother, spending there a happy year without school. Later the author depicted his childhood in the semi-autobiographical novel Onitsha (1991), in which a young boy sails with his mother to Africa, where his English father is chasing his own dreams.

Le Clézio was educated at schools in Nice, where his mother settled during the war. In 1957 Le Clézio passed his baccalauréat in literature and philosophy. He then studied at the Bristol University, at the University of London, and Institut d'Études Littéraires in Nice. In 1964 he received his M.A. from the University of Aix-en-Provence. Le Clézio obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Perpignan.

Le Clézio married in 1960 Rosalie Piquemal, half-French, half-Polish; they had one daughter. After divorce Le Clézio remarried. From this marriage he has also one daughter.

As a writer Le Clézio made his breakthrough with his first novel, Le procès-verbal (1963), which was awarded the Théophraste Renaudot Prize. The work introduced one of his central themes, the flight from commonly accepted ways of thought into extreme states of mind. Adam Pollo, the protagonist, is a sensitive youg man, who wanders around the town, much like a stray dog, and after making an agitated speech to an apathetic crowd eventually ends up in a mental hospital for a period. The mood of the novel has been compared to that of Camus's Stranger and Sartre's Naisea.

Le Clézio's writing is simultaneously clear and intensive, impressionistic and controlled, nostalgic and contemporary. In an interview Le Clézio once said, that his favorite novelist are Stevenson and Joyce – noteworthy both exiled writers. Often his protagonists are loners, who try to find ways to cope with the modern life and technology, or come into conflict with urban surroundings.

Le procès-verbal was soon translated into several languages, among others into Finnish. In spite of his international fame, Le Clézio chose to stay away from fashionable literary circles, saying in an article in 1965: "Not yet sure if writing is a good way of expression." He taught at a Buddhist University in Thailand in 1966-67, at the University of Mexico, and at the Boston University, University of Texas, Austin, and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. From 1973 Le Clézio and his Moroccan wife Jemia divided their time between France, the U.S. and the island of Mauritius; Le Clézio has called Mauritius his "little fatherland". Le Clézio has also traveled in Nigeria and Japan and published translations of Mayan sacred texts. The last years Le Clézio has lived mainly in New Mexico.

Through Le Clézio's novels the sun and the sea, light and water, are recurrent images. From 1969 to 1973 Le Clézio lived among the Embera Indians in Panama. Haï (1971), written during this period, is a lyrical account of the author's experience which, as he has confessed, changed his whole life. On the whole, the natural environment, animate and inanimate, forms a kind of philosophical, unifying ground for Le Clézio's themes.

Le Clézio's constant travels are reflected in the settings of his books. Through his own experience he has described the clash of cultures, and the unequal side of globalization, the domination of Western rationalism. In Désert (1980), which received the Grand Prix Paul Morand, a young nomad woman, Lalla, from the Sahara becomes a famous photo model, but she returns to the desert to give birth to her child. A parallel story tells of the crushing of the Tuaregs in the beginning of the 20th century by the French colonizers.

For further reading: Conversations avec J.-M. G. Le Clézio by P. Lhoste (1971); World Authors 1950-1970, ed. by John Wakeman (1975); J.-M. G. Le Clézio by Jennifer Waelti-Walters (1977); Contemporary World Writers, ed. by Tracy Chevalier (1993); Le Clézio ou la quête du désert by Simone Domange (1993); Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, vol. 3, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999) - For further information: Intersected Pasts and Problematic Futures by Karen D. Levy

Selecter works:

• Le Procès-Verbal, 1963 - The Interrogation (tr. Daphne Woodward, 1964) - Raportti Aatamista (suom. Olli-Matti Ronimus)
• Le Jour où Beaumont fit connaissance avec sa douleur, 1964
• La Fièvre, 1965 - Fever (tr. Daphne Woodward, 1966) - Kuume (suom. Leila Adler)
• Le Déluge, 1966 - The Flood (tr. Peter Green, 1968)
• L'Extase matérielle, 1966
• Terra amata, 1968 - Terra Amata (tr. Barbara Bray, 1969)
• Le Livre des fuites, 1969 - The Book of Flights (tr. Simon Watson Taylor, 1972)
• La Guerre, 1970 - War (tr. 1973)
• Haï, 1971
• Les Géants, 1973 - The Giants (tr. Simon Watson Taylor, 1975)
• Mydriase, 1973
• Voyages de l'autre côté, 1975
• translator: Les Prophéties du chilam Balam, 1976
• Voyage aux pays des arbres, 1978
• L'Inconnu sur la terre, 1978
• Vers les Icebergs, 1978
• Mondo et autres histoires, 1978 - film: Mondo (1996), dir. by Tony Gatlif, starring Ovidiu Balan, Philippe Petit, Pierrette Fesch, Jerry Smith
• Désert, 1980 - Autiomaa (suom. Marjatta Ecaré)
• Trois Villes saintes, 1980
• Lullaby, 1980
• La Ronde et autres faits divers, 1982 - The Round & Other Cold Hard Facts = La ronde et autres faits divers (translated by C. Dickson)
• Celui qui'n avait jamais vu la mer; La Montagne du dieu vivant, 1984
• translator: Relation de Michocan, 1984
• Le Chercheur d'or, 1985 - The Prospector (tr. by Carol Marks)
• Villa aurore; Orlamonde, 1985
• Balaabilou, 1985
• Voyage à Rodrigues, 1986
• Les Années Cannes, 1987
• Le Rêve mexicain, ou, La Pensée interrompue, 1988 - Mexican Dream (tr. by Teresa Lavender Fagan)
• Printemps et autres saisons: nouvelles, 1989
• Sirandanes; Un Petit Lexique de la langue créole et des oiseaux, 1990
• Onitsha, 1991 - Onitsha (tr. by Alison Anderson) - Kaupunki nimeltä Onitsha (suom. Annikki Suni)
• Pawana, 1992
• Étoile errante, 1992 - Wandering Star (tr. by C. Dickson) - Harhaileva tähti (suom. Annikki Suni)
• Diego et Frida, 1993
• La Quarantaine, 1995
• In the Eye of the Sun: Mexican Fiestas, 1996 (with Geoff Winningham)
• Poisson d'or, 1997
• La fête chantée, 1997
• Enfances, 1997 (with Christophe Kuhn)
• Hasard suivi de Angoli Mala, 1999
• Fantômes dans la rue, 2000
• Coeur brûlé et autres romances, 2000
• Révolutions, 2003
• Mondo et autres histoires, 2005
• Ourania, 2006
• Raga: approche du continent invisible, 2006
• Ballaciner, 2007
• Ritournelle de la faim, 2008

UCLA/Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam , Aug.21,08 on collaboration with Houshang Seyhoun

Check out: 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HSsn_3WV_w&feature=related

www.shahrokh-nakissa.com

 

www.payvand.com/news/06/dec/1298.html

Iranian Art Boom (Art Price Source)

Art Market Insight [Aug 2008]

