Capturing the collectors’ mood and essence of Art Basel

“People are now realizing that art is an international currency,” states an art collector who was part of Art Basel. To say that business was approaching that of the boom years would be an overstatement, noted The New York Times write-up on the premier art event.

“There’s not the impulse shopping there once was,” Tobias Meyer, who runs Sotheby’s contemporary art dept, was quoted as saying: “New buyers are coming here as much for information gathering as for collecting.” Many dealers said they felt a price resistance when it came to spending more than $500,000.

In fact, the days when collectors came to discover new talent are still a distant memory, the report note, adding, “Instead, booths are filled with a commercial smorgasbord of popular artists.” Is it because that’s what the market wants, or is it because dealers didn’t want to take risks?” asked Franck Giraud, a private New York dealer. It was a bit of both.” Everyone has a theory of one’s own. Donald Rubell, a Miami collector, thought dealers were too afraid to bring good objects last year because the economic scenario was rather bleak.

Mr. Rubell and his wife, Mera, are known for talent spotting, snapping up works by artists like Richard Prince and Maurizio Cattelan years before they become popular. Asked if they had bought anything at the fair, Mrs. Rubell replied, “How can you resist?” But when pressed to elaborate, she answered coyly, “I can’t share that
information yet.”

The Rubells weren’t the only high-profile shoppers. Michael Ovitz, the former Hollywood agent; Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire; and Pauline Karpidas, a London collector, were all spotted. Artists could be seen milling around too, among them Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and Doug Aitken, along with museum directors like Thomas P. Campbell from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Glenn D. Lowry from the Museum of Modern Art and Richard Armstrong from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.