Sound Bites!

• Heffel and Joyner Waddington's both had successful auctions this past week....some amazing prices have the auction community buzzing in the city......
  
• Bonhams (www.bonhams.com )have their sale on Monday (Nov. 30th) and......... Sotheby's(www.sothebys.com) go Thursday (Dec. 3rd), I plan on attending both.....
• My friend Lori-Ann, opens an exhibition Thursday night (Dec. 3rd)...www.loriannbellissimo.com
• Just received an e-blast from Clark&Faria that Wallpaper* Magazine lists Douglas Coupland's art as #2 on Canada's Fab 40 list.......www.monteclarkgallery.com
• Last Thursday (Nov. 26th) for The Oshawa Hospital Foundation, I conducted A Night to Swirl, an auction of fine wines....it was a great success, with all lots selling well over the values........
  

PechaKucha

What an interesting evening last night... I was invited by the owner of Caviar20 to the Spoke Club on King West .......

 
to a "PechaKuchaNight"....a series of presenters get 20 slides and  20 seconds on each slide to discuss, projects, current work, inspirations, objects etc.  Last night a wide range of topics were presented from the Barcelona chair, traffic cones of the world, interior design and photography.....the organizers were expecting  around 30....which was quickly doubled and then some as the evening got underway.....PechaKucha was devised in Tokyo in 2003 as a networking social meeting place for people in the cultural industries....as I witnessed last night it is more a celebration of  ideas, people and culture........I'm looking forward to the next one....

PREVIEWS

Over the weekend I was at both the Heffel and Joyner Waddington's previews for their upcoming sales of Canadian Art...the sales kick off tonight.....previews are a very important part of the auction process, they are where the majority of decisions are made about what will be bid on....catalogues can misleading with regards to colour and size, they are a point of reference...the work needs to be seen in person, its condition examined as well as its reverse viewed: this is where all the information is, gallery labels, exhibition history and previous owner information.....

Jeanne-Claude

Today I found out that Jeanne-Claude, Christo's partner in life and work passed away at the age of 74....I had the chance to spend some time with her and Christo a number of years ago....she was simply fabulous.....a group of us were invited to spend the afternoon at Christo's  studio in New York....we were greeted by her and spent a wonderful couple of hours talking with her, she answered all the questions we asked and made us feel so welcome before Christo came down from the third floor of the studio....it is amazing when you meet someone that is so passionate about what they do..... and you could see the love Christo had for her........

The Lucky Season, Benjamin Oakley @ LE

I stopped by LE Gallery  on Dundas Street West on Friday before meeting friends for lunch...Benjamin Oakley is showing some fantastic photographs in the front gallery: landscapes, horseshoes, skulls and tattooed webs....it is a wonderful show and very refreshing to see a photographer experimenting with production techniques....le-gallery.ca

Art with Heart results

Congrats to everyone involved with Art with Heart this year, the total hammer was....$411,000...... 36% over the total presale value.....well done.....

12 x 15

Panels all of the same size, potentially painted within five years of each other...works of this size have such an intimacy about them....... at Joyner Waddington's as well as  part of Heffel's offering for the fall season, three panels by Lawren Stewart Harris are primed to be highlights............. Joyner Waddington's are offering a 12 x 15 panel, entitled Mountain, Consolation Lake, carrying a reasonable presale estimate of $400,000/500,000......... Heffel are offering two 12 x 15 panels, Iceberg, carrying an aggressive presale estimate of $1.2/1.6 million and The Old Stump, Lake Superior, carrying a hefty presale estimate of $2/2.5 million......three works buy one of the most popular group members that could potentially sell for well over $3.5 million....the two panels at Heffel are from the Band estate and the one  at Joyner Waddington's was passed through the family of the artist, to the present owner....can the Canadian Art market support these estimates? and if so I wonder who will win the Harris pool??? and shatter a record?!?

Sound Bites

• Art with Heart was such a great success, everyone I've spoken with post-sale are feeling fantastic and very positive................

• Sotheby's catalogue is on line for their sale on Dec. 3rd-looks good..........www.sothebys.com

• The new Toronto based auction house Heinze&Wilkins have a sale coming up in their new galleries on November 17th and 18th........ www.heinzewilkens.com

• Canadian Business Magazine is writing an article on auctions and the events of the summer..........

• The Babes for Baycrest auction is happening this coming Tuesday at Ultra on Queen Street West.............www.womenofbaycrest.com
  

Art with Heart "A white glove sale"

There was spirited savvy bidding last night at Art with Heart, with one lot passing during the auction, but that was brought back at the end and quickly sold.....it was amazing as an auctioneer to watch hands fly into the air and bid sometimes 4 or 5 times over the estimated value....with a tightly curated auction, such an important cause and such a slick clean well executed evening, no wonder it was standing room only.... as I handed over the gavel at the end of my session, it brought a smile to my face!!!!!

Dean Drever @

There is a wonderful exhibition entitled Bear Hunt at the Toronto Sculpture Garden by the very talented artist Dean Drever.....the acidic-orange, the life size scale and the juxtaposition in this very urban setting, all create a wonderful experience for the viewer. www.torontosculpturegarden.com