Wet Paint: Art-Storage Closures Throw Deals Into Disarray, Hardcore Bidders Still Show Up at Auction Houses, & More Juicy Art-World Gossip

Every Thursday afternoon, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a
gossip column of original scoops reported and written by Nate
Freeman. If you have a tip, email Nate
at nfreeman@artnet.com.

SHUT-DOWN STORAGE

Galleries may be shut down for the time being—at least when it
comes to their physical spaces—and certainly most collectors are
currently focused on making sure their families are safely hunkered
down. Most of them aren’t scheming ways to get their hands on, say,
a blurry Lucas Arruda landscape right
now. (That being said, a Lucas Arruda did sell for $100,000 at
the David Zwirner “booth” at the Art Basel
Hong Kong Online Viewing Rooms VIP opening Wednesday.) But
eventually, collectors will want to reclaim some normalcy and buy
art and make some deals—and those who broker those deals will want
to, you know, continue doing their job while living in exile or
quarantine for what could be weeks and weeks.
Or—gulp—months and months. Ideally, advisors and dealers
will still be able to take potential buyers to see works in offsite
locations so long as they stand six feet apart—or, for greater
social distancing, send high-res pictures of the works to
self-isolating buyers via PDF.

But one pretty big problem has emerged. Many of the major
storage facilities in the New York area, which nearly all galleries
and private dealers use as their war chests to hold pricy works,
closed this week in accordance with the health guidelines set forth
by state officials. In a email sent to a gallery this week (and
forwarded to Wet Paint) the art services behemoth
UOVO said it would shut down at least until April
1, and admitted that the decision would “of course impact the
upcoming transfer and condition check of the three works by [an
artist the source ask not be named].” It clarified that, with
regard to scheduled appointments, “UOVO collect/drop off or
installation of property after March 18th will be postponed until a
later date.” In addition, Crozier Fine Arts,
another storage facility, said they would close after the end of
business Thursday.

An adviser used to working with such facilities said that this
would impact potential transactions in a number of ways—even if
someone was just trying to sell an artwork over PDF, since dealers
often send photographers to the facilities to take high-quality
snaps for that purpose. “If you have stuff in storage and you don’t
have a great image, that could be an issue,” the source said.
Another source acknowledged that it would impact sales if dealers
couldn’t get access to their inventory, but noted that, from a
health perspective, it was the right call. “The shipping of art is
very physical,” the source said, and doesn’t allow for safe social
distancing considering the way handlers need to grapple with the
work. (This source also pointed out that it would please the UOVO
workers, who last October narrowly voted against unionization, and
closing demonstrates that company brass is responsibly safeguarding
their interests.)

But what if you’re a desperate dealer trying to unload your last
KAWS before that market disappears for good? You just might get a
lucky break. A spokesperson for UOVO emailed late Thursday to say
that they are “accommodating client requests strictly by
appointment,” and that “UOVO remains open on a restricted basis in
order to comply with guidelines promulgated by emergency management
officials, and to ensure the health and safety of the UOVO
community.” Let’s hope you’re important enough to make the cut.

NO GALA? NO PROBLEM

When Wet Paint referred to the Art Production
Fund benefit as “the last gala,” it was kind of a
tongue-in-cheek thing, but now… it looks like that may actually be
the case! There will be no more galas in the era of self-isolation,
that’s for sure. Or, like, we could all wear hazmat suits instead
of tuxedos—but what would that mean for all the champagne and
canapés? Fortunately, just because we won’t have fancy fundraisers
for a while doesn’t mean those who support the arts can’t be
generous. And, in fact, when the New York Academy of
Art announced that it was canceling its Tribeca
Ball, a spokesperson declared that the title sponsor,
Van Cleef & Arpels, would still be donating the
same amount it would have if the gala were still happening. Come to
think of it, galas might be better if everyone had to stand six
feet apart. Chin chin!

