Talk about starting the New Year with a “Bang!” Park West Gallery, the world’s largest art dealer, broke all of their previous online auction records during a special New Year’s online collecting event from January 1 to January 3.
One of the highlights of the weekend was when Jasmyne Sitter—a 3-year-old “auctioneer-in-training” and daughter of Principal Auctioneer Jordan Sitter—banged the final gavel on the first artwork in Park West history to be collected by over 100 collectors on a single day.
The artwork was created by Miami artist Kre8, a hugely popular graffiti artist and Surrealist, who also broke Park West’s previous record for the most works sold by any artist in a single day.
Park West Gallery, which is known for their art auctions at luxury vacation destinations all over the globe, has been holding weekly online art auctions since April 2020. Every weekend, interested collectors can attend a series of online-only events from Thursday night to Sunday night, where they can attend art auctions virtually and tour the studios of world-class artists during special live-streaming previews.
Park West’s online collecting events have been growing in popularity every week, culminating in their most successful weekend to date on New Year’s weekend.
“I’ve been selling art for over 50 years,” said Park West Founder and CEO Albert Scaglione. “And I think our new online auctions are the best way to collect art that I’ve ever experienced. The selection and pricing that we’re able to offer is incredible, and I am so thrilled to see the response we received for our New Year’s auctions. People really love them!”
In addition to the records already mentioned, the auctions during the New Year’s weekend also broke Park West’s previous online auction records for highest attendance, most works sold, and highest dollar value sold at a single event.
One of the most memorable moments occurred on Saturday, January 2, when Kre8 broke the record for the highest sales of any featured artist in Park West online auction history. As they approached the record, Principal Auctioneer Jordan Sitter, who has been with Park West for over 20 years, brought on a new auctioneer to help close the bidding—his 3-year-old daughter Jasmyne. She got to bring the gavel down on the first work at a Park West online auction to be collected by over 100 collectors in a single day.
“Park West is a family that Jasmyne was born into, and our company is more of a lifestyle than a job,” said Sitter. “Jasmyne has been watching the online auctions since we started them and she knows when to bang her gavel and yell ‘Sold!’ So, it was perfect to have her on set and be a part of this historic auction.”
Kre8’s artwork has been extremely popular with Park West’s collectors and, throughout the weekend, the auction guests also purchased works from other iconic artists including Albrecht Durer, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Peter Max, Mark Kostabi, Michael Godard, and more. Founded in 1969, Park West has built an enormous archive of original art that it makes available to its collectors every weekend at their online events.
And Park West’s 3-year-old auctioneer may return for future appearances as well. “I’m looking forward to teaching Jasmyne even more about the family business,” Sitter said. “She really loves art. I’m sure she’ll continue as one of our guest auctioneers, if we can afford her.”
Park West holds online art auctions every weekend, in addition to select auction events that the gallery hosts around the United States in luxury hotels. To participate in one of Park West’s live-streaming art auction weekends, interested parties just need to fill out their online interest form and a personal concierge will get them scheduled for an upcoming weekend.