Art investment

Iranian art boom - 2006-2008: "progress report" [Aug 08] In two years, Dubai has clearly affirmed itself on the global art market with the first edition of Art Dubai in 2007 - inviting some 30 galleries from around the globe - and with the establishment of both Christie’s (2006) and Bonhams (2008) in the city. Since their arrival, the two action houses have been selling works by modern and contemporary artists from Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon and Iran and they have succeeded in fostering growing demand as well as significant price inflation. The Dubai prices represented his record. Carried by the financial strength of the United Arab Emirates and the increasingly global reach of its national investors, Iranian artists are becoming increasingly popular among regional collectors. For example, on the 31 October 2007 the Dubai office of Christie’s sold works by Shirin NESHAT above the 100,000 dollars line for the first time. Shirin Neshat is the most well-known contemporary Iranian artist on the international scene and his works have been selling at auctions since 2000 in London and New York. The best-known Iranian sculptor, Parviz TANAVOLI, aged 71, was in fact absent from the auction world until 2007. However, the success in Dubai in 2006 of the younger Iranian artist, Farhad Moshiri, appears to have had a considerable and belated knock-on effect on Tanavoli's market prices. His first works to appear at auction generated between 65,000 and 85,000 dollars (February 2007). In October of the same year the hammer fell at 280,000 dollars (Christie’s Dubai) and in April 2008, he became the most expensive living Iranian artist when a unique piece he created in 1975 entitled The Wall (Oh Persepolis) fetched no less than 2.5 million dollars. The stele cast in bronze and standing nearly 2 metres high had been estimated by Christie’s at 400 to 600 thousand dollars. Like Shirin Neshat's work, the creations of Farhad MOSHIRI (aged 45 and born in the Iranian city of Shiraz) reflect both Iranian and Western culture. He studied art in California before returning to Teheran in 1991 where he has lived ever since. His works have been exhibited around the world including Rome, London, Berlin, New-York and Geneva. In 2003, his installation at the sixth Sharjah biennial entitled Golden Love super Deluxe attracted much comment: a collector's showcase containing mixed objects – bullets, mobile phones, cherubs and Walt Disney figurines – all coated with a fine layer of gold… an ironical transformation of diverse objects from the spheres of war, technology and popular culture into "precious items". Three years after the Biennial, Christie’s in Dubai presented Moshiri's first canvas to appear at auction: a satellite view of Iran. The work sold for 40,000 dollars, four times the high-end estimate, and giving the artist a powerful start to his future auction momentum: collectors clearly have deep pockets for Moshiri. A year after that result, a satellite view of the world made of 95,000 Swarovski crystals demolished its original estimate of 60 to 80 thousand dollars when it sold for 500 thousand dollars! This rocketing success has continued in 2008 with a brilliant work using the same crystals and entitled, Eshgh (Love), which fetched 900,000 dollars last March at Bonhams Dubai. The vitality of the Middle-Eastern market is giving a number of young Iranian artists a healthy price index on the secondary art market. The work of two Iranian women, Shirin ALIABADI and Shadi GHADIRIAN (born in 1973 and 1974 respectively), considers the contradictions that women face in Iran with humour. The Shadi Ghadirian's photos use the obsolete aesthetic of 19th century photography to show veiled women with contemporary objects. Her most famous piece, Stereo, sold for £9,000 (over $18,000) in 2007 (Sotheby's, London). In October 2007, Christie’s Dubai generated a bid of 50,000 dollars for a painting by Afshin PIRHASHEMI (born 1974) entitled Those four Days. This was only his second auction appearance. Just a month earlier in Paris, Artcurial sold his painting Memory for 6,000 euros… In April 2008, one had to bid up to 110,000.00 dollars for his triptych untitled Lonely created in 2005 (Christie’s Dubai).

