Frieze week has passed, as have the London auctions, to quite a miserable atmosphere all around.  The jubliation of Frieze, although somewhat muted seemed to illustrate that the art world would survive the insanity of the financial crises, but the auctions proved this assumption completely false.  The happy and optimistic mood has quickly dissipated.  Even the markets that everyone thought were immune are teetering.  The Edge of Arabia show which opened at the Brunei Gallery was a wonderful display of contemporary Saudi Arabian art but it was certainly bad timing with conversations and foc

In these strange and crazy times, the art world seems to holding out though it’s not as deliriously out-of-control as it once was.  The VIP opening attendance at Frieze was overwhelming with what seemed to be like more people than art!

So after a relatively sleepy summer the fall art season has kicked off with a bang with Damien Hirst’s insanely successful auction at Sotheby’s!  Interestingly enough, the sale was on the same day as the collapse of Lehman Brothers and continued for 2 days with no signs of any effect on the art market (although whispers have it that Hirst’s dealers and galleries were those that bought the majority of works).

So summer is here and it seems things are slowing down a little bit in the art world-notwithstanding some record prices for works at auction two weeks ago: a notable one being the Monet which sold for $80.5 million!  The New Museum in New York is opening a show on July 10th featuring Cairo’s Townhouse --a non-profit gallery which brings together various Middle Eastern artists, such as my gallery's own Susan Hefuna and also Tareq Zaki (both Egyptian).

Well the past few weeks have been a whirlwind!  Art Basel/Design Miami kicked off with a blast on Monday June 2nd with a great opening at the design fair as well as the Netjets party at the Beyeler (www.beyeler.com)  

The Arabs and Iranians were out in force all week, undeterred by the problematic availability of rooms in Basel due to the impeding and dreaded Eurocup.