Artsy gets $50 million boost
Online art marketplace Artsy has announced that it has raised a staggering $50 million in founding, (series D) bringing the company valuation to an estimated $275 million.
Artsy CEO Carter Cleveland has revealed that the funds will allow the company to “delve deeper” into auctions, the website’s fastest growing part after Artsy secured partnerships with Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips. Among the investors, some notable names: Larry Gagosian, Dasha Zhukova and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. Today, monthly sales via Artsy stand at $20 million. Techcrunch has more information.
Christie’s announces excellent results for first half of 2017
Courtesy Christie's.
Despite a decline in private sales, Christie’s has announced excellent results for the first semester of 2017.
Sales have totalled £2.2 billion ($2.8 billion) in global auction sales, a 29% increase compared to the previous year — an equivalent of a 18% growth in dollars, as the currency has been more stable over the period than the pound. The auction house’s overall sales reached £2.35 billion (up 14% from last year) — including a slightly “modest” £122.2 million in private sales. The growth was led by the Americas, where sales increased 58% in sterling (to £1.15 billion) or 39% in dollars, (to $1.46 billion) whereas the decline in private sales was mostly felt in Asia. However, Christie’s registered an overall increase of 39% in Asian buying globally. More via artnet news.
Galleries
After a streak of international galleries announcing their closure, New York is losing yet another exhibition space, as Off Vendome gallery, which had been operating in Chelsea since Feburary 2015, has announced it will shut its doors at the end of the month.
Off Vendome was founded in Düsseldorf in 2013 by Matt Moravec and closed its German space in 2016. The gallery worked with artists including Jeanette Mundt, Kyle Thurman, Talia Chetrit, Win McCarthy, Max Brand, Juan Antonio Olivares, Sam Anderson, Ian Cheng, Zak Kitnick, and Bradley Kronz. Off Vendome is currently taking part in the inaugural New York edition of Condo. ARTnews has more.
Off Vendome New York. Courtesy the gallery.
What future for the British post-Brexit art market?
According to a report released by the British Art Market Federation (BAMF) and prepared by economist Clare McAndrews’ Art Economics, the British art market could be positively impacted by Brexit and the abandonment of EU-imposed taxes and regulations.
The report, which indicated that the UK market is the second strongest worldwide, (£9.2bn in art and antiques sales representing 21% of transactions worldwide) does not, however, take into account the importance of cross-border trade for the British art market, which accounted for up to 25% of UK sales on average. Read more on The Art Newspaper.
