The Big Deal - a programme about selling art

The Big Deal with Steph McGovern - Media Release

A new programme about art was broadcast last week on BBC1. It's a novel idea - about seeing whether complete novices can become art dealers!

The Apprentice for the Art World?

My questions as I started to watch concerned what is it actually about and what is it trying to do. Specifically:

• Is it educational or not?
• Is it going to be informative about the business side of the art world?
• will it help artists understand better how to deal with the business side of art?
• Or is it just a game show with a spin?
• Or as characterised on the programme is this "The Apprentice for the Art World"

The proposition seems to be "art is no different to any other business". 

How would you describe The Big Deal?

It’s like The Apprentice for the art world, but the deals are all real, and it’s as much about the hustle as it is about art.

So maybe educational about the sort of knowledge and skills you need to do well - much the same as happens with Sir Alan Sugar in in "The Apprentice"?

According to the media brief

Seven pairs of trainee art dealers from around the UK are putting their creativity, negotiating and profit-making skills to the test in the highly competitive art world 

The bottom line is the seven pairs compete to win £50,000 of "brilliant British art" (I spotted a David Shrigley)

The Seven Trainee Dealers

Back row: Bella, Ollie, Liam, Gavin, Phil, Ellie
Middle row: Charles, Darren, Steph McGovern, Cordelia de Freitas, Claire, Aaron
Front row: Deborah, Rebeckah, Daisy, Rebecca

Now realistically, none of them are actually trainee art dealers! Their backgrounds seem to be completely random.

However they do, of course, cover all the demographic and diversity bases. (Do you get as bored as I do ticking all the boxes for every dimension covered? Disability - tick; Gay - tick; Black - tick)

Their media profiles suggest very little involvement in the art world in terms of making, reviewing, buying, selling, collecting or anything else.

UPDATE: After I published - and after I got some odd comments on Facebook from Art Dealers who seemed very offended by the programme - I went looking and found what are "said to be the criteria used" for those who were selected to be trainee art dealers

The production team selected contestants who met specific criteria:

• No professional experience: None of the participants had a background or professional history in buying, selling, or trading art. [1]
• Walks of life: Producers recruited ordinary people from diverse backgrounds across the UK who showed a strong competitive drive, natural curiosity, and a willingness to learn. [1, 2, 3]
• Auditioned pairs/individuals: They were chosen through standard casting processes handled by production company Stellify Media to test how well their interpersonal dynamics and business instincts translated to the high-stakes contemporary art market. [1, 2]

So is that clear? NONE of the participants had any experience or history as art dealers. They are complete amateurs.

This, of course, is where the competition starts for the viewers - spotting those likely to go to the end!

• Darren (43) and Charles (40) - characterised as the "go getters". They reminded me of second hand car salesmen. I'm not expecting much of them.
• Ollie (26) and Bella (29) - siblings who are trying to get a business off the ground. Seem to be tuned into what young people like
• Claire (59) and Aaron (36) - Welsh friends Claire and Aaron are from Pembrokeshire and have a background in sales and the building industry. She's obviously the mover and shaker. I think he's along for the ride.
• Gavin (32) and Liam (28) - Best friends Gavin and Liam from Belfast have an interest in graffiti art and want to learn more about the art world. I'm expecting them to leave early.
• Deborah (42) and Rebeckah (42) - Friends Deborah and Rebeckah, from London, hope their eye for fashion can would translate successfully into selecting and trading art pieces. I think they may go far - possible winners.
• Phil (74) and Ellie (28) - the Dad and daughter team from the West Midlands love visiting art galleries together.
• Daisy (27) and Rebecca (61) - Mother and daughter Rebecca and Daisy from Warwickshire work together on the family farm – which specialises in camel hire. I also think this couple could go far. They seem to have a good eye.

The programme has two constants throughout the series.

Review: Connect Art Fair at the Mall Galleries

I visited Connect – The Independent Art Fair on Wednesday (see Two new art fairs in London plus goodbye to a popular old one) - and was rather glad I wasn't there for the Private View on the Tuesday night. By all accounts it was packed out!

Connect in the Threadneedle Space

It's very odd to see the Mall Galleries reconfigured for the Fair. The organiser brought in their own people to make the stand areas and there were lots of odd nooks and crannies which made it quite intriguing and very unlike the Mall Galleries.  It also somehow or other made the place seem even larger! I couldn't quite work that one out - but rather than feeling cramped it felt like there were more and more stands just around the corner!