14-Seyhoun Gallery exhibition

13-Sculpture, Market-Art price. Source

Contemporary sculpture in excellent shape [Jun 08] In the contemporary art field, sculpture, and particularly the offshoot known as 'installations', is currently enjoying a high level of market interest. At the top end, collectors are now paying tens of millions of dollars for monumental works by the likes of Koons, Hirst and Murakami. Artprice takes a look at this high profile segment of the market occupied by young artists, all born after 1945. In less than a year, the number of 7-figure (sometimes 8 ...) auction sales involving three dimensional works has substantially increased. In 2007, 14 works sold for over a million dollars; in the first six months of 2008, we are already at 18... Today, the type of sculpture that sells for millions is a far cry from the classical conception of 20th century art expressed by the "moderns" like Constantin Brancusi, Artistide Maillol or Alberto Giacometti. In times gone by, the verb to sculpt meant hewing, carving, chipping away or scratching, in other words, removing mass to reveal an image. Today's well-known artists conceive their works and then, to build them, they mobilize an entire workshop in which a wide variety of techniques, materials and dimensions are exploited. Certain works are also conceived as genuine scientific and technical challenges. The monumental - if not 'architectural' - compositions in steel by Richard SERRA are the perfect expression of the expansion of this artistic medium which is today flirting with a new conception of space and which often requires considerable technical skill to accomplish. In this industrial age, the multiple, reproduced in large numbers, also has an important position in the market as it allows art enthusiasts to acquire some symbolic pieces for just a few thousand euros. In fact, while Jeff KOONS, Damien HIRST and Takashi MURAKAMI are adept at selling works for millions of euros, they have also created reproductions that reach the market at affordable prices fortheir fans! In effect, they satisfy the consumer art market with regular three-dimensional mass productions. However, even these "mass" produced works are increasingly sought after. The Ballon Dog in metalicised porcelain, produced by Jeff Koons in a series of 2,300, changed hands in 2002 for between 1,200 and 1,800 euros. Today one would expect to pay between 3,000 and 5,000 euros. His Puppies, small white porcelain vases, 45cm high, produced in 3,000 examples, sell in the same price range. Today, Jeff Koons is the most expensive of the young bloods with a record $21 million for his Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold) on 14 November 2007 at Sotheby’s. When it sold, this 3-metre red heart was so fresh off the Koons production line that its owner, Adam Lindemann, had it sent to auction directly from the warehouse without ever having exposed the work. In the 1980s, Jeff Koons made art out of common consumer objects like vacuum cleaners, basket balls and various other decorative objects. However, unlike Duchamp, who with his "ready-mades" was not seeking aesthetic pleasure from the exhibiting trivial objects, Koons glorifies mass consumer products within a Pop mindset. By opting to work with the vocabulary of popular culture, Koons hoped to reach a mass audience. His choice has paid handsome dividends! The first collectors of Jeff Koons' work must be very pleased with their acquisitions. For example, the highest bidder for Two ball 50/50 tank that sold on 7 May 1992 at Sotheby´s NY acquired the installation for 65,000 dollars. This work, from the Equilibrium series, contains two basket balls half submerged in an aquarium and was conceived with the assistance of Dr. Richard Feynman, a Nobel prize laureate for Physics. In 2000, the work sold for 220,000 dollars at Phillips NY, and in 2005 a larger scale version with three basket balls fetched nearly double that price (420,000 dollars, Christie’s NY). Damien Hirst, the figurehead of Young British Artists, is the second most expensive contemporary artist with a record auction sale of £8.6 million (more than $17 million) in June 2007 for his Lullaby Spring, a large metallic pillbox containing 6,136 individually painted pills. Rumour has it that the White Cube Gallery in London privately sold Hirst's For The Love Of God, a platinum skull encrusted with 8,601diamonds, for $100 million. If so, that is by far the highest price paid for a work by a living artist. For Damien Hirst, winner of the 1995 Turner Prize, 2007 was a good year as his price index gained 270% over 12 months… However, the increase did not begin in 2007. In 1992, his installation entitled God, was bought in for £4,000 in London. Six years later, it fetched £170,000. Today, the smallest souvenir from the Pharmacy restaurant identifiable as having been created or conceived by Hirst sells as an icon on the market. Even a simple assembly of bottles of wine, with menus and cards from the famous restaurant sold for 420 euros in March 2007. The third most expensive contemporary artist comes from the Land of the Rising Sun. Last May, Takashi Murakami saw one of his spectacular manga sculptures go under the hammer at $13.5 million in New York. The work, My lonesome cowboy, a sculpture representing the triumphant ejaculation of a manga-styled satyr was estimated at $3 to 4 million. At the same time, Murakami fans can buy small plastic or plush figurines at prices ranging from under 100 euros to several hundreds of euros, depending on the model and the number produced. For example, Superfalt museum a set of 10 small figurines in PVC sold for €350 last May at Pandolfini Casa d'Aste (Florence). Just behind the top three discussed above, there is the highly controversial Maurizio CATTELAN, with a record auction price of $2.7 million in 2004 for La Nona Ora. This provocative installation, representing the Pope crushed by a meteorite, had shocked visitors to the Royal Academy of Arts London and the Venice Biennial several years earlier. Another artist above the million dollar line is Robert GOBER. On 15 May last, one of his installations with a leg (+ trouser and shoe) poking through a wall, sold for $3.2 million. The Indian artist Anish KAPOOR is now in sixth position in the ranking of 'most expensive contemporary sculptors' after a large sculpture in alabaster (1.5 metres) sold for $2.5 million in December 2007. But unlike the top three (Koons, Hirst and Murakami), niether Cattelan, nor Gober nor Kapoor have developed an alternative market destined for a wider public. Indeed, in volume terms, their annual auction turnover only represents about 10 pieces each.       La sculpture contemporaine au firmament [juin 08] Dans le domaine de l’art actuel, la sculpture, notamment sous sa forme d’installation, est un médium particulièrement apprécié. Les collectionneurs s’arrachent désormais à coup de dizaines de millions de dollars les pièces monumentales de Koons, Hirst et Murakami. Artprice fait le point sur le marché très médiatique de ces jeunes artistes, tous nés après 1945. En moins d’un an, les enchères millionnaires pour des œuvres actuelles à trois dimensions se sont multipliées. En 2007, 14 pièces ont atteint le million de $. Sur les 6 premiers mois de l’année 2008, pas moins de 18 œuvres ont atteint ce seuil… Aujourd’hui, la sculpture valorisée à coup de millions est fort éloignée de sa conception classique exprimée au XXème siècle par les modernes tels que Constantin Brancusi, Artistide Maillol ou Alberto Giacometti. Avant, sculpter désignait le fait de tailler ou de creuser, autrement dit d’enlever de la masse volumique pour mettre une image au jour. Aujourd’hui, les artistes de renoms conçoivent les œuvres et pour les réaliser travaillent à la tête de véritables fabriques dans lesquelles le champ des techniques, des matériaux et des dimensions varient à l’infini. Certaines œuvres sont aussi conçues comme de véritables épreuves scientifiques et techniques. Les compositions monumentales, voir architecturales, en acier de Richard SERRA sont la parfaite expression de la démesure de l’œuvre d’art qui flirte avec une nouvelle conception de l’espace et dont la mise en œuvre elle-même s’avère être une prouesse technique. Dans cette ère industrielle, le multiple à grand tirage tient aussi une place de choix pour permettre aux amateurs de s’offrir quelques pièces symboliques pour quelques milliers d’euros. En effet, si Jeff KOONS, Damien HIRST et Takashi MURAKAMI savent se vendre plusieurs millions d’euros, ils proposent aussi sur le marché nombre de productions accessibles à leurs fans ! Ils répondent aux consommateurs d’œuvres d’art actuel par de réguliers tirages à trois dimensions. Mais ces productions à grands tirages s’arrachent de plus en plus. Les Ballon Dog en porcelaine métallisée édités par Jeff Koons à 2300 exemplaires, se négociaient entre 1 200 et 1 800 euros en 2002 tandis qu’il faut débourser entre 3 000 et 5 000 euros aujourd’hui. Ses Puppies, de petits vases en porcelaine blanche de 45 cm de haut produits à 3 000 exemplaires, s’échangent dans la même fourchette de prix. Aujourd’hui, Jeff Koons est le plus coté de tous avec une enchère de 21 millions de $ pour Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold) le 14 novembre 2007 chez Sotheby’s. Ce coeur rouge de 3 mètres de haut, était tellement «frais» que son propriétaire, Adam Lindemann, l’a sorti tout droit d’un entrepôt sans l’avoir jamais exposé. Dans les années 80, Jeff Koons détourne des objets de consommation courante comme des aspirateurs, des ballons de basket ou divers bibelots. Contrairement à Duchamp qui, avec ses ready made, ne cherchait pas de délectation esthétique en exposant des objets triviaux, Koons glorifie les produits de consommation dans une esthétique Pop. L’artiste américain ambitionnait de toucher le plus grand nombre en optant pour la culture populaire… Pari réussi ! Les premiers collectionneurs de Jeff Koons peuvent se féliciter de leurs acquisitions. Par exemple, le meilleur enchérisseur pour Two ball 50/50 tank dispersée le 7 mai 1992 chez Sotheby´s NY emporta l’installation pour 65 000 dollars. Cette œuvre de la série Equilibrium contient deux ballons de basket à moitié immergés dans un aquarium et fut conçue grâce à l'aide du Dr. Richard Feynman, Prix Nobel de Physique. En 2000, elle partit pour 220 000 dollars chez Phillips NY, tandis qu´une version plus grande avec trois ballons doubla presque cette mise en 2005 (420 000 dollars, Christie’s NY). Damien Hirst, le fer de lance des Young British Artists, est le second artiste contemporain le plus coté avec une enchère de 8,6 millions de £ (plus de 17 millions de $) en juin 2007 pour Lullaby Spring, une importante armoire à pharmacie métallique contenant 6.136 pilules peintes individuellement. De gré à gré, le 30 août 2007, la White Cube aurait par ailleurs vendu pour 100 millions de $ For The Love Of God , un crâne en platine recouvert de 8601 diamants.Jamais une oeuvre vendue du vivant de son auteur n’avait été négociée aussi cher jusqu’à présent. L’année 2007 fut faste pour l’artiste détenteur du Turner Prize 1995 car sa cote a augmenté de près de 270% sur douze mois… Mais l’envolée des prix n’est pas récente. En 1992, son installation intitulée God, était ravalée à 4 000 £ à Londres. Six ans après, elle était emportée à 170 000 £. Désormais, le moindre souvenir issu du contenu du restaurant Pharmacy et « brandé » Hirst s’arrache comme une icône du marché. Ainsi un simple assemblage de bouteilles de vin, menus, cartes de visite provenant du célèbre restaurant partait pour 420 euros en mars 2007. Le troisième météore du marché nous vient du pays du soleil levant. En mai dernier Takashi Murakami a vu l’une de ses spectaculaires sculpture manga s’envoler à 13,5 millions de $ à New York. My lonesome cowboy, sculpture représentant l'éjaculation triomphante d'un satyre version manga, était estimée 3 – 4 millions de $. Pour autant, les amateurs trouvent aussi sur le marché nombre de petites figurines en plastique ou en peluche dont les prix s’échelonnent de quelques dizaines d’euros à quelques centaines d’euros selon les modèles et les tirages. Par exemple, Superfalt museum un ensemble complet de 10 petits personnages en PVC est parti pour 350 € en mai chez Pandolfini Casa d'Aste (Florence). Dans le sillage des trois leaders suit le très contesté Maurizio CATTELAN, avec une enchère à 2,7 millions de $ en 2004 pour La Nona Ora : la provoquante installation, représentant le pape écrasé par une météorite, avait choqué les visiteurs de la Royal Academy of Arts de Londres et de la Biennale de Venise quelques années plus tôt. Quant à Robert GOBER, le 15 mai dernier, une de ses installations représentant une jambe (avec pantalon et chaussure) disposée comme sortant d’un mur s’est envolée à 3,2 millions de $. L’indien Anish KAPOOR s’est élevé à la sixième position des sculpteurs actuels les plus cotés grâce à une importante sculpture en albâtre de plusd’1,5 mètre partie pour 2,5 millions de $ en décembre 2007. Mais contrairement aux icônes du marché (Koons, Hirst et Murakami), ces trois artistes n’ont pas développé de marché alternatif destiné au plus grand nombre. Annuellement, pour chacun d’eux, les collectionneurs ne voient passer aux enchères qu’une dizaine de pièces.

