Arts and Culture: We may not know much about art, but with calculators in hand, we found a story of potential value on pioneering mixed-media artist William Anastasi. According to the Top Three sales report of a Christie’s Interior auction on Jan 11-12, 2010, three pieces by Anastasi took the top three slots in the fine arts category. On average, the three pieces sold at nearly 2,000 percent higher than pre-auction estimates.
Anastasi’s mixed-media rendering “Three Friends” sold to a private collector for $35,000, which is nearly 30 times its pre-auction estimated value. The highest price item in fine arts was “Untitled,” which sold for $40,000, or 20 times more than expected. Rounding out the Fine Arts Top Three sales report in the second spot is “June 5, 1985 10:50-11:33 AM.” It sold for $37,500, which is more than nine times its pre-auction estimate. Like “Three Friends,” all pieces sold to a private collector.
Overall: Coolness and a seriously irreverent wit define Mr. Anastasi’s work. Along with Andy Warhol, the native of Philadelphia is a pioneer of conceptual art. Born in 1933, William attended the University of Pennsylvania; and, yes, he is alive.
11 more words: An interiors auction generally includes fine art, furniture, and decorative objects.
Arts & Culture: The 15th Annual Los Angeles Art Show returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center January 20-24, 2010. Presented by the Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA) and KR Martindale Show Management this encyclopedic art event will feature more than 100 international exhibitors, an engaging lecture series and special events program, a sculpture garden, and special exhibit spaces. The 2010 Los Angeles Art Show debuts a Guest Country Program and welcomes Uruguay.
By invitation-only and launching in 2010, the Los Angeles Art Show welcomes Uruguay, as its first Guest Country. The Guest Country Program is comprised of specially curated exhibitions, lecture programming and special project space and has a goal to showcase nations with strong visual arts traditions that demonstrate a keen understanding of the international climate. Under the direction of the Dirección Nacional de Cultura and the Ministero de Educaión y Cultura, a special exhibition of Uruguay’s top International artists, 34° 53’ 0” S - 56° 10’ 0” W will be on view at the show. The exhibition will be accompanied by a lecture.
If I told you there was a permanent solution to your organization’s financial challenges and that this solution would take 25 years to implement, would you want to know more? What if a previous leader in your organization had chosen to start on the path 15 years ago or better yet, 25 years ago? How would you feel about the 25 year solution then? Planned giving refers to the process of making a charitable gift of estate assets to nonprofit organizations, a gift that requires consideration and planning in light of the donor's overall estate plan.
Annual appeals have traditionally been the target of all effort and energy in a non-profit at an organizational level There have been times, however, when a leader has drawn a line in the sand and made the commitment to a more dependable, longer term solution to the challenge of funding social ministry. Consider Harvard, the envy of the development world. A leader at Harvard chose to make a commitment many years ago to intentionally talk with people about perpetual giving, giving beyond their lifetime. This has culminated in an endowment that exceeds what most organizations even believe is possible. That commitment created a reality where scholarships can be provided indefinitely, programs can be developed based on quality and buildings can be built without the weight and stress of carrying debt.
The question then becomes why don’t we pursue planned giving with all of our energy and effort? It is not that it is complicated or overwhelming. A person can make a change to a will, a beneficiary; buy a life insurance policy or a purchase gift annuity along with an enormous amount of additional simple techniques. The reason cannot be that people don’t know what to do. The reason also cannot be that they have no interest in doing it. There has got to be a reason that is explicable since some organizations have figured this out and some have not. The reason is simply discipline or more specifically, a commitment to a simple daily action plan to embed Planned Giving into your organization.
Let me take a minute to describe the process that would need to take place over a 25 year period to make ‘Planned Giving’ a reality. First, it all starts with the leadership of the organization, not just the CEO but the entire leadership team along with the Board of Directors. If they not only understand why this is important but they have personally taken the initiative to make their planned gift a reality, then the critical mass will be present to carry the momentum throughout the entire organization and constituency. The next step is a plan to reach out to this population, 1 person at a time. Simply to hold a conversation about the possibilities that can be created by their personal bequest.
