The Sh Contemporary spat
Feb 2nd, 2008 | By Chris | Category: News and events, Random Shanghai stuff...Following that press release today, and the earlier rumour Pierre Huber and Zhou Tiehai were quitting the SH Contemporary event, here is some more gossip….ahh, welcome to Shanghai the contemporary art world…
Pierre Huber, as photgraphed by Susie for Shanghai Eye last year.
There is this article “He Said, he said”
Quote:
Enrico Navarra, an exhibitor. Navarra has charged Huber with abusing his position at the fair to “outrageously” promote his own activity as a dealer. In an open letter dated October 27, he reeled off a string of accusations about Huber’s “conflict of interests,” saying such behavior “would never be tolerated in Europe or the U.S.” Huber broke his media silence on November 16 to refute Navarra’s claims to Art & Auction.
Among Navarra’s specific complaints was that the Swiss dealer pressured VIP collectors he had invited, including a new club of “20 Asian supercollectors,” to purchase Asian art directly through him. Huber says he put his commercial activity on hold during the fair, had no input on any VIP purchases made during the gallery visits he organized and, “in fact, sold no work at all during September.”
And then in this article FAIR FEUDS AND FIZZLES,
Quote:
“according to Art + Auction’s Simon Hewitt, a nasty spat has broken out between Swiss dealer Pierre Huber, one of the fair’s directors, and Paris gallerist Enrico Navarra. A multifaceted series of accusations include Navarra claiming that Huber hoarded collectors during ShContemporary (Huber counters that he sold no work during the fair), and a feud over a financial stake in 20 Asian artworks the two men partnered to buy at the beginning of 2007, which have been impounded pending resolution of the conflict (both claim to have been cheated by the other), as well as a lawsuit filed by Huber alleging that Navarra improperly provoked French collector Christophe Laurent to break a $20 million contract with him to establish a collection of Asian art. ”
And there’s a bit more stuff here.
