February 25, 2008

NY ARTS: The Armory Show claims to be bringing the art world back to New York. We ask, did it ever leave?
THE ARMORY:
Just a quick note on your headline in this week’s newsletter: we didn’t
say we were bringing the art world back to New York, we said we were
bringing the art world to New York. By that we meant that we are
bringing 92 galleries from outside the U.S. and 18 American galleries
outside of New York City. In addition to that, last year 20% of our
52,000 visitors came from overseas, and 36% from outside of the
city�that’s over 29,000 art lovers, including collectors, curators and
critics. We, like you, are proud that New York is the center of the art
world, but it’s important to remember that that world also extends far
beyond our hometown, and Armory Week is the time that it converges here.
�Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, Communications Manager

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Food for Thought:
Pierre Huber, the controversial Geneva-based gallerist, will be
excluded from this year’s Art Basel and ShContemporary art fairs
because he auctioned works from his private collection at Christie�s,
which had originally been purchased with the understanding that they
would eventually be part of a future private museum, and were sold at a
museum discount. We ask, are other partners less ambitious than he is
in promotion and making money on their own collections? Is insider
trading and manipulating prices not allowed among dealers? Furthermore,
which art fair has the most insider trading especially among dealers,
galleries, foundations, and museums? Is this bickering an early sign
that the art fair bubble is about to burst?

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