12-Christie's - Dubai - Iranian Artists

Source Bloomberg

Iranian Artists Star in Christie's $10 Million Dubai Auction

By Matthew Brown

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Works by Iranian artists, including Parviz Tanavoli and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, will star in a Christie's International art auction that is expected to raise at least $10 million in Dubai tomorrow.

The two Iranian artists' creations are the most likely to fetch more than $1 million apiece at the sale, said Jussi Pylkkanen, the auction house's European president, in an interview. The sale catalog put a high estimate of $600,000 on both Tanavoli's sculpture ``The Wall (Oh Persepolis)'' and Zenderoudi's painting ``VAV + HWE.''

``The Iranian section dominates at the moment,'' Pylkkanen said. ``I suspect we might make as much as $20 million if it really flies. That's partly a reflection of the quality of the pictures on sale, but also just the growth in the market.''

This will be Christie's fourth art auction in Dubai. Auction houses have been expanding into the emerging markets of China, Russia and the Middle East in recent years, tapping growing personal wealth in some of the world's fastest-growing economies. Crude oil, the region's main source of revenue, rose to a record $119.93 yesterday.

Dubai became the de facto hub of the Middle Eastern art market after Christie's, which vies with Sotheby's as the world's largest art seller, began selling art and jewelry in the sheikdom two years ago. Bonhams held its first auction in the region in Dubai in March.

Moshiri's `Love'

Iran's Farhad Moshiri became the first artist from the Middle East to sell an artwork at auction for more than $1 million when his ``Love'' sold for $1.05 million at Bonham's sale.

Ahmed Mustapha's ``Qu'ranic Polyptych of Nine Panels'' sold for $657,000 at a Christie's Dubai auction onOct. 31, breaking the record for an Arab work of art at auction. Mustapha's ``Meditation on Three Themes from Sura Ya'Sin'' will go on the block at tomorrow's auction with a high estimate of $400,000.

Christie's will continue to hold two Dubai auctions a year, and is looking to stage exhibitions in other Gulf cities in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Saudi Arabia, Pylkkanen said.

``I'd like to see a Turkish section next season,'' he said. ``We may hold a contemporary Indian art sale next year.''

Christie's is also offering $20 million of jewelry and watches in Dubai today. A natural-pearl necklace presented to Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum by the founder of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan may sell for as much as $120,000, the sale catalog says.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brown in Dubai at mbrown42@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 28, 2008 20:06 EDT

05/02/08
Tanavoli's Persepolis sculpture breaks record at Dubai art sale
Press TV -- Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanavoli sets a new auction record as a Middle Eastern artists at Christie's international art sale in Dubai. Tanavoli's sculpture 'The Wall (Oh Persepolis)' reportedly fetched some $2.84 million at Christie's fourth auction of modern and contemporary art in Dubai on Wednesday. 'The Wall (Oh Persepolis)' is a bronze sculpture nearly 2 meters tall covered in hieroglyphics. London-based Christie's announced that it had sold over $20 million of mainly Iranian and Arab artwork in the auction, highlighting works by prominent Iranian artists such as Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Mohammed Ehsai. Dubai is becoming one of the most popular hotspots for art enhusiasts.

11-Art Basel-The World's largest Art Fair (Switzerland)

Art Basel _ world's largest art fair _ opens in Switzerland

BASEL, Switzerland --The largest international contemporary art fair opened Wednesday, closely watched for trends in the world market at a time of financial turbulence.

About 60,000 artists, collectors, galleries and art enthusiasts are expected to attend the annual four-day Art Basel fair, with the moneyed set coming to Basel in private jets.

Record prices at recent auctions indicate the market is still resilient despite the credit crunch stemming from the subprime crisis.

More than 300 of the world's leading galleries are presenting works from over 2,000 artists from all five continents, stressing that globalization has also now extended to art - a work by Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare shows a woman dancing on the globe.

Prices range from millions of dollars for works of established artists to thousands of dollars for newcomers to the art market.

On view are all forms of artistic expression, ranging from paintings, drawings and sculptures to installations, performances and video art. Big names include several who fetched new record prices at a Sotheby's auction in New York last month, when a triptych by Francis Bacon sold for $86.3 million, becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever auctioned.

Record prices were also registered there for various other artists on display at Art Basel, including Japan's star Murakami Takashi, Robert Rauschenberg and Tom Wesselman.

Works by Cai Guo-Qiang, the Chinese favorite of Western collectors, are also on view. His series of gun powder drawings was bought for $8.5 million at Christie's in Hong Kong late last year.

Even as the fair opened, the Allianz Suisse insurance company said the demand for coverage to protect private collections has grown 30 percent since the February robbery of four impressionist paintings worth $163 million from a Zurich museum.

"Despite the financial market crisis and high energy prices, the art market is still booming - as is the market for private art insurance," the company said.

The company's art expert, Oliver Class, said Allianz had already reached its sales goal for the full year. Allianz Suisse also said it now is insuring collections for more than $624 million, up from about $240 million three years ago, and that it expects its business to double in the next three years.

Two of the paintings taken in the robbery, by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, were recovered a few days after the robbery. The other two- by Paul Cezanne and Edgar Degas - remain missing.

A parallel "Art Unlimited" exhibition features works by 60 artists from 23 countries. It spotlights completely unconventional art, some works created especially for the occasion, such as a dollar-covered wallpaper installation by American artist Tony Oursler.

The Art Basel newspaper reported that when he crossed the nearby German-Swiss border, German customs officers discovered more than 1,000 dollar bills stuffed in his bag. The daily said the officers counted every note to make sure that the booty did not exceed Germany's legal export limit of $10,000.

By HANNS NEUERBOURG Associated Press Writer

 

10- Maurice de Vlaminck De Tardais au Luxembourg

Maurice de Vlaminck – at the origin of Fauvism [Apr 08] Until 20 July 2008, the Museum of Luxemburg is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Maurice de Vlaminck works from the 1900 to 1915, a period during which the research he conducted with Derain in Chatou was essential to the renewal of painting at the start of the 20th century At auction, landscapes from this period fetch the highest prices. Indeed it was a Chatou landscape that generated de Vlaminck's current price record when it sold for GBP 6.5 million (USD 9.3 million) on 2 June 2004. The painting, dated 1906, is to date the most expensive fauve work ever to have changed hands. Previous to that sale it had been acquired at auction by Alain Delon in 1989 for USD 6.5 million. Somewhat surprisingly, over a 20 year period, between 1988 and 2006, Vlaminck's price index has stayed almost flat. Nevertheless, some rare paintings from the fauve period have been hotly disputed at recent auctions. For example, Maisons au bord de la Seine à Chatou, a painting dated 1905-1906 and estimated at GBP 1.6 – 2.2 million sold for GBP 2.4 million in June 2007. The same work had fetched GBP 1.4 million in 1989. Even fauve works on paper are gaining price momentum. Forêt, an Indian ink drawing from 1953 (50 x 65 cm) fetched EUR 7,000 last May at Christie’s Paris whereas a year earlier it had failed to find a buyer at the minimum price of EUR 6,000. Beyond the much appreciated landscape theme, Vlaminck also painted numerous bouquets of flowers. His natures mortes fetch much lower prices at auctions; sometimes only half what a landscape in a similar format and from the same period might fetch. Even his floral paintings from the fauve years can be difficult to sell, as we saw in June 2003 when Bouquet de fleurs (dated 1907-1908) was bought in by Sotheby’s London on a low estimate of GBP 18,000. Vlaminck's prices, however, leave little chance of acquiring one of his works for under EUR 10,000. Under this threshold, enthusiasts may occasionally find some rare India inks drawings; but de Vlaminck's paper works are usually executed in gouache. And his water-colours and gouache works are often large formats that change hands for between 15,000 and 20,000 euros, as did Paysagecampagnard, a water-colour that sold for CHF 28,000 (EUR 16,000) at the Galerie du Rhone in December 2007. For much smaller budgets, there is a very extensive market in de Vlaminck prints. These prints regularly appear at auction throughout the world and the majority sell for under EUR 300. For example, in May 2007 at Winterberg Arno in Germany, La Rue de le Glacière, a print from 1937, sold for EUR 120. Personnage sur un chemin, was sold for EUR 150 at Martin-Chausselat in Versailles. In the United States, Montmartre Street Scene sold for the equivalent of EUR 161 at the auction house Charlton Hall Galleries in February 2008. But while this segment of the market is a good way to start a collection, it offers little upside potential in terms of value. Their price index has been absolutely stable for decades. For example, La Plaine de Boissy-les-Perches, an etching from 1923-1925 has gone to auction a dozen or so times in 10 years. Each time, the work sold within a price range of EUR 350 to 550. De Vlaminck's ceramic works are relatively unknown by the general public and he did not develop the same themes as those he worked on canvas or on paper. His stylised decorations of plates and tiles rarely fetch more than EUR 2,000 – 3,000, even in perfect condition. Certain large works may occasionally fetch more than EUR 10,000 such as a vase measuring 35cm in height presenting a substantial floral composition which sold for EUR 48,000 in June 2002 at Piasa.

