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A REVIEW OF THE NEW YORK TRIBAL SHOW AND AUCTIONS
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NEW YORK TRIBAL & TEXTILE ARTS SHOW MAY 14TH-18 2008 GRAMERCY PARK ARMORY @ 26TH ST & LEXINGTON
This year the tribal show migrated to its new downtown location at the Gramercy Park Armory at 26th & Lexington. The feel of the show was virtually unchanged mainly due to the similar interiors of the two Armory buildings. I did not exhibit, as I felt the saturation of the marketplace, one large show and two auctions simultaneously, would not lend to even marginal sales. This gave me a fresh perspective as I chose to purchase art with the ten thousand I saved by not exhibiting. The buying was good I might add. The opening night definitely caused a buzz and many serious collectors and dealers attended from Europe and elsewhere, if only for a brief period. The very best pieces were immediately purchased and often taken away that evening or the next morning. This made it challenging, if not impossible, to document and review the show in a complete way. The composition of the dealers again shifted drastically this year. I opened a catalog from the New York show five years earlier and so many of those dealers have now dropped out like: Patric Didier Claes, Josh Dimonstein, Bill Jamieson, Leonard Kalina, Jerry Boch, Davide Manfredi, Alain Naoum, Wayne Heathcote, Tambaran Gallery, Spencer Throckmorton, Kevin Conru, Malcolm Grimmer, William Siegal, Primary Source, Tad Dale, James Willis and Christine Valluet and others). It's sad to see. The turn over was gradual but significant and the NY market continues to perplex us all! Even though the show is expensive and stressful, the reality is that most of these dealers would still be exhibiting if the buyers were present in meaningful numbers. I attribute this partly to a once vibrant but aging collector-base which have stopped collecting or literally died off. The marketplace seems in an awkward transition desperately seeking to introduce fresh collectors to this powerful art form which the previous generations so deeply appreciated. This years mosaic of dealers produced a skewed abundance of African art, a distinct shortage of Oceanic Art (Polynesian in particular), Pre-Columbian material was under represented, as was Native American and Indonesian art. Some new dealers included Joe Loux (San Francisco), Charles-Wesly Hourde' (Paris), Arcade Gallery- Peter Wengraf (Devon UK), Casiopeia- Michael Cacioppo (Chicago), Kagu Gallery-- Frank Van Craen (Antwerp), Jacaranda Tribal (NY), B.C. Dentan (San Francisco). For the most part exciting fresh material was lacking. Overall quality slipped a notch and there were only a handful of stellar breath-taking pieces. That said there were of course some great pieces and above all there were a lot of fantastic deals to be had! I spent too much money and surely would have spent more, but I had to eat & have cab fare. A few pieces on my radar screen that sold before I could even shoot a photo was a fine New Caledonian ceremonial jade Axe with masks for $18,000 offered by Charles-Wesly Hourde' (Paris), a New Guinea palm splath painted skull rack panel from the Sawos people for $12,000 offered by Joris Visser and an Easter Island figure from Lewis Wara Gallery. My favorite booth in the show was Serge Schoffel's who had an array of impressive and important Oceanic pieces (pretty stunning actually). Among them was a monumental stone-carved Vanuatu Grade Post from Malekua, a New Britan Sulka Shield, a masterpiece New Guinea Middle Sepik Hook collected by Paul Wirtz, a great Hemba Figure and others. What I find so fascinating about Serge is he tells me that he boldly has his entire bank account (every penny) invested into the art. That level of passion and courage is admirable. There is an old production saying in Hollywood which is "put the money on the screen" and Serge surely did that for this show!
Serge Schoffel next to a fine early Vanuatu Malekula Post. Seen on the right is a classic New Britain Sulka war shield.
Other stand-out booths included Gallery J. Visser (Brussels), Joel Cooner (Dallas), B.C. Denton (San Francisco), Galen Lowe (Seattle) and Thomas Murray (Mill Valley)
(It is worth noting that the harsh overhead lighting inside the show is the worst environment for taking good images, but we do the best we can)
Peter Wengraf (Devon UK)
Cassiopeia- Michael Cacioppo (Chicago) had a very attractive booth with some gorgeous beadwork
Tribalhunter, Ben Hunter (UK)
Craig De Lora Tribal Art (Clifton NJ)
Craig De Lora: with a Guro figure and wonderful early Dan miniature mask
Kagu Gallery, Frank had some strong Congo material with included an impressive Songye Axe. Notice the unique Balue figures on the far left which have their hands and arms raised and carved away from their bodies
Frank Van Craen (Antwerp) That Dan Ladle seen in the background was an extraordinary example and surely one of the best available
Amyas Naegele Fine Art Bases Ltd (NY), Amyas likes to have a booth stuffed with quality smalls which seems to be his secret to a great show. In fact he never stopped writing receipts!
B.C. Dentan (San Francisco) with one of the most elegant booths in the show. That purple object in the corner was a flamboyant fiber headdress from Cameroon
Lewis/ Wara (Seattle), Had a classic early New Ireland Tatanua mask which got a lot of attention. Kirby is in white shirt showing a customer a group master-carved Trobriand Island Massim lime spatulas (some by artist Mutuaga)
Patricia and Bruce Frank (NY), and son Marcus next to a power Indonesian Toraja Tatu effigy
(Bruce Frank) With a very cool Batak Magic Figure
Thomas
Murray with a stunning Peruvian Central Coast feather headdress (Chimu/
Chancay) in beautiful condition. Tom's presentation of this piece
coincided with the special exhibition at The Met titled "Radiance
from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru". It is
worth noting that Tom also had in important large Indonesian Ataoro
Figure
Joel
Cooner next to an early stone-carved New Guinea Lower Sepik Mask
Joel Cooner
Serge Schoffel (Brussels) Upper Left a masterpiece New Guinea suspension hook.
Owen Hargreaves & Jasmine Dahl (London)
At last a photo in natural light of a dashing couple! Owen Hargreaves & Jasmine Dahl
(Bruce Frank) Ancient New Guinea Yangoru Boiken Figure
Mark Johnson (Marina Del Rey CA) Left- Modang Dayak ritual oil lamp, Right- Bottom View of a painted Iban Dayak pattern board for an Ikat.
Joe Loux (San Francisco) with a lovely selection of Chinese and Moroccan objects
A.R. Broomer Ltd. (New York) had this very unique inventive seat/ bench from the N. Philippines with stylized animals carved from a huge root mass
Dave DeRoche (Piedmont CA) Dave continued this theme of "Monumental Miniatures" this year exhibiting approximately 300 pieces. He had a diverse selection from all cultures. Among the treasures, was an impressive group of rare terracotta Formosa (Taiwan) Aboriginal figures from the Yami People. Every one loves to buy from Dave and as I recall he said he sold 40 pieces!! Still he said that was about two thirds of the sales results compared to last year.
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