A Romare Bearden photo collage provided an unexpected spark at the recent Contemporary Curated sale at Sotheby’s, covering up for what was otherwise a lackluster outing for the included photography. Even with a Buy-In Rate for photography near 40% and just one other positive surprise, the Total Sale Proceeds came in near the top end of aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The most exciting photographic data point coming from Christie’s recent Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in New York was a non-event – the withdrawal of the top photo lot, an Andreas Gursky image from his series made in Pyongyang. With that work stripped out, the results were rather forgettable, with a few positive surprises helping to push the Total Sale Proceeds toward the bottom end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The photography included in Christie’s recent First Open sale in London wasn’t particularly notable, but the few lots that were on offer fared quite well. The top lot Gilbert & George print found a buyer above its range and the overall Buy-In rate for photography was under 15%, helping the Total Sale Proceeds to come in just above the aggregate pre-sale high estimate.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The upcoming First Open sale at Christie’s in London offers a meager gathering of photography. These early season, lower end mixed contemporary art sales are always an eclectic mix, but this particular session is lighter than usual on notable photographs. The sale is led by a secondary Gilbert & George and filled in with images by Twombly, Dibbets, Abramovic, and others. Overall, there are a total of 15 lots of photography available in the sale, with a Total High Estimate for photography of £215000.... Read more at Collector Daily.

There’s one last photography auction to tempt last minute shoppers coming up next week at Artcurial in Paris. For an out of season various owner sale, it has more than a few unexpected works worth perusing. Overall, there are a total of 71 lots on offer in this sale, with a Total High Estimate of €491050.... Read more at Collector Daily.

Christie’s begins its Fall season with a double shot pairing of First Open sales, one in New York and one in London. The New York sale hits the usual bold faced names, but the photo material is generally middle of the road, tailored for getting back in the groove. Overall, there are a total of 28 lots of photography available across the sale, with a Total High Estimate of $886000.... Read more at Collector Daily.

In what might sound like a contradiction, this year’s Armory Show has both more and less photography than in previous years. “More”, in that by my count, there were 97 booths showing something that might be called photography (out of a possible 214 not including the publishers). That’s over 45% of the galleries, which must be some kind of record and is certainly an increase from what was on offer last year. But a glass half empty kind of person might characterize this show as quite a bit “less”, in that eclectic mid-tier randomness seems to have replaced the parade of boldfaced names ... Read more at Collector Daily.

In what might sound like a contradiction, this year’s Armory Show has both more and less photography than in previous years. “More”, in that by my count, there were 97 booths showing something that might be called photography (out of a possible 214 not including the publishers). That’s over 45% of the galleries, which must be some kind of record and is certainly an increase from what was on offer last year. But a glass half empty kind of person might characterize this show as quite a bit “less”, in that eclectic mid-tier randomness seems to have replaced the parade of boldfaced names and highly saleable, contemporary material that we’ve come to expect at this kind of gathering. If you are looking for Sherman, Gursky, Prince, Gilbert & George, Ruff, Struth, Tillmans, and the like, you will wear out your shoe leather and generally come up empty handed.

This portion of my notes covers the Focus area and the long extending arm of Pier 94; the second part will cover the remainder of Pier 94 and all of Pier 92. The booths/galleries are arranged by my path through the fair, roughly up and back along the aisles. For each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, and pictures of the installation are also included as appropriate.

Galleria Continua (here): Carlos Garaicoa (2)

Higher Pictures (here): This booth contained three new works by Artie Vierkant. They’re physically thinner than his last works (now on Dibond instead of thick Sintra) and more compositionally complex and multilayered ($17000 each). I think they’re getting better.

Aisho Miura Arts (here): Shuhei Yamada (9)

Various Small Fires (here): Liz Magic Laser (2)

moniquemeloche (here): Joel Ross and Jason Kreps (4)

CONNERSMITH (here): Lincoln Schatz (1 set of 30, 1)

Anthony Meier Fine Arts (here): Roy McMakin (1 set of 6, 1 set of 4)

Francis M. Nauman Fine Art (here): Sherrie Levine (1 set of 18 postcards)

Pilar Corrias Gallery (here): Leigh Ledare (1)

Pekin Fine Arts (here): Kata Legrady (1), John Clang (2), Martin Parr (1), WassinkLundgren (4 diptychs). The photography duo of WassinkLundgren have taken to the streets of Tokyo, simultaneously taking two images of the same scenes from slightly different vantage points. The effect is Paul Graham’s The Present meets Barbara Probst, highlighting the particular unmistakable flow of Tokyo ($2000 for each diptych). While discussing the fine Martin Parr auto show image on the outside wall, I heard that Parr is at work on a book of Chinese photobooks.

Kalfayan Galleries (here): Hrair Sarkissian (12)

Spaces Corners (here): Ed Panar (2), Andrea Galvani (1), Tim Hyde (5). These four photo collages by Tim Hyde were shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a few years ago. I like the way they break up the parking lot view into Cubist shards that are reassembled into abstract interruptions ($5000 each).