9- Contemporary French Art( Francais/Anglais)

Entrance of the Louvre Museum - Architecture of I.M.Pei-1989   L'art actuel français a la cote [juin 08] Soutenue par une hausse généralisée des prix de l’art contemporain, la cote de certains artistes français dépasse désormais le million d’euros pour les plus belles pièces. La morosité du climat financier de ce début d’année faisait craindre un éclatement de la bulle spéculative dans laquelle le marché de l’art est entraîné depuis quelques années. Les premières ventes orchestrées à Drouot en février et mars 2008 n’avaient pas réussi à rassurer les acheteurs. Il aura fallu attendre le succès des ventes new-yorkaises de mai pour que Paris reprenne des couleurs. Si globalement les prix du marché de l’art français sont stables depuis le début de l’année, le très haut de gamme semble encore progresser. Dans cette conjoncture, l’art contemporain reste très spéculatif et plus que jamais les pièces exceptionnelles des stars du marché sont fortement valorisées. Cet engouement est particulièrement reflété dans la multiplication des enchères millionnaires pour des artistes actuels français. Artprice a réalisé pour l’occasion le classement des artistes français actuels en fonction de leur record en ventes publiques. En haut du panier, seuls trois d’entre eux parviennent à flirter avec des adjudications millionnaires. Les artistes français* vivants les plus cotés 1 € 2 808 000 BOURGEOIS Louise (1911) 2 € 1 310 000 SOULAGES Pierre (1919) 3 € 1 000 000 MATHIEU Georges (1921) 4 € 800 000 RAYSSE Martial (1936) 5 € 410 238 SZAFRAN Sam (1930) 6 € 283 800 TEXIER Richard (1955) 7 € 276 609 LALANNE François-Xavier (1927) 8 € 260 000 RAYNAUD Jean-Pierre (1939) 9 € 220 000 BUREN Daniel (1938) 10 € 200 000 VENET Bernar (1941) *nés en France En tête d’affiche, Louise Bourgeois a décroché une enchère de 3,6 m$ (2,8 m€) à New York en novembre 2006 pour une monumentale Spider de plus de 2 mètres de haut, en bronze fondue en 1997. Cette année, en France, elle a obtenu chez Christie’s une enchère de 2,5 m€ (4 m$) pour une autre araignée, une pièce unique en acier et tapisserie produite en 2003, à l’âge de 91 ans. Un signe de la spéculation dont fait l’objet la doyenne des artistes français : ce record couronne tout simplement sa pièce la plus récente présentée en ventes publiques. Il faut dire que sa cote a encore progressé de +79% en 2007 et que sa rétrospective à la Tate Modern de Londres, puis à Paris au centre Pompidou, et bientôt à New York lui assure une intense actualité médiatique. Pierre Soulages, se hisse en seconde position du classement. En décembre dernier, chez Perrin-Royere-Lajeunesse, cet artiste de 89 ans a obtenu une enchère de 1,31 m€ pour une peinture de 1959 large de 2 mètres. Un an plus tôt, en juillet 2006, il avait déjà atteint le seuil du million d’euros, grâce à une autre toile de 1959 adjugée 1,06 m€ chez Sotheby’s. C’est essentiellement à cette époque que sa cote a le plus progressé, avec un bon notable de +143% sur la seule année 2006. Cette élévation des prix s’est étendue à son œuvre gravée qui représente près du ¾ des transactions. A titre d’exemple, son Eau-forte II s’est négociée 3 000 € en novembre 2007 chez Tajan, contre 1000 € dix ans plus tôt. Pierre Soulages est l’un des rares artistes français dont le travail est visible dans la plupart des musées internationaux, dans plus de 25 pays. Ce rayonnement se répercute évidemmentsur le marché, avec un produit de ventes réalisé pour 50% à l’étranger. Georges Mathieu est le troisième a atteindre le million d’euros dans ce classement. Chez Sotheby’s Paris, lors de la vente d’art contemporain du 26 mai, L'abduction d'Henri IV par l'archevêque Anno de Cologne, une toile monumentale 1958 s’est arrachée 1 m€. Il faut dire que cette adjudication exceptionnelle est le fruit d’une hausse des prix de +409% en 10 ans. Son précédent record avait été établi en décembre dernier chez Perrin-Royere-Lajeunesse (Paris) avec une enchère de 353 000 € pour Capitulation du Vali Abou Tho. En 2007, pas moins de 20 toiles de l’artiste avaient dépassé le seuil de 100 000 $ aux enchère. Un niveau de prix qui n’avait pas été réalisé par Georges Mathieu pendant une période de 10 ans, entre 1994 et 2004. Tout comme Louise Bourgeois et Soulages, une grande part du produit des ventes de Georges Mathieu est réalisé à l’étranger. Ce qui tend à prouver que pour pouvoir atteindre des sommets aux enchères, un artiste français doit avant tout rayonner à l’international. Dès qu’elle n'est soutenue que par une demande nationale, à l’image de Richard Texier et Jean-Pierre Raynaud, la cote des artistes français semble plafonnée. Même Robert Combas, élevé bien souvent en tête des artistes français par produit de ventes, ne parvient pas à atteindre le TOP10 par niveau de prix, dont le ticket d’entrée est à 200 000 €. Pierre Kimm - Picture-2008 Contemporary French art is in vogue [Jun 08] Riding on the back of a sector-wide surge in contemporary art prices, the most attractive works of some French artists are now selling for more than a million Euros. At the beginning of this year, the depressed financial environment fuelled fears that the speculative bubble that the art market had been wrapped up in for several years would finally pop. The first sales at Drouot in February and March 2008 failed to reassure buyers. Paris only perked up after the successful New York sales in May. Overall, market prices for French art have been flat since the beginning of the year but works at the very top of the range still seem to be rising. In the current economic climate, contemporary art remains very speculative and more than ever the exceptional works from market stars are very expensive. This enthusiasm is clearly reflected in the multiplication of million euro bids for contemporary French artists. Artprice has reacted by rating contemporary French artists according to records hit at auction. At the top, only three of them have managed to reach the million euro mark. TOP 10 French artists still alive by price level 1 € 2 808 000 BOURGEOIS Louise (1911) 2 € 1 310 000 SOULAGES Pierre (1919) 3 € 1 000 000 MATHIEU Georges (1921) 4 € 800 000 RAYSSE Martial (1936) 5 € 410 238 SZAFRAN Sam (1930) 6 € 283 800 TEXIER Richard (1955) 7 € 276 609 LALANNE François-Xavier (1927) 8 € 260 000 RAYNAUD Jean-Pierre (1939) 9 € 220 000 BUREN Daniel (1938) 10 € 200 000 VENET Bernar (1941) Top of the class is Louise Bourgeois with a bid of $3.6m (€2.8m) in New York in November 2006 for a monumental bronze Spider more than 2 metres high which was cast in 1997. This year in France, she received a bid of €2.5m ($4m) for another spider that was smaller, more recent and in steel, a work that she produced in 2003at the age of 91. This is proof of the speculation surrounding the oldest French artist: this record simply crowns her most recent piece in an auction. True, her price levels soared another 79% in 2007 and her retrospective at the Tate Modern in London, and subsequently in Paris at the Pompidou Centre, and soon in New York means she currently has an intense media presence. Pierre Soulages, 89, is second in the rankings. Last December, at Perrin-Royere-Lajeunesse, €1.31m was bid for a two-metre wide painting from 1959. A year earlier in July 2006, he had already reached the million euro mark with another painting from 1959 that went for €1.06m at Sotheby’s. It was essentially during this period that his price levels went up the most: +143% in 2006 alone. This surge applied also to his engravings which represent almost ¾ of sales. Eau-forte II for example went for €3,000 in November at Tajan, compared to €1,000 ten years earlier. Pierre Soulages is one of the rare French artists whose work can be seen in most international museums, in more than 25 countries. This international fame is of course reflected on the markets with 50% of sales proceeds made abroad. Georges Mathieu is the third artist in the rankings to have reached the million euro mark. At Sotheby’s Paris, during the contemporary art sale on May 26, L’abduction d'Henri IV par l'archevêque Anno de Cologne, a monumental painting from 1958, was sold for €1m. Admittedly, this exceptional sale comes after a rise of 409% in 10 years. His previous record was last December at Perrin-Royere-Lajeunesse (Paris) when Capitulation du Vali Abou Tho was sold for €353,000. In 2007, no less than 20 of his paintings were sold for more than $100,000 at auction. This is a price level that Georges Mathieu had not reached over 10years between 1994 and 2004. Just like Louise Bourgeois and Soulages, most of Georges Mathieu’s sales are abroad. This tends to prove that a French artist must make his name internationally before getting top prices at auction. If, like Richard Texier and Jean-Pierre Raynaud, demand is essentially national, price levels for French artists seem to stall at a certain level. Even Robert Combas, whose overall sales proceeds often put him at the top of French artists, fails to make the Top 10 for price levels where the entry level is €200,000.

