Understanding the Curation of Art with Bonhams' Dane Jensen

p/p pandnbsp;/p pThe Made in California: Contemporary Art Auction hosted recently by Bonhams in Los Angeles featured some of unique paintings by leading American artists like Nathan Oliveira, Joan Brown, John McCracken and more. It got us thinking about the process of identifying and curating artworks for an auction. We got in touch with Dane Jensen, Director of Contemporary Art at Bonhams, Los Angeles, to share with us his experience of appreciating art and taking works to a prominent platform like Bonhams.andnbsp;/p pandnbsp;/p pFourteen years of curatorial work as Gallery Director and independent curator saw him conduct exhibitions for the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of California, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. With a key role to play in commissioning upcoming talent, this art-history graduate from the University of Wisconsinandndash;Madison has worked with several notable collections and foundations. andldquo;From a very early age I took art classes;my parents were very active in taking me to museums. I always had the acumen for art business and have had an active curatorial practice for years now. These attributes helped me boost my career when I joined Bonhams,andrdquo; says Dane.andnbsp;/p pandnbsp;/p pOver the years, Bonhams has grown to be known as a leading name in 19th and 20th century impressionism and modern and contemporary art. andldquo;We at Bonhams look very hard at an artistandrsquo;s current market positioning, the prices of each work he/she has featured in the past, and the venues at which they have previously showcased. For example, with an artist like John McCracken, we would assess the value of the piece based on the medium, year of production, size and provenance. McCracken can be sold either in Los Angeles or New York. So we would make a determination as to what sale venue would be best.andrdquo;andnbsp;/p pandnbsp;/p p style="text-align: center;"/p p style="text-align: center;"emThe Untitled painting by Sam Francis; Dane Jensen, Director of Contemporary Art at Bonhams/em/p pandnbsp;/p pFor their big sales, Bonhams normally features a specific curatorial framework, like in the case of the Made in California: Contemporary Auction, which is a bi-annual auction. This not only creates hype but also gets andnbsp; art aficionados anticipate the unique art pieces they would not necessarily come across if they randomly walked past an art gallery. andnbsp;Besides conceptualising the theme of the art auction, curators at Bonhams scrutinise each of the artworks as per the artistandrsquo;s popularity, and even identify fresh talent who have done remarkable work. Post finalising the pieces, andnbsp; the team meets the artists to discuss the way forward, signing off for the pre-auction private viewing after which, estimated prices are allotted for each piece.andnbsp;/p pandnbsp;/p pBonhams also hosts one-off auctions, in case there are andnbsp; artworks by artists who are andnbsp;trending andnbsp;or their artworks chart out the history of Californiaandmdash;right-from its early andnbsp;days to the era of the Apple Macbook. (Although we speak of California in this instance, Bonhams follows a similar format across all their centres in the world). andldquo;We are one of the few encyclopaedic houses, which means that the breadth of our material can be staggering,andrdquo; says Dane. andnbsp;/p pandnbsp;/p pWhile the job seems demanding, Dane Jensen signs off with different take on it, andldquo;Itandrsquo;s been a really fantastic journey of being constantly on the search for great art; and then finding dynamic ways to display, sell and engage collectors for these works.andrdquo;andnbsp;/p pandnbsp;/p pstrongMore On andgt;andgt; a href="http://www.luxpresso.com/topic/art-auctions" target="_blank"Art andamp; Auctions/a/strong/p

from Luxpresso http://www.luxpresso.com/news-lifestyle/dane-jensen-reveals-how-bonhams-curates-contemporary-art/16051220
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