A REVEVIEW OF THE 2010 SAN FRANCISCO TRIBAL ART SHOW, FORT MASON FESTIVAL PAVILION (PAGE 2) (TRIBALMANIA.COM)

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REVIEW OF THE SAN FRANCISCO TRIBAL ART SHOW

FEB 12th-14th 2010

An astute customer who attended the show emailed me the following comments which I found accurate and timely:

"I thought SF was rather so-so, but the opening did seem quieter than recent years, and there was not a lot of pieces that really caught my attention. It used to be extremely exciting to visit the shows in SF, NY, Bruneaf, and the Parcours with many exemplary objects to see, even if I couldn't afford those objects. I can't say that anymore. It's more of a chore now, to have to sort through all the stuff. Probably high prices have made it difficult for dealers to carry great inventory compared to just 5 or so years ago. On the other hand, seeing and acquiring just one great object makes it worthwhile, which is what keeps me going to these fairs.

What I can't comprehend is the seemingly bifurcated nature of the market, where many dealers appear to be struggling, and there seems to be weak interest in middle of the road quality objects, but the high end objects at the major auction houses are still selling for enormous amounts. Are there just two different sets of collectors at play here, one which buys solely at the top end at auctions?

When I started collecting 10 years ago, there were so many beautiful objects available, at prices which seemed high to me at that time in my life, but would now be bargain basement steals. Seeing this great material developed an interest into passion and propelled me into collecting. If I'm being initiated by what I see at the fairs today, honestly, I would have zero interest in collecting. Not only are prices several times higher, the exciting material that I used to see regularly is now mostly absent."

Photos courtesy of Amyas Naegele and Michael Auliso