IZO

Abramovich and Zhukova attend Larry Gagosian party in St Barts, Jamaica (Sun). Also on yacht at St Barts: White Cube owner Jay Jopling and new squeeze Lily Allen, daughter of Damien Hirst best friend Keith Allen (Daily Mail). So, one imagines Gagosian and White Cube will stay afloat during the Crisis.

Specialist dealer in non-conformist artists Mark Kelner has a new website (M. Kelner Gallery).

Marat Guelman on the Kandinsky Prize: basically he seems to think along the same lines as me (galerist in Russian):

The worst thing is that despite the starry jury the prize went to the least interesting project of the three on the shortlist. ... It's lifeless kitsch, but because it's lifeless not everyone sees it for what it is. Gilding, pretentiousness - it's rubbish.

An interview with Moscow gallerist Gary Tatintsian which took place in the summer but was posted online at the end of last month (artinvestment.ru, in Russian):

AI: To get back to the crisis. Many fear a psychological crisis - a collapse because buyers' moods have been spoilt by news from the financial markets.

GT: There won't be a crisis. You say the mood will be spoilt. On the contrary, as soon as the business mood is spoilt, people turn to entertainment. And art is the best entertainment.

Marat Guelman knows why he was beaten up in October 2006 (IZO, earlier, at end of post) (galerist, in Russian):

Not for internationalism, not for the exhibition of a Georgian artist at the time of an anti-Georgian campaign, and not because the Blue Noses depicted Putin naked and Christ next to Pushkin. But because I allowed [Eduard] Limonov to hold his book presentation in my gallery.

From Marat Guelman's blog:

лучшее про кризис


чье не знаю

At E. K. Artbyuro, Moscow, a rare look at 1980s Odessa conceptualists (Kommersant, in Russian). One of them was Alexander Petrelli, known as Pocket (Карман), whose conceptualism has now metamorphosed into the well-known Overcoat Gallery.

Marat Guelman is devoting himself to the new museum of arte povera in Perm and has taken on a partner, a "major collector of the Russian avant-garde", who will run his Moscow gallery. Guelman keeps a veto right over exhibitions (galerist, in Russian).

Marat Guelman remembers Oleg Kulik's first performance (galerist, in Russian):

...as I understand it, this concerns his first performance. In which Brener also took part. Oleg couldn't say, in the presence of his then greatest rival, Brener, "Let's not do it." It was their joint performance. Brener led Kulik on a lead and shouted out poems. After that evening Kulik's fantastic fame began, and with it Brener's jealousy of him.

Opening of the new Bereznitsky Gallery in a former discotheque on Heidestrasse, Berlin, last Friday. Solo photo show by Berlin resident Julia Kissina, and mixed show of Ukrainian and Russian artists, mostly painters but including Zhenya Shef's 3-part photo-work.

Another look at the cooling market at Frieze: this is the definitive statement so far about what's going on in Russia (The Scotsman):

Elena Silena [sic], from Moscow’s XL Gallery, says the Russian market has just stopped. “This market will stop for maybe half a year,” she says. “People have money but they have stopped buying. They are thinking about the crisis.”

Vladimir Ovcharenko of Regina Gallery on the prospects for Frieze, which opens in Regents Park on Wednesday (Bloomberg):

"Frieze will be quiet,'' said Moscow-based dealer Vladimir Ovcharenko, participating in the fair for the first time, in an e- mail. The ultra-rich Russian collectors "lost billions in stocks last months. Nobody wants to think about art now.''

Former east-bloc countries account for nearly 50 percent of global sales at Gagosian, the world's top contemporary art gallery by exhibition space; 13 works have been sold from the current Gagosian show at the Red October chocolate factory, Moscow (John Varoli/Bloomberg).

A review of the Marat Guelman-curated museum show Russian Povera (Русское Бедное) in Perm; the review contrasts the povera art with Hirst's diamond-coated creations (business-class.su, in Russian). Related earlier post.

Congratulations to Vladimir Ovcharenko/Regina Gallery, the second Russian gallery (following XL) to get a stall at the Frieze Art Fair.

