Category: 
Damm!
To be honest, I’ve only had very good interactions with Monsieur Huber, though interaction is more appropriate as I only met him once, in Shanghai, at a dinner where I thought he was rather ironic in his dirty white sneakers and Gap khakis. I also appreciate the often forgotten long history of his commitment to often difficult, politically sensitive work and his global perspective in collecting.
Photo by Susie. Courtesy of Shanghai Eye.
Of course, I knew him by reputation: the collection, Art+Public, the dumping of extraordinary works at the Christie’s sale two years ago, the shenanigans during the Shanghai fair, etc. At least, one can say, Huber was transparent in his dealings.
Well, hopefully, ShContemporary will be better this year as galleries who refused to come when Huber was artistic director will now come to Shanghai.
Let’s just hope Huber will drop his lawsuit to stop the fair from proceeding!
–
Huber Banned from Art Basel and ShContemporary
By ARTINFO
Published: February 22, 2008
GENEVA—Pierre Huber, the controversial Geneva-based gallerist, will be excluded from this year’s Art Basel and ShContemporary art fairs, Artforum reports. The news is the latest setback for a dealer who once sat on the Basel selection committee and just last September was codirector of the inaugural ShContemporary.
Huber began drawing controversy in February 2007, when he auctioned 74 works from his private collection at Christie’s New York. The works had originally been purchased with the understanding that they would eventually be part of a future private museum, and were sold at a museum discount. Huber defended the sale by saying his Swiss collaborators did not develop the museum project.
Following the Christie’s sale several outraged gallerists protested Huber’s inclusion in Art Basel and vowed to boycott ShContemporary. Over the summer, Huber further upset critics with decisions he made as codirector of the Shanghai fair, including placing a work from his own gallery—a vase by Lu Hao—on the cover of the fair’s catalog and awarding a new prize honoring a young Chinese artist to an artist he represents.
Recently:
- Place related post plugin php here...
- - Post 1
- - Post 2
- - Post 3
- - Post 4
- - Post 5
- - Post 6
