Buy This!
Got Abercrombie?
No, not that annoying place at the mall. Chicago artist Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977), to be far more specific. Abercrombie was a major proponent of the Magical Realism school that incorporated the use of surrealism in the 1940s and 1950s among Chicago area and Wisconsin artists. She was also a cultural force; memorable for hosting musicians (think Billie Holiday), poets (think Archibald MacLeish), and artists at her North Shore home. Abercrombie as an artist who preferred concept to technique in her artwork, and the result is a collection of paintings that are, on the surface, rather naive looking, but draw one in with unusual, often noctural themes. Diminutive and weird, her artwork sells. Among the 65 works in her auction record at Askart, 95% have sold. That’s a 5% buy-in rate, folks. That’s gooooooood.
Treadway Gallery has, among its offerings at the March 7 auction, a smallish 1945 Abercrombie oil, The Visit. The noctural visitor is one of her enduring themes, so its right on for this artist. Value-wise, it has a bit of a problem, though: it has only been off the market for less than 2 years. Previously sold at a rival Chicago auction house in Sept. 2008 for $7930, this time it’s being offered with a 7-9k estimate, but will likely sell for lower. For measure, Abercrombie’s work commonly sells into the five figure range. Bargains, at least so far, don’t happen in the market for Abercrombie, but given this piece’s recent exposure in the marketplace, it might translate in to a sweet deal for someone willing to buy and hold for a while.
A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter
In preparing to write a short bit about the devastating effect of overexposure on a work of art – that is, how value tends to drop dramatically when a single work of art has been offered for sale multiple times over the course of a handful of years, I came across this small black box. And it is challenging that notion head-on. Let me back up and explain.
One of the key factors in a work of art’s value is its freshness to the market. If it’s been in the same collection for a generation or two (or more), demand tends to rise significantly over, say, if the same work of art is offered for sale a year or two after being sold. Sure, there are exceptions to this to be sure, particularly in the contemporary art market; but widely speaking, fresh works are king.
Sales venues like Ebay have challenged this notion, but not significantly: if a work of art is offered for sale and fails to meet reserve or garner an opening bid, the future value is still hurt, but there are not any lasting sales records to haunt it – Ebay’s completed auction records only last for a few months or so. Still, I’ve watched paintings that might have had significant value get completely pummeled by a seller’s repeated unsuccessful attempts at selling it. For that reason, I never recommend offering a work of art on Ebay more than once.
And now, Caleb Larsen’s A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter. A single work of art which, by way of its own internal programming, puts itself up for auction every week on Ebay. As an appraiser, my head is spinning. What happens to value when ownership is so fleeting as to only last a week? Motivation to sell is not a factor at all in this equation; it is part and parcel of the work itself. But what motivates the buyer? When I first became aware of this piece by way of Felix Salmon’s article, it was listed at $1500. Before the end of the auction, the price was upped to $2500, but failed to sell. It’s current auction ongoing, it started again at $2500, and bidding is up to $4250. Methinks that a rise in press coverage may be a large component of its rise in value. Therefore, the more publicity that this work receives, the higher its value? The seller, after all, isn’t “dumping” it back out into the market; the work itself, by design, is placing itself back out into the market.
According to the artist’s response to a question posed within the descriptive text of the auction site, “The perpetual state of uncertainty and the instability of ownership are primary components of the work”.
A work of art for the times, to be sure. And I will be watching with confoundment at how the market responds.
1/29/10 Update: Bidding on the piece closed yesterday evening at $6350 with 19 bids. It is currently en route to its next owner, and will presumably be set to auction itself again as soon as an ethernet connection is established. Wonder what the opening bid will be? Apparently that is at the discretion of its new owner, but I would still recommend an opening bid lower than the sales price.
CIE Holiday Shopping Guide
News recently broke (and unbroke) about the unsafe levels of the toxic compound antimony on this Holiday season’s hottest new toy, Zhu Zhu Pets. Until then, it seemed like a great gift for the times: inexpensive, simple, and oh so cute. But the alarm raised by the exposure of a certain fireproofing chemical used in its manufacture should not be dismissed. Standards for toy manufacture, and, for that matter, product manufacture, remain at once lax and rather unregulated. Fortunate thing we have groups like GoodGuide that are helping the consumer to navigate the waters of safe/unsafe in a wide range of products, from toys to food to personal care items.
