Have you seen this?? www.650SixthAve.com
Apparently, being a super successful Chelsea Art dealer isn't enough excitement for some people.
Now Chelsea Art Dealers want to make their name in the High Flying world of the crazy NYC Real Estate Business too! Apparently the thought here must be, if you can sell over priced contemporary art.... your name can probably help sell fools gold, snake oil, dreams, expensive NY City Condo's too!
(photo #1 by Lewis Hine, Icarus, The Building of the Empire State Building, 1930) Hmmm... this Icarus Image and story.. just seem to be so appropriate for this posting...
So, in this weekend's Sunday New York Times... There was a full page ad for 650 Sixth Ave - Gallery Style Condominium Living presented by SHVO, and the Jack Shainman Gallery.
We guess this is a new Art Gallery Owner ego gone real estate developer trend.. cause there was also this NY Times Real Estate Story featuring 14 units within Gallery Owner Max Protetch's new condo project.
We just don't understand the connection to the art gallery business..
(photo #2 by Reagan Louie, Bank of China, Hong Kong, 1988)
What's next??
Hotel Gagosian? The Zwirner Shopping Mall?? or maybe even the Zach Feuer Office Towers?
Have times in the NYC art gallery business become so fat crazy greedy good.. that now these art dealers want to become Egomaniacs Real Estate Moguls as well?
Where will all this money madness end??
Could it be that they've brought some 'smart' biz-dev brains onboard? Could they be toying with some creative accounting strategies? Perhaps trying to take advantage of 'synergies' *groaning at lingo* between both sides of the business?
I'm trying (hard) not to be too cynical though LOL... think about it, more walls controlled by people in the art-biz might lead to more space being dedicated to art...
who knows
Posted by: Ian | March 21, 2007 at 08:37 AM
Gee, in the olden days, they all wanted to be movie producers (Arnie Glimcher, etc.)
Maybe they're trying to diversify in case the art market crashes?
Posted by: lisa hunter | March 21, 2007 at 08:52 AM
The whole thing is retarded, BUT...
If you're going to do this kind of thing, you're doing it with Jack Shainman?!? Oooooo - he's just so powerful and important in the artworld - (NOT). I mean, at least if it was Zwirner, or Gladstone, or Gogo, or Marian Goodman, you'd know that there would be some terrific art involved (hopefully). So it's either a 'velvet mafia' thing (is Shvo gay?), or it shows exactly how little Shvo actually knows about contemporary art. Gosh, why didn't he just partner with I-20, Caren Golden, or Postmasters?
Posted by: mj | March 21, 2007 at 09:05 AM
Dear MJ,
You are my new hero. LOL. Sorry, Mao.... But MJ used "velvet mafia". I don't believe Michael Shvo is gay, but, well, who the hell knows anymore. Look at this blog.
Posted by: Kenny T | March 21, 2007 at 01:55 PM
So they're going to try and diversify in case the art market crashes into a market that is (by many accounts) is already crashing? Or is the money from the art world so over the top at this point that have to find new places to throw it at/invest it? Either way I smell disaster looming.
Posted by: Art Brute | March 21, 2007 at 03:26 PM
Hmm... Is real estate really a good diversification of ones investment risk in the art market? Aren't the two correlated (i.e. both driven by Wall Street's bonus pools). Can MAO make us one of those nifty Bloomberg graphs?
Posted by: Jimmy | March 22, 2007 at 02:26 PM
Diversify from Art to real estate:is this self-referential,a major formative
nutrient for Health or Disaster?
Posted by: ArtLiquid.blogspot.com | May 06, 2007 at 02:05 PM
Art Services get in on the action too. I've heard from a few people that at Cirkers on W. 55th that they are selling their building to a condo developer.
Posted by: Zach Lund | June 11, 2007 at 04:43 PM