That plan would include one question that would need to be asked of 1 person each day that cares about the organization. That question is, “Mr. Jones, you obviously care about our organization as exhibited by all of your efforts on our behalf, would you consider intentionally having a conversation with us about how to perpetuate your giving forever?” Once you have a yes, simply make the appointment. Make sure the spouse will be there if appropriate, which would be true in most if not all cases. Also, make sure you have an advisor who understands charitable giving to assist with the process. Once you have the appointment, the rest of the process will fall into place since the hardest part is over. When an organization makes the commitment to developing Planned Gifts, it will make an enormous difference to any ministry's long term ability to make a difference.
Arts & Culture: The eighth edition of America’s most prestigious art show, Art Basel Miami Beach, has proved successful yet again. The annual show was held December 3 to 6, 2009 and featured works from more than 250 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Art Basel Miami showcased the work of more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, with special sectors devoted to very recent artworks, curated exhibits, as well as performance and art in public spaces. The 2009 edition offered larger spaces for many galleries and a new, innovative floor plan designed to improve the visitor experience inside the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Arts & Culture: Another important piece of the art buying puzzle is to know when a particular work was created ... and no matter what anyone says, this it is an important piece –- especially if you want to be sure you are paying the right price.
Many artists continue to paint their successful images (subjects) for many years (sometimes decades) and in general you will find that the earlier examples –- of the artist’s signature style or image –- will be more expensive. This is more readily seen in historical (deceased) artist’s works because prices are governed by the secondary market and not by the artist or their dealer whose goal it is to constantly push up the prices –- in other words, creating a market that is always improving. When works appear on the secondary market, we begin to see which specific works the general market fights for.
Arts & Culture: Jonathan Levy was raised and educated in New York, where he received a degree in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn. Not long after, he moved to Maui, Hawaii in search of inspiration, and discovered the source of what was to become his unique and truly inspired form of painting.
Pure observation of the world around him opened his eyes to an entirely new perspective. As a result, his work became significantly marked by the patterns and movements that exist in nature, from the mathematical and repetitive design of a flower, to the rhythm and flow of the ocean. Furthermore, as a trained stone carver, Levy’s painting style is deeply influenced by the marbled patterns found within stone. As Levy states, “The elements found in nature are undeniably intriguing. We are all innately, deeply attracted to these foundations.”
Arts & Culture: An epic masterpiece by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the highlight of the season's major art auctions, is estimated to fetch up to $12 million stars in Christie's highly anticipated Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in New York on November 10. Brother Sausage (detail above), painted in 1983 and featured on the cover of Basquiat's catalogue raisonné, is a cartoon strip-like composition of six panels hinged together to form a narrative frieze of multiple drawings and Xeroxed overlays; each laden with themes of racial inequality and prejudice, wealth and corporate greed in a fame and consumer-obsessed American.
Arts & Culture: Whether you are a oenophile or just like coffee table books, you're going to want to Into the Earth: A Wine Cave Renaissance, a hardcover book written and photographed by Daniel D'Agostini with Molly Chappellet.
Into the Earth: A Wine Cave Renaissance is a pictorial adventure taken by Daniel D'Agostini that beautifully depicts the history, charm and eco-conscious qualities of California wine caves.
October 13, 2009 | Contributor: Carly Zinderman Arts & Culture: The 1800 Tequila Essential Artists series celebrates a dynamic range of original artwork on a unique and unexpected medium -- bottles of 100% Agave Silver Tequila. Up-and-coming artists from New York to Hawaii were invited to submit their artwork to be featured on 11 bottles of 1800 Tequila; an additional celebrity artist was commissioned to complete the 12th and final piece for the year. This marks the second annual collection of limited-edition Essential Artists bottles.
