London Unfortunately, it is too early to say what impact Brexit will have on the UK art market, ”writes Anthony Browne of the British Art Market Federation (BAMF) on request. “At the end of the year at the earliest, you can probably have a balanced position on this.” This statement is surprising, as the BAMF was one of the few lobby groups in the run-up to Brexit that were active in favor of leaving the EU. And it is factually incorrect that no effects have emerged so far.
The director of Lapada, an association of British art and antique dealers, Freya Simms, has more to report. For months, the association has been trying to prepare members for Brexit: the website has published a detailed catalog of questions and answers and webinars have been held. Still, the phones don’t stand still.
Small traders in particular are trying desperately to adapt to the new conditions. Transport problems and questions about declarations, customs duties and taxes are in the foreground. Since January 1st, objects have to be declared in detail when they are imported or exported.
Customs clearance takes time and costs money. Gone are the days when a trader could buy his van in France at markets, simply bring the objects across the border and then sell them on the island with a premium are over once and for all. It is also not a solution to entrust everything to the art transport specialists, says Simms. The profit margins often did not cover the additional costs.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
–
–
–
Despite the preparatory work of the Lapada, the exit from the customs union caused a shock for many traders. It goes so far that some people also rethink their business models. Simms’ conclusion: At the moment, all market participants have more paperwork, longer working hours and higher costs – and supply and demand in the decorative sector may become provincial.
Simon Sheffield is the executive director of Martinspeed Ltd., one of the great logisticians in Great Britain. Of course he is happy to see the additional work; and assures the Handelsblatt that there would be no traffic jams, no damage and no problems.
His company has been preparing for Brexit for years and has good relationships with the authorities so that customs clearances can be carried out in the warehouses.
The artist created the humorous commentary on Britain’s exit from the EU for the 2018 Riga Biennale.
–
(Photo: Susanne Schreiber Handelsblatt)
–
– –
–
While it is good to hear of such stability, it sounds like you have to pay to ensure that everything will go well. The company is happy about more orders as customers are practically forced to work with the big companies. But he also emphasizes that the corona crisis caused the entire transport volume to decrease.
Martin Keaney, Managing Director of Artgo, a smaller London transport company confirms this. Before Brexit, he drove to the mainland once or twice a week, now once or twice a month. He speaks of almost 600 euros additional costs per load, regardless of value and size, which the customs documents alone require.
Got stuck in customs
If leading galleries and auction houses can cope with high sales and high values, that doesn’t mean that everything will run smoothly for them. Thaddaeus Ropac reports to the Handelsblatt that he is currently preparing an exhibition in Paris with works by the hyped American Alvaro Barrington, who lives in London.
Barrington’s work is currently stuck in customs in France. Because the artist sent parts to complete most of the works in the gallery on site. Accordingly, transport lists and photos cannot be clearly compared, which customs did not accept at the time of the phone call and did not approve the work.
The small-format colored pencil drawing from 2020 was sent to Düsseldorf by FedEx (excerpt).
–
(Photo: Galerie Petra Rinck)
–
– –
–
Ropac emphasizes: “It has become much more difficult to move art between the galleries”. It’s not just about the money, but also about the effects on creativity: “With the English artists, I see a tiredness,” says the large gallery owner.
In a smaller area, where there is no staff of employees, the situation looks even more precarious. This is confirmed by a number of smaller galleries from Great Britain as well as Germany.
Transport costs too high
Petra Rinck, Gallery owner from Düsseldorf, is currently preparing an exhibition with the German artist Lothar Götz, who lives in London. She spoke openly to the Handelsblatt about the new transport problems and the costs. So in the end she only let Götz’s small works per FedEx bring to Germany. Two large jobs had to stay in London, a transport would not have paid off, especially if there was no sale.
Rinck also represents the artist Emma Talbot. She won the Max Mara Prize for Women. The Kunsthalle Gießen is planning an exhibition with Talbot, which has been postponed to 2023 due to the pandemic. The cost estimate for the transport of the work was too high due to the timing – unacceptable.
Martinspeed has good contacts with customs.
–
(Photo: Martinspeed)
–
– –
–
The situation is of course different for other galleries. Unit Gallery in London, a young gallery that has relied on social media as a sales incentive since it was founded in 2013, sells works by its artists all over the world. The gallery has a logistics team for whom it makes little difference whether a work is exported to Europe or Hong Kong. There are just more forms. The gallery sells 80 percent of its turnover abroad, the employees are used to the bureaucracy.
Unfortunately, collectors don’t quite see it that way yet. Joe Kennedy, one of the founders, reports how a sale to Greece almost never happened because the collector not only had to pay increased transport costs, but also the import sales tax of 20 percent as a surcharge on the work. It has been heard from various quarters that the different tax regulations for goods with Great Britain, which vary from country to country, require special attention.
Kennedy calls this labor pains. The devil lies in the details here too, with all the VAT rates, import and export taxes that exist in Europe. Nevertheless, in conversation with this younger generation of gallery owners, it becomes clear how a global company differs from one for whom geographical and cultural proximity in Europe is important.
The bottom line: In a global, digitized world in which customer service should be in the foreground, the return to bureaucracy is a significant step backwards. Above all, the artists, galleries, but also collectors will suffer from this if the costs of this extra work go to the bottom. Some people are reorienting themselves: In Germany there are already transport companies who no longer drive to the island. And in the worst case, collectors buy elsewhere.
The Berlin gallery owner Aeneas Bastian, who also runs a branch in London, can still allow himself to maintain the exchange, but he sums up the change in a nutshell: “The spontaneity and creativity in the exchange between the Kingdom and Europe is being lost, in the commercial and non- commercial area ”. At least no one seems to benefit from this so far.
More: Art Market Report: The art market faces an uncertain future
– .