Irresistible new book, or, Is Marina An Evil Murdering Art-Dealer? (PR.com):

Serpentauria is a suspense thriller novel set in the American Southwest in which the bodies of healthy men found in the desert lead to a Russian art dealer, who is a snake lover testing out a deadly toxin to be used in political assassinations on these victims. ... Soon the trail leads to a beautiful Russian émigré, Marina Dubchov, who runs an art business from her palatial desert home, and is a snake lover, who has been developing an untraceable toxin from snake venom that is perfect for political assassinations. As the investigation proceeds, she seduces both FBI investigators, Wayne Dancer and Julie Anderson, ... the investigation raises a number of questions? Is Marina an evil murdering art dealer? ... What is at stake and who has the upper hand?... Says Owner and author of the novel Erik D Stoops, This project is going to be a cult classic.

Erik D Stoops is the author of Boas & Pythons: Breeding and Care and other animal titles (Amazon).

It turns out that Cy Oggins's cover was - art dealer (inRich).

The world's top gallerist, Larry Gagosian, will show his own collection contemporary artists (corrected 11/08/08) at the Red October factory, Moscow, from 18 17 Sepember (corrected 11/08/08) (a few days after the Kabakov show that inaugurates the Melnikov Garage). He is also planning a permanent outlet in Moscow (RIA Novosty, in Russian) (corrections via Julia Korotkova/Prime Concept).

Igor Markin says that soon everyone in Russia will be paying taxes, I think that's right. Apparently the new generation of collectors demands invoices, receipts etc from galleries where they buy. So the galleries will go legit. Markin also says (art4ru, in Russian):

But it won't save anyone
they'll be able to destroy anyone just like before
by checking previous years

Marina Varvarina, widow of St Petersburg businessman Dmitri Varvarin, who was killed in 2000, is opening a contemporary art gallery called Erarta on Vasilevsky Island ; the initial investment is estimated at $30-35 million (a hefty sum for a new venture, I would say, and dwarfing any other private venture in the city) (RBK Daily, in Russian).

Marat Guelman and Perm senator Sergei Gordeev are jointly creating a museum of contemporary art in Perm. The focus will be on arte povera - in the Russian but also Italian and international variants. The choice of theme is, in part, to accommodate Perm folk traditions. Guelman on the difference between Russian and Italian arte povera:

...imagine two starving people. One doesn't eat because he is dieting, watching his figure, going swimming and to the doctor - his world is full of food, but he refuses it. The other is starving because he is poor - he fantasises about food, it appears in his dreams, but he has no money to buy it. Superficially, they're both doing the same thing, like "Russian Poor Art" and Italian arte povera, but they are the outcome of differing intentions...

Well, I liked that when I read it, but now I think about it, it's probably inaccurate. Italian arte povera emerged out of a post-war situation in which (as we can see in neo-realist cinema) poverty was a reality for many. The real arte povera these days, i e that dictated by poverty, is probably being made in Africa. But for all that, I think the Guelman-Gordeev undertaking is a great project.

A look at the glamorous life and times of Dasha Zhukova; in addition to the info in the article, I'm told that Zhukova is an observant Jewess who cannot, for example, administer the Melnikov Garage on the sabbath: she will need to delegate to non-Jewish staff (Times).

A long video interview with Marat Guelman about the museum-funding question, the Erofeev affair and Olga Sviblova (galerist, in Russian). Meanwhile, on the Forbidden Art question, Igor Markin thinks that (art4ru):

Without a doubt the time will come when Erofeev will be asked to return to the Tretyakov Gallery on a white horse,
soon Rodionov will despatched on the heels of the former Minister of Culture Sokolov direct to Hell
very soon

An interview with photography collector and art dealer Alex Lachmann (Kommersant, in Russian).

The opening of Art Moscow: Marat comes clean (photo: JV). Actually this is an archetypal moment: in order for contemporary art to remain vital, it has to contemplate the possibility of its own irrelevance and uselessness.

Maybe it's common knowledge, and maybe it's not even true, but the rumour has reached me that Triumph Gallery has acquired a major London gallery lock-stock-and-barrel: the premises, the staff, the stock, the artists.

Gallerist Alexander Yakut, who recently according to reports joined forces with Triumph Gallery, is apparently building a vast new gallery from scratch in Moscow.