2009's special-edition bottle was designed by Studio Number One, a group of rising star designers founded in 2003 by artist Shepard Fairey, who gained global notoriety recently for his Obama "Hope" design.
Event: Named one of the five most complicated watches ever made, Breguet's Marie-Antoinette is a sight to behold for anyone that considers themselves a fan of complex timepiece movements. And now, for the first time since its completion, the reproduction of the 160 Marie-Antoinette, the 1160 Marie-Antoinette, will be displayed for the American public to view.
The original watch, now known as the Marie-Antoinette, was commissioned in 1783 by one of Queen Marie Antoinette's most ardent admirers, who requested A. L. Breguet make a unique gift for her, complete with every complication that was known at the time.
Arts & Culture: Just as the dust was settling on the relocation of Gap founder Donald Fisher's contemporary art collection to a new wing at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Fisher died from of cancer at his San Francisco home. He was 81.
After giving up a controversial plan to build a private museum in the Presidio, a national park, Fisher and his wife, Doris, settled on a plan to loan the collection, one of the world's great collections of modern art -- 1,100 works by major contemporary figures like Calder, de Kooning, Diebenkorn, Warhol and Lichtenstein, as well as living artists Cy Twombly, and Brice Marden -- to the SFMOMA. Under the agreement, the Fishers, will create a 25 year renewable trust to oversee the care of the collection, and an expansion intended to triple the institution's gallery space will house the collection as well as art from the museum's holdings.
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Arts and Culture: We may not know much about art, but with calculators in hand, we found a story of potential value on pioneering mixed-media artist William Anastasi. According to the Top Three sales report of a Christie’s Interior auction on Jan 11-12, 2010, three pieces by Anastasi took the top three slots in the fine arts category. On average, the three pieces sold at nearly 2,000 percent higher than pre-auction estimates.
Arts & Culture: The 15th Annual Los Angeles Art Show returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center January 20-24, 2010. Presented by the Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA) and KR Martindale Show Management this encyclopedic art event will feature more than 100 international exhibitors, an engaging lecture series and special events program, a sculpture garden, and special exhibit spaces. The 2010 Los Angeles Art Show debuts a Guest Country Program and welcomes Uruguay. 
Arts & Culture: The eighth edition of America’s most prestigious art show, Art Basel Miami Beach, has proved successful yet again. The annual show was held December 3 to 6, 2009 and featured works from more than 250 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. 
Arts & Culture: Another important piece of the art buying puzzle is to know when a particular work was created ... and no matter what anyone says, this it is an important piece –- especially if you want to be sure you are paying the right price.
Arts & Culture: Jonathan Levy was raised and educated in New York, where he received a degree in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn. Not long after, he moved to Maui, Hawaii in search of inspiration, and discovered the source of what was to become his unique and truly inspired form of painting.
Arts & Culture: An epic masterpiece by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the highlight of the season's major art auctions, is estimated to fetch up to $12 million stars in Christie's highly anticipated Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in New York on November 10. Brother Sausage (detail above), painted in 1983 and featured on the cover of Basquiat's catalogue raisonné, is a cartoon strip-like composition of six panels hinged together to form a narrative frieze of multiple drawings and Xeroxed overlays; each laden with themes of racial inequality and prejudice, wealth and corporate greed in a fame and consumer-obsessed American.
Arts & Culture: Whether you are a oenophile or just like coffee table books, you're going to want to Into the Earth: A Wine Cave Renaissance, a hardcover book written and photographed by Daniel D'Agostini with Molly Chappellet.
Event: Named one of the five most complicated watches ever made, Breguet's Marie-Antoinette is a sight to behold for anyone that considers themselves a fan of complex timepiece movements. And now, for the first time since its completion, the reproduction of the 160 Marie-Antoinette, the 1160 Marie-Antoinette, will be displayed for the American public to view.
Arts & Culture: Just as the dust was settling on the relocation of Gap founder Donald Fisher's contemporary art collection to a new wing at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Fisher died from of cancer at his San Francisco home. He was 81. 
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