Artelligence Podcast

It’s the end of the first quarter in the art market. That gives us a good opportunity to assess the momentum for a number of artists whose work has been selling at auction. The first quarter is traditionally less active than the Spring market. So we can focus on some artists who might not draw attention at other times during the year. With that in mind, we’ve put together a Hot List for the first quarter. These are artists with active markets where we see demand. You can read our list on the LiveArt app or at LiveArt.io. LiveArt’s Executive Vice President George O’Dell comments on these particular artists’ markets.

Austin Lee’s second show at Jeffrey Deitch, Like It Is, is on view through April 23, 2022. Lee’s painting process is unique. He initially mocks up ideas using 3D modeling software or digital sketches. Later, he recreates the digital image in physical form through 3D printing or, more often, using an airbrush and and acrylic paint on canvas. Lee’s goal is to present the images, experiences and emotions provoked by digital aesthetics in physical form. His work ruminates on animated representations of his own feelings, alluding to emojis and early internet culture. In this podcast, Lee talks about his interest in Old Master paintings, his own traditional training in materials and how the two combine to create his uncanny take on digital culture.

African American artists and artists of the African diaspora have been getting a great deal of attention from the art world for the last five years. But Nigel Freeman built the African American art market one sale at a time at Swann Auction Galleries. For 15 years, Freeman developed collectors and courted consignors. He was instrumental in igniting the market for Barkley Hendricks and helped refocus market attention on a broad group of artists like Charles White, Hale Woodruff, Sam Gilliam, Elizabeth Catlett, Hughie Lee-Smith and Kenneth Victor Young. In this podcast, Freeman talks about how this market developed out of the spotlight and what has happened since these artists have gotten the recognition they deserve.

Bethany Collins has a new show, Cadence, at PATRON gallery in Chicago where she presents work that explores the political and social evolution of three songs, The Star-Spangled Banner, Auld Lang Syne and Dixie. Creating installations with music and "hymnals" that present the evolving lyrics inspired by competing political and social movements, Collins discusses the liberation and frustration of making art through "using the language of others to make sense of the world."

Jacky Ho is Christie's Head of Evening sale for the Hong Kong auctions. In this podcast, he discusses the growth of these sales into perhaps the most global auctions of the international calendar. We discuss the interests and tastes of Christie's clients in the region, their strategies for collecting and many of the artists whose markets have emerged in Asia.

Johann König is one of Europe’s most entrepreneurial art dealers. He started his gallery in Berlin at 20 years old. Now, 20 years later, he has grown to spaces in Berlin, London, Monaco, Seoul Vienna, Tokyo and the Decentraland metaverse. More than that, König Galerie publishes a magazine, produces a podcast and launched a digital platform for NFTs and fractional art ownership called MISA, which will be the subject of a separate podcast. In this episode, we asked Johann what it means to be a gallerist in an age when the art market is changing how dealers build audiences and represent artists—and the nature of art itself is changing rapidly too.

In this London 2022 Winter auction preview, we speak to Helen Newman at Sotheby's, who will tell us about their $60 million Magritte, half a dozen Monets, a Picasso and a Van Gogh. Katharine Arnold at Christie's will discuss their late Francis Bacon triptych, a portrait by Lucian Freud, as well as a Bridget Riley work held by the same family for 57 years. Giovanna Bertazzoni tells us about Christie's restituted Franz Marc painting and their surrealist Picasso. Finally, Cheyenne Westphal goes through the long list of breakout artists—like Lauren Quin, Doron Langberg, Jadé Fadojutimi, and Emily Mae Smith—at Phillips and others whose markets continue to roll on. But she also takes a moment to discuss a rare, unseen work of Sigmar Polke coming from the well-known collection of Emily and Jerry Spiegel.

Sonya Roth has been a prominent Los Angeles collector for two decades. Originally a criminal prosecutor, she was an early champion of the current generation of emerging artists and collectors and played an important role in the growth of LA’s contemporary art scene. Since 2015, Roth has led Christie’s Los Angeles office which moved to an expanded Beverly Hills location two years later. Roth is now the Managing Director for Christie’s Western US Region leading the firm’s growth strategy by focusing on client engagement and strategic business development. With Frieze Los Angeles opening today, Roth talks about the unique role artists play in LA's collecting culture, the importance of the entertainment industry and the changing nature of collecting in the city.

LiveArt is a platform for providing transparency to the art market. Our app gives users access to live auctions, historical price data for artists’ work and in-depth analysis. It is also peer-to-peer trading platform. In this episode, we speak to George O’Dell, who heads sales at LiveArt, and his colleague Kelly Cahn, about their views of the marketplace. Kelly also takes a little time to talk through how sales work on the LiveArt platform.

Antwaun Sargent became a director at Gagosian gallery in 2021 after a decade as a writer and curator, most notably of the book and now exhibition "The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion." In this podcast, he discusses the global success of the New Black Vanguard Show and his upcoming collaboration with late designer and artist Virgil Abloh. That exhibition will open in June at the Brooklyn Museum. Social Works, his first show for Gagosian, was a major event in Chelsea. There were lines around the block for admission. Gagosian's Chelsea galleries have previously seen such lines for shows about Picasso's late works, curated by his biographer John Richardson, and a blockbuster Monet exhibition mounted by former MoMA curator John Elderfield. Social works was so successful, Gagosian accelerated the launch of Social Works two in London from 2022 to last fall. In this podcast, Sargent tells us of the potential for a third social workshop and where it might be held, as well as a series of shows he's putting on at Gagosian's 74th street location in New York.