Impact of Blogs on Art Auction Market

WOW !!! It's amazing the effects a blog can have on the Art Auction Market...!!!

Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction, London Feb 10th, 2006..Sets 7 new artist records!! But this should be NO Surprise to the Wise Jan'06 MAO Readers...  Here's an excerpt from an ArtInfo.com Story...   But the clear best buy of the night...??? Hmmmm... Looks familiar...?? Hands down.. goes to Lot #12

  Andy Warhol, Mao 7; Sold for: £1,464,000/$2,554,387 (est.£400-600,000)

This 50-by-42 inch acrylic and silkscreen ink painting is from 1973, executed at a time when the Cold War and threat of a Communist world order was very much part of the popular culture—making Mao’s glamorized image a radical parody. And Icon of  a well known NYC based Art Blog.

Instead of the black-and-white propaganda tones of the great leader’s appropriated image, Warhol "tarted" it up with hand-painted passages of pinks, greens and yellows.

Fresh to the market, the riveting "blog icon" portrait triggered intense bidding. New York art trader (And clearly a Regular MAO Blog Reader !!!) Alberto Mugrabi , a major player in the Warhol market, bought the painting at more than double its high estimate.

Mugrabi also acquired Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes [lot 51] (est. £250-350,000) later in the sale for £612,800.

"Brilliant" Quotes from the Auction Crowd : “I am totally confused by the market,” said New York dealer Barbara Mathes who bought at the auction, but preferred not to identify her purchase. “You wonder how long the prices can keep going up, yet there seems to be insatiable demand, and price doesn’t get in the way.”.

“Warhol is a global artist in an increasingly global market,” said New York art dealer Larry Gagosian.

2 NY dealers.. One's confused, the other uses the word GLOBAL twice a 10 word statement.. Someone tell these 2 old timers.. they clearly need to read the art blogs if they want some real art insight!!

Comments

[Anthony Easton]

i have an odd question--can you explain why a classic 60s brillio box is 250k and a late 70s mao is 2.5m?

Any painting from the 60s would be worth 10 or 12m

[Mike @ MAO]

Anthony Thanks for Reading and Commenting on the blog..

I'm not a Warhol expert by any means.. But, I'd bet there are other readers who probably have an answer for you..

But my guess..
-A Brillo Box doesn't look as impressive over a rich collectors sofa, since they can't hang it on the wall.
-This was (almost) a one of a kind original painting, I thought the Brillo boxes were editioned.
-The Mao Tse-tung image has far reaching political/socio-economic implications.

and of course..
-There isn't a cool art blog named Brillo yet.

Anyone else?? Any bright ideas??

[El MarvelOso]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?