Similarly, we have publications such as The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices 
In that vein, my Holiday Shopping Guide is a compendium of companies recommended by both GoodGuide and The Blue Pages. Get out your shopping lists and get ready to edit!
Greenest Toy Companies of 2009 — Good Guide
The Blue Pages: 10 Best Brands to Buy this Holiday Season (via Air America):
- Gap
- Tiffany and Co.
- Best Buy
- Hewlett-Packard
- Kenneth Cole
- Campbell Soup Company
- Naked Juice
- The North Face
- Ben and Jerry’s
The Blue Pages: The Top Ten Companies to AVOID this Holiday Season (via Air America):
- The Children’s Place
- Hanes
- JC Penney
- The Limited Brands
- IBM
- Albertson’s
- Chiquita
- L’Oreal
- Target — ouch! That one’s gonna hurt!
- Wal-Mart
Diapers: Cloth or Disposable?
When I was expecting the Little One, I dreaded this question. For me, it was like the “paper or plastic” question that you feel like you never really have all of the information necessary to make an informed decision (and if you’ve ever felt the same about the ‘paper or plastic?’ question, RUN, don’t walk, to this helpful breakdown). But with ‘Cloth or Disposable?’, I felt even more lost; for one thing, I wasn’t even a mom yet, so hadn’t even honed my diaper changing skills. I didn’t know how much and to what extent diapers would consume my future life, so had no real clue of what information was necessary to make this choice.
As a sustainability-friendly person, my instinct was that ‘cloth’ was the right answer. Much in the same way that many sustainability-friendly folks believe that ‘paper’ is the corresponding right answer among bagging issues. But I soon found, upon the Little One’s birth, that the choice here becomes a far more personal one than which type bag to use. Here is how I found the path to my favorite pick:
My initial response to the dreaded question was that I intended to try cloth, but begin with disposables; I figured the learning curve of caring for a newborn would be great enough without the added stress of trying to manage a new cloth diapering system. Turns out that Whew! I had that right! So, after a little homework on the various options in disposables, I added Seventh Generation diapers to my baby registry. They were hard to find; only one shop offered them locally at the time. The best bet was to buy them online. I’d been happy with both the products and philosophy of the Seventh Generation line, so I was looking forward to giving the diapers a shot. Although they are, like most disposables, essentially a plastic-based product, no chlorine is used in their manufacture, which is helpful in a few ways: Less processing required in manufacture means less carbon footprint; lack of chlorine makes diapers friendly to sensitive baby skin; no chlorine to leach into the groundwater after the diapers are disposed of.
The Little One finally showed up in October, and I was ready with my pick for disposable diapers. My life became a diaper-changing marathon. Any supply of diapers that I had armed myself with disappeared almost immediately. No matter how many new packs I bought, it seemed I was always almost out of them. Having chosen a brand that was difficult to find was not an optimal plan for the time. I ended up supplementing with plenty of Pampers Swaddlers and Luvs, just because they were the ones I could buy at the nearest grocery store. I’m glad that that happened, though, because it learned me something important: The Little One’s bum consistently got rashy when I used any other brand than Seventh Gen.
After a couple of months when I finally felt like I was getting the hang of whole diapering thing, I began to branch out. As a stop between disposable and cloth, I tried G Diapers. This was essentially a 3-part system: Cloth outer diaper, biodegradable/flushable/disposable insert, and protective plastic liner. They were freakin adorable. I loved how they looked on him, and the fit and absorbency was generally right on. I liked that the insert was flushable, but as we have septic system out here, that option was just not for us. The use of the G diaper required a little more planning than the full disposables; there were two outer cloth diapers, which needed to have the plastic liner snapped in place, in order to place the disposable insert, in order for the diaper to go on baby. Fine to plan out for an afternoon diaper change; at 2 am, however, not so much.
And just to wade a little into full cloth, I picked up a Bum Genius set. Super cute, super soft. If I were a baby, this is what I would want wrapping my tush. Aesthetically, it’s like the infant equivalent to Charmin Ultra.
Here, however, was the dealbreaker for me and cloth, and even me and G diapers: the Little One is famous for his consistently huge, runny poops. Even at 2, that kid can fill a diaper. Full. “Man poops” is how is daycare teacher jokingly characterized them. He made an awful mess of the poor Bum Genius. The kind that never quite washed out, and left it discolored. The G diapers would get all three layers saturated, necessitating a frantic run to the washing machine on a regular basis. But the Seventh Gen held it. Sure there were blow-outs, but few and far between as compared to the alternatives.
