Fairtigue
As the competition between art fairs beats up, Zena Khan explores what excites the art market, and why others just fall by the wayside.
One of the hottest topics of conversation in the art world in 2019 was a banana duct-taped to a wall. The Comedian, 2019, by Maurizio Cattelan was displayed at Art Basel Miami Beach last December, sold for USD120,000. Cattelan’s conceptual piece comprised of one fresh banana held in place by a perfectly angled silver strip, was not only the biggest draw of the expo, sparking a deluge of viral hype, but was telling on the nature of art fairs today. It seemed apt that the increasingly itinerant, cosmopolitan nature of today’s art realm has led to a rise in art festivals globally. Estimates placed the number from 68 in 2005, to more than 220 in 2015, indicative of a voracious appetite for art. Pick any week of the year, and there will be an art fair for you to visit around the world. But as options increase, and the very real risk of “fairtigue” rears its head, we need to stop and ask: what makes for a successful display in today’s field of contemporary craft?
Cattelan seemed to have one answer. Works by the Italian artist rarely come up at art fairs, and were presented only as secondary market sales in the past 15 years. By exhibiting work that was not only newly made but highly attention-garnering, Cattelan and his Parisian gallerist Perrotin, demonstrated a shrewd understanding of the art fair’s identity as an emporium of visuals, whose commercial achievement was underpinned by its ability to capture the imagination of attendees. Clearly, it was the artworks themselves that remained the biggest pull factor and success definer for art shows.
One of the most important of all is Frieze London with two separate tents in Regent’s Park showcasing contemporary art and master modernist work. In 2019, viewers were treated to Portrait of Michael Marullus Tarchaniota, 1496, at Frieze Masters, which was touted as the last of Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli’s pieces to reside in private hands. Reverently displayed in a museum-style closed booth behind a velvet rope, and a record-breaking £30 million price tag, the masterpiece cemented the reputation of Frieze as one of the definitive venues for knowledge acquisition, important trade, and all-round exciting art experiences.
Such blurring between art fairs and curated exhibitions highlights a key characteristic of today’s market. These values are legitimised by what critic Isabelle Graw termed a “symbolic value”, which lies in knowledge and cultural relativity, and defined by those who have strong insights into art ecology, running the gamut from collectors to historians. In this regard, the ‘Great Malaysia
Contemporary Art’, or ‘GMCA I & II’ are two art exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur art fair, Art Expo in 2013 and 2014 respectively that exemplifed the way critical knowledge and beautiful artworks contributed to a fair’s success. Curated by Farouk Khan whose journey in assembling The AFK Collection endowed him with a strong grasp of Malaysia’s art canon, ‘GMCA I’ and ‘GMCA II’ were conceived as a platform to highlight the abilities of Malaysia’s top contemporary senior, mid-career, and emerging artists. The first edition was staged by Core Design Gallery, and the second as a collaboration between Core Design Gallery and Artcube. Featuring local blue-chip artists supported by in-depth critical writing, their practices and the works displayed were not just turning points for local exhibition practices. These were the watershed moments that set benchmark pricing through the production and showcase of museum-quality artworks. Given the vast number of visitors traversing fairs such as Art Expo, they were positioned as a medium to disseminate information among wider audiences.
Elsewhere, high profile expos are a nucleus around which cultural activities can spring. For example, Art Dubai is part of an extended cultural programme which was launched in 2007 as a way to merge art from South Asia and the Middle East alongside international artwork. It included the Global Art Forum, exhibitions at gallery district Alserkal Avenue, and a slew of social events hosted by established regional collectors. Crucially, Art Dubai realised that it is the works on display that continue to pull in crowds of over 28,000 people, allowing them to act as a cultural centre for Dubai. This is reflected in a determination to attract regional talent, with initiatives such as ‘Bawwaba’, a section focused on important cultural conversations from the global south. Therefore, important artists are motivated to unveil exciting works at the fair; for instance, Hamra Abbas’s presentation of Flowers: Gardens of Paradise I, 2017, at Canvas Gallery, Karachi in 2019. This work was quickly acquired by top Indian collector Kiran Nadar at the expo itself.
Southeast Asia has indeed acknowledged the rise of art fairs, but the recent cancellation of Art Stage Singapore indicated that there were questions which required further addressing. Despite its strong programming and social events, why has Singapore failed to emulate the success of Art Dubai? Perhaps, despite the establishment of the support structures necessary to act as a regional arts hub, there had not been enough research and information available on dominant artists of the Southeast Asian region. As other global models had testified, it is the seminal artists exhibiting dynamic new masterpieces that will drive footfall, and more crucially, appeal to the big buyers. Still, hope prevails for Singapore with the rise of two new fairs, S.E.A. Focus as part of Art Week Singapore, and Art SG. Will these new expos overcome past issues and be able to excite with the best of the region? Only time will tell. ART SG will take place from October 30 to November 1, 2020 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore. www.artsg.com