Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 36 2025

An apocalyptic summer is coming to an end – thankfully. It wasn't just the temperatures across much of Europe that brought bad news. The art market also saw a spate of bad news. The number of Art Basel galleries giving up this year is steadily rising and seems set to increase over the summer.

The Clearing Gallery, with locations in New York and Los Angeles (and formerly Brussels), announced its demise on Instagram. Owner Olivier Babin discussed this with Carlie Porterfield in The Art Newspaper (paywall may apply): ‘We've been crushed by the overheads, which is pretty classic. Rent, shipping, fairs—all these things continue to increase and revenue plummets,’ Babin says. ‘A proper [chief financial officer] would have decided to pull the plug six months, 12 months, 18 months or 24 months ago.’ Andrew Russeth at Artnet believes the gallery will live on: "One final note. In June, Babin and company took over a rambling house in Basel during Art Basel, and filled it with art, hoping to woo collectors from the nearby convention centre. It was a raucous gambit. In light of the bad news, it looks like a well-executed but unsuccessful Hail Mary. The gallery went out in high style, embracing risk, as it did from the start. It's done now, but I suspect that we have not heard the last of Olivier Babin."

New York gallery Tanya Bonakdar is closing its Los Angeles branch, reports Maxwell Rabb at Artsy: "The gallery announced in a statement, first reported by Artnet News [probably paywall] and subsequently sent to Artsy, that it had made a “considered decision” not to renew its lease this September. In the statement, the gallery noted that, “After seven meaningful years on Highland Avenue, the lease's end offered a natural pause to assess, and celebrate, all we have accomplished with the Los Angeles gallery exhibition programme.”"

The New York gallery of Paul Kasmin, who died in 2020, is closing and will be continued under its own name by its former directors Nick Olney and Eric Gleason, reports Daniel Cassady in Artnews.

Laurent Godin has moved his gallery from Paris to Arles. His website was lost in the process.

In Germany, Cologne native Brigitte Schenk is handing over her Cologne gallery to her daughter Joana Rose L. Weitzdörfer after more than 30 years. Weitzdörfer will continue to run the business under the name Schenkweitzdörfer.

Keith Estiler talks about the ‘creeping death of the contemporary art gallery’ at Hypebeast: "A significant force behind this change is the shifting demand for different types of art. The once-dominant “blue-chip” artists, masters whose work commanded staggering prices, are no longer the only game in town. Collectors are increasingly turning their attention to “red-chip” artists, a new class of talents whose value is built on viral hype and cultural relevance rather than institutional endorsement. These artists are attractive for two main reasons: their work is often more accessible and affordable, and it brings fresh, diverse cultural perspectives that feel relevant and exciting to a global audience."

Maxwell Rabb provides a historical context for the crisis in Artsy: ‘This is not the first time the American art industry has found itself in such a period of introspection. In the early 1990s, a sharp recession caused a downturn in the market that Time magazine described as “the great massacre of 1990”.’ Similar periods of tumult occurred in 2008, when around two dozen New York galleries closed according to the New York Times, and in 2016, when more than a dozen galleries in the city shuttered in 18 months. Then, as now, similar questions were asked about the future direction of the industry."

The current art fair model does not seem sustainable to many market participants, according to a survey of gallery owners summarised by Karen K. Ho for Artnews: "First Thursday, a London-based sales intelligence company, spoke with 56 commercial galleries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America for its inaugural Art Fair Report. Some of the interviews took place directly on the floors of Frieze, Art Basel, Independent, TEFAF, and Art SG. The report found that nearly half of the galleries (46 per cent) surveyed spent over £30,000 ($40,000) to attend a single fair, and nearly one in five galleries (24 per cent) spent between £50,000 and £100,000. This correlates with the 83 per cent of respondents who cited high participation costs as the biggest challenge to exhibiting at fairs, followed by 77 per cent of respondents who said the uncertainty of sales was the next biggest challenge. ‘The model feels unsustainable at present,’ one gallerist said. Captain Obvious was apparently commissioned to conduct the study.

Art Basel's involvement in Qatar is also attracting attention outside the art world. For Politico, Carlo Martuscelli examines the role of the fair in the emirate's strategy: "[Artist and academic Gregory] Sholette said that the Basel organisers had to account for how hosting the fair would boost Qatar's soft power. “It shouldn’t be done willy-nilly, to become part of, in this case, the Qatar political sphere, because that’s what’s going to basically assist Qatar and other countries in that region in their PR promotion." In an interview with POLITICO, Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz answered questions about Qatar’s human rights record, and the role that Art Basel might play in helping the country exert its influence internationally. ‘That's not a concern of ours,’ said Horowitz. ‘They've been stepping forward in a very direct and meaningful way for some time now in the role of culture. I mean, their cultural commitments are well noted and deep and quite visionary.’ FIFA's argument at the time was similar.

The major auction houses are trying to save themselves from the slump in the art market with handbags, trainers and jewellery, according to an analysis by George Nelson for Artnews: "But, as high-end art sales continue to stagnate, auction houses are increasingly leaning on luxury categories. According to market research firm ArtTactic, fine art sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips fell 44 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2022. That's a roughly £3 billion hole that needs plugging, which auction houses appear to be doing with proceeds from high-end handbags, jewellery, wine, whisky, and collectible cars. According to another ArtTactic report, luxury goods sales reached a decade-high market share of 18.8 per cent by value for auction houses in the first half of 2024—and climbed to 20.2 per cent so far in 2025. I come to similar conclusions at Monopol (paywall).