8- Dubai, David Fisher & the Dynamic architecture

Dr David Fisher - Profile Dr David Fisher, Architect and Town Planner, is an Italian citizen, who has been passionately working on redefining the technical and technological extremes of buildings, especially in urban centres like New York, Moscow, Hong Kong, Paris and Dubai, for over three decades now. Fisher started as an artist in Florence , the home of Italian Renaissance. After graduating with Honors from the University of Florence in 1976, Fisher started teaching Architecture in the same university and at the School of Structural Engineering .

On account of his academic achievements and research activities, Fisher was awarded an Honorees Cause Ph.D by the Prodeo Institute at the Columbia University in New York .
Along with his academic pursuits, Fisher was also involved in the restoration of ancient landmarks and design of public buildings. Through the New York office of his Fiteco Ltd, which he launched in the mid eighties, Fisher started getting associated with the prefabrication and development of construction technologies as well as in the construction and development of hotel projects.
His professional activity was always focused on two things: Designing buildings that can adjust themselves to the needs of its inhabitants, thus being “dynamic”, and the industrial production of construction units.

Some of the technologies he developed include the ‘Smart Bathroom by Leonardo da Vinci' system, a completely pre-assembled bathroom system for luxury hotels and homes. Considered the first “mechanical” approach to civil construction, it is the only existing factory-produced and integrated bathroom system. Fisher's LDV Group incorporated this system into buildings in Italy for the first time, followed by Dubai , London , Moscow , Paris and Hong Kong .
Fifty-eight-year old, Fisher believes that “whatever is correct is nice; whatever is nice is not always correct”. He has also written various articles on his professional activities and on architecture.
According to Fisher, time is the most powerful dimension of life. “Time”, says Fisher “is the dimension of relativity”. His new skyscraper, the tower in motion, is shaped by “life designed by time”.

 

April 18, 2008 Dubai 

Dubai has well earned its reputation for architectural extravagance and excess.

Not a cent has been spared as various developers vie to produce the biggest, the most stunning, the most luxurious projects ever undertaken.

And while this next project is right up there in terms of luxury, exclusivity and head-spinning architectural genius, it adds a fascinating extra dimension - the ability to generate ten times as much power as it will use.

Each floor of Dynamic Architecture's wind-powered rotating skyscraper is a single apartment with the ability to rotate independently, giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button - quite a party trick. Wind turbines between each floor will generate a vast surplus of electricity capable of powering the whole surrounding neighborhood.

The method of construction is also fascinating; each floor will be pre-fabricated in segments in a quality-controlled factory before being lifted and secured into place on a concrete spine, bringing costs and construction times down significantly. Construction is set to begin soon in Dubai, with a second tower to follow in Moscow and numerous other sites around the world being considered.

The genius inDr. David Fisher's design of the DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE wind-powered rotating skyscraper is its powerful and unique appeal to so many stakeholders. With luxury and jaw-dropping architecture becoming so common in Dubai, and so many wealthy and impressionable people wishing for their homes to stand out from the crowd, the tower's unique ability for each floor to rotate independently will surely place it in high demand. It will also be a stunning landmark for the city, catching the sun as it quietly twists like a monolithic Rubik's cube.

The wind turbines between each floor make the tower an environmentally positive construction, generating a large excess of power to put back into the energy grid. Each turbine has the peak ability to produce around 0.2 megawatt hours of electricity. Given Dubai has an average of 4000 hours of wind annually, with an average wind speed of 16 km/h, the turbines are estimated to produce around 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. Four of the 48 turbines in the building will be enough to power the entire tower, leaving the other 44 to provide surplus energy back into Dubai's power grid.

The tower's unique properties allow for an equally innovative construction process. Instead of building the tower from the ground up, floor by floor as most skyscrapers are built, the rotating tower will be built in parallel stages. As a team on site builds the enormous concrete core, or spine of the building, complete with the elevators, a separate team will be working in a dedicated factory, prefabricating each floor in segments. Once the core is complete, the segments will be lifted up the side of the building and each floor will be assembled and attached, from the top floor down, around the central spine.

This method holds a number of advantages over traditional construction schedules. Firstly, since the core and floor segments are being built in parallel, the construction can be much quicker, resulting in a time saving of around 30% for a similarly sized regular tower. Secondly, vastly fewer workers need to be on site at the tower, meaning only around 90 specialist workers will need to work in difficult and dangerous conditions at the tower itself, the remainder being in an optimal, safe and comfortable factory setting.

<PCLASS=AR_BODY_TEXT>Thirdly, each modular apartment can be easily customized to the buyer's desires, and every small component can be finished and quality assessed much more easily than an on-site construction, leading to higher standards of quality control. Architect David Fisher sees the construction method as the equivalent of an industrial revolution in construction, bringing large-scale building practices into line with industrial practices in other areas. The first industrial prefabrication factory will be located in Italy.

