Leading Auction House "Change And Change" To Stimulate Online Trading New Imagination

Sotheby's first online contemporary art day ended on 14 May. The online auctions were up to US $13 million 700 thousand and recorded the best results of Sotheby's online auction so far, more than two times the previous record, and even more than Christie's highest online auctions of US $9 million 500 thousand and nearly 1/3.

In 2020, despite the bad start of the market, the momentum of online auctions helped Sotheby's break through the cumulative total turnover of one hundred million US dollars in 2020, which was five times higher than that of the previous year.

With the unprecedented impact of the new crown epidemic on auction houses, head auctioneers like Sotheby's and Christie's have to shut down sales departments and even take mandatory leave, lay off staff and cut executive pay, in order to save costs. As most of the major auction activities were postponed to June or transferred to the Internet, there were comments that the entity auction could not be held. Even though the online special session can still be held, sales have always been a small part. At the moment, the auction house has finally come to the conclusion that if the physical space can not be developed, the digital platform can also play a role in art transactions and provide important export transactions for buyers.

Online auctions helped Sotheby's break through the net cumulative total turnover of $one hundred million when it was not yet over half in 2020. IC photo

Flexible strategy to help trade

"Since March 1st, we have held 44 auctions." Charles Stewart, chief executive of Sotheby's, said in a Artnet phone interview that the previous record of the highest online auction was also created during the epidemic. In April, the auctioneer sold 88% of the auctions in the online auction of the "contemporary planners" online, with a total turnover exceeding US $6 million 400 thousand, of which George Condo's "the peace pundal meeting" (2005) even made a record of up to US $1 million 300 thousand.

According to Charles, in fact, Sotheby's had already paid much attention to the digital platform and started the digital infrastructure during the reign of former CEO Tad Smith. However, this strategy was controversial at that time, and the former employees thought that the strategy "intensified the growing gap between employees inside the company". But some people said in an interview with art news: "five years ago, we had no mobile phone APP, no online sales, no online Commission platform, and our contemporary art and private contacts. Shopping channels are lagging behind, but now everything has changed. We can feel that we are working in a dynamic and forward-looking company. The development of digital platform is very important.

Now, facing global shutdown, they are more convinced that the decision was correct. Charles said: "the way people are buying and selling has changed. We are adapting and customers are adapting." As part of the need to adjust and adapt, Sotheby's added the online shopping style "immediate purchase" button to some batch of product pages, and on the other hand, it also expanded the selection and supply of luxury items, including the watch auction process that was on time every week. He said, "online trading helps sell many versions of watches, jewelry or wine, because people do not need to think deeply about a picture to decide whether to buy it or not."

Besides, Sotheby's has also launched a brand new strategy in art trading. Although the contemporary art day record has set a new record in the transaction volume, the auction process is somewhat unusual: 112 transactions were made, 5 did not appear, and 27 products were withdrawn before the end of the auction, and about 19% of the products were withdrawn. A Sotheby's spokesman responded that many of the consignors were uneasy about the release of their products, so it was reasonable to choose to withdraw them. He said: "in a special period, we will flexibly cooperate with the consignors to best meet their needs and ensure that they can confidently send their products to the auction."

Collectors pay new artists

Despite the fact that the number of filming is not limited, the results of this day's shooting show that experts had generally believed that the suspicion that people were unwilling to spend money on buying young and new artists in uncertain economic times had not been proved. Many of the artists who had never brushed their faces before did good results in this auction.

A waterless painting, created by Matthew Wong, opened the fierce competition for the first production lineup. Last October, Matthew Wong died at the age of 35. This work was sold by the artist in the first exhibition in 2018, but only two years later, after several months after the tragic death of the artist, the work once again flowed into the market. Due to the fact that the paintings that were exhibited by the Karma gallery last 2019 were not sold, the works of Matthew Wong are hard to find in the primary market. After bidding by eight bidders, the work was sold at a price of more than four times.

The highlight of the auction is the Christopher Wool classical abstract painting with third party guarantees, "Untitled topic" (1988), and Brice Marden's window research four (1985), and the transaction price has broken through 1 million US dollars. The former estimate was $1 million 200 thousand before shooting, and finally dropped slightly above the estimated value of $1 million 220 thousand. The latter sold smoothly at a price of $1 million 100 thousand after eight bids, and easily surpassed the 700 thousand to 900 thousand dollar pre assessment. Richard Estes, a picture of the Lincoln center in New York, Broadway and sixty-fourth Street traded at a price of 860 thousand dollars, which is two times higher than the estimate.

At the same time, last autumn in Hongkong auction by virtue of a "hidden sword" shot 196 million Hong Kong dollars sky high price Yoshitomo Nara continued this year's popular market momentum. A painting with his iconic doll image, Witchcraft (1999), was sold at a price of 740 thousand dollars, which is in the middle of the 600 thousand to 900 thousand dollar pre evaluation.

"The results of the auction fully demonstrate the strength of the current market, and the imagination of online sales is also expanding," Max Moore, head of New York contemporary art day, told Artforum. He said that 40% of the auctioneers came from mobile devices, and the active bidding was not limited to the high-end market. Young emerging artists such as Matthew Wong and Kengo Takahashi, though they were first auctioned, were already successful; Lucas Arruda, Sanya Kantarovsky, Claire Tabouret and Julie. Curtiss and others also won a much stronger deal than valuation. He said: "this auction shows that the demand for high quality works is still strong in the market. In the current situation, the consignor not only trusts the online auction mode, but also trusts the whole market."

New situation and new mode

Christie's and Sotheby's two leading auction houses have been postponed in spring auctions all over the world due to the epidemic, and many auction houses will follow the new schedule. How to break through the crowded crowded schedule and bring about a compact and efficient auction mode is a test of wisdom.

Christie's auction house and Phillips auctioneer announced that they will be auctioned by Impressionist, modern and contemporary art works this summer. In May 15th, Christie's auction house decided to merge to the end, announcing that a new modern, post-war and contemporary art and design auction will be held in July 10th. The auction will be called "oneness: ONE:A Global Sale of the 20th" in twentieth Century. Century) will auction the four major hub sites of Christie's -- Hongkong, London, Paris and New York -- in real time live broadcast of relay relay in four locations to replace the twentieth Century night auction which was scheduled to be held in New York in June 22nd.

Before the auction, each city will hold a pre public preview, and at the same time, it will make preliminary contacts and communication with global collectors in advance and effectively through online virtual exhibition and digital marketing. The relay auction is expected to last two hours, and the number of auctions is between 50 and 70. From 8 p.m. Beijing time, Hongkong took the lead in lifting the hammer and then continued its advance across the time zone. It became a late afternoon auction in the European market. It became a morning auction in the US market and ended at about 10 a.m. EDT. Lin Jiaru, vice-chairman and international director of the Department of contemporary and contemporary art in the Asia Pacific region, said: "today's view of Tibetan art market is becoming more and more internationalized. This attempt is providing an excellent opportunity to survey Christie's global important venues." Christie's also said in an official statement that the auctioneers could participate in the auction online through the online auction system. They could also be commissioned to participate in the auction by telephone, or participate in the auction at the auction site in accordance with the guidance of the local health and health department.

Christie's postwar and contemporary art chairman, Alex Rotter, told Artforum: "Christie is adjusting the way of interaction between buyers and products, and how to show the products to special collectors and the world. With the rapid integration of our virtual world and the physical world, how to use an innovative platform to deal with new realities is very important. So we started to act and start with "oneness."

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