This ties in with the following report by George Nelson for Artnews: ‘Sotheby's will stage its first series of luxury marquee auctions in Abu Dhabi this December. Dubbed Abu Dhabi Collectors' Week, the sales will run from 3 to 5 December and span cars, watches, jewellery, and real estate, alongside a “museum-quality” exhibition of art, from Old Masters to contemporary.’ The auctions, organised in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), will take place at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort during “one of the busiest and most dynamic weeks in the region,” Sotheby's said in a statement." If Gianni Infantino ever needs a new job and Sotheby's still exists by then, this would certainly be an opportunity.

Sam Knight's report for the New Yorker (paywall) offers a shocking insight into the corporate culture at Sotheby's: ‘If that is how you feel, then walk out the door,’ he [Drahi] replied. ‘This is not a democracy. It's my company, and I run this company. At the end of the day, all of you, every single one of you, is replaceable.’ Looking at [CEO Charles] Stewart, Drahi added, ‘Even you.’ There was a sense of order breaking down. One London-based dealer described an atmosphere of ‘instability in the rooms and the feeling that expertise is gone.’ Dozens of employees in Sotheby's British office lost their jobs last year. Gossip and paranoia spread to the market. “It’s, like, how are you going to survive without these people that have either been fired or left the company voluntarily?” the senior employee said. “What’s happened with my payment? How long are you going to be there? I’m not going to sit here and pretend that those are not conversations that are going on amongst our clients all the time.” Harrison Jacobs provides a summary of the report at Artnews.

As if that weren't enough trouble for Sotheby's, Angelica Villa at Artnews also uncovers problems at the company's own training centre: "Sotheby's Institute of Art, a for-profit graduate school with campuses in London and New York, has been under one of the US Department of Education's most serious financial monitoring statuses for nearly two years, according to previously unreported public records. Since December 2023, the school has been given the “Heightened Cash Monitoring 2” (HCM2) designation, which is used by the DOE when it identifies significant concerns with a school's finances or compliance practices. Fewer than 50 schools in the country currently hold the status, most of them small religious or cosmetology schools. Under HCM2, a school is barred from receiving federal financial aid in advance and must instead front its own funds and apply for reimbursement. The designation is often interpreted by analysts as a warning to prospective and current students that an institution may be at risk of closure.

The end of art criticism is lamented by anonymous art critic The Art Daddy in the Observer: "Meanwhile, the world of traditional art media is rapidly shrinking. Artnet, once hailed as a digital pioneer and a beacon of serious cultural journalism, was snapped up by hedge fund Beowolff Capital earlier this year—a corporate overlord with zero interest in nurturing editorial integrity but plenty of enthusiasm for slashing budgets to boost profit margins and gutting editorial teams. The same hedge fund holds a controlling stake in Artsy, the digital marketplace with an editorial arm that was already stretched thin. Now, with consolidation looming, it's all but guaranteed that its editorial resources will be gutted or folded into a leaner, meaner content machine. This means the erosion of thoughtful, independent criticism in favour of clickbait and sponsored content designed to sell art, not interrogate it. Penske Media Corporation, the corporate giant that owns several major art publications, including ARTnews, Art in America and Artforum (as well as Variety, Rolling Stone and others), has also tightened its grip, squeezing editorial freedom under the iron fist of business priorities. The result is a homogenisation of content, where independent voices are muffled or sidelined and the emphasis shifts to market-friendly stories that appease advertisers and sponsors rather than challenge readers or industry insiders. The Art Newspaper and Hyperallergic serve as the last real barometers of independent art journalism. If the propaganda organ Hyperallergic must be considered the last bastion of independent art journalism, then we can truly abandon all hope.

Julia Schymura examines how German auction houses appeal to customers beyond the traditional catalogue for the FAZ: "Donecker, Hanstein and Ketterer agree on one point: the paper auction catalogue will not disappear anytime soon. Although they print fewer catalogues than before, they are more elaborately designed. If, as was the case thirty years ago, you print stamp-sized pictures and write nothing but “oil on canvas” underneath them, you won't attract anyone anymore, says Mariana Hanstein. Detailed texts accompany high-quality illustrations in Lempertz's catalogues. 'We offer luxury, and we have to present the objects in a correspondingly beautiful way. In this way, we also express our appreciation for the respective work of art' – and for those who consign works for sale at the auction house."

Consultant Loretta Würtenberger explains why artists should settle their estates during their lifetime and what needs to be considered in this regard at Monopol: "Which works should be transferred to the personal estate and which to the artistic estate? What happens to posthumous casts, the opening of archives and digital holdings? How should the work be remembered, and how can this work be financed in the long term? Who should be responsible – family members or third parties? Can or do relatives want to take on this task? If third parties are to be involved, who is suitable, and how should the committees of a foundation be composed? How does an estate develop into an independent entity – alongside the work, but in connection with it? In addition, there are very specific preparations to be made: how can archives be structured, what collaborations with research institutions make sense, what does a reliable contractual basis with galleries or institutions look like? More fundamentally: what needs to be done to ensure that the work continues to be received and can be placed in new contexts in the future?