THIS WEEK'S HOT TOPIC
Art books are kind of like mixtapes. It’s often on these tapes, not label-produced albums, where you find a rapper’s best work. The stakes are lower, the project is more immediate, and there’s just more room for trying things and having fun.
For many artists, books provide a similar platform. At their best, these objects can be both skeleton keys that unlock an artist’s work and artworks unto themselves. This is true for one-of-a-kind or limited-edition books bound, strung, collaged, or accordioned together by hand, but also projects designed for distribution, like monographs, photo books, zines. Even in the case of big runs printed by brand-name publishers, you can almost always see the maker’s vision, feel their touch.
Art books are rewarding to live with. Like sculpture, you can display them, but unlike sculpture, you can interact with them too. They don’t take up a lot of space, and many examples, particularly unique pieces and first editions, appreciate over time. Simply put, books are the cheapest way to get the work of an artist you love into your home.
New York’s Printed Matter (which we toured a couple of months back) is one of the world’s great patrons—and protectors—of the form. This year marks the scrappy organization’s 50th anniversary, as well as another milestone: the 20th edition of its flagship event, the NY Art Book Fair, which kicks off September 25 at MoMA PS1 in Queens. If you’re even a little interested in the world of art books, circle it on the calendar. Quite unlike Art Basel and Frieze, this is a fair where you can walk out with a unique artwork—maybe even several—for under $100, and you’ll frequently see a bevy of beloved artists doing the same.
3…THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WAITLISTS FOR ARTWORKS
1
Galleries use waitlists to protect artists’ primary market sales and respect collector relationships. But what happens when everybody and their mother wants a canvas by a hot, in-demand painter? It’s not as simple as whoever asks first gets one. The art market does not function like luxury retail; having the money to buy an artwork doesn’t necessarily mean you can immediately get it. Galleries want the work to live in the best possible environment for both their artists’ careers and their own commercial prospects. That could mean placing artworks with museums before any private collections, or deferring to the interests of frequent customers who spend handsomely.
2
Ever hear a gallery director say the phrase, "We're taking interest"? That's gallery speak for: "Not this time, buddy. You're going to have to work a little harder for it." Buy a few other things, then maybe you’ll get access to important work. A lot of the time, this placation is really a way for a gallery to bide time as they wait to hear from their larger audience of museum curators or return-collectors.
3
That said, there are a number of ways that a collector can move up on a waitlist. When gallery staff has their sales meeting to discuss placements for an upcoming show, much of the discussion is centered around a client’s “spend.” Depending on your tax bracket, there is only so much money you will realistically be able to shell out at a gallery, but the amount a collector spends annually plays a huge role in a gallery’s decision to place the work with them. Another major contributing factor in a collector being able to buy in-demand work is if they’ve supported the gallery’s program through the acquisition of other represented artists.
A NUMBER TO KNOW
0%
The category-specific tariff rate on art, antiques, and collectibles under the Trump administration's latest set of global commerce restrictions, per guidance released by the US Trade Representative's office on July 23. The exemption allowed international dealers and collectors of multiple types to exhale after yet another stretch of government-created anxiety—at least, for the time being.
To recap, the US Supreme Court forced Trump and his trade-policy team to return to square one by declaring their original web of tariffs unconstitutional this February. The White House spent the next few months scheming up a new (and generally lower) set of levies with a new legal justification—this time, targeting countries whose markets allegedly rely on forced labor. This time, however, art, antiques, and collectibles escaped getting saddled by a fresh tariff.
But don’t let that favorable outcome convince you that these categories are totally safe from extra import costs. Artwork shipped into the US from China, for example, is still hamstrung by a 7.5% tariff implemented during Trump's first term (and left intact by the Joe Biden administration). Other country-specific levies also seem subject to change at any time, as evidenced by the high-stakes tariff negotiations with Canada that collapsed this past weekend.
So the good news is that the art, antiques, and collectibles trades seem to have dodged the worst-case scenario in the latest act of Trump’s trade war. The less good news is that the drama probably isn’t over yet.
—Tim Schneider / The Gray Market
ASK: ACCESS SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE
NR ASKed: Do you see artists' books as a legitimate collecting category, or are they more just fun passion projects? Do high-level art collectors collect them? What is your own collection like?
Josh Baer for NoReserve: There are a multitude of collecting categories, and most collectors do not stick with just one. Many of them started as kids with stamps, coins, baseball cards, or—God forbid—Pokemon cards, so why wouldn't art books also fit the bill?
I personally still own hundreds, even thousands of art books, and over the years I have given away hundreds or thousands more. I don't regret buying any of them. I do regret all the ones I lent and never got back. I wish I had just bought second copies.
For me, the king of art books is Taschen. They place equal footing on shiny monographs and student-level texts, have no shame over erotica, and their oversized books were clearly game-changing. So, as a non-art collector (who owns art), I feel that the only thing I really do like to collect is books.
Have your own question for the NoReserve team? Reply to this email or reach out to us on Instagram, @no.reserve. Readers whose submissions we choose get a special prize—three free months of our paid newsletter, The Baer Faxt.
2 MINUTES WITH…
Even if you don’t know the work of Iris van Herpen, you’ve almost certainly seen it. Since 2007, the Dutch fashion designer has outfitted stars such as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna while cultivating a signature language rooted in anatomy, biology, and newfangled forms of technology like 3D printing. A new traveling retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, “Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses,” highlights how van Herpen transcends mediums by both drawing on and dabbling in art. The show's curator, Matthew Yokobosky, walked us through the show earlier this summer.
WANT MORE?
Want more from The Baer Faxt? Click here to request a free sample of our premium newsletter or view our subscription tiers. Subscribe today to join the leading global arts professionals and enthusiasts who receive our weekly and monthly digests on the most important news and events in the industry.
Forwarded this email and not a subscriber to NoReserve? Sign up today—it’s free!
PS, we want to hear from you! If you have 2 minutes, here is a quick survey to help us cover the art world and market better for you.
|
