Brad Pitt and Naomi Campbell were among the buyers at the VIP preview of Art Basel as dealers reduced prices and showed classic works in an attempt to inject life into the ailing market for modern and contemporary art. Within the first hour of the Swiss art fair, the world?s largest, a diamond-encrusted sculpture by Takashi Murakami sold for $2 million. Actor Pitt bought a Neo Rauch painting priced at $956,000. Model Campbell joined purchasers, said New-York based dealer and collector Alberto Mugrabi.
The fair, with 300 international galleries and more than 2,500 artists, aims to attract wealthy visitors. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, co-founder of Blackstone group Stephen A Schwarzman and US collectors Eli road were also seen browsing. ?There?s a mood of cautious optimism,? Jeffrey Poe, co- founder of a Los Angeles-based gallery. ?It?s back to quieter and more interesting days.?
Prices of contemporary art have declined after Lehman?s bankruptcy in September 2008. Christie?s International and Sotheby?s respective $93.7 million and $47 million totals at the May contemporary-art auctions in New York were 72% and 87% down on last year. The average auction price of contemporary art has fallen 76.2% since May 2008.
The 6-foot Murakami sculpture titled The Simple Things features a glass-fibre, steel and acrylic head of the cartoon-inspired character Mr Dob with diamond-encrusted consumer products such as a can of Pepsi, a cup cake, a sneaker and bottle of Johnsons baby oil in his mouth. It was bought by two collectors. One is from France, the other from the US. They will be sharing it. Both happen to have houses in LA.
This year?s Art Basel, which runs through June 14, has fewer works marked at more than $1 million than last year. Zurich-based Bruno Bischofberger AG is just showing Warhol?s Big Retrospective Painting, with some of the artist?s most familiar motifs such as heads of Marilyn Monroe. It is priced at $74 million. Madrid-based Galeria Elvira Gonzalez gave over its entire booth to half a dozen works from the 1960s and 1970s by the minimalist sculptor Donald Judd. A new 6-foot-high stainless steel sculpture, ?Piggies? by Paul McCarthy, was another early seven-figure sale. It was bought by a European collector and was priced at $1.5 million.
?The days of people running in and acting as if the fair is an auction are over,? Michael Findlay, a director of the New York-based Acquavella Galleries, said. ?Then people thought that if a thing hadn?t sold by 2.40 pm on the first day there was something wrong with it. We?re back to the dynamic of 36 of the last 40 Basel fairs.?
?I have a positive feeling,? said Christophe Wiesner, director of the Berlin-based Esther Schipper gallery. ?The atmosphere is completely different from Art Basel/Miami Beach in December.?
?The mood is much more positive than we expected,? said a gallery director. ?There are a lot more Americans around than we thought we?d see.?