Chinese investors acquire the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art
A year after he put it back on the market, Guy Ullens has found a buyer for its Beijing-based museum. The Ullens Centre For Contemporary Art has in fact been sold for an undisclosed amount to a group of mainland Chinese investors led by Lunar Capital, among whom Jerry Mao and Jason Jiang.
Current director Philip Tinari will stay on at the institution, which has been turned into a tax-exempt foundation by its new owners, which should make it easier to attract new donors and cover the annual operational budget of $6 million.
“Now that the public-facing activities are run by a charity, we will be able to raise funds more easily and hopefully improve the production quality of our exhibitions and the size of the audience” said Tinari. Read more on South China Morning Post (SCMP)
The Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art.
Despite a Bacon fiasco, Christie’s registers good results in London
Study of Red Pope, 2nd version by Francis Bacon. (1962) Courtesy Christie's.
Last week, Christie’s “Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction” realized £99.5 million, below its presale estimate. The somewhat “modest” result can be explained by the failed sale of Study of Red Pope, 2nd version by Francis Bacon (1962) which was estimated at £60 million. In spite of this, Friday’s sale was Christie’s second best auction in Europe of all time, and the week’s most successful. Despite the Bacon flop, seven new auction records were established for artists including Howard Hodgkin (£1.68 million), David Salle (£608,750), Amy Sillman (£440.750) as well as Grayson Perry. (£200.000) The sale was led by the painting Red Skull (1982) by Basquiat, which sold for £16.5 million.
Over at Phillips, the Friday afternoon sale realized an overall £23.9 million, with 34 out of 36 lots sold. Among the sale’s highlights, Cecily Brown’s Park (2004) went for £849,000, whereas Georg Baselitz’s Dreimal (1989), fetched £261.000. More via artnet.
Kamilla Bischof joins Sandy Brown gallery
Installation view TURM FRISUR, solo exhibition at Halle für Kunst Lüneburg, Spring 2017, Photo: Fred Dott. Courtesy Kamilla Bischof.
The Berlin-based Austrian artist (b. 1986) is now represented by Sandy Brown gallery, where her work is currently on show as part of the exhibition “kosmetische Gesänge / Cosmetic Songs*”.
During the last edition of Condo New York, the gallery was hosted by Rachel Uffner Gallery, where works by Bischof were also on show. More on the artist here.
