Social distancing, customers driving hard bargains the new reality for art galleries
- Many art galleries survived the coronavirus pandemic by selling online during lockdowns, but now face an uncertain future
- With no art fairs, social distancing rules in force and customers expecting large discounts, they have their work cut out
A US$5.5 million painting by Cecily Brown, a sold-out New York debut by emerging artist Katja Farin and many other artworks found buyers online during the shutdowns.
The US$64 billion art market, the epitome of the globe-trotting jet set, has muscled through lockdowns better than anticipated. Now, as galleries from Hong Kong to Berlin reopen, the biggest challenges may lie ahead.
“This will be a difficult year for every range of a gallery – mid-sized, young and large,’’ said Thaddaeus Ropac, a top art dealer with spaces in Salzburg, Paris and London, where galleries are allowed to reopen this week.
Buyers demand discounts of as much as 30 per cent on new works and 50 per cent on the secondary market, according to art dealers. Reprieves, including government rescue loans or rent reductions, will go away. And art fairs, one of the largest sources of revenue for galleries, aren’t coming back soon. The Art Basel show, where more than US$3 billion worth of art is usually up for grabs, recently cancelled its annual edition in Switzerland.
Some reopenings didn’t go smoothly. Galleries in Seoul had to close again after Covid-19 cases spiked again in South Korea last month. At least one Berlin gallery was shut down and fined after failing to comply with social-distancing rules.
