Admission: Free of Charge

(photo courtesy of visitsouth.com and greenworld365.com)

Several months ago the AJC profiled Smithsonian magazine's Museum Day in the Living section. The journalist behind the article pointed out that "this year, 1,300 museums in all 50 states" were participating in the sixth annual day of free art, which took place in late September. With admission to the High at $18 a head right now, and MoMA charging two dollars more, this is a welcome reprieve. Especially as the extraordinary Dali exhibit was, and still is, on view the High Museum for those taking advantage of this offer in the Atlanta area.

While museum goers and arts lovers alike should be thrilled about a free activity such as this, art galleries open their doors for free, well, every day that the doors are open. Not to mention exhibition openings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Often visitors timidly peek in and ask if they can look around for free, which of course, is one reason we are here. To offer some sort of sanctuary where one can come in and have some peace and quiet while experiencing art. Yes, we are running a business, but a gallery is a place to publicly viewing art as much as a museum.

So, just a gentle reminder that gallery doors are open for free all the time! Which is not to say that you shouldn't buy that $18 ticket to see Dali's early works, only in Atlanta through January 9, as there is nothing quite like a trip to a world-class museum. Not to mention, in times like these, museums need just as much support as the rest of us!

As tomorrow is the third Saturday of November, the art galleries on our side of town, including Emily Amy Gallery, are gearing up for the Westside Arts Walk. Comprised of ten different spaces, including 8 galleries, plus Octane Coffee and the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, WAD offers locals and visitors alike an opportunity to view art, meet artists, and learn more about the contemporary arts scene in the city. The third Saturday of each month, WAD puts on a free arts walk during which many of the galleries will feature a lecture by an exhibiting artist, a musician playing in the gallery space, or a film screening just to name a few past events. As several of the participating galleries, including Get This! Gallery and SALTWORKS, have openings tomorrow evening, their new shows will be previewed during the walk. In the case of Get This!, the artist Veronica De Jesus will be giving a talk at noon as part of the walk to the backdrop of her solo show which opens hours later. We recently had an opening here at EAG featuring two New-England based artists whose works will be up for viewing during the walk.

Again, all galleries are open free of charge, and the Contemporary is just $5 to enter (members free). All sites have free parking as well. Featured galleries include: Emily Amy Gallery, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Kiang Gallery, TWIN KITTENS, Tanner Hill Gallery, Astolfi Art, Get This! Gallery and SALTWORKS. More complete information about tomorrow's walk and individual shows can be found here.

Art Sells

(photos courtesy of art.anazana.com, Phillips de Pury & Co., and nytimes.com)

Yesterday, a Warhol painting sold at Sotheby's for $35.4 million. The day prior, at the smaller, strictly contemporary auction house on the other side of Manhattan, Phillips de Pury & Co., one of Warhol's Elizabeth Taylor pieces sold for $63 million. Considering that the owner of the Coca Cola, which sold for $35.4 million, purchased the piece in the 80's for $143,000, this price is considerable. According to the New York Times, in a summary of the evening auction, waiters at Sotheby's offered bidders and audience members alike old-fashioned bottles of Coca-Cola. Call it product pushing, but Andy his Coca Cola [4] Large Coca Cola had a great night, with said piece grabbing the evening's highest price. Per Bloomberg, Christie's will join the competition for highest grossing Warhol, as his Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable), goes up for auction tonight. With the high estimate for bidding at $50 million going into the auction, it will be very interesting to see where the price lands. Many of his other pieces beat out their own estimates last night, a very promising sign for the market. In addition, many of Andy's lesser known works, such as the 1984 screenprint The Scream (after Munich), pictured above, went for $242,500 at Phillips de Pury & Co. last night. For a profile of the artist offered on Sotheby's website, click here.

Andy, however, is not the only contemporary artist who is currently impressing the auction market. Lichtenstein was also catching attention and a high price at Sotheby's, with his Ice Cream Soda. In addition, Francis Bacon and Richter brought sky-high prices at the auction house on York Ave. A Rothko brought $22.5 million. Overall, Sotheby's fetched a whopping $222,454,500. No doubt to the delight of their Chairman of Worldwide Contemporary Art and most famous auctioneer, Tobias Meyer.

Just this week, Lindsay Pollock of Art Market Views, quoted art adviser Mary Hoeveler as saying, "The appetite at the very top seems insatiable. You can name your price." While most of us might not quite be "at the very top," positive auction results such as these can only be good news for all of us in the art market.