If you read lower down the dreweatts page it says catalogue not available yet. I presume that the password is for the site admin and should be for all to view in the near future

I wonder why a Parla has made it into Dreweatts and not been taken or accepted into Christies or Sotheby's?

The catalogue is online tomorrow and ready for purchase on Thursday this week, and just wait until you see what else is in it!!! (dont pm as i wont tell sorry but i promised).

My worry would be that buyers who get a Sothebys or Christies catalogue would not notice the Parla stuck in there and not know its context, whereas in a dedicated "urban art" sale, it is a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Don't know though, there are arguments both ways. With no auction history at all, not even sure which is best. He should do well at Dreweatts though.

Thank you Motor, nice estimate there!.

i think you will also find that maybe with bonhams and sothebys / christies... the sellers fee is around 25%... but with dreweatts wanting to be a bigger player... the will waiver the price alot.... maybe only 5%.

that said... everybodys eyes will be on this one.... then over to bonhams for more parla at their sale.

who are other contemporary artists of similar stature? Who are his 'peers'?

I just always get curious on comparisons....

Completely agree - about the art. I also understand that Parla is very active in who buys his work. And in all fairness he seems to be a very good judge of character as if work is re-sold it is done so quietly and very privately

I hear what you are saying. I mean, at those prices you are not far away from smaller paper pieces from several top contemporary names. Given that, what you would be talking about are lesser pieces that will always be poor relations to the great works that earned the contemporary artists their accolades in the first place.

Though, one point I do disagree with is the "Parla(and street art)". I strongly feel the relation and connection is tenuous at best and will soon be broken for all save forumites. I mean, no one calls Christopher Wool a street artist, ya know? At the Whitney Biennial they didn't introduce Pettibon as a 'punk artist', and he has far more of a direct connection with punk than Parla does with the current crop of street art.

I disagree you can get really strong works not just lesser pieces of art by some of todays hottest contemporary artists for what Neate and (what I'm guessing Parla will be retailing for at Elms. The comparison I gave was for a Peyton on paper vs. a Parla on paper. You can't touch Peyton's greatest work for 30k but you can get a very nice og watercolor/graphite for that price if you're frugal.

But compared to what I assume Parla's large canvases will sell for, well (I could give many examples but loathe to mention exact names as the artists I watch most I still have a slight glimmer of hope that I'll be able to get something by them) but I'll give you one, Tom Sachs, guy is huge, on the cover of Art in America, solo exhibitions at the Deutsch Guggenheim, monograph published by Prada, etc. tons & tons of critical press, probably going to go down as one of the more important contemporary sculptor/ pop artist working right now. Look up past results at Christies everything except 1 piece is under 100k, well under. I'm guessing Parla's, work will be 50-100k usd for canvases of any significance. Now it doesn't matter if you don't like Sachs, but you should still consider what other hot contemporary artists are selling for.

It just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Street art might well play out but in my opinion it's now like it's priced with a PE ratio of over 100. Let's hope those future earnings and accolades that everyone's betting on do come in.

well you're right that it's not so easy to quantify but you have to use auctions as a rough guide and I don't want to split hairs but I have a current price list for Sach's available work and a 36 inch square painting on wood is £30k a 48 inch sqr painting on wood about £40k. This I'm guessing is roughly or maybe a little bit higher than what Elms will be charging for Parla. And this isn't the best example. I have better ones but I'm not naming names until I get a work by them

I have never paid more than 7% sellers commission with Bonhams, Sothebys or Christies.

Fully agree about Elms... but the first comment is a bit harsh. Personally Parla's work doesn't appeal to me in the slightest, nothing to do with being able to buy/own a piece, I have been offered a fair few which at the time I could have bought if I wanted them. Nothing wrong with me, just my taste differs... and Parla is definitely not for me.

manchestermike, cheers for the advice. Will try and get along to the WK-Lister show before it finishes... maybe bump into Paris