The OC Art Blog

ASU Art Auction

I've always had an affinity for Phoenix. I was born there but left when I was a year old. In the mid 90's I went back for a couple of years and met Ms. OC Art Blog who I would eventually make Mrs. OC Art Blog. So when John Spiak Curator of the ASU Art Museum asked me if I would help get the word out that their fund-raising art auction, otherwise known as the Carnaval Do Rio is coming up, I said sure. The event takes place on March 31st if you are in town. If you're not in town you can still submit bids and acquire some great works at what I'm sure will be a big discount. Some artists participating include Pipilotti Rist, Eric Fischl, Sue Coe & Ruben Ochoa. The on-line Catalogue can be viewed Here. Happy bidding for a good cause!

Collecting Amy Sillman- Mrs. OC Art Blog is The Best

So I'm right in the middle of trying to aquire a painting by Amy Sillman who I personally think is one of the best and brightest painters working today and I think things are going smoothly when the gallerist out of the blue sends me an email where she apologizes and says unfortunately she has sold the painting. I'm like "What!!" I was bummed out for week I figured now that Amy was on the cover of Artforum it was going to be pretty hard to get that chance again.

Well, to make a long story longer tonight Mrs. OC Art Blog gave me a Valentines present and guess what it was?? Yep, The Amy Sillman painting. I'm a very happy camper. Special thanks to Susanne Vielmetter for helping Mrs. OC Art Blog pull off a sweet one. I had no clue. Happy Valentines everybody....especially to mine.

Here's the painting:

Collecting as Art

Tonight I had the great pleasure to visit the home of LA based legendary collector Diana Zlotnick. In this day and age when actually having an experience with art is getting trumped by the stampede to keep up with the joneses and make sure the right names are in the collection, it's very refreshing to meet a collector who still values artist relationships and the actual experience that a viewer can have with art. I won't go into all the details about Diana's background (check out the LA Weekly link) but it was a wonderful experience to sit with Diana and hear first hand accounts of LA's art history. It was also great to see a collection that obviously has some very famous artists but also spotlights artists Diana really liked but who never became famous. Oh, and she's still a very active collector. It's days like today that make it all worthwhile. Very inspiring. Some photos follow:

That Marilyn was bought at Ferus Gallery for $50 bucks in 1967. Notice the Ruscha, Wallace Berman's, Chris Burden's, etc.

Diana in front of her Mark Dutcher wall.

Dutcher Flowers, Kaz Oshiro Washer/Dryer, Warhol Race Riot

Ed Ruscha (L) with Ed Giardina wall piece.

I could go on....

Still Collecting??

I haven't done a "what I've been collecting" blog in awhile so here ya go. Earlier this year I decided to pretty much buy local. Although I picked up some small pieces from artists like Uta Barth, Vik Muniz & Tim Hawkinson most of my purchases have been from local artists who I think are doing great work. In the news these days you can't go a week without seeing some new article on how HOT the art market is. Yes its true this market is red hot but most of that money isn't making its way down to my artist friends. Is it making its way down to your artist friends? So the moral of the story is don't forget the emerging artist (of any age) who is toiling away in their studio day in and day out, out of the limelight making great work. They need our love ( & money) too. Here are two examples of my most recent purchases:

Carrie Yury

Found Boxes by Wendy Moller

Loretta Lux @ Auction

Wow. Did anybody notice that a Loretta Lux went for over $45K at auction a couple of days ago?

via View. (who doesn't like the work)

Now I love the work, we own a triptych, but man this market is getting a little overheated. Here is our Lois:

Burtynsky

Psst...You want to know a secret??

I know where you can get an Edward Burtynsky for $900 bucks. Edition of 25. What a steal.

Tips for Collectors

Artnet gives us ten tips for collecting art.

I'm partial to #5.

Via View

The New Collectors

Who is buying all that art??

Photo: Linda Nylind

Collecting Mark Dutcher/Win a Photo Collection

Went to OCMA's benefit auction last night and had a great time. I'm very happy to report that I got the Mark Dutcher piece I wanted. I originally fell for it during a studio visit but he had it committed to OCMA for their auction. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone, support the museum and get one of Mark's awesome pieces. I brought a camera but completely forgot to take any pictures. Just imagine lots of fabulous people were there. Also a heads-up to look for Mark in the Nov. issue of Teme Celeste were they will be doing a feature on LA Painters you should know, and in Oct. he will be mentioned in LA Weekly's special art issue. Oh, and don't forget you'll get to see lots of his work in Feb. here at The Office.

On a Side Note: View From the Edge asked that I let you all know about an opportunity to win a mini photo collection that will include, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Toshio Shibata, Susan Derges & Oliver Boberg. All you have to do is buy a couple of $10 raffle tickets that support ACP for your shot to win. See VFTE for details.

Collecting Mika Ninagawa

Kirsten at Roq la Rue posted on her blog that she likes Mika Ninagawa, I do too. We got 3 pieces at the Armory show a couple years back. It's actually a funny story, Mrs. OC Art Blog and I were interviewed by Japanese TV after making the purchase because they were in town to do a documentary on Ms. Ninagawa. I guess she is huge in Japan.

She is currently represented by Tomio Koyama Gallery ( Nara/Murakami) but I don't think she has been picked up by anyone in the states. Someone should grab her before Blum & Poe does. A couple of the pieces we purchased are attached: