“Art is the second best investment after real estate”
A new art auction house has been established in Nicosia with its principals confident that the current economic downturn will not affect art sales in Cyprus.
AlphaZmart Auctions, a joint venture between Alpha Gallery and Zampelas Art, will hold its first event at the Hilton Cyprus on November 4, with some 100-110 contemporary works of Greek and Cypriot artists.
An exhibition of the selected works will be held at the Art Studio 55 in Limassol on October 22-26 and later at Alpha Gallery in Nicosia on November 1-4, while 1,000 copies of the catalogue will be printed to attract as many potential buyers as possible.
“We visited many auctions in Cyprus and abroad at some of the leading houses and will be offering something new, with original works of art of the highest possible standard,” explained AlphaZmart chairman Michael Zampelas.
“We have compiled a team of professionals who share between them nay years of experience in auctions, art appreciation and valuation, as well as organising exhibitions and auctions,” Zampelas said, adding that the company’s first event will include works at affordable prices as well as expensive ones.
James Christoforou, an avid art collector and owner of the Alpha Gallery, first introduced auctions to Cyprus in their present form just four years ago and since then has held nine auctions, primarily of Cypriot and Greek artists.
“One of the biggest problems in setting up an auction is often the collection of the works that will be sold and their authentication, as some paintings do not have any provenance,” Christoforou said.
Beyond that, he said that he is undaunted by the relatively poor result of recent auctions in Cyprus.
“Even the Greek sales at Sotheby’s reach 70% or 80% of their estimated value and beyond, so it is natural to see unsold paintings. But this does not mean that the unsold works are not of value. Quite the contrary, the buyers might not be prepared to spend so much at a certain time.”
Christoforou added that there are often opportunities in Cyprus which should not be regarded as a small market when it comes to art auctions and sales. He said that some sellers often want to sell their collections at gallery prices, while in in fact, auction price estimates start from low and then rise to such levels.
“Art is the second best investment after real estate, as each work is one of a kind,” added Margarita Kounnafis, a specialist in Greek and Cypriot art and part of the AlphaZmart team, together with fellow specialist Mary Ioannidou.
“There are some names that are regarded as ‘blue chips’, even in the art world,” and these are in great demand, often surpassing initial estimates in catalogues, Kounnafis added.
Works on auction will include (from left) Costas Averkiou, Adamantios Diamantis and Christoforos Savva.
