Alberto Mugrabi, whose family owns one of the largest Warhol collections in private hands, routinely buys and sells art, and he wants values to rise.
“The same way an investment banker analyzes a company, we analyze a work of art,” he said. “When you are paying money like that, you have to think about it as an investment.”
During the first two days of Art Basel, Mugrabi stayed away from purchasing Warhol, instead going for a 1981 drawing by Willem de Kooning for $450,000 at Matthew Marks and a 1960s painting by Joan Mitchell for $1.5 million at Cheim & Read.
“You see prices of the young guys today and de Kooning looks cheap by comparison,” he said, taking a break on a bench by Gagosian Gallery’s booth, where Warhol’s painting of 10 skulls was still available for $22 million. “For $450,000 I can buy a de Kooning drawing or a Mark Grotjahn drawing. It’s a no- brainer.”
‘Young Guys’
He hasn’t brushed off the “young guys.” He collects emerging artists with blazing speculative markets including Joe Bradley, Alex Israel and Lucien Smith. In November, Mugrabi paid $389,000 for Smith’s painting inspired by Winnie the Pooh and made while he was in college. The price was a record for the 24- year-old artist.
Philip Hoffman, chief executive officer of The Fine Art Fund Group in London, also shied away from Warhol.
“It’s a waste of our time,” he said. “We don’t make money buying what everyone else is buying.”
The firm manages $300 million of art assets and expects to reach $500 million by the end of the year, he said.
Walking through the fair on opening day, Hoffman said he was alerted that another buyer was interested in an artwork the fund had agreed to purchase earlier that morning. By the end of the day Hoffman resold the work to the new buyer.