It is both thrilling and daunting for me to be taking this giant leap into a new venture. Over my past twenty years in the auction world, I witnessed the landscape of the art market evolve to a place that would not only be unrecognizable, but also unimaginable, at the start of my career. So many of the art blogs these days are focused on prices: immense prices, absurd prices. Every week is another story of vast riches: this week, a half billion dollars spent on two Ab Ex paintings. Withall this focus on fiscal valuation, too many have lost sight of art itself. When I started my career, the great majority of auction house employees had a background in Art History: we were trained as connoisseurs, tested by slides, forced to prove proficiency in style and method. Today, the new generation is trained in the business of art and art law. Who, I began to wonder, will be left actually looking, loving and appreciating art?
I still am.
And I hope you are.
What brought me to launch 2050 Art Services was my unfettered passion for material culture. As a young student standing in a Greek temple in Sicily, I was literally brought to tears when I realized it was the self-same structure described by Cicero over 2000 years earlier, the identical historic locus from which prized sculptures were stolen by Verres, the entitled governor of old. I still remember the sensation of laying on the floor of the Sistine Chapel with fellow classmates as we learned in artistic awe about Michelangelo’s masterpiece. It has been my sheer delight to spend years pouring over textbook images, photographic slides, museum exhibits, and—thanks to the all-access pass I have in the art wolrd—even in the secret, sacred shrines of museum storehouses.
For two decades I held countless objects in my hands, learning from their weight, their smell, their temperature and surface. I experienced airless bank vaults, dank warehouses, dusty apartments, as well as the most glorious settings imaginable for display. I have been privileged by all of these experiences. And that is what brought me to this opportunity. It is my hope to keep this love for the art in the center of the business of art. The works of art in your possession may hold their meaning in your experience of collecting, your passion for history, or perhaps even the thrill you discover in investing in a new and enriching arena. Working together, we will make sure every project we undertake carries with it that same passion, love and care. Art deserves no less, and your art needs it all the more.