Andy Warhol Museum (here): Andy Warhol (5 modern enlargements)

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (here): Cui Xiuwen (1)

Aperture (here): James Welling (1), Andrea Galvani (1), Enrique Metinides (1), Bill Armstrong (1), Doug Rickard (1), Michel Campeau (1), Sarah Moon (1), Richard Mosse (1), Silvio Wolf (1), Lars Tunbjork (1), Hank Willis Thomas (1), David Levinthal (1), Abelardo Morell (1), Rinko Kawauchi (1), Bruce Davidson (1), Michal Chelbin (1), Denis Darzacq

Whitechapel Gallery (here): John Baldessari (1), Roy Voss (1), Thomas Ruff (1), Zarina Bhimji (1), Rodney Graham (1), Peter Abrahams (1), Gerard Byrne (1)

Upstream Gallery (here): Frank Ammerlaan (1)

Baró Galleria (here): Ricardo Alcaide (2)

Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): André Kertész (3 Polaroids), Max Neumann (6), Man Ray (1), Silvio Wolf (1 set of 30, 1), Trine Søndergaard (4), Bill Brandt (1), Shinichi Maruyama (3), Keith Smith (2), Constantin Brancusi (2), Michael Wolf (1), Todd Hido (2), Mark Cohen (1), Nicolai Howalt and Trine Søndergaard (1), Walker Evans (1), Aaron Siskind (1), Nicolai Howalt (1), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1). This booth was a solid mix of both contemporary work and vintage gems. This 1930s Brandt nude was a particular surprise, as I hadn’t previously seen one from earlier than the mid 1940s ($35000).

espaivisor – Galeria Visor (here): Nil Yalter (1 set of 10, 1 triptych, 1 set of 16), Sanja Ivekovic (1 set of 100)

ONE AND J. Gallery (here): Jung Lee (5). I suppose it was inevitable that the “pithy phrase in neon” so prevalent in contemporary art would finally make the jump to staged photography ($15000 each).

Galeria SENDA (here): Oleg Dov (2), Anna Malagrida (2)

Galerie Crone (here): Daniel Megerle (10), Adrien Missika (4)

Galerie Ron Mandos (here): Hans Op De Beeck (1)

Rhona Hoffman Gallery (here): Luis Gispert (1), Xaviera Simmons (1), Karthik Pandian (2), Vito Acconci (1), Robert Heinecken (3)

Ingleby Gallery (here): Garry Fabian Miller (1 set of 4)

Sies + Höke (here): Joao Maria Gusmao and Pedro Paiva (1), Daniel Gustav Cramer (1 set of 7)

Sprüth Magers (here): John Baldessari (1), David Lamelas (8), Cindy Sherman (5), Louise Lawler (1)

Goodman Gallery (here): Mikhael Subotzky (2), Alfredo Jaar (1), Hank Willis Thomas (1 set of 6), David Goldblatt (3)

Luciana Brito Galeria (here): Caio Reisewitz (1). Marina Abramović (2), Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich (1), Regina Silveira (1 installation). This is a new work by Marina Abramović; I liked the tiny cracks climbing up the expanse of green and the unsettling blackened finger ($90000).

Cardi Black Box (here): Shirana Shahbazi (4). These are new works by Shahbazi, more active and overlapped than other abstractions I have seen by her.

Corkin Gallery (here): arbara Astman (5), Thaddeus Holownia (1 set of 100), André Kertész (3), Constantin Brancusi (1), Marion Post Wolcott (1), Frank Mädler (1)

Tang Contemporary Art (here): Wang Gongxin (2 videos), Ji Zhou (1), Yang Yong (1 diptych)

Galerie EIGEN + ART (here): Ricarda Roggan (3)

PPOW (here): Adam Putman (10)

Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Joel Meyerowitz (2), Gordon Parks (1), Edward Burtynsky (1 diptych, 2), Imogen Cunningham (1), William Klein (4), Bruce Davidson (2), Robert Frank (2), Vivian Maier (4), Saul Leiter (4), Ted Croner (1), Caleb Cain Marcus (2). This lively diamond mural abstraction isn’t what you might expect from William Klein ($19000).

Angles Gallery (here): Ori Gersht (5, 1 lightbox, 1 diptych) Soo Kim (5). This handcut inkjet print by Soo Kim is elegantly interwoven and delicate ($10000). Another example of a contemporary photographer playing with the surface/physicality of the print.

