UBS Closes Art Advising Unit in Basel – from Artforum.com
Carolyn Bandel reports for Bloomberg that UBS AG, the world’s largest wealth manager, will close a division that advises Swiss clients on investing in art. The unit offered research on art-market prices, provenance verification, and advice on buying artworks to clients and visitors at the annual Art Basel art fair. UBS’s decision to shut the division won’t affect its sponsorship of the event, which will only expire in 2011, according to the bank. “We have recently signed a sponsorship agreement for several years,” said Maike Cruse, a spokeswoman for Art Basel. “There won’t be any impact from this on us.”
Worth Seeing
Jaq Chartier, Downtime
April 2 to May 9, 2009
Platform Gallery
114 Third Avenue South, Seattle
Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 11AM to 5:30PM
www.platformgallery.com
Tim McFarlane, Right Now – New paintings and works on paper.
March 31-April 25, 2009
Opening Reception: April 3, 2009 6-8:30pm
Bridgette Mayer Gallery
709 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.bridgettemayergallery.com
On the Picture Trade
I’m currently reading The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Don Thompson, and it really struck me that some of the things you hear gallery experts talk about – seems to be so far off the mark that it’s almost sublime. Meanwhile Thompson takes you into a world that as we all has no real financial transparency while at the same time make illustrating a pathway to success that artists need to understand. Still reading, but a really interesting read so far.