Kobel's
Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 36 2026

In France, the end of summer is marked by the Rentrée at the end of August, the traditional date for the Art-o-Rama in Marseille, which Laura Helena Wurth reports on in the FAZ of 29 August: “[Fair director Jérôme] Pantalacci still sees Art-o-Rama as a fair where gallery owners can network with one another and exchange artists. That is why galleries must apply with a project developed specifically for the fair and are allowed to design their own exhibition stands. A stand costs just 3,600 euros, so the pressure to sell is considerably lower than at other fairs. Some galleries can afford to exhibit works here that, at first glance, seem virtually unsellable.” Hanno Hauenstein emphasises the fair’s role in fostering artistic production in the Tagesspiegel: “The fact that Art-o-rama aims to be more than just a marketplace for art is also evident from the prizes. No fewer than twelve awards are presented during the three-day fair – roughly one prize for every third stand. The Prix Roger Pailhas reimburses the winning gallery’s entire participation fee. The Prix PÉBÉO, worth 10,000 euros, involves the purchase of a work by an exhibiting artist. Further prizes are sponsored by private collections, a collectors’ association, the art academy and the Département Bouches-du-Rhône.”

Ursula Scheer paid a visit to CHART in Copenhagen for the FAZ (now behind a paywall again): “Making it easy to get started without compromising on quality: this has been a priority for the fair from the outset, with exhibitors nominated by invitation, strictly from Scandinavia or with a personal connection to a Nordic country. Founded in 2013 by five galleries in the city, CHART is now owned by a not-for-profit foundation. So, on the whole, giving is more important to them than taking. Accordingly, the fair contributes to the country’s characteristic democratisation of culture through its supporting programme: art in the metro, freely accessible lectures and video art screenings, performances and concerts, as well as a large-scale installation in the courtyard of Charlottenborg.” Jens Bülskämper offers a praise—wrapped in a somewhat refreshingly colourful sweet wrapper, yet arguably unintentionally laced with poison—to the Enter Art Fair, taking place in parallel, via Artmagazine: “Enter is the ultimate eye-candy fair. It presents exactly what people actually want to see on their walls at home. And before the eternal mockers and sceptics come out of the woodwork: art can take many forms, manifest itself in various guises, and that’s a good thing. It’s also allowed to offer a sense of well-being and comfort, to be a treat for the eyes. As a school of sensitivity, art is political by its very nature, even if it doesn’t explicitly say ‘war is evil’.” The same could be said of Scope or the Affordable Art Fair – events with which one would rather not be associated as a serious art fair.

Alongside Art Week Tokyo in early November, the organizers of the Basel Social Club are hosting the Tokyo Jazz Club, reports Lee Cheshire in The Art Newspaper.

Payal Uttam examines the end of the hype in the Korean art market in the run-up to Frieze Seoul for Artnews: “Seoul-based adviser Hong Chang-Hee said the speculative activity that accompanied the boom has subsided. Today, higher interest rates, economic uncertainty and currency volatility have made ‘collectors more conscious of liquidity’ and more selective when acquiring works priced above several hundred thousand dollars. That conscientiousness also extends to which artists are being acquired; Haam said he has noticed more recently that Korean collectors are placing greater trust in ‘markets they can observe directly’ and looking closely at contemporary Asian artists rather than defaulting to Western blue-chip names. But collectors at the top end are still buying, according to Timmy Kim, a Seoul-based adviser and curator. He sees a bifurcation in the market: the old guard continues to acquire works by established artists priced above $1 million from blue-chip galleries, whilst younger collectors typically buy works under $10,000, often by emerging artists from newer local galleries.”

The auction house Philipps has lost half of its senior management team, report Sarah Douglas, Maximilíano Durón and Daniel Cassady in Artnews: “The two most senior departures are Miety Heiden, chairman of private sales, and Jonathan Crockett, chairman for Asia. Both will officially leave their roles next month. (Crockett’s departure was first reported in Art Asia Pacific and the Baer Faxt newsletter earlier today.) Until now, the house’s four-person executive leadership team consisted of Heiden; Crockett; Robert Manley, chairman and worldwide head of modern and contemporary art; and Marianne Hoet, head of business development and chairman for Europe. This quartet all reported to chief executive Martin Wilson, who took over the top role after Ed Dolman stepped down in 2024 to set up his own consultancy firm. (In December 2024, deputy CEO Amanda Lo Iacono also stepped down from her role.)“

The Cologne-based art auction house Lempertz is venturing onto Parisian territory with a local partner, reports Bettina Wohlfarth in the FAZ: “The company is now making its debut in Paris. Together with Artcurial, it will auction Jean-Jacques Rotthier’s hitherto little-known collection of African art on 8 September at its French counterparts’ headquarters on the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées. Both auction houses had previously collaborated on other occasions, such as auctions of African and Oceanic art in Brussels during the BRAFA fair. Paris, however, is the most important centre for the trade in indigenous artworks. The auction will now take place to coincide with the ‘Parcours des Mondes’ fair in the Saint-Germain arts district, an event for which collectors and specialists travel from far and wide.”

Connecticut is emerging as an alternative to overpriced New York for an increasing number of artists, as Daniel Cassady has reported for Artnews: “The idea is partly to correct Connecticut’s peculiar place in the cultural imagination. Maine has artists. The East End has artists. Connecticut has hedge funds and good schools, or so the stereotype goes. In reality, the state has a long artistic history and an unusually dense institutional landscape, ranging from the Wadsworth Atheneum and the New Britain Museum of American Art to Yale and, more recently, NXTHVN (pronounced Next-Haven). New Haven itself is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse cities in the state”.

During opening hours, armed perpetrators stole a diamond necklace from the MAK in Vienna, reports dpa.

The private Merz Academy in Stuttgart has gone into insolvency, reports Monopol.

Anna Brady explains in The Art Newspaper (possibly paywall) what artists and clients need to bear in mind in the event of a gallery’s insolvency: “One of the thorniest aspects of the recent insolvencies of the Stephen Friedman, Arusha and Simon Lee galleries has been the number of artists and collectors left struggling to recover works that they consigned in good faith but without written agreements. As unsecured creditors, such consignors are at the bottom of the pile when it comes to recouping their losses when a business goes bankrupt. But all is not lost, if they act fast, says Petra Warrington, a partner at the London law firm Wedlake Bell who specialises in art and luxury law: “Consignors should contact the liquidators as soon as possible, assert their ownership rights and provide evidence of title.” But the process can be slow, Warrington warns, “particularly where records are unclear”.“

There is also some good news from the so-called ‘mid-tier’ gallery scene in New York. The David Nolan Gallery is quadrupling its floor space and moving from the Upper East Side to TriBeCa, into the premises of the London-based Timothy Taylor Gallery, which have stood vacant since March. Lindsay Jarvis and Max Werner are consolidating their partnership with the opening of the Jarvis & Werner gallery on the Bowery, reports Maximilíano Durón at Artnews.

The Bonn-based collector Carolin Scharpff-Striebich died on 28 August at the age of 63, the Scharpff Collection announced on Instagram. The Friends of the Bonn Art Museum also paid tribute to her there: “Carolin Scharpff-Striebich was characterised by her genuine interest and extensive knowledge, her openness to new ideas and her captivating lack of pretension. Conversations with her were marked by warmth, respect, humour and a natural warmth.”