Big-name artists do well in recession
21 September 2008The top end of the art market has done well in the economic downturn, but that’s not the case elsewhere, writes Emma Kennedy.
‘Companies go bust, artists don’t," said David Douglas, the owner of Dublin art gallery Gallery Number One.
In a week when stock markets tumbled, banks crashed and pessimism became even more entrenched, British artist Damien Hirst smashed all estimates and brought in almost stg£112 million (€141 million) at a two-day sale at London auction house Sotheby’s. Hirst’s Golden Calf - a bull in a tank of formaldehyde, with its hooves and horns cast in gold - commanded the highest price at last week’s auction, selling for just over stg£10.3 million (about €13m) - proof perhaps that Douglas is not alone in viewing art as a safe bet.
‘‘Stocks and shares are not looking so good for investors at the moment, and they want to put their money elsewhere," said Douglas, who opened his gallery just over two years ago. Recent exhibitions have included a series of portraits by former Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and a collection of photography by legendary muse Pattie Boyd.
Despite the endless recession rhetoric, there still seems to be money to spend on art, with Douglas saying his gallery had record sales of €30,000 on one of the days of the Boyd exhibition. Gallery owners rely on strong sales, since most do not charge people to view their exhibitions.
Ian Whyte, managing director at Dublin art auction house Whyte’s, said there were still people with a lot of money to spend who didn’t want to invest in stocks and shares.
At the end of the month, Whyte’s will host an auction of British and Irish art, including works by Paul Henry, and Francis Bacon prints. An auction of similar scope and scale took in €1.1 million last September; Whyte said he expected a similar return from the upcoming event.
But while the upper end of the art market is holding its own, smaller buyers and less well known artists are feeling the pinch. ‘‘There has been a fall-off at the lower end of the market," said Whyte.
He added that there had been an increase in sales in recent years to young professionals - couples with a new house or apartment and a limited budget of typically €2,000 a piece. Sales in this bracket are not recession-proof, according to Whyte. It’s a simple equation - as houses fail to sell, fewer walls are available for art. Even for those who have taken the plunge and bought a property, there’s less of a margin for luxury spending. ‘‘People in this bracket might find themselves struggling a bit, so the art budget has been knocked on the head,’’ Whyte said.
So, for galleries that aim at entry level and mid-market investors, the recession is very much a reality. Valerie Walshe, owner of the Blackbird Gallery in Kilkenny, described the situation as ‘‘dismal’’. Like Whyte, she said art collectors with a long-term view and a large budget were still in the market for ‘‘big name’’ purchases.
‘‘That market will never change. It’s the people who buy the smaller bits and pieces, the middle market, that has been virtually wiped out," Walshe said.
She has been running her gallery for three and a half years and said there had been a noticeable slowing in sales since October last year. The recent Kilkenny Arts Festival provided some relief with people ‘‘coming in droves’’.
For gallery owners and artists alike, arts festivals and trade fairs are a way of life, representing a chance to their work to a wider audience and hopefully generate sales into the bargain.
Last week, the RDS played host to the inaugural Dublin Art Fair, a galleries-only art fair. Lesley Tully, the director, said about 1,000 people attended the opening night of the event, with a further 4,000 attending over the weekend. She said about 70 per cent of visitors were members of the public with an interest in art, while the remainder was a mix of curators, critics, dealers and invited guests.
Figures for total sales at the event are not yet available, but Tully believed it had been a success. ‘‘Most galleries make 80 per cent of their revenues at trade fairs," Tully said.
While trade fairs may represent an opportunity to reach a larger market and boost sales, galleries need to generate considerable revenue to make a profit at this type of event. Tully said gallery owners paid between €3,500 and €12,000 to exhibit at the Dublin Art Fair.
For Walshe, trade fairs are becoming less attractive. She said attending any trade fair cost a minimum of €3,000, and recent outings had not generated the revenues to justify the trip.
Douglas said he went to trade fairs to find art, rather than to show it. He said he would prefer to use the thousands of euros required to secure an exhibition space at a trade fair to attract artists and collections to his gallery.
While more established galleries may be in a position to use reserves to weather the current slowdown, Walshe said newer galleries, like her own were a lot more vulnerable. ‘‘You either diversify into other areas, such as classes, or you close," she said.
As artists like Damien Hirst cash in on the view among high-end investors that collectible art is a secure bet at the moment, emerging artists at the other end of the scale are in a different position. Irish artist Helen Steele, who is based in Emyvale, Co Monaghan, said she hadn’t seen an impact on sales of her work yet, but that that could change. ‘‘It [the recession] is hitting everything," Steele said.
The timing of the current economic slowdown is especially unfortunate for the Irish art world, according to Steele. ‘‘There has been a renaissance of Irish art. The last ten years have been incredible," she said. But emerging artists at the tail end of this wave may have to wait a little longer for their big break as the market for entry and mid-level art investments continues to falter.
Since the late 1990s, emerging Irish artists have received state support outside the standard art-funding routes, via a scheme operated by the Office of Public Works (OPW). The OPW looks after the state’s art collection; it currently has about 11,000 works from several hundred artists.
Since 1997, all construction projects undertaken by the state have had to allocate 1 per cent of their budget to purchase art work. This scheme has provided valuable support to emerging talent, with up to €63,000 per project available to spend on art.
However, with public sector cutbacks, construction projects may not be abundant any more, and young Irish artists will see another door close. A spokesman for the OPW said the commitment to 1 per cent of the budget would always be there, but that since this was relative to the total value of construction projects, artists might well feel a squeeze if fewer state construction projects were sanctioned.
He said there had been no noticeable change as yet, because the 1 per cent funding was transferred at the start of construction projects, so the art budget for ongoing construction projects was either already spent or still available to purchase new works.
Emerging Irish artists hoping to break into the art world at this time may need to look further afield for opportunities. Steele has exhibited her work all over the world and has links with galleries in Miami, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Austria. Closer to home, she works with the Mullan Gallery in Belfast and Helga Fox’s contemporary gallery in London. Her advice to Irish artists starting out in their careers is to cast their net wide.
She said: ‘‘Travel with your work. Try everywhere, not just Ireland or even Europe. Art is a global business."