Client
Rago/Wright auction houses
Work
• Work closely with in-house graphics team to develop text for wide-ranging marketing collateral, including annual marketing brochures (print and digital), auction event landing pages, weekly email digests, and targeted client outreach
• Long-form auction catalog essays for both print and digital
• Cross-platform social content developed in tandem with graphics team
• Expanded research and content to contextualize the significance of specific artworks, artists, collectors, and collections
Catalog Essays
Extended catalog essays to accompany print and digital auction presentations:
“Secret Spaces: On the Forms of Toshiko Takaezu” // Read it here.
“Hungry Eyes: Diana Zlotnick and Post-War Art in Los Angeles” // Read it here.
“Time Keeper: Esther Montagner, Collecto-mania & The Cult of Swatch” // Read it here.
Tailored Web Content
• Researched text to accompany individual artworks and collections
• Introductory text for auction event landing pages
< Example of introductory text for auction event landing page:
Reflecting the rapid rise of Pop-inflected, street art-adjacent works and collectibles, LAMA is pleased to present Unwrapped: Contemporary + Emerging Art on September 9th. This auction features art, limited edition characters, and brand collaborations from KAWS, Russell Young, How & Nosm, Mr. Brainwash, Harmony Korine, Supreme, Cleon Peterson and more. Highlights include works from the Collection of Joel Zimmerman, the electronic music impresario who has worked with deadmau5, The Weeknd, Steve Aoki, Calvin Harris, Kygo, and more.
See it here.
< Example of introductory text for auction event landing page:
First introduced in 1983, the Swatch quickly became "the plastic watch that changed everything." Technically innovative, visually captivating, and accessible to a wide audience, Swatches rocketed to global icon status through an unprecedented cocktail of smart design, cutting-edge marketing, and—with time—tremendous collectibility. Esther Montagner was among the brand's earliest ambassadors, traveling the world and becoming part of a close-knit community united in passion for Swatch. With fearlessness and drive, Montagner attended elite Swatch events from Beverly Hills to Hong Kong, amassing an extensive collection not only of wristwatches, but extremely rare packaging, artist and celebrity autographs, advertisements, and ephemera. Swatches: The Collection of Esther Montagner on July 19th is a celebration not only of one collector's zeal and dedication, but of the history and lore of the Swatch universe.
See it here.
< Example of researched text accompanying individual artwork:
Rising to recognition in a post-Trump United States, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer's figurative paintings are intertwined with the existential grapplings of contemporary life in America. Dupuy-Spencer grew up rural upstate New York and settled in Los Angeles, where she creates works that variably depict her intimate relationships with friends and family, as well as scenes and communities that capture entangled identities, contradictions, and conflicts of the present day—what gallery Nino Mier described as “deeply layered, microcosmic narratives that speak to the ever-evolving nature of America.” Dupuy-Spencer's Don’t You See That I Am Burning (2021) channels the influence of James Ensor and Tintoretto into a charged rendering of the January 6th capitol riot, and in 2022 it was acquired by the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington DC. The trajectory of Dupuy-Spencer’s ascent included being named a standout of the 2017 Whitney Biennial, and her works were included in the 2018 Made In L.A. biennial at the Hammer Museum. As Christopher Knight reflected of her works featured in the latter, “The quirky paintings, touchingly civilized, are a gentle but firm avowal of humanity during extraordinarily trying times.”
See it here.
< Example of researched text accompanying works of specific provenance:
Active from the late 1960s until 1976, Edizioni O was a Milan-based publishing house specializing in art catalogs and graphics. The company was founded by Baldo Pellegrini, along with with Carlo Monzio and Antony Matthews, following the opening of Galleria Milano in 1964. Edizioni O intended to meet the rising gallery's need for high-level editions providing relevant culture discourse and international appeal.
Today, Galleria Milano is one of the longest-running institutions dedicated to contemporary art in Italy. First opened in 1928, the gallery closed during World War II before it reopened in the 1960s. At the helm of this renewal was Carla Pellegrini, who served as Galleria Milano's director from 1965 until her death in 2019. Over the course of her career, she organized an estimated 300 exhibitions – including several early shows of California artists Billy Al Bengston, Joe Goode, Ken Price, and Ed Ruscha. As Artforum put it, Pellegrini's exhibitions "reflected a clear political commitment in the range of media, styles, and groups she championed, from avant-garde photography to popular culture and from anthropological research to experimental cinema."
See it here.
Email Content
Micro- and short-form text for marketing emails, including thematically targeted emails, calls to consign, and weekly digests
Example of spotlight feature in weekly email digest >
Marketing Collateral & Proposals
• Text for brand overview marketing brochures
• Customized proposal text soliciting new consignors