Haines Gallery (here): David Maisel (1)

Galerie van Gelder (here): Steven Parrino (1)

Leila Heller Gallery (here): Reza Aramesh (1 triptych)

Hales Gallery (here): Sebastiaan Bremer (1)

Vistamare (here): Mimmo Jodice (1)

Pierogi (here): Nadia Bournonville (1), Kevin Cooley (2)

Susan Inglett Gallery (here): Sarah Charlesworth (2)

Yossi Milo Gallery (here): Alison Rossiter (3), Simen Johan (1), Myoung Ho Lee (3), Mark Ruwedel (1 set of 15), Matthew Brandt (3), Doug Rickard (1), JD Okhai Ojeikere (2), Julie Cockburn (3). This new Matthew Brandt is more swirly and abstract than other works from this same series ($19000); the underlying lake drenched image is hardly recognizable.

Ignacio Liprandi Arte Contemporaneo (here): Jorge Pedro Nuñez (4). Square format Artforum ads projected into Albers-like layers of color ($4000 each).

Loevenbruck (here): Morgane Tschiember (1 set of 6)

Jack Shainman Gallery (here): Richard Mosse (1), Hank Willis Thomas (1), Barkley Hendricks (1). I was blown away by the electric contrast between the blue and the red/pink in this new Richard Mosse ($24000).

Corvi-Mora (here): Anne Collier (2)

Kukje Gallery (here)/Tina Kim Gallery (here): Kimsooja (1), Haegue Yang (2 sets of 4, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 2), Candida Höfer (1), Jenny Holtzer (1)

Part 2 of this post can be found here.

Comments/Context: You’d have to have been living under a rock, off the grid, to have missed the continuous media frenzy surrounding Marina Abramović’s recent performance/retrospective, which closed earlier this week at the MoMA. In the self-referential art world, for the past month or two, it’s been all Abramović, all the time. This exhibition at Sean Kelly is the obligatory paired selling show, offering those who have been inspired at the museum an opportunity to follow-up on their interest in the artist’s varied work.
.
Having watched Abramović performing her 700+ hour marathon in the atrium a couple of times during its long run, I have to say that I now have an entirely different perspective on the photographic documentation of performance art. Perhaps a decade or two hence, in a gallery somewhere, there will be photographs of Abramović, in one of her long flowing robes (blue, red, or white), her braid pulled to one side, staring intently ahead at the random visitor seated opposite her. To someone who hasn’t seen the performance in person, these images will look like a symmetrical, perhaps conceptual pairing of people in chairs, with a table in between or not (this changed during the course of the performance), in an otherwise empty space. But those future viewers will have a hard time understanding how powerful this piece really was, even if there are paired portraits of Abramović’s steely gaze and those of her respective partners. The photographs likely just won’t do it justice, but perhaps there will be collectors and museums who will still want these imperfect representations, as they will be all that remains of a surprisingly historic and moving but otherwise ephemeral event.
.
Which brings me back to the photographs on view in this specific show. Having not witnessed the many performances of Abramović’s ground-breaking career, I was left wondering how the photographs on these walls captured (or not) the essence of what had actually transpired long ago. I didn’t see her carve a star into her belly, slam knives between her fingers, carry a skeleton, or mop the floor, so I don’t really know if these photographs depict the nuanced reality of what occurred or not. As such, I was forced to evaluate the pictures in a different way, as objects in and of themselves, on their merits as stand alone artworks, rather than snapshots or souvenirs of something crazy and challenging that happened decades before.
.
When seen from this vantage point, these photographs become something altogether different I think. In general, they are images of a statuesque and often beautiful woman in a variety of strange and unsettling staged circumstances. At some points, they verge on the surreal, at others, physical danger lurks in the background, but if you don’t know the stories, the “film stills” which should be eerily personal seem oddly disconnected.
.
The combination of seeing Abramović perform live at the MoMA and seeing these photographs hung in this gallery left we with the strong, lightbulb-over-the-head-like realization that photographs of performance art are a paltry substitute for the real thing. They’re likely the best (or perhaps only) way for performance artists to make a living off of their performances, so this photographic documentation method isn’t going away any time soon, and they’re a decent way to help remember the obvious high points. But I came away from these two shows with the palpable feeling that these photographs are missing the most important quality of performance art: the hit-you-in-the gut, blast of energy that comes from seeing an artist out there on the edge. In a certain way, as an advertisement for the transformative power of performance art, Abramović could hardly have been more successful.
.
Collector’s POV: The photographs in this show range in price from $30000 to $150000. Abramović’s work has not been regularly available in the photography secondary markets; perhaps it has been more readily accessible in the contemporary art auctions, I don’t entirely know. The historical prices I was able to discover have ranged between $4000 and $30000, but these may not include works sold outside the strict definition of the “photography” market, so take this data with a degree of skepticism when matching it against the gallery prices above. Given the excitement surrounding the MoMA show, her prices are certainly going to be rising.
.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Exhibit: The Artist Is Present, 2010, MoMA (here)
• MoMA reviews: NY Times (here and here)
• Interview: WSJ (here)
• Marina Abramović Made Me Cry (here)
• Roundup: Hyperallergic (here)

Marina Abramović
Through June 19th

Sean Kelly Gallery
528 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001