By Pepper Parr
June 6th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It has been a busy couple of weeks for Robert Steven and his crew at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
They sponsored an event that took place at the Performing Arts Centre; held their AGM and then pulled off a reasonably successful art sale.
Patrons reviewing the art that was up for sale. The prices were great for the buyers.
The annual Art Sale is a critical part of the fund raising the gallery must do to remain viable and offer the full range of some impressive programming.
Art Sale chair Cheryl Miles Goldring mixed thing us up a little and had all the art in the one room and the bidding done in a separate room. There was a pleasant light jazz combo playing for much of the evening. The schmoozing, and the networking were going full tilt.
John Duffy, designer of the Art Gallery of Burlington logo, and his wife chat up a friend
The art gallery crowd brings a different level of sophistication to their events – the mix in a different way than the theatre crowd.
The Art sale had some surprises – they had an auctioneer, Rob Cowley, who had sold a Lauren Harris (Group of Seven) painting for just under a million dollars a few days before but he wasn’t able to pull very many impressive numbers from the Burlington crowd Friday evening.
A possible buyer taking a close look at a piece of art.
There were some very disappointing prices drawn from the audience that basically filled the bidding room. A number of pieces were withdrawn when they didn’t reach the reserve.
“It’s Been a Long Day” by Helen Griffiths went for a disappointing $900.
A Helen Griffiths went for a disappointing $900 and an E. Robert Ross was pulled when it didn’t come anywhere near the reserve.
The Bateman did ok – but the price wasn’t outstanding.
There appeared to be someone in the room who either has a lot of bare walls or was there as a dealer picking up some art work at very good prices.
One wondered if the event was an opportunity to get some very good art at close to bargain prices for those in the Burlington community or if it was an annual event where people paid close to top prices to raise funds for the work the gallery does.
It looked like the former last Friday at the AGB. One wonders what might have happened if some smart tour operator brought in a busload of people from say the Annex in Toronto or the Beach community or perhaps North Toronto – served them a private dinner at Spencers and then walked them across Lakeshore road to the AGB and an opportunity where some very very good art was available at hard to believe prices.
Auctioneer Rob Cowley, started every offering by mentioning a suggested price and then immediately dropped it a good 25% and then struggled at times to get to get that price. He didn’t succeed all that often. The auctioneer was skilled – it was the audience that had forgotten why it was there.
“Cows in a row” by Janice Ykema
The “Cows in a row” by Janice Ykema was shown at $800 with the bidding starting at $500fetched $600. Cowley sensed that the room wasn’t going to go much higher and quickly moved on to the next piece.
There were a few points at which the bidding got vigorous. A piece that started at $800 got worked up to $1100 – with the comment from the auctioneer “killing you isn’t he” bringing a chuckle from the audience – the eventual buyer wanted the piece badly enough.
The Anna Kutishchev “Warm evening” had a suggested price of $2200 with bidding started at $1200 – no takers so the auctioneer dropped it to $1000 and then managed to get the selling price up to $1400 – along the way he did have to remind one bidder that he “couldn’t read your mind”.
Fibre Art done by the Burlington Fibre Arts Guild. The Rebeca out on the pier.
A large piece of fibre art by that Guild placed the Rebecca sculpture outside the art gallery on the pier. It had a suggested price of $2500 – bidding started at $1000 – then skipped along rather briskly through $1200 – then $1400 – then $1500 – to $1600 – then to $1700 – $1750 – $1800 – $2000 – you could feel the tension – dare I ask for $2100 asked the auctioneer – and he got it – and it was sold – the audience burst into applause. It was the only sale that drew any applause.
That pier is solidly embedded in this city’s DNA.
The E. Robert Ross landscape didn’t get anywhere near the reserve and was withdrawn.
Brian Darcy “Summer reflections”
The Brian Darcy “Summer reflections” didn’t get any traction either and was withdrawn
The most brisk bidding was for a modern acrylic piece “Sentinel Falls” done by Joel Masewich was suggested at $6000 – bidding was started at $2000 – the auctioneer had no idea what this audience was going to pay for a piece of modern art. He soon caught the sense of the room and managed to get it up to $3200.
The Bateman piece – always the object of a lot of attention. Robert Bateman has been donating a piece of his art to the gallery for the past 38 years.
Bateman’s Red Fox
As I watched the bidding I had this feeling that the community was going to embarrass itself and let the work go for a pittance. It was suggested at $10,000 – bidding started at $500 and was sold for $7000. Barely acceptable.
The total take for the gallery wasn’t available – I wasn’t able to keep a running total.