And now, many more places carry Seventh Generation locally, making them a consistently attractive option. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I used anything else. The Little One is slowly turning his sights to the potty, but I’ve got Kid 2.0 on the way as well; if his/her claim to fame does not include “man poops”, I might be inclined to give cloth another try. Any input or advice is welcome!
Picks from my Ebay Watchlist
Is it just me, or does the quality of art offerings on Ebay seem to be ramping down lately? I usually associate November with a month of better-than-average offerings in the art categories. Still, as almost always, there are some attractive offerings amongst the bunch worth passing along to any interested collectors out there:
FERDINAND BURGDORFF “TEMPLE TO ATHENA”
Burgdorff was a prolific artist, stationed for the bulk of his career in a studio in Carmel, California. He had a very long career, stretching from the 1910s throughout his life to the 1970s. His paintings most in demand are with California subject matter, from the 1920s and 1930s. The painting in this listing is neither. The subject matter is European, and dated 1959. It is, however, a great example of his signature style; the light pastel palette and soft pointillist brushstrokes. The market lately has not been kind to Burgdorff’s work. It is an excellent time to snap up a gem like this painting for a heretofore unheard-of price of $230.
Le Petit Matelot (The Little Sailor)
Don’t let the French title fool you; Mary Ronin was an American artist and illustrator in the mid 20th century. I cannot find sales records for her paintings, but her style is highly reminiscent of a popular contemporary of hers, Ralph Cahoon. This is one of those artists that, in time, the market will recognize, and I’m sure that her paintings will be valued at much more than the $150 opening bid.
b.1906 CECIL HEAD Barnyard Cat INDIANA Regionalist NICE
Cecil Head was a Brown County artist, and is one of the up-and-comers in the market for Indiana art; he was too young to have been a part of the original Brown County colony, but old enough to have firm roots in the modernist WPA movement that sets his artwork apart from the older set. In terms of Head’s own career, this painting is late (dated 1984), which the art market would currently count as a strike, but this is also a Hoosier Salon painting, complete with tag on the reverse, which sets it apart from the crowd. Get it now while it’s cheap!
ISO A Better Cat Food: Some Reviews
The cat food commercials that I recall growing up showcase how much the cats loved to eat a particular brand, or how fabulous and well cared they looked while eating it. But lately, there is a disturbing trend among TV pet food ads: appeal to the appetite of the cat owner. Hence a beautifully presented but undeniably human dinner being transformed into a plate to put out for Kitty. Like your mom’s home cooking for felines. And while this may have the emotional appeal conducive to our opening our wallets (as most of us want to be good caretakers of our pets), this is downright backwards in terms of the cat’s actual nutritional needs. Folks, cats are obligatory carnivores. That can of “Tuscan turkey with vegetables and garden greens” may sound more appealing than just plain old turkey to us, but their bodies have no use for, let alone benefit from, non-meat ingredients and the carbohydrates they carry. In fact, these recreational non-meat ingredients can, over time, damage the health of our feline friends in the form of bowel disease, obesity, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and kidney disease.
Since the passing of my sweet elderly CRD cats, I have been on a mission to provide my two youngster kitties (T, 5, and Kiki, 2) with a better diet. More specifically, a high-protein/meat based, low carbohydrate diet, so that they might enjoy a long life free of obesity, diabetes and hyperthyroidism. I also care for a colony of three feral farm cats, providing food and shelter for the last five years. They are known, affectionately, as “the mongrels”. During the course of this mission, I’ve tried several varieties with mixed results, and found great resources which I’d like to pass along to other cat owners on a similar mission.
First, the website which has been indispensable to my quest for better cat food, collecting independent analyses of the composition of cat foods:
- Canned Cat Food, and the updated/amended version, and Dry Cat Food. These sites provide a graph in which cat food content is arranged by phosphorous level, a critical factor in caring for elderly cats with Kidney Disease. In addition, it contains that all-important number for carbohydrates, which, not surprisingly, is absent from the manufacturer’s ingredients lists.
Among the brands that I have tried with my kitties are:
Raw Meat: Feline’s Pride.