The Event of Yesterday was the opening of the new Volker Diehl-run gallery in the premises of the former Antiques Salon No. 1, a treasure trove of interesting stuff to me in the eighties and to Soviet collectors in earlier decades no doubt. Mr Diehl is an illustrious gallerist with a good track record of showing Russian art in Germany. The re-vamped space looks great; the art by megastarlet Jenny Holzer looks to me a little tired: the paintings, for example, resemble what Avdei Ter-Oganyan has been doing for ages. Perhaps the warm Bollinger contributed to my lacklustre impression: I would consider at least a different caterer ;) But the presumed project - to bring some more major artists to Moscow - is a good one, of course. Sensation of the night was at the after-party. Someone asked why I was in Moscow, and I replied that I had to file my Russian tax declaration before the end of April. Looks of astonishment all around the table, jaws dropping into the linguine etc. Plainly, to some of those present the idea was quite exotic. One esteemed gentleman, who I understand is in the running to be the next director of the Tretyakov Gallery, said he would think of me with gratitude on his next visit to hospital. UPDATE: according to Artinfo the Holzer "paintings" referenced by me above are prints; my bad.

Colin Gleadell's tour of the Russian art scene (Telegraph).

The mooted Abramovich-Zhukova gallery (IZO here, here) will apparently be an arts' centre situated in the historic garage on Obraztsova Street, built according to a design by Konstantin Melnikov (image below). The garage, which for several years has been off-limits to the public because of its poor state of repair, has been purchased by a Jewish organisation. It is intended that the first show at the garage will be part of of the planned Ilya Kabakov mega-exhibition in the autumn.

Re Abramovich-Zhukova gallery, my correspondent texts: "I know evrrrything. It's a Jewish story."

To make explicit rumours in various places, including this site, but not printed in the MSM due to absence of quotable sources: Roman Abramovich is planning to sponsor a gallery of contemporary art in Moscow, to be run by his squeeze Darya Zhukova. The couple have been seeking a partner or gallery director from among the top Western gallerists. PS not long ago Zhukova attended the opening of the Rankin photo show at VinZavod (Tvoi Den, in Russian).

Thoughts on how to become an art dealer (Alex Wengraf).

I am told there are plans for the 2010 Manifesta to be staged in Kiev with the assistance of a foundation set up by Ukrainian gallerist Lyudmila Bereznitskaya, who is currently active in Berlin. Off-top: while in Berlin today I visited Julius Werner (son of the mighty Michael) in his gallery on the swish Kochstrasse. Werner junior has a couple of hundred square metres, in which he was showing works from the eighties by A R Penck priced at up to €3.5 million. We had a useful conversation; talking about his business, he said to me: "I'm just starting out." Doing well in Berlin: Russian artist Anna Parkina, who now shows at Coma Gallery, one of the best new-media spaces; and here is her performance courtesy of Youtube. I don't know what it's about: some kind of Kafkaean metamorphosis?

Alex Melamid's ninety-year-old mother has negotiated for a very considerable sum the sale of a stash of his youthful paintings that she found under a bed (thanks, ZZ). I often tell my friends in the 9-5 that it's possible to switch to being an art dealer at any point. All you need is to know where to look. And the right connections, preferably umbilical.

For the last week or so Marat Guelman has been on holiday in Jamaica and, with time on his hands, has filled his Live Journal (in Russian) with a quantity of reflections on contemporary art. Intriguing, perhaps worth developing as a book.

Aidan and Volker Diehl, who has a strong tie-up with Guelman and will be opening a gallery in Moscow in the near future, are both at Art Dubai (Moscow Times).

Marat Guelman on a Russian artist who found brittle success "among the dilettantes" in New York (galerist, in Russian). As one of his commenters puts it, it's "the same old story", but a poignant one for all that. I don't know about the artist in this tale, but several Russian emigres to America have now returned to Russia, among them Sundukov and Kizevalter (old work by both of them did ok at Sotheby's today, btw). The same thing happened in the thirties: Falk and several others came back, mainly from Paris, driven not (one imagines) by socialist zeal, but the difficulty of earning a capitalist crust.

Opening of the M and J Guelman Collection at the Chelsea Museum last night.

A few days ago I hitched a lift from Sheremetevo airport with Vladimir Ovcharenko, owner of Regina Gallery, which is hosting tonight's Phillips de Pury reception. I asked him how his shows of foreign artists go in Moscow. He told me it is a hard sell, because the prices for Western artists are so much higher. I think that's probably right: you can still get substantial works by Venice Biennale artists such as Dima Gutov and Blue Noses for $20,000.

