Another AOM Top 10

Melissa Hackmann with her AOM Top Ten here.

Private Museums

Mr Margulies, who estimates he now owns around 4,500 works, is among the more respected of a growing group of collectors who choose to create independent spaces, rather than donating works to public museums, where it might stay in storage “for the first 15 years”, he said.

Read Lindsay Pollock and Georgina Adam discuss why the rise of the private museum is rewriting the rules of the market - in the Art Newspaper here.

Art Fairs

Art Basel, one of the world's largest and oldest contemporary art fairs, opens to the public today; about 55,000 people will throng to it and its satellite events. Whether you consider the crowd lemmings or pilgrims may depend upon your bias -- and your bank account -- but one thing is certain: Fairs are a power shift in the art world. For good or ill, they are changing where you buy art, how you look at it, and even how artists make it.

Alexandra Peers on art fairs at the WSJ. Read it here.

Early Look Video

Last night's opening of Early Look, an exhibition of undergraduate art students selected by me from various schools in the Mid Atlantic, opened at DC's Long View Gallery and below I have a quick video of the opening and artwork.

Several pieces sold, including what I think is perhaps the show's major work, a huge pastel by GMU's Tanya Wilson, which sold to a major Virginia ubercollector. There is a lot of good work at superb prices at this exhibition, make sure to stop by and buy some art!