The makeup of this cat food is ground raw meat and bones, shipped frozen to your door. I tried the 2.5lb chicken formula to start. At $18.48 including shipping, it’s a little steep, but I was determined to find the best diet, and most signs pointed this way. Here’s the thing, though: it’s raw. I mean, I knew this going in, and to be fair, the ick factor was very much ramped up by the fact that I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and couldn’t even stomach the meat aisle in the grocery store, let alone a tub of ground up raw chicken and bones. For me, the timing was bad. For my kitties, it was something that they picked at, but wouldn’t finish a portion in the hour’s time I was instructed to leave it out.
Verdict: I like this option, but I think that it requires a plan in order to introduce it to the kitties diet. Scheduled eating times should be established first, then the Feline’s Pride mixed in with their regular canned food, weaning them gradually. And I shouldn’t be in any trimester of pregnancy when I do try it again.
Grain-free canned foods:
I bought one of each of the varieties offered at the local shop: Beef, Chicken and Turkey, Venison, Rabbit, and Duck (all the 95% meat formula). T, my pickier eater, was only interested in the Beef. Kiki, on the other hand, was also interested in the Chicken and Turkey, but neither were too gung ho on the Venison, Rabbit, or Duck formulas. The mongrels, however, ate everything readily!
Verdict: will keep buying the 95% Beef.
They both seem to love it all. Unfortunately, Wellness has also broken with tradition and begun to add some grains, like brown rice, and fruits to some formulations. Check labels for carbohydrate content (add up all percentages for ingredients listed; the missing number is the carbohydrate content).
Verdict: will keep buying low carb formulations
Commercial, non-grain-free canned foods:
Using the bulleted links above, it’s easy to zero in on widely available commercial foods that offer low carbohydrate formulations. In our house, I routinely buy Fancy Feast and Friskies varieties that have lower carb options, because they are eaten so readily and universally. But here’s an overall hint: varieties that are marketed as “kitten food” tend overwhelmingly to be lowest in carbohydrate content. Do not fret about giving “kitten food” to an adult cat; their nutritional needs are the same. If you are feeding kitten food to an older CRD cat, however, please be sure to check on the phosphorous level first.
Keep posted; more to come…
Art at Auction: Shannon’s Results In, 10k buyer alive?
Sales results are in for Shannon’s Oct 29 Art Auction, and I have been puzzling over them for a few days. With just over 75% of lots sold (as compares to just under 70% for the previous sale), it bodes well for the art market. The offerings as a whole were quite exceptional, and it looks as though demand was robust, as many works in all ranges sold above the high estimate. The top lot of the sale, Colin Campbell Cooper’s 1927 oil “The Terrace at Samarkind” brought 456k, over its estimated range of 2-300k. All in all, I would say that this is a good example of a successful sale and would declare the market for good quality American paintings to be in stable health.
“Terrace at Samarkind”, Colin Campbell Cooper
Except for my earlier declaration that if the Tucker painting didn’t sell, it would be a marker for the death of the 10k buyer. Here’s what happened: The Tucker painting didn’t sell. So, how’s a girl to reconcile? The one pick that I had for gauging the health of the 10k buyer falls flat, while a whole host of other paintings in the same range perform well? There are a few variables that I can think of that might have had negative influence on the performance of the painting. The subject matter is New Mexico, and while that’s undeniably one of the factors that made it such a hot painting in the first place, the auction house is in Connecticut, which might not have led to the spirited bidding that may have taken place should the auction have been held in Santa Fe. And although the painting was new to the auction market, it may not have been new to the marketplace; in other words, it may have already been shopped around to the dealers most likely to drive the bidding, and overexposure in the art market can be deadly. I don’t know, In my eyes, it’s still as hot a painting as ever, and one that, if it is being offered post-sale, would be a smashing investment piece.
The verdict: 10k buyer lives, market for American Art alive and kicking!
Lynne Cheney on Art
In a new Huffington Post article, late night talk show host Craig Ferguson recounts a conversation with the Cheneys during the 2008 White House correspondent’s dinner. Among the topics of conversation, fine art:
“On meeting the Cheneys, Ferguson recounts that his wife discussed art with Mrs. Cheney, who proudly described the Picasso sketches she owned. When Megan [Ferguson's wife] asked Cheney where she hung the artwork, Cheney’s response stunned them:
“Oh we don’t,” replied Mrs. C. “They’re nudes, and we have grandchildren. We don’t want them to see them when they come over.”
“But they’re Picassos,” protested Megan.
“But they’re nudes,” smiled Mrs. Cheney dangerously.
