Art & Finance Newsletter #9
I've been bumping into art funds and estate structuring and planning inquiries in which it is clear there are:
(a) pre-existing conflict of interest issues; and
(b) poorly vetted providers or stakeholders.
Unwinding these situations and removing such risks is not easy for a variety of reasons; relationships are established, retainers are transferred and/or legal entities are long ago filed.
A recent example: after a conversation with a potential client in which I explained the steps of preparing their collection for FAAA to assist in monetizing, a significant conflict of interest in their pre-selected valuation provider became clear.
FAAA will still be able to provide a monetization solution, but the client will need to spend more in the process and cautiously manage a relationship with the artists foundation.
Unfortunate indeed and could of been avoided by calling FAAA earlier in the process and preparing a conflict free third-party valuation provider.
On to the art market...
Significant Art Fair Coming To Singapore
Huge opportunity for client engagement and for staking a claim in the art/finance market for those in Singapore and surrounding region. Be prepared for November 2019.
Art Basel’s Swiss parent company MCH Group will launch an art fair in Singapore called ART SG in November 2019, expanding its regional art fair enterprise to Southeast Asia.
The fair is a joint venture between MCH Group and the Asian art market insiders Sandy Angus and Tim Etchells, who founded Art HK, Hong Kong’s first art fair, in 2008. (Art Basel bought Art HK five years later and renamed it Art Basel Hong Kong.)
The first edition is expected to attract around 80 galleries from both Singapore and around the globe, and will take place at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
MCH Group - ART SG a new significant art fair for Singapore
Asia's Newest Millionaires Want Fine Art
Bloomberg reported that banks are expecting the population of millionaires in the Philippines to grow at an annual rate of 10% over the next few years. One estimate has the population of High Net Worth Individuals, those with more than $5m, will grow by 80% over the next five years:
While still in its infancy, the Philippines’ luxury goods market is tipped to grow more than a third to almost $2 billion in the five years through 2022, according to Euromonitor International Plc.
Among the luxury goods are wares sold by auction houses like Salcedo which held its first sale under a tent in 2010 and now has five times the attendees at Manila’s Peninsula Hotel:
“We expect prices to go up as they do every auction,” Salcedo Auctions director said. “The rich will spend to make every part of their life filled with joy.”
Bloomberg - Asia's Newest Wealth Flocks To Fine Art
Always Due Diligence
“When the art market gets really frothy all sorts of strange characters come out of the woodwork.” - says every art advisor.
A Hong Kong based art dealer has accused Angel Gublenkian of fraud. In a civil suit, the dealer says his firm paid Gulbenkian almost $1.4 million for a Yayoi Kusama sculpture that never materialized. Documents in the suit, as well as interviews with people familiar with Gulbenkian, indicate that many came to believe that she was affiliated with the two prominent Portuguese institutions with the Calouste Gulbenkian name. That isn’t the case.
However this plays out, it shows just how tricky it’s getting to navigate the murky world of art deals.
Bloomberg - Art Deal Gone Awry
Exhibitions to hit on your summer travels...
Brussels - Léon Wuidar @ Rodolphe Janssen
HK - Jeff Elrod, Alex Hubbard, Yang Shu @ Simon Lee Gallery
London - Harold Ancart @ David Zwirner
Los Angeles - Thomas Scheibitz @ Sprüth Magers
NYC - David Wojnarowicz @ P.P.O.W Gallery
Paris - Fred Sandback @ Galerie Marian Goodman
Tokyo - Yukie Ishikawa @ Blum & Poe
And always the reminder to tell your associates and colleagues about this newsletter!
Get them signed up and you can share in the exclusive knowledge of the art market together.
Always be with the in crowd...
Until next time,
Blake