You Can't Scare Me, I'm Sticking to the Links

by Robert Boyd

How To Help the Striking Sotheby's Art Handlers: Art Fag City asks that people "Stop Shopping at Sotheby's". This seems a bit unrealistic. Most people who are interested in or otherwise involved in art have never purchased anything at Sotheby's and probably never will. Furthermore, amongst those who do buy from Sotheby's, you can't really argue that they, say, buy from Christie's instead because the items they are bidding on are unique. You can't get a substitute for that art object you want from Sotheby's at Christie's or Phillips de Pury or Heritage. And finally, the buyers of art at Sotheby's are the 1%--their sympathies are likely to be with Sotheby's management more than with the working class. No, who should be targeted are the consigners. Consigners should be more-or-less indifferent about who auctions off their possessions. If you can convince someone who would have sold through Sotheby's to instead sell through Christie's, you hurt Sotheby's. [Art Fag City, "Stop Shopping at Sotheby's", Whitney Kimball and Will Brand]


Forrest Bess, untitled, not dated

Forrest Bess is All Over the News: The New York Times critic Roberta Smith has a long article on Bess which also criticizes the Christie's sale (benefiting M.D. Anderson) for containing too many lesser works. (There is a nice slideshow, too.) Then over at Hyperallergic, longtime Bess devotee John Yau has a penetrating two-part article about the man from Bay City. ["A New Vision of a Visionary Fisherma" by Roberta Smith, The New York Times; "Without Elaboration" by John Yau part 1 and part 2, Hyperallergic]


Exeunt Exit Art


Institutions that die with their founders: Exit Art was founded in 1982 as a scrappy alternative art space by Jeanette Ingberman. It's known for its commitment to emerging artists and art by "the art-world underdog, focusing almost entirely on work by minorities, women and non-mainstream artists." So says Rachel Corbett in Artnet. Ingberman died last year, and now Exit Art is shutting down with one final valedictory exhibit. The final day for Exit Art is May 20. This got me thinking. Are there many spaces like this that are run by a single person for her entire life? Spaces that close after the founder's death? I'm thinking this because I usually think the intention of non-profit space is to go on indefinitely, even though many fail to reach that goal. Even when an institution is strongly identified with one person, there is often a succession plan for the event of the founder's death. (The Menil is probably an example of this--it seemed to run quite smoothly after the death of Dominique DeMenil.) I wonder if Ingberman planned for Exit Art to exit when she did? ["Exit Art Exit Interview" by Rachel Corbett, Artnet; "The Fantastic Dream: a memorial to Jeanette" by Melissa Rachleff Burtt, Artnet]

All Power to the Workers Links

by Robert Boyd



Surprise! Sotheby's hates the working class. Sotheby's has locked out their art handlers in a labor dispute. I instinctively side with the art handlers, but really I don't know the details of the dispute. But let's remember--Sotheby's net income in 2010 was $161 million dollars, and their CEO William Ruprecht has a base salary of $700,000 as well as a performance based bonus and other long- and short-term incentives. This hasn't sat well with Occupy Wall Street, who issued this communiqué:

Occupy Wall Street supporters are appalled at the persistent attack on workers rights. We support the right of the workers to collectively bargain. Sotheby’s wants all new hires to have no collective bargaining rights, no health benefits and no job security. After locking out their unionized work force, Sotheby’s continues to operate using scabs and a non-union subcontractor. Sotheby’s art auctions epitomize the disconnect of the extremely wealthy from the rest of us.

Fair Labor in the Arts has put up a petition. [Bloomberg, Sotheby's 2010 Annual Report, Sotheby's Definitive Proxy Statement, Hyperallergic, and Fair Labor in the Arts]


Make sure your free art labor fits this template!

I Wanna Be Exploited! So you are a commercial artist. A client asks you to design a brewery's pint glasses that will be part of their brewery tour? What's a fair price for that? How about barter? How about a private tour and beer tasting for ten people? And how about it be a competition, so even if you do the work, you might not get your tour. Does that sound like a good deal? If so, you should enter this contest. It's being put on by Karbach's, Houston's newest microbrewery. [Karbach's beer glass contest]

No Houston artists need apply. At least, not if you're trying to decorate the johns in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Dixie Friend Gay, local artist and experienced airport decorator, was hired to provide murals for for 42 restroom entrances at the Florida airport, only to have the Broward County supervisors rescind the offer because Gay was not a local artist. [SunSentinal.com]