In fact there are 34 stands in total varying in size and stock. Most were art dealers who don't posses a B&M gallery although there were some smaller art galleries as well.

It made me wonder what an art society exhibition or artists' co-operative art fair might look like if every artist had their own stand!

Blondes Fine Art

The other thing which was normal for the dealers on their stands but again was somewhat unusual for viewing art at the Galleries were all the items of furniture and objects of interest brought in to make the stand look less like a stand and more like a gallery or even a home

At least I think that's what the fireplace surround was about!

Panter and Hall - plus fireplace

The consensus amongst the dealers was they much preferred it to the previous venue for the Works on Paper Fair because the artwork was not having to compete with the colours of the walls or floor. They also were very much in favour of its more central London venue - which makes it so much easier to visit a fair.

Manning Fine Art led by the Fair Director

Artwork is lit by stand spots rather than from overhead which makes the artwork very easy to see - although some of the glazed work was not so easy to see as the spots hit the glazing.  The spots would have benefited from a baffle.

A very attractive wall by Gwen Hughes Fine Art spoiled by the spots

Two new art fairs in London plus goodbye to a popular old one

There have been some major changes in independent art fairs in London in 2019. 

There are two new fairs:

• Connect – The Independent Art Fair is a brand new art fair - run by art dealers - being held at the Mall Galleries next week 
• The Draw Art Fair London will be held at the Saatchi Art Gallery in Chelsea, in May.

Both NEW Art Fairs suggest a rethinking of the approach to dealing art and making sales.

Sadly the Works on Paper Art Fair which I used to go to every February - and recommended is sadly no more.

Connect – The Independent Art Fair

Home Page of the The Connect Independent Art Fair

This is a NEW art fair at the Mall Galleries organised by an art dealer led co-operative - and it opens on Tuesday 29th January.

I've been saying for ages - to anybody who will listen to me - that the Mall Galleries provides an excellent venue for anybody wanting to host a small niche art fair in London - and such activities seem a very appropriate related income stream for the FBA Trust and the Galleries.

Seems like somebody else has had the same idea as me!

Apparently it's being run by a co-operative of art dealers (i.e. typically people without B&M galleries) who aim to cut out the event organiser as a cost of the fair.

An opportunity to view and purchase from the genuine #notonthehighstreet#galleries offering outstanding quality art at affordable prices.

Very oddly, the website does NOT actually says what it's about its USP (i.e what makes it different) and why it's worth visiting! 

• Maybe they've been focused on using press releases and social media - which is where the above comes from. 
• However, they're reposting Instagram to Twitter and losing the images in the process - so maybe they're not too social media savvy! (Shortcuts never pay off - do it properly and get images in a feed and it always pays off!)
• My take on it is that this reflects inexperience. The company that runs it is very new, was only incorporated last year and is months old (see details). I think it lacks social media marketing savvy. I'm almost inclined to send a note to my art business website page which stipulates what traders need on a website page when marketing online!

However, the Mall Galleries website is rather more experienced and a bit more forthcoming about what this inaugural art fair is about

Welcome to the inaugural staging of Connect - The Independent Art Fair. Our friendly dealers and well-known gallerists are bringing together a wide range of early, modern and contemporary work from London and well beyond, and will showcase a dazzling array of schools and styles, media and type. The accent will be on quality and accessibility; organised by a new co-operative of dealers, this Fair will ensure that there is every opportunity for the average collector to indulge their collecting whims, with something to suit most pockets.

Interestingly a couple of articles in the Antique Trades Gazette are a little more forthcoming (see below for links)

the independent event cuts out the ‘middleman’ of an external organiser – aiming at competitive prices for exhibitors and their buyers in turn – and focuses on works ranging in price from the low hundreds to five figures at the top end.

I'll be going. Probably not on Tuesday as I hate crowded events where you can't see the artwork. Probably on Wednesday - and I'll let you know what it's like.

Note that it's open late on Thursday, opens to 7 on Friday and is open all day on Saturday (remembering that "all day" in art fairs starts at 11am!)

You can find details of the fair and its various webs and social media accounts below.