Christmas Eve encounter

It is apparent from the massive quantity of my Google email alerts that the only Russian dealer to achieve world fame is Cologne-based Alec Lachmann. The art press, reporting from London or NY or Switzerland or wherever, reports breathlessly his opinion on the latest stunning prices, Russian and non-Russian. So frequent and so geographically scattered are there reports that I have thought of introducing a rubric "Where is Lachmann?" In connection with which I myself can report that this evening he was at a Christmas jazz/Mozart/gospel concert in the Moscow Conservatory. How nice to know that under at least one other hard-bitten dealer's exterior beats an art-loving heart :)

Round-up

A show looking at the work of Konstantin M. Maximov opens in Beijing on May 28.

Satirical works have again been detained by Moscow customs (also here, with image)

Marat Guelman Gallery is now the Marat and Julia Guelman Gallery.

Aidan

There is no more legendary figure in the Russian art world today than Aidan Salakhova: an artist with a distinct and original vision; creator of the first commercial gallery in Moscow; astonishing beauty. Sergei Bazilev recently contrasted for me the different gallerist styles of Aidan and Alla Bulyanskaya: Bulyanskaya makes no contractual demands and lets an artist sell and show where he likes, whereas Aidan is tough in the Western sense, requiring complete exclusivity. Aidan is notably generous to her fellow gallerists: at Art Moscow a few days ago she took the important collector, Umar Dzhabrailov, around the stands of the lesser dealers and introduced him. Below, Aidan portrayed by Sergei Kalinin.

News round up

Down but not out: Marat Guelman announces (in Russian) that he is retiring from work and the public eye until the autumn, for health reasons. I don't know, but one surmises that his problems may be connected with the vicious beating he received in October.

And some nuggets from Lenta.ru:

The first day of Sotheby's 2-day Russian sale (yesterday) made $12.7 million, top lot being a miniature Faberge "armchair", $2.28 million. Meanwhile a mammoth skeleton originating from Siberia has just fetched $352,000 at Christies; and the FSB is publishing a book of love-correspondence involving the founder of the Soviet secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky: an original pr move; maybe it will shed new light on his nickname, Iron Felix? 

Pollocks?

The leading dealer in contemporary Russian art in New York, Ronald Feldman, apparently has an interest in the recently-discovered stash of paintings attributed to Jackson Pollock, according to the Boston Globe (pdf) and other reports. If so, does he have Russian clients for them?

How The East Was Won

I'm in Berlin today visiting Boris Mikhailov. Below are some photos illustrating how, until quite recently, much art business was done in Russia. Ukrainian dealers unpack their wares from the back of a truck, here in a snow-bound carpark by Gorky Park. I would guess that many of the masterpieces that now grace The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis had adventures such as this.

Gallery news

Zurab Tsereteli's Museum of Contemporary Art has opened a new exhibition space, possibly commercial, named, modestly enough, Zurab. It's at 9 Tsvetnoi Bulvar and opens 7 February with an illustrators' show. Meanwhile Marat Guelman is planning to sell a 50% share of his gallery to an unknown investor and to use the proceeds (apparently) to open two more branches, in places unspecified (most people think New York, where Guelman has links, and Paris, where he shows regularly at FIAC). How much should he ask? is a question debated on his blog (in Russian).

Stella closes

Irina Kulik, in Kommersant (in Russian) considers the recently-announced closure of Stella Art Gallery. What will remain is the non-commercial Stella Art Foundation, planning apparently to open a museum of contemporary art in Moscow in 2010 (I have lost count how many private museums are planned in Moscow). Kulik notes that the Stella gallery, which opened in luxurious granite-clad central-Moscow premises about (as I recall) three years ago, helped transform the down-at-heel, bohemian Moscow contemporary art world into a moneyed and fashionable scene. She puts its closure down to the difficulty of competing with established galleries such as Guelman and XL: Stella was forever "borrowing" for its shows artists signed to other galleries.

On his blog (in Russian) Marat Guelman makes an important point about the "ambitious" Stella Art Gallery and about the role of a gallerist in general:

Ambition is not the most important quality in a gallerist. If anything, the reverse is the case: what is needed is the ability to work with the ambitions of others.

Hirst in Moscow

The Independent reports on Damian Hirst's sell-out show at the modestly-named Triumph Gallery. Marat Gelman approves the show in his blog (in Russian), and here, via Igor Markin, are a view of the show and Hirst himself with collector Markin.

Gelman profile

The Washington Post considers Marat Gelman. It covers his former affiliation with the Putin political machine which he seems now (judging by his blog) to rue.