The Baer Faxt Podcast

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 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.

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.

What’s it like to spend millions of dollars at a contemporary art auction? Is there a danger zone where young artists’ prices blow up too quickly? Is it still possible to buy low and sell high? And just what is an auction guarantee anyway?
 
Step behind closed doors into the hidden world of auctions with veteran art advisor Josh Baer and our friends, Dallas-based collector Howard Rachofsky and Gagosian Gallery Associate Director Sophia Cohen, as we discuss the auction topics you won’t hear about anywhere else. 
 
Join us as Howard tells the stories behind his biggest sales and his biggest acquisitions: the guarantee deal on his $25 million Jeff Koons Balloon Flower; and the bidding war over a Lucio Fontana masterpiece that’s now one of the central works in his collection. 
 
Afterwards, we sit down with Sophia Cohen, who shares her unique perspective as an artist liaison and young collector on the love-hate relationship between auction records and the market for works coming straight from the artist’s studio. 
 
And as the May auction season approaches in New York, remember: Don’t transact without The Baer Faxt, the only report on who bought what in the auction saleroom.

What is the future of digital art? Josh Baer sat down with Beeple for the first episode of The Baer Faxt Podcast during the opening of his immersive new B.20 museum in Charleston, South Carolina earlier this month to ask him how his vision for the future of digital art and NFTs has changed since we first spoke in November 2021.
 
Before catching up with Beeple at his B.20 opening, we revisit our prior conversation, when we sat down at The Bass museum during Miami Art Week to talk about his rise to prominence in the art world and the beginnings of the NFT community.
 
At that time, he had just sold the hybrid digital sculpture Human One (2021) at Christie’s for nearly $30 million. This week, the dynamic, first-of-its-kind artwork is on view in Hong Kong at the M+ museum, while its sister work S.2122 (2023) is making its debut at Art Basel Hong Kong.
 
Subscribe to The Baer Faxt Podcast for much more to come on our first season as we unpack the inner workings of the global art industry through candid interviews with key players in the business as they offer their perspectives on art and the market in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and beyond.

On our new podcast, The Baer Faxt team unpacks the inner workings of the global art industry through exclusive, candid interviews with artists, collectors, dealers,  and other key players in the business as they offer their perspectives on art and the market in the US, Asia, Europe, and beyond.
The Baer Faxt has been the leading news source for art world insiders since Josh Baer started sending out his newsletter via fax machine in 1994, and has since expanded to include an art advisory service and a unique auction database with bidder data gathered firsthand on the salesroom floor. 
Join us as we sit down with major players in the art world from around the globe, including Beeple at the opening of his new museum, exhibitors at Art Basel Hong Kong, cutting-edge art fair directors in the US and Europe, and much more in the forthcoming first season of The Baer Faxt podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.