Evening openings at the Mall Galleries for the Connect Art Fair

Venue: Mall Galleries

Admission: £10 (£25 for Tuesday 29 January). Free Entry to Friends of Mall Galleries and those booking in advance at connectartfair.co.uk
Dates: 29 January - 2 February 2019

• Tuesday 29 January 3.30pm -9pm Opening Preview
• Wednesday 30 January 11am – 7pm Fair open
• Thursday 31 January 11am – 9pm Fair open (late night)
• Friday 1 February 11am –7pm Fair open
• Saturday 2 February 11am –5pm Fair open

Website: https://connectartfair.co.uk/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/connectartfair/ (Nothing much happening do far - which is unsurprising given the other marketing deficits)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/connectartfair
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connectartfair/
Venue: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/connect-independent-art-fair
Articles: 

• Dealer-led art fair to launch at Mall Galleries  | Antiques Trade Gazette (July 2018) - ‘Affordable mid-point fair’ will open in January to encourage face-to-face trade
• New independent art fair in London targets younger customers with competitive prices | Antiques Trade Gazette (January 2019) - New independent art fair targets younger and fresh customers with competitive prices

Draw Art Fair London 

Draw Art Fair website

This NEW art fair for modern and contemporary drawing will be held at the Saatchi Gallery in May 2019.

This is what is about according to the website. It sounds as if it offers a comprehensive approach to drawing and at the same time is VERY BIG!

Works on Paper Art Fair 2018 - review

The Works on Paper Fair continues at the Royal Geographical Society at the Albert Memorial end of Exhibition Road until 6pm on Sunday 4th February.

RECOMMENDED: I visited yesterday slightly later than I intended to (it's been one of those weeks!) I've already written one blog post about it for the botanical art fans - see Works in Paper Art Fair features botanical art. This one is for everybody else who enjoys works on paper like I do.

don't take a panoramic pic when somebody is walking left to right....

The Fair comprises covers anything done on paper - which essentially means watercolour paintings, drawings in a variety of media and a range of prints. It's busy without being silly - although I guess that can depend on when you go. I like going towards the end of the day when it quietens down and often try and go on the Thursday night when it opens until 9pm.

Features of the Fair is that, as with most Art Fairs, it's organised in a series of stands. These are in different rooms and it's a bit of a maze and very easy to overlook parts of the Fair if you don't go round in  a systematic way. I always lose track of where I am which for me is most unusual - I have an inbuilt compass!

The stands are hosted by

• conventional art galleries who sell works on paper by contemporary artists 
• other art galleries whose stock covers 18th - 20th century artwork
• art dealers who may well operate without the benefit of permanent premises - as many dealers operate these days.  It keeps the costs down and allows them to move around the various art fairs without having to shut up shop!

You can see the exhibitor list here. Some of them have online catalogues of work they took to the fair.

Sheppard and Welbourne Fine Art

This is the stand of Sheppard and ​Welbourne Fine Art​ who are

independent dealers based in Sussex specialising in 18th,19th and Early 20th Century Watercolours and Prints.

(left) Karen Taylor Fine Art (right)Michael Parkin Fine Art 

Karen Taylor Fine Art is owned by the lady who used to run auctions of Topographical Paintings and British Watercolours. for Sothebys for 10 years. She provides advice on buying and selling.

Richard Bawden RWS NEAC (1936 - )
House and Garden
Watercolour, pen & ink
£950

Michael Parkin Fine Art specialises in the Bawdens of Bardfield and had a rather nice painting by Richard Bawden of his home in Suffolk. I'm a fan and was tempted....

Harry Moore-Gwyn

Harry Moore-Gwyn was founded in 2000. It has become one of the leading British dealers in 18th and early 19th Century drawings and British art of the period 1900-1950, with a particular focus on neglected artists of the time.

Japan Print Gallery

The Japan Print Gallery was established in Notting Hill Gate, London in 1976 and specialises exclusively in fine Japanese woodblock prints from the 18th to the 20th Century.

The reasons I go are:

• the sheer variety of work on display - you discover new painters you didn't know you liked!
• you get to see original work by past masters.  Yesterday I viewed watercolour paintings by a very wide range of artists from the past and present.
• there always seems to be a strong representation by the Japanese Print dealers.
• one stand has an art book dealer - who always seems to have something I have to have. I came away yesterday with catalogues from past exhibitions by David Hockney (@ Pace, New York 2015) and Lucian Freud (@ Hayward Gallery 1974)

It's still on tomorrow 11am - 6pm and is well worth a visit.

