Make Him an Offer : Dealer Robert Berman Wants to Sell You a Painting

Other art dealers may ride out the recession in dignified silence, but Robert Berman has opted for clamorous action. “I don’t want to sit here waiting for that one customer,” he said the other day, amid a plethora of contemporary artworks in his Santa Monica gallery.

His answer to hard times is a series of public sales, offering contemporary art at rock-bottom prices. “Buy low!” trumpets the announcement of the first auction, scheduled for 2 p.m. on July 28 at the Broadway Gallery Complex in Santa Monica. A preview of the roughly 200 lots to be sold--including works from the collections of defunct savings and loan institutions--begins on Saturday at the Robert Berman Gallery, 2044 Broadway, and in a space two doors west of the gallery, where the auction will be conducted.

The selection of artworks includes consignments from artists, galleries and collectors, as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Resolution Trust Corp., a federal agency formed in 1988 to clean up the S&L; industry and liquidate property of defunct institutions.

Among works set to go on the block are prints by such well known Los Angeles artists as Lita Albuquerque, Peter Alexander, Robbie Conal and the late Carlos Almaraz, with estimated selling prices ranging from $300 to $6,000. Also offered are oils by New York artists Louisa Chase ($5,000 to $7,000) and April Gornik ($7,000 to $10,000), a papier-mache electric “Snake Lamp” by architect Frank Gehry ($6,000 to $8,000), a 1977 serigraph and collage of Christo’s “Wrapped Tree” project ($4,000 to $6,000) and a three-part Roy Lichtenstein poster, “Bratt” ($400 to $800).

Unlike New York auctions of the late ‘80s, which routinely brought $1-million price tags, Berman’s sale is geared to recession-era pocketbooks. Estimates range from $40-$60 for a boxed set of colored condoms, designed as a limited-edition commentary on AIDS by Daniel J. Martinez, to $35,000 to $45,000 for a 1977 untitled painting by Tom Holland. Estimated selling prices for most pieces fall between $5,000 and $20,000.

The estimates are often a fraction of the art’s original selling price, and most reserves (the lowest price a seller will accept) are about half the low estimate, Berman said. He expects the entire sale to gross between $200,000 and $600,000. (Buyers will pay Berman a 10% premium; sellers’ premiums are negotiated individually, but most are set at 10% to 20%.)

These figures are small change in the auction circuit, but Berman is taking a big risk. If the sale bombs, the local art market will look bleak indeed. Even if the auction succeeds in reaching his modest predictions, he is likely to upset dealers, collectors and artists who have a vested interest in maintaining high prices.

“It’s a gamble,” Berman admits. “I know about the stigma of auctions, but we have to get things moving. Why not find out where the market is? It’s a good time to play around. I could lose, but I’ve always thrown the dice.”

For better or worse, Berman has taken the first step in realizing his longtime dream of establishing an auction house for contemporary art in Los Angeles. He was licensed as a auctioneer three years ago and subsequently launched his company, Santa Monica Auctions, with Jeffrey Poe as vice president, but the outcome of the July 28 sale will determine whether he can schedule regular auctions and eventually buy a building he has optioned in the Broadway Gallery Complex.

What Berman yearns for is the excitement that hooked him nearly 20 years ago in Paris. While living there in the early ‘70s, he spent most of his days at the legendary auction house, Hotel Drouot, buying prints or drawings in one room, selling them in the next and joining the dealers’ cafe society.

It’s still his idea of heaven, but he returned to the United States and has run galleries in Santa Monica since 1978. He also has been involved in auctions, working for a house that sold antiques for awhile and more recently conducting about 10 charity auctions each year. He has organized three other auctions for profit, but the upcoming event is by far his most ambitious effort.

Berman decided to make his move in April, when he read a Forbes magazine article on the liquidation of art from the collections of defunct banks and S&Ls.; The RTC and the FDIC were ill-equipped to conduct art sales and they had far bigger fish to fry, so they were farming out the art to contractors, the article said.

Berman was off and running. Bureaucracy slowed him down for awhile, but he finally got 17 works from the RTC and one from the FDIC. The RTC roster includes pieces by Walter Darby Bannard, Llyn Foulkes, April Gornik and Roberto Juarez. The FDIC piece is Peter Alexander’s “Chula Vista Circus,” a mixed-media work on paper.

While the RTC and FDIC deals were in process, Berman solicited consignments from artists and dealers. The response was encouraging, he said, although many sellers wish to be anonymous. “I was looking for quality and being selective. Now I have 200 pieces by artists I really respect,” he said.

Some dealers have consigned works to the auction to clean out their back rooms. Artists represented by Berman’s gallery have responded to an appeal for his survival as a dealer, he said.

“I really love being an art dealer. I don’t want to sacrifice that, but this adds a little extra excitement to the game. It should be fun,” Berman said.

Part of the fun is the “Buy low!” auction announcement, designed as a parody of the catalogue cover and opening invitations for the “High and Low” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. At the auction, Berman plans to stir up interest by introducing each artwork with a little banter about how much it’s really worth and how little it takes to start the bidding. He has hired Sunny Stewart to call most of the sale.

Prospective buyers must be registered before the auction. Those who sign up before July 24 will reserve a free catalogue of the sale. Preregistration cards may be picked up at the gallery or requested by calling (213) 453- 9196. Participants also may register between noon and 2 p.m. on July 28, the day of the auction.