News

A new trading platform, My Art Invest, is offering clients a chance to be part of the art market without spending their life savings

By Melanie Gerlis. Web only
Published online: 10 April 2014

(via The Art Newspaper)

Banksy’s spray-painting on canvas, Heavy Weaponry is available for £120 a share

Attempts to divide works of art into equal shares, emulating companies that trade on a stock exchange, have proved problematic, at best. This hasn’t stopped Tom-David Bastok, a French collector who gave up his financial studies to develop My Art Invest, a trading platform for art that launches in London today.

“We are different from other [art share schemes] because our aim is simply to be more democratic. We are making the art market more affordable and accessible,” Bastok says. Potential investors need only part with a minimum £5 to own a share of around 100 works available by artists including Basquiat and Banksy. The value of works available ranges from £500 to £100,000, but the “sweet spot” says Bastok is around the £25,000 level. On average, 100 shares are available in each work (though pricier works have more shares available in order to keep their cost down).
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Arts in Munich
April 10, 2014

The Epodium Gallery is a brand new digital art space founded by art scholar and writer Dr. Andreas Backoefer, who splits his time between New York and Munich. The idea was to create an online portal, where video artists from New York and Munich can use the platform for artistic exchange.

The seminal exhibition for the gallery is VIDEO:TIME:SPACE, curated by Dr. Andreas Backoefer. Peruvian born, NY-based interdisciplinary artist Grimanesa Amorós (creator of fantastic light installations) presents her video work alongside Bavaria’s own Roger Kausch.

As well as being a platform for artists, the gallery is also designed with collectors in mind – most of the work presented is for sale, and the visitor experience plays a large role in the digital gallery. In the coming months, offline artist exchanges are planned between New York and Munich artists, and guest curators will be invited to be a part of the Epodium Gallery.

April 10th, 2014 – May 11th, 2014
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 10th. 7-9pm
131 Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002

non-curated by Keith Schweitzer & Jason Patrick Voegele with the following artists:
John Ahearn, Charlie Ahearn, Jody Culkin, Jane Dickson, Stefan Eins, Peter Fend, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Bobby G, Mike Glier, Becky Howland, Lisa Kahane, Christof Kohlhofer, Justen Ladda, Joe Lewis, Ann Messner, Richard Miller, Tom Otterness, Cara Perlman, Judy Rifka,Walter Robinson, Christy Rupp, Teri Slotkin, Kiki Smith

On Dec 31st, 1979, a group of artists in downtown Manhattan mounted a now historic exhibition, “The Real Estate Show,” in response to grim economic conditions facing tenants in New York. It was a confrontational and illegal exhibition, held without permission in a vacant city-owned building, with aggressive political messages that ignited controversy and galvanized city officials, news media and artists alike.

This group, Collaborative Projects Inc (Colab), focused on theme-centered exhibitions with a spirit of openness, experimentation, and minimal curatorial interference. Within this context, “No City is an Island” asked former members of Colab to respond to the exhibition’s title as a theme around which to contribute work. Dialogues were rekindled and themes were revisited or reinterpreted. As each artist has evolved over time, so has the city itself. With a range of works transversing 35 years, “No City is an Island” revisits the zeitgeist of a New York City long bygone, compares and contrasts the artists and urban realities of then with now, and honors one of the most influential art organizations in New York City’s history.

The exhibition is part of a multi-venue celebration of Colab and revisitation of “The Real Estate Show” with “The Real Estate Show, Was Then: 1980″ at James Fuentes Gallery (April 4 – 27), “RESx” at ABC No Rio (April 9 – May 8), “No City Is An Island” at The Lodge Gallery (April 10 – May 11), and “The Real Estate Show, What Next: 2014″ at Cuchifritos Gallery (April 19 – May 18). It is also a component of next month’s inaugural Lower East Side History Month, which will now be observed each May with over 60 Lower East Side organizations currently participating.