The rotating tower is slated to begin construction soon in Dubai according to Dynamic Architecture - and the 420-meter, 80-floor Dubai tower will be followed by a 70-floor, 400-meter tower in Moscow which is currently in advanced design phase. The company is in preliminary talks with the cities of Milan, London, New York, Hamburg and Sao Paolo for further implementations.

All images courtesy of Dr. David Fisher and Dynamic Architecture (all rights reserved).

 

7 - "Chanel a donne la liberte aux femmes, YSL , le pouvoir", Adieu Monsieur Saint Laurent

Legendary designer

Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71

AP

Posted: 2008-06-01 23:44:31

By ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press Writer

PARIS (AP) - Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71.

Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's business partner for four decades, said he had died at his Paris home following a long illness.

A towering figure of 20th century fashion, Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, as its elegant headquarters.

In the fast-changing world of haute couture, Saint Laurent was hailed as the most influential and enduring designer of his time. From the first YSL tuxedo and his trim pantsuits to see-through blouses, safari jackets and glamorous gowns, Saint Laurent created instant classics that remain stylish decades later.

"I am saddened by the loss of such a legendary talent," designer Tommy Hilfiger said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press. "He was a creative genius who changed the world of fashion forever."

"Chanel gave women freedom" and Saint Laurent "gave them power," Berge said on France-Info radio. Saint Laurent was a "true creator," going beyond the aesthetic to make a social statement, Berge said.

When Saint Laurent announced his retirement in 2002 at age 65 and the closure of the Paris-based haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier, it was mourned in the fashion world as the end of an era. His ready-to-wear label, Rive Gauche, which was sold to Gucci in 1999, still has boutiques around the world.

"Mr. Saint Laurent revolutionized modern fashion with his understanding of youth, sophistication and relevance. His legacy will always be remembered," said Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa.

Saint Laurent was born Aug. 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, where his father worked as a shipping executive. He first emerged as a promising designer at the age of 17, winning first prize in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat for a cocktail dress design.

A year later in 1954, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture, but student life lasted only three months. He was introduced to Christian Dior, then regarded as the greatest creator of his day, and Dior was so impressed with Saint Laurent's talent that he hired him on the spot.

When Dior died suddenly in 1957, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at the age of 21. The next year, his first solo collection for Dior - the "trapeze" line - launched Saint Laurent's stardom. The trapeze dress - with its narrow shoulders and wide, swinging skirt - was a hit, and a breath of fresh air after years of constructed clothing, tight waists and girdles.

In 1960, Saint Laurent was drafted into military service - an experience that shattered the delicate designer, who by the end of the year was given a medical discharge for nervous depression.

Bouts of depression marked his career. Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown.

Saint Laurent returned to the spotlight in 1962, opening his own haute couture fashion house with Berge. The pair later started a chain of Rive Gauche ready-to-wear boutiques.

Life Magazine hailed his first line under his own label as "the best collection of suits since Chanel."

Nowhere was Saint Laurent's gift more evident than the valedictory fashion show that marked his retirement in January 2002.

Forty years of fashion were paraded in a 300-piece retrospective that blurred the boundaries of time, mixing his creations of yesterday and today in one stunning tribute to the endurance of Saint Laurent's style. He also designed costumes for theater and film.

There was the simple navy blue pea coat over white pants, which the designer first showed in 1962 when he opened his couture house and kept as one of his hallmarks.

His "smoking," or tuxedo jacket, of 1966 remade the tux as a high fashion statement for both sexes. It remained the designer's trademark item and was updated yearly until he retired.

Also from the 60s came Beatnik chic - a black leather jacket and knit turtleneck with high boots - and sleek pantsuits that underlined Saint Laurent's statement on equality of the sexes. He showed that women could wear "men's clothes," which when tailored to the female form became an emblem of elegant femininity.

"More than any other designer since Chanel, YSL represented Paris as the style leader," The Independent of London wrote in an editorial after Saint Laurent's retirement. "By putting a woman in a man's tuxedo, he changed fashion forever, in a style that never dated."

In his own words, Saint Laurent said he felt "fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves."

Some of his revolutionary style was met with resistance. There are famous stories of women wearing Saint Laurent pantsuits who were turned away from hotels and restaurants in London and New York.

One scandal centered on the designer himself, when he posed nude and floppy-haired for a photographer in 1971, wearing only his trademark thick black glasses, to promote his perfume.

Saint Laurent's rising star was eternalized in 1983, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted a show to his work, the first ever to a living designer.

Subsequent shows at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and in Beijing made him a French national treasure, and he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 1985.

When France basked in the glory of its 1998 World Cup soccer final, it was Saint Laurent who took center field pre-kick off with an on-field retrospective at the Stade de France.

In 1999, Saint Laurent sold the rights of his label to Gucci Group NV, ceding control of his Rive Gauche collection, fragrances, cosmetics and accessories for US$70 million cash and royalties.

Industry insiders cited friction between Saint Laurent and Gucci's creative director, Tom Ford, as a likely factor in the fashion guru's decision to retire three years later. Ford stepped down in 2003.

When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles with depression, drugs and loneliness, though he gave no indication that those problems were directly tied to his decision to stop working.

"I've known fear and terrible solitude," he said. "Tranquilizers and drugs, those phony friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."

Associated Press writers Rachid Aouli and Joelle Diderich in Paris and Samantha Critchell in New York contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

 

YVES SAINT LAURENT ( En Francais)

 

06/01/08 23:43 EDT

 

Yves Saint Laurent, l'un des couturiers majeurs du XXe siècle, est décédé dimanche à l'âge de 71 ans des suites d'une longue maladie.

 

Il avait notamment pour emblèmes le tailleur pantalon ou le smoking pour les femmes.

Yves Saint Laurent était l'une des grandes figures de la mode au XXe siècle et l'un des créateurs français les plus connus dans le monde.

sur ce sujet

La santé du couturier était déclinante depuis plusieurs mois en raison d'une tumeur au cerveau, au point qu'il ne venait plus au siège de la griffe, transformée en 2004 en Fondation, où il avait toujours son bureau. Pierre Bergé, le compagnon de toute sa vie, s'est déclaré «bouleversé».

 Pour lui, Yves Saint Laurent restera dans le panthéon de la mode avec Coco Chanel.

«(Gabrielle) Chanel a donné la liberté aux femmes. Yves Saint Laurent leur a donné le pouvoir. Il a quitté le territoire esthétique pour pénétrer sur le territoire social. Il a accompli une oeuvre à portée sociale», a-t-il dit sur France Info.

Les obsèques d'Yves Saint Laurent auront lieu jeudi à l'église Saint-Roch à Paris.

Débuts fulgurants

Né le 1er août 1936 à Oran (Algérie), celui qui s'appelle alors Yves-Mathieu Saint-Laurent débute aux côtés de Christian Dior, le couturier le plus célèbre de l'après-guerre. La mort prématurée de l'inventeur du New-Look le propulse directeur artistique de la maison Dior dès la fin des années 1950.

Avec sa ligne «Trapèze» (1958), qui rompt avec les tailles de guêpe de l'époque, le mince et timide jeune homme de 20 ans fait toute de suite sensation. En 1961, il crée sa propre maison en partenariat avec Pierre Bergé. Ensemble, le premier à la création, le second à la gestion, ils vont bâtir une griffe qui symbolise toujours l'élégance française.

Une nouvelle liberté aux femmes

Yves Saint Laurent était un homme timide et réservé.[Keystone]

Ancré dans son temps, il donnera aux femmesune nouvelle liberté en modernisant la couture et créant un prêt-à-porter puisé dans le vestiaire masculin: caban, saharienne, tailleur-pantalon et bien sûr smoking, porté par exemple avec une blouse très transparente, autre emblème Saint Laurent.

