Few would be surprised to learn that 2020 has been an exceptional year for art galleries.
Sales fell by an average of 36% in the first six months of the year compared to the same time last year, according to a survey published through UBS and Art Basel on September 9 on the effect of the COVID-1nine pandemic. in galleries.
This corresponds to the fun of Palm Beach photo runner Holden Luntz.
“COVID is a general disruption,” he said. It’s probably safe. Anyone in our company who says they are affected has slept under a rock. “
The mid-year survey collected data from 795 galleries in 60 markets, as well as 360 wealthy creditors in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
Only 21% of distributors expect business to take place during the remainder of 2020.
Luntz agrees: “I’d love it to be a quick bounce, but I have to be pragmatic,” he said. “We are at the end of the pandemic and there are choices to be made. “
According to the report, 45% of distributors expect sales to increase by 2021.
Blockades, prohibitions, and chain-of-origin disruptions sent shockwaves to the economy in the early part of 2020, Noah Horowitz, Art Basel’s Americas director on his arrival on the report.
In Palm Beach, non-essential businesses were ordered to close on March 20, allowed to reopen until May 11, and only 25% of their capacity, and restrictions on 50% of their capacity remained within a week.
Since September 8, retailers have been given the green light to operate at 100 percent of their capacity as long as masks are wearing and U. S. equipment is limited to 10 to the social distance.
Palm Beach’s fresh art runner Sarah Gavlak first saw the effect of the pandemic when sales sold out at the Armory Show in New York after opening night on March 5.
When sales rebounded in early April, “I wasn’t at the same point, but it gave me hope,” he said. “We’re fine, but we’re not at a pre-pandemic point for sure. “
He makes sales at his Gallery in Los Angeles, but business in Palm Beach is slower than it usually is in summer.
She plans a full series of exhibitions in Palm Beach in season, but doesn’t know how she’ll take care of the openings, given the security issues related to the giant gatherings.
Art fairs were once the main revenue from galleries, and accounted for 46% of total sales in 2019, according to the report.
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But with COVID-19 reversing one fair after another, this figure fell to 16% in the first part of 2020. Many fairs have replaced online versions.
Gavlak reduced fairs three years ago to a new relationship with collectors, but still exhibits at some fairs.
After a poor delight with the Untitled virtual fair in August, Gavlak said the genuine check would take place in October, when it will be presented at a Frieze Masters online.
It is not known if the major West Palm Beach art fairs will take place next year.
The Palm Beach Show (formerly Palm Beach Jewelry, Art
“We’ve had discussions with either one of them,” general manager Dave Anderson said. “No final resolution has been made regarding its emissions. ” The center organizes dates for any of the shows, he said.
Art Miami Show Group said it plans to move forward with Palm Beach Modern Con, scheduled January 7-10 at a facility in downtown West Palm Beach, when it canceled its fairs in Miami this month.
As art fairs withdrew, online sales increased from 10% of the gallery’s total sales in 2019 to 37% in the first part of 2020, according to the report.
Luntz, who hired an online content editor and began sending weekly electronic explosions when the pandemic began, said he was receiving some of his new consumers on the Internet in those days.
Sales were lousy from February to April for Palm Beach art broker Adam Adelson, but with an internet boost, this summer’s sales have surpassed sales for any summer in the 8 years he has been a runner, he said.
He and Ron Cavalier, who have opened a non-unusual gallery on Worth Avenue since October 2018, have amicably separated to create separate galleries in Palm Beach.
Despite his good luck with online platforms, Adelson signed a five-year lease for his Worth Avenue gallery.
“We will continue to have an area of bricks and cement,” he said. People will faint and see things, especially on Worth Avenue. “
The Avenue maintains its prestige, Luntz said, even though there are more vacancies than it has noticed in the nearly 4 decades in which he sells art on the street.
He’s also going through Palm Beach’s real estate boom.
“People buy houses left, right and center,” he says. “This brings other people with discretionary income. “
According to the UBS and Art Basel report, 56% of wealthy creditors surveyed spent more than $100,000 on art in the first six months of the year, while 82% plan to attend an art occasion in the next 12 months.
If the creditors venture here, time will tell.