What do the art experts and other staff who work in auction houses do when a successful week has come to an close with good results, some at record-breaking prices.  Do they celebrate with glasses of champagne, visit exhibitions at other galleries, do something completely different like marathons or do they just chill out and relax?  Apparently many of them pick up a paint brush, camera or clay and create their own paintings, photographs and artworks, as varied and as good as some of the work which they have been auctioning during the week.   

Interestingly, both Christies and Phillips in London have taken the opportunity to show the talent of their own staff, Christies with an exhibition last month and Phillips with its current staff show “Radar” running until 13^th August. (Phillips New York also recently had a staff show.)

The work is varied including black and white drawings, paintings, collages, sculptures, photography and ceramics of different genres and installation work, some with discrete references back to the art world and the work of other artists such as Antony Gormley and Phillip Lai and some showing an interest in other arts such as architecture with photographs of classical and other buildings.

It would be interesting to compare the areas of specialism to the work on  display to see if there is a relationship or if it is radically different.