DINKgo

We enjoy art, all kinds of art. It opens doors to different worlds, enrichens your life in so many ways. We are also collectors and enjoy gallery visits as well as auctions at home & on the road. As we, DINKgo, first cruised on the Caribbean 2013 and discovered Park West art gallery & auctions, we got curious. Since, we have experienced quite a many ports, ships, different cruise lines and art events. 

Park West Gallery was founded by Albert Scaglione (see photo below) in 1969. Today they bring art aboard more than 100 cruise ships. According to the  “Park West Collector” magazine vol. 2 you’ll find Park West galleries, events and auctions if you cruise Azmara Club Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruise Line, Holland American Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, P&O Cruises Australia, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean International. 

When cruising, you’ll get the daily cruise programme to your stateroom and depending on the day you’ll find art lessons, special events highlighting certain artists and their works, flash sales and auctions (with complimentary bubbly and artwork). 

Some events take place in the morning, some in the afternoon and some are perfect pre-dinner occations. You can join to enjoy art and learn about it, you don’t have to buy even if you’ve registered. Just have fun, share the adrenaline & exitement! 

For the first timers there may be artists that are unfamiliar to you, but don’t let that stop you from exploring. We were a little suspicious first, until we learned about the artists that have worked for Park West Galleries for years. And actually, the pieces we’ve purchased are made by  artists we had never heard of before. The first time we saw a Tim Yanke piece inspired by Native American traditions must have been onboard NCL Breakaway that sailed from New York in March 2015. This pic was snapped then and we got more and more curious of the Park West Gallery artists.

Summer of 2016 we sailed from L.A. onboard Carnival Inspiration and again, saw a piece of Yanke, very similar to the one earlier but with more vivid colors, called “Big Thunder” (below). We talked about it (and some other works) with the auctioneer several times. We joined events, we made offers, we questioned prices and basically had fun. That time, we did not get a Yanke.  But we found a new artist we loved: the absurdist artist of awesomeness, Michael Cheval.  He’s influenced by the surrealists Dali and Magritte, but also draws inspiration from literature. 

Our guide to the auction process was the super knowledgeble Brazilian staff member (the guy in the photo) who answered all our questions and he explained us the auction process. It’s a bit different to our Finnish auctions. 

These pieces came from that cruise: 

The pieces arrived via FedEx 2,5-3 months after the cruise, appraisals attached. We love these Chevals and get to see them every day at home.

Our Christmas cruise took us onboard the Norwegian Escape from the Port of Miami. And the oddest thing happened: the same Brazilian guy that we got to know in July on the other side of the continent, on a different cruise line ship, worked at the gallery! And it was his first cruise on Escape, too. Weird and fantastic! And finally, after 3 days of negotiating we finally got our Yanke, the “Big Thunder”.