Hair care during pregnancy
I blame the pregnancy message boards. At the outset of my first pregnancy, I was blissfully oblivious to the potential hazards of shampoo. Then, the posting was clicked: “Shampoo?“, then, the link followed: “Pregnancy Alert: Shampoo Ingredient Could Damage Developing Brain Cells“. It should have carried a warning: “Danger! Can of worms about to be opened“! Because what unfolded was a long lesson in the vile substances in personal care products that could, key word: could, have the potential of harm to a developing baby.
If you think about it, our skin is our largest organ, so concern about hazards during pregnancy should not stop with what we simply ingest. We do, like it or not, absorb many additional things through our skin, intentionally or no. Here’s the main thing to take away from the link above: shampoo often contains an ingredient called methylisothiazolinone, a substance that acts as an antimicrobial agent, to give the shampoo a long shelf life. Here’s the thing, though: methylisothiazolinone is a neurotoxic chemical. It really shouldn’t be used in shampoo at all. But it shows up in far more than just shampoo. The Household Products Database has it listed as an ingredient in a wide variety of products: house paint, shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, hair color…….See the list here.
In addition to the Household Products Database, coming to the rescue to help us sort through the maze of ingredients on our personal care products is the Cosmetics Database, who warn: “Major gaps in public health laws allow cosmetics companies to use almost any ingredient they choose in everything from sunscreen and mascara to deodorant and baby shampoo, with no restrictions and no requirement for safety testing. To help you navigate your store’s aisles, Environmental Working Group researchers have scoured thousands of ingredient labels to bring you our top recommendations for what not to buy — products with worrisome or downright dangerous ingredients that don’t belong in your shopping cart or on your skin”.
They do a commendable job of rating personal care products based on the safety of their ingredients. And it’s clearly not just methylisothiazolinone that is of concern here. The database also singles out Placenta, Lead, Fragrance, Animal Parts, Hydroquinone Skin Lightener, Nanoparticles, Phthalates, and Petroleum By-products as the ingredients causing the highest concern. Yes, these products really are in the personal care products we use every day without question.
But no despair necessary: being pregnant does not condemn one to a 9 month avoidance of personal care products. My picks for a low-chemical personal care routine, having already done the work of hashing through the Cosmetic Database’s findings and trying a wide range of the green-lighted products:
Shampoo: Burt’s Bees – widely available; does a good job with far fewer ingredients of concern.
Conditioner: Aubrey Organics – for my fine, dry, wavy hair, the Island Naturals conditioner can’t be beat.
Cosmetics: 100% Pure – amazing products. The tinted moisturizer, eye shadows, and blush all get big thumbs up.
Skin creams and shower gel: California Baby – I hate to say it……….as good as Kiehl’s. It’s true. The Calendula cream kicks Kiehl’s Abyssine cream’s butt, and it’s so much kinder to the wallet. And with far fewer ingredients of concern.
Nail Polish: Priti Polish – nail polish and remover is one of the leading offenders in chemical content. Priti, astoundingly enough, offers a great product without the harsh ingredients that throw out the red flags.
As far as hair color goes: Better to wait until after the first trimester, and thereafter, better to go to a stylist, who can apply the coloring so that it does not make contact with your scalp.
Art at Auction: Eyes on Shannon’s Oct. 29 sale
Be still my heart: Shannon’s twice annual sale of American Art is coming up on October 29th, and, judging from the newly posted online catalog, there are some wonderful gems coming up for auction. Shannon’s, to me, also represents a kind of bellwether for the American Art market, and so I will be watching it closely.
Looking back to the auctions of late summer and early fall that featured American Art, I noticed a pattern amongst the unsold lots — a good many of them fell in the estimated range of the upper four figures to lower five figure paintings. That is, what seems to have been missing from these auctions is a large pool of buyers of the 10k painting. Shannon’s Oct 29 auction, however, includes a large number of works estimated in this range, and I’m hoping that the volume and quality of these works are enough to draw the 10k buyer out of hiding.
Case in point: Lot 82, Allen Tucker, New Mexico Landscape, 1925.
Tucker, an artist known for his expressionist landscapes which strongly echo Van Gogh, is hot. He was an artist based in New England, where he painted the majority of his work. He did, however, make painting trips to the Taos art colony in the 1920s, a period in New Mexico art that is also hot. I cannot find, among his auction records, another equivalent example of New Mexico subject matter, but I can tell you, this pairing is on fire. Throw in a conservative auction estimate of 8-12k, and if that doesn’t bring out the 10k buyer, then I will, on the spot, declare them all dead.