The Banker's Guide To The Art Market

The Banker's Guide to Art is a documentary to be broadcast by the BBC later this month. The apparent aim is to take a less "reverential" view of the financial realities of art than ever before.

This is how the BBC describes the upcoming programme

Step inside a world of high art, low cunning and prices beyond your wildest imaginings. The Banker's Guide To The Art Market is a revealing, wry and rare look behind doors that are closed to most of us. Propelled by the newly rich of the financial world, London's art market has soared to historic highs.

The film deconstructs this extraordinary phenomenon and looks back over a century of the market’s twists and turns to try to explain it, talking to outspoken collector Jeffrey Archer - 'I couldn’t afford to buy my own pictures’ - maverick dealer Kenny Schacter - 'when money is introduced it brings out the worst in people' - and gallerist Nicholas Logsdail - 'You'll never go wrong, if you buy from a good gallery'. We don’t think you will look at a painting in quite the same way again…

So who are the people taking part and what have they had to say on this topic before now? Turns out they're more interesting than you might think....

Kenny Schacter - art dealer, curator, commentator

Mr Schacter has generated an article in the Telegraph today Art world is 'hotbed' of corruption, collector claims  (hence this blog post) following his appearance at the Hay Festival last week.

A photo posted by Kenny Schachter (@kennyschachter) on Jun 1, 2016 at 12:46am PDT

Schacter has accounts on but doesn't really do Twitter or Facebook - but does use Instagram (see above) so to find out what he thinks you have to follow his articles on Artnet News.

Here's a selection of his articles:

• Vice in the Art World: Kenny Schachter's Adventures at the London Auctions and FIAC
• Kenny Schachter On What's Really Going on at the Top End of the Art Market
• Kenny Schachter Gives the Dirty Details Behind the Big New York Auctions

So he basically seems to be saying:

• the level of corruption in the art world is directly associated to the level of sums involved
• dealers plant false bidders at auctions to ramp up prices for their clients
• prices announced in public for an artwork boost the reputation of artists - despite the fact the sale might take place privately for a much lower figure
• museums and galleries who know which artists are going to be in future exhibitions can capitalise on that knowledge - since shows will usually enhance the value of such artists

"Any time a lot of money crops up, hideous behaviour follows too"

• art sales are used for money laundering - people buying are not interested in the artwork - they just want to shift ill gotten gains
• as a result banks now look very carefully at deposits and withdrawals related to artwork

I assume the latter is the underlying topic for the BBC documentary given its title.

Jeffrey Archer - art collector

"Dr Syntax at auction" by Thomas Rowlandson - owned and sold by Jeffrey Archer in 2011 
at the Christie's auction: "The Jeffrey Archer Sale: Decades of Collecting"

Jeffrey Archer is of course a well known ex MP, who has a history of scandal and making money. Plus he resided at Her Majesty's pleasure for a while and has a stunning penthouse in between MI6 and the Houses of Parliament which contains his rather good art collection. He's been collecting art for over 40 years.

• He even has part of his website devoted to his art collection!
• Back in June 2011 he raised  £5,111,725 at an auction at Christie's called "The Jeffrey Archer Sale: Decades of Collecting" (click the link to see what he owned and sold). I have to say the catalogue notes make for entertaining reading! (you can see these if you click a picture and then read the notes.
• Here's a copy of the proceeds of auction.
• This is a Telegraph article about Jeffrey Archer on Jeffrey Archer on the world’s best private art galleries

Nicholas Logsdail - art gallerist

Nicholas Logsdail owns the Lisson Gallery (London, Milan, New York).

Lisson Gallery as per their website

Founded in 1967, the Gallery's list stable of artists represented include Ai Weiwei, Sol LeWitt , Richard Long, and Anish Kapoor. He's reputed to

• have been introduced to art by his uncle Roald Dahl
• be the dealer who converted Saatchi to modern art (see Art Sales: dealer who opened Saatchi's eyes)
• one of the movers and makers in the art world (see Movers and makers: the most powerful people in the art world)

Looks to me as if it will be a very interesting programme!