Top Auction Results for Contemporary Photographers

Cindy Sherman, Andreas Gursky, and Richard Prince

Photography sales - with particularly strong results in the US and in London - have demonstrated collector’s appetites for the Contemporary segment of the market. However, this market is still very much in its infancy and only represented 2% of total Fine Art sales revenue in 2010 (and 52% of the total transaction volume in the photography segment as a whole).

This week’s TOP identifies the ten best auction results generated in the Contemporary photography segment. With a new personal record of $3.4m, Cindy Sherman is today the world’s most expensive Contemporary photographer on the art market!

Read the entire article (copyright ArtPrice): Contemporary Photographers - Top Art Auction Results

Park West Gallery and the Art of the Con

A Silver Wedding Anniversary Celebration Turns Into the Cruise from Hell

Abe Hershkowitz is a victim of Park West Gallery and he is one of those rare individuals that refuses to sit down and shut up — no matter how much Park West Gallery and its miserable lawyers threatened him. Abe is a colorful character, larger than life, with a great sense of humor and a gracious willingness to help anyone that asks. He was ripped off by Park West Gallery and he wasn’t going to take it. We published Abe’s case study on Fine Art Registry in September and October 2007. Abe stood up for what he believed in and vigorously fought the Park West Gallery beast until Park West cried “Uncle”. Park West Gallery capitulated and agreed to rescind Abe’s contract. He was one of the lucky ones. We could use a lot more like Abe in this world — willing to stand and fight for what is right. What’s more, Abe was not bound by the Park West Gallery gag agreement in the settlement of his claims. He flat out refused to sign the unilateral (completely one-sided) Park West gag agreement that says in essence, if you (our customer) say anything negative about us after we refund you, we will sue you. Abe speaks out to this day, and says exactly what he feels without fear of retaliation by Park West Gallery. He is a mighty advocate and strong support for other victims who find themselves in the same boat (pun intended). And so Abe showed up in Port Huron, Michigan, more than a year ago, in April 2010, to testify on behalf of Fine Art Registry. His testimony is compelling and it was effective… read the entire article at Fine Art Registry entitled, Park West Gallery and the Art of the Con

Park West Gallery, Scaglione and Ira Shore Reunite and Share the Art Auction Rip Off Spotlight

Another Cruise Ship Art Auction Rip Off? Really? So What Else is New?

Fine Art Registry® has been reporting on fraudulent, unfair, and deceptive art auction sales aboard cruise ships for well over four years now and the monkey business continues. You will want to check out this latest article of yet another art auction rip off published in “The Sydney Morning Herald,” an Australian newspaper, as well as an article on the same subject that was published in the Art Market Monitor.

Our readers will recall that in the past we have reported extensively on the long history and the cozy little relationship between Albert Scaglione of Park West Gallery and an individual by the name of Ira Shore (aka Fine Art Management Corporation). More recently, we reported that Ira Shore had taken over the operation of the art peddler known as, British American Auctions. Ira Shore cleverly changed the name from British American Auctions to International Art Galleries LLC., managing to convince two VC [venture capital] firms to invest more than $4.9 million dollars into his “new” operation. Perhaps Ira Shore didn’t think we would notice the name change. But Fine Art Registry was aware from the beginning as we had insiders reporting to us every step of the way.

Read the entire article at Fine Art Registry: Another Cruise Ship Art Auction Rip Off

On August 10, 2011 the Sydney Morning Herald published an article by Tom Kirkpatrick entitled Painting bought at sea proves to be no treasure.

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