The Baer Faxt Podcast

What makes the art world tick? The Baer Faxt Podcast reveals the inner workings of the global art industry through exclusive interviews with key players in the business. The Baer Faxt is the leading news source for art world insiders, started in 1994 as a faxed newsletter and expanded to include an advisory service and auction database with bidder data gathered firsthand on the salesroom floor.

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Episodes

Jussi Pylkkänen

Thursday Mar 21, 2024

Thursday Mar 21, 2024

Jussi Pylkkänen joins Josh for his first sit-down interview since leaving his role as Global President of Christie's after nearly 40 years to start his own independent advisory, Art Pylkkänen.
 
Jussi reveals the secret art of the auctioneer, sharing his favorite stories from his time negotiating deals and taking bids at the auctioneer's rostrum for many of the biggest record-breaking sales in recent years. Listen as he describes how he coaxed out the final bids for the $400 million sale of Leonardo Da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, and how he handled the "Banksy-like moment" when an arm fell off a Buddha statue onstage just as he opened bidding for the sculpture.
 
Jussi also opens up about his plans for his new business, and his predictions for the future of the auction market.

Melissa Chiu

Thursday Feb 22, 2024

Thursday Feb 22, 2024

Josh sits down with Melissa Chiu, Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on the occasion of the museum's 50th anniversary, and the 10th anniversary of her tenure as Director.
Listen as Melissa reflects on the unique role of the national museum, their TV show, The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist, and the ways artists have influenced the museum, from Hiroshi Sugimoto's vision for the revitalized sculpture garden, to the impact of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms. She also shares her personal observations on the evolution of the art world in Asia over the last several decades.

Baer with Me: 2024 Predictions

Thursday Jan 25, 2024

Thursday Jan 25, 2024

Baer with Me is our new mini-series of The Baer Faxt Podcast, building on our past episodes featuring Josh Baer's insights on the current state of the art market. Hosted by Luyang Jiang, our President and Executive Producer of our Podcast, Baer with Me will feature regular updates on the latest trends in the global art market.
 
For our debut episode, Josh shares his predictions for the art business in 2024—how to buy the dip, a comeback for NFTs, and the bull market to come as interest rates continue to soften. He and Luyang also talk about The Baer Faxt's exciting plans for the months ahead as we travel to art market events across the U.S., Asia, Europe, and beyond.

Loïc Gouzer

Thursday Dec 07, 2023

Thursday Dec 07, 2023

Josh sits down with Loïc Gouzer on the occasion of the relaunch of his single-lot auction platform, Fair Warning, this week.
 
Listen as Loïc reveals his motivations for building the unique auction app as a response to the current state of the auction world, why people buy art in times of chaos, and what we can do, as art professionals, to make the word a better place.
 
But first, Loïc shares a special behind-the-scenes story from his time orchestrating the auction of Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi at Christie's.

Art Market Correction?

Thursday Oct 19, 2023

Thursday Oct 19, 2023

Another gallery seems to be shutting down every few weeks, and everyone’s talking about an art market correction, but the art fairs must go on.
 
For this episode, Josh Baer and Luyang Jiang were on the road in London for Frieze art fair and the London auctions. Listen as Josh shares his perspective as a veteran art advisor, revealing the impacts of the so-called art market correction at Frieze, what the Long Museum selling at auction recently in Hong Kong means for the future of collecting in China, and how top gallerists are planning for a potentially rocky road ahead.

Jeff Poe

Thursday Sep 14, 2023

Thursday Sep 14, 2023

In this episode, Blum & Poe co-founder Jeff Poe discusses his decision to step back from the gallery, after 30 years helping put LA on the map as an art city.
 
Listen as Jeff gets candid about his experiences building a gallery amidst the art world's evolution from an insider's club to an international corporate industry.
 
We go behind the scenes of Blum & Poe, as Jeff describes how he split up duties in his partnership with Tim Blum, and his work with the Robert Colescott estate.
 
Jeff also offers his advice on choosing a role in the art world, dealing with misbehaving artists, and keeping up with the competition in the art world’s new corporate era.

