Zero-Mile Art

Auction houses in Italy and around the world have had to adapt quickly to the Covid pandemic. While many already had online platforms, all physical auctions were moved online as countries imposed lockdowns, accellerating an existing trend from the physical to the virtual. 

As life reduced to the four walls of my bedroom, once I’d worked my way through the museums and galleries which had enabled web-tours, I turned my attention to the secondary art market. Having signed up to a dozen auction houses I began to bid on online auctions, in Italy and the UK, and found myself drawn in to the drama of competiting bids, last minutes offers, artists who regularly exceeded the expert estimate, those who were always left unsold.

One thing I noticed about the Italian market was that apart from the big name artists, found in the catalogues of auction houses throughout the world, most Italian auction houses offer a number of paintings by local artists unknown outside their city or region. And work by an artist, even one whose fame is national or international, has a higher value in their home town: a Vinicio Berti will sell for more in Florence, than Venice. 

While discussing all this with Simon, an English artist friend of mine, I used the word provincial to describe what I had observed. Being considered provincial is the thing most feared by Italians, and is the cause of our almost unhealthy love of all things foreign. But Simon had looked at me, a confused expression on his face: “art is by its nature local,’ he said. 

And thinking about this, it makes sense that an artist would be most appreciated in the place they live and work, and would sell their art first and foremost to their local community, meaning the secondary market for their work would also be local. 

Only a few artists make their name nationally, even fewer internationally, which means that most artists make a name for themselves only in their home towns. Not because their art is provincial – but because art works best at zero miles.