SOCIAL-DISTANCING BIDDING

You might of missed it among the, um, ongoing developments in
the city, but Sotheby’s had an auction this week.
A real auction! In a salesroom! With an auctioneer! And it actually
was a success. Wednesday’s Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art
auction brought in $4.8 million, edging out the $4.7 million high
estimate. Not only were 91.1 percent of lots sold, 77 percent of
the winning bids came from specialists who were fielding calls in
the room—at the Sotheby’s headquarters, on York
Avenue, in the middle of the city that has been
effectively put on lockdown—and from absentee bids sent to the
auctioneer prior to the sale. And while sources said that some
people actually did show up to sit in seats with paddles, no one
who braved the airborne toxic event to sit at the auction house
were among the winning bidders.

FORGE-IN-PLACE

This week, disgraced Knoedler Gallery president
Ann Freedman—who directed the gallery as it dealt
with 10 federal lawsuits over selling millions in forged paintings,
and then was forced to closed after 165 years in business—sent out
a well-intentioned if slightly incoherent email to her… fans? Does
she have those? Anyway, the email started out with a George C.
Scott quote, and then went into Freedman’s inimitable prose. “As we
‘shelter-in-place’, we hope for well being ourselves, our loved
ones, and those all around the world,” it began [sic throughout].
“While being safely at home, for some of us, we may also feel the
extra blessing of being in the true presence of the art on our
walls.” True presence, sure, but is the art itself… true?

CHECKING IN ON EGGLESTON

Do you think William Eggleston is handling the
coronavirus fine down in Memphis?
Well, let’s check in on America’s greatest living photographer,
courtesy his son Winston’s Instagram. (Thanks to writer Nick
Pinkerton for the tipoff.)

BOOKED UP DIGITALLY

If you though we used to spend too much time staring at screens
before, well, you are in in for a wild ride, ladies and gentlemen.
Without any—how do you put it—real people to interact with, it’s
just the internet, all day, all night. Guess what: You’re even
looking at a screen right now. (Busted.) And even though the art
world is an exceedingly social place, well, now we have to
socialize via phones and zoom meetings and even something called
“HouseParty.” Expect pop-up podcasts to run rampant. Jerry
Gogosian has already pivoted to that pod life, and will
offer some “Unlicensed Art Therapy”—alongside 56
Henry founder Ellie Rines—to anyone who
gives her a two-minutes voice recording. Ortuzar
Projects director Polina Berlin took to
Instagram to start the #workfromhomechallenge, where she asks
art-world insiders to send over their best work-from-home “lewks.”
(The fashion world has a marvelous Instagram account devoted to
such a cause: @wfhfits. It’s a must-follow.)
And people are starting to get really into this whole
video-conference thing. After chatting with a source, she said that
we should grab a “long-distance” dinner, and we should get it on
the books soon. Why? “My digital calendar is filling up!” she
said.

WE HEAR…

Issy Wood made two lovely new paintings, one of
a roll of toilet paper and one of someone washing their
hands—“fairly on-the-nose,” Wood admitted—to benefit the
Trussell Trust food bank in
London … The Romantik Hotel
Spielweg, the spectacular Black Forest
inn where art-worlders would normally retreat to during Art
Basel, is selling some of their Michelin-starred
wursts, cheeses, and charcuterie and shipping them around the
world, as the restaurant is shut until Easter and the hotel is
closed indefinitely—so buy them! … artist Borna
Sammak is distraught that his lecture at
Columbia has been cancelled …

SPOTTED

Chef and philosopher king Fergus Henderson at
the Sarah Lucas show at Sadie Coles
HQ in London, before the gallery shut its doors March 16
*** Steve Martin tweeting about how he found an
old copy of Art in America while in
quarantine *** A number of dealers, writers, artists and collectors
who escaped to their homes in the Hamptons, the
Hudson Valley, the Catskills, and
other parts of New England, while others rented
cars and drove down south… but that’s not really a
spotted, is it? (This particular Wet Paint section might
need to get an overhaul.)

PARTING SHOT

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Disarray, Hardcore Bidders Still Show Up at Auction Houses, & More
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