Collins Building Design Miami/ 2009 Photo: James Harris

The American Riviera gets ready to host the star event on the international design calendar. Design Miami will commence its fifth year of celebrating design culture from the 2 - 6 December. From its inception, Design Miami was intended to be much more than just a market place for high end design, a feat which the fair has undeniably achieved. Coinciding with the prestigious sister event Art Basel - this year visitors are guaranteed to experience a wide variety of inspirational, exciting and innovative design together with the most influential curators, collectors and critics from around the world.

HSBC Private Banking asserts its commitment to design by launching The Connection Collection. The collection will grow out of HSBC Private Bank Commissions which aim to elevate the appreciation for limited edition design work. The Connection Collection will debut with new remarkable work by prominent designer/artist Arik Levy, to be created in an edition of two. Levy’s work will be launched at Design/Miami in the HSBC Private Bank Designer’s Lounge, an exclusive and dedicated area for VIP guests. This year Swarovski Crystal Palace is creating the highly anticipated Designers Lounge. Make sure you look out for the installation by world renowned architect Greg Lyn where Arik Levy’s commission will be showcased.

Warhol 200 One Dollar Bills/photo provided by Sotheby's

At the end of a year whose outcome no one could guess, recent international auction results have left collectors, auctioneers and gallerists smiling. A number of exceptional prices were achieved, indicating that the market for quality works is strong. Most notably Sotheby's Evening Sale of Contemporary Art in New York saw Andy Warhol’s 200 One Dollar Bills, the monumental masterpiece from his first series of silkscreened paintings, sold for an astounding US$43,762,500, more than three times the high estimate of $12 million. 200 One Dollar Bills is arguably the most important Warhol remaining in private hands and was purchased by the present owner in the historic auction of Contemporary Art from the Estate of the Late Robert C. Scull held at Sotheby's in November of 1986 for US$385,000.

Warhol Self Portrait/photo provided by Sotheby's

While hard to surpass the whopping price achieved by 200 One Dollar Bills at Sotheby's, Phillips de Pury & Company staged a lively albeit minor sale. The boutique sized firm sold 31 of the 40 lots offered for a total of US$7,099,250, within its pre-sale estimate of $5.7 - $8.1 million. This auction's outcome is a far superior result to a year ago, when the house managed to bring in US$9.9million, but with an unsold rate of 46 percent by lot and 51per cent by value. Phillips auctioneer and Chairman Simon de Pury confirms that there was a distinctly better mood at the recent auction, "the market is very good – active and solid".  Also, an unusual, almost unprecedented occurrence took place at the Phillips with a female artist taking the top lot at a major auction. Yayoi Kusama’s optically dense painting Infinity Nets (TWA) achieved $842,500, more than twice the high estimate of $400,000, actually, the same price fetched by Mr. Warhol’s Brillo Soap Pads Box at the same Phillips de Pury sale. The last time a woman artist took out top-lot honours at a major sale was at Christie's  Paris Art d’Après-Guerre et Contemporain evening in May 2008, when Louise Bourgeois’s Spider, a 20 high inch sculpture in stainless steel and tapestry from 2003, sold for record €2,888,250 ($4,611,607).

Abu Dhabi art fair

The inaugural Abu Dhabi art fair opened its exhibition spaces to new audiences on 19 - 22 November. The event is scheduled to take place annually and will highlight the United Arab Emirates as a cultural forum for art. HH Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nayhyan says the fair will make a 'statement about culture, religion and aims to become the main platform for art in the Middle East.'

MOCA

MOCA, Los Angeles
Collection: MOCA’S FIRST THIRTY YEARS
15 November 2009 – 3 May 2010
http://www.moca.org/