The Art Market Now

Thursday Aug 17, 2023

Thursday Aug 17, 2023

Curious about what's been going on with the art market? Auction results in the first half of 2023 paint a picture of a market undergoing a correction of some kind, but all may not be as it seems in the secretive world of auctions.
 
In this midyear review episode, our President Luyang Jiang asks veteran art advisor (and TBF founder) Josh Baer: Is the art market going through a slowdown, a major correction, or not?
 
Josh explains how one collector can make or break a market, and compares our current market environment with past hiccups. Listen as he shares his experiences living through the art market's only real crash in the early 90s, when he closed his gallery.
 
Josh also reveals market insights behind recent art business news like Frieze art fair's acquisition of competitor fairs EXPO Chicago and New York's Armory Show, plus his recent travels throughout Asia, and even the Barbie movie.

Jerry Saltz

Thursday Jul 13, 2023

Thursday Jul 13, 2023

Jerry Saltz debates Josh Baer about the value of art, why auction houses are "a pox," and how the art world got to be "the f***ing mess that it is," in this candid conversation between a Pulitzer-prize winning art critic and a veteran art advisor.
 
Jerry also tells about the winding career path that led to his longtime post as art critic for New York Magazine, from struggling to face his inner demons as an artist, to self-exile as a truck driver, to teaching himself to write and landing his first art critic gig at the Village Voice.
 
Listen as the two old friends challenge each other's viewpoints and share stories from their days coming up in New York's art world in the 1980s, including star-studded artist salons, and their meeting that led to the founding of The Baer Faxt almost 30 years ago.
 
"Have a listen to this podcast where I lay down the law, laugh a lot, probably make all sorts of bizarre statements, and try to tell it like it is. Forgive me for being a slow talker. (I listen to all podcasts at 2x speed). 
 
Be kind."
 
-Jerry Saltz
 

Art Fairs: Part 2

Thursday Jun 15, 2023

Thursday Jun 15, 2023

Art Basel and Frieze may get all the press, but they’re far from the only players in the business of art fairs. In part 2 of our special two-part double episode on art fairs, we’re diving into corners of the art fair world you don’t often hear about. 
 
Our president Luyang Jiang joins as host to explore the diversity of regional models in Europe and Asia, with Daniel Hug, the director of Art Cologne, and David Chau, a collector and the co-founder of Shanghai’s ART021. 
 
We’ll hear from Daniel about the origins and founding of the world’s first contemporary art fair in 1967, and Art Cologne’s uniquely German culture of art collecting for everyday people. 
 
Afterwards, David Chau explains how he used ART021 as a platform to foster a homegrown art ecosystem in China, and reveals his plans for the future amidst a rapidly expanding art market. 
 
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Art Fairs: Part 1, where Bettina Korek, the founding director of Frieze LA, and Lauren Taschen, a former show management consultant for Art Basel Miami Beach, discuss the founding of their respective fairs and their dos and don’ts for fair attendees.

Art Fairs: Part 1

Thursday Jun 08, 2023

Thursday Jun 08, 2023

In this special two-part double episode of The Baer Faxt Podcast, we sit down with the people behind four different leading art fairs from around the globe: Lauren Taschen, who consulted on show management for Art Basel Miami Beach, Bettina Korek, the founding director of Frieze LA, Daniel Hug, the director of Art Cologne, and David Chau, the co-founder of art021. 
 
In part 1, Josh Baer sits down with Lauren and Bettina, who each tell the story of the founding of their respective fairs, arguably the two most important fairs in the U.S. Lauren explains how Swiss and Latin cultures came together to create Art Basel Miami Beach, while Bettina explains how Frieze LA has made a transformative impact in the few years since its founding in 2019.
 
Now serving as CEO of the Serpentine galleries, Bettina also casts light on the surprisingly close-knit relationship between museums and art fairs.
 
Afterwards, Lauren and Josh offer their dos and don'ts for fair attendees, debate the balance between transparency and confidentiality in the selection committee for fair exhibitors, and look towards how art fairs will maintain their relevance in an ever-more digital future. 
 
In part 2, we'll turn away from large international fairs to more local, regional models, going back to the very beginning with the director of the world’s oldest art fair, Art Cologne, and looking towards the future of Asia with the founder of Shanghai’s art021.

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