Le président français Nicolas Sarkozy a salué la mémoire du maître en affirmant qu'avec lui «disparaît un des plus grands noms de la mode, le premier à élever la haute couture au rang d'un art en lui assurant un rayonnement planétaire».

Féru de théâtre, d'opéra et de littérature, Yves Saint Laurent a dessiné des bijoux, des décors et des costumes pour des pièces et des spectacles. Toujours à l'avant-garde, il a créé des parfums, dont le premier Opium, en 1977, fut un succès immédiat et lancé le prêt-à-porter de luxe en ouvrant un magasin rive gauche.

Accompagner la libération féminine

«Je me suis toujours élevé contre les fantasmes de certains qui satisfont leur ego à travers la mode. J'ai au contraire toujours voulu me mettre au service des femmes. J'ai voulu les accompagner dans ce grand mouvement de libération que connut le siècle dernier», avait-il dit lors de l'annonce de ses adieux à la haute couture en 2002.

La maison Saint Laurent sera vendue deux fois: en 1993 à Elf Sanofi et en 1999 au groupe Gucci, filiale du groupe français PPR, qui a scindé la griffe en deux entités, la haute couture étant préservée au 5 avenue Marceau où Yves Saint Laurent créera ses modèles jusqu'en 2002. Cette année-là et pour ses adieux, il a présenté au centre Georges Pompidou, à Paris, un défilé rétrospective de 40 ans de création à la fin duquel il a été ovationné.

ats/cer

6- Robert Raushenberg-1925-2008/Artprice source

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) [May 08] Robert Raushcenberg died on Monday 12 May at the age of 82. Recognised as an heir to Dada and precursor of Pop Art, he glued, assembled and happily combined all sorts of images and materials from his era, playing on their interaction in terms of shape, texture and colour. In 1958, Léo Castelli took him under his wing and organised an exhibition for him. At the time, his technique of Combine-Painting or Combineswas already well developed and he started to explore the transfer technique using solvents in his drawings. The turning point in his career came in 1964 at the Venice Biennial. Robert RAUSCHENBERG was the first American Painter to receive the Grand Prize for Painting. Thereafter, all eyes were focused on the new artistic scene in America which captured the limelight from the Ecole de Paris artists. The Grand Prize and a retrospective exhibition in London the same year, crowned 10 years of innovative work in which the artist practiced the art of re-using “leftovers”... Numerous exhibitions followed and he soon became internationally recognised. Although recognised as a major contemporary artist for close to half a century, it wasn’t until 2006 that his auction prices really accelerated: after a decade of stability his price index shot up 270% between 2006 and the beginning of 2008. In 2007 his cumulative auction revenue amounted to over 20 million euros, representing more than the total generated over the five previous years (between 2002 and 2005)! During the same year, four of his works sold above the million-dollar line: three at the May 2007 sales and one in November: a very large - but relatively recent - acrylic entitled Primo Calle Roci Venezuela (measuring over 5 metres, dated 1985, for 2.3 million dollars, at Sotheby's). Three Robert Rauschenberg paintings were sold on the 14th of this month at Sotheby’s big New York Contemporary Art sale. The most sought-after piece, Overdrive - a large mixed-technique work on canvas - had been in a private European collection since 1963. The work went under the hammer within its estimated price range at 13 million dollars, establishing a new price record for the artist. The following two works came form the Helga and Walther Lauffs collection: the combine-painting SLUG (1961) failed to reach its low estimate of 3 million dollars and sold for $2.5m. Rauschenberg’s RED BODY, a lively work on paper dated 1969 and mixing pencil, gouache and solvent transfer elicited more enthusiasm: estimated at between $500,000 and $700,000 it finally sold for $850,000. Rauschenberg’s works are indeed hotly disputed at auction as the supply of his major works - not already in private collections or museums - is undeniably drying up. On the other hand, the rising prices may well prompt some collectors into reselling, which could offer the market a small number of exceptional quality pieces... as was the case for Overdrive on May 14 last.

5 - De la culture en Amerique- Frederic Martel- Gallimard

Superbe photographie de Pierre Kimm

"La boulangerie"

Un art a la Francaise!

 

Un livre toujours d'actualite, qu'il est interessant de lire et de relire.

Une reference pour la France et les Etats Unis.

De la culture en Amérique

Frederic Martel, Ancien conseiller culturel à Boston.

"Du fait de la dimension universelle que les Etats-Unis et la France ont respectivement donnée à leur Révolution, nombre de nos concitoyens sont convaincus que les premiers sont le pays de l’argent roi et la seconde la nation de la culture. La chose méritait donc examen.

Frédéric Martel a entrepris une grande enquête, sans précédent, sur la vie culturelle aux Etats-Unis. Il a rencontré des acteurs de la vie culturelle (cinéastes, galeristes, auteurs, théâtreux, danseurs, conservateurs, critiques, etc.) dans les villes qui nous paraissent des métropoles culturelles, mais également sur les campus, dans les États ruraux, ou les parcs de loisirs — forme avérée aussi de la vie culturelle de masse. Il a épluché les dispositions fiscales, rencontré les fonctionnaires des administrations, publiques et privées, de la culture, plongé dans les archives fédérales des grandes présidences (Kennedy, Johnson, Roosevelt, Reagan, etc.). Il en résulte un tableau riche en nuances et qui vient ébranler nos certitudes. Car les Etats-Unis n’ont pas de Ministère de la Culture, mais ils ont une politique culturelle. Pas de Ministère : le fédéralisme a toujours pesé pour que les États gardent l’initiative contre le gouvernement fédéral en matière culturelle, à l’exception de la mobilisation des artistes et acteurs par Roosevelt dans sa lutte contre le chômage à la fin des années trente. Il y a là une double crainte, historiquement : qu’une culture officielle s’instaure, qu’elle soit le reflet des élites urbaines aux dépens des curiosités du peuple. La culture américaine entend être celle, démocratique, de l’homme ordinaire, du citoyen sans qualité.

Il en résulte que la culture peut alors devenir « une nouvelle frontière », comme le voulait Kennedy, dans la lutte effective pour les droits civiques, contre les inégalités sociales et raciales. Qu’une agence fédérale fut créée dans les années soixante, le National Endowment, dont le législateur votait annuellement les subsides destinés à promouvoir une politique culturelle sans précédent en Occident, même si l’administration républicaine, dès Reagan, voulut lui rogner ses ailes. Le bilan ? Avec l’aide des États, une décentralisation de la vie culturelle où acteurs et créateurs vont à la rencontre des citoyens aux quatre coins du pays ; avec l’aide des fonds privés de la philanthropie et du mécénat, une politique réelle de diffusion culturelle de qualité, le secteur privé se chargeant de l’industrie de divertissement. Avec l’aide des campus et des universités, une création d’avant-garde qui, au fil des ans, s’instille dans tous les autres mondes constitutifs de la vie culturelle américaine.
Si le Ministère de la Culture est nulle part, la vie culturelle est partout".

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Extrait :

Etat contre société civile, argent public contre manne privée : en matière de culture, tout sépare a priori la France des Etats-Unis. Pourtant, budgets, équipements et pratiques culturelles se révèlent finalement assez proches des deux côtés de l'Atlantique. La cause est entendue. Sur le terrain culturel, il n'y a pas plus opposés que les modèles américain et français. D'un côté, le plus grand pays du monde fait de la culture un des produits privés à exporter partout sur la planète. De l'autre, la France mène une politique publique et affirme que « la culture n'est pas une marchandise » face à l'envahisseur américain. De la culture en Amérique (Gallimard), relance ce débat.