London is resilient If Great Britain has been hit by a social and economic crisis, the largest art fair in the country seems to be faring well. On 12 October Frieze opened in Regent’s Park, with its two components, Frieze Masters (128...
Art Basel: The spectacular resilience of the biggest contemporary art fair in the world
Resilience Resilience. Since the onset of the public health crisis sweeping the entire planet, this is a word that has been used extensively – and not always correctly. But if there’s a field that truly merits this label, it’s the art market....
Arco Madrid: the whisper of a new “Movida” in the art market?
Troubled times Coronavirus, various regions in quarantine, political upheaval and economic uncertainty… Do people still want to buy art in these troubled times? And yet it’s against this backdrop that the first large-scale fair of the year, Arco Madrid, has opened...
Frieze:the British art fair copes with the uncertainties of Brexit
Victim of the Brexit It’s clear to see that the art market is one of the victims of Brexit. What taxes will be applied to artworks due to leave Britain? What will be the potential obstacles to their circulation? Turning toward Paris Certain major galleries have...
Art Basel 2019: stratospheric prices and artworks that dreams are made of
Selling less The art market is one of those rare places where selling less can also involve selling for higher prices. What I mean by this is that following a long period when younger artists were overwhelmingly considered to be the market’s raw materials,...
The Arco fair in Madrid: History keeps a lot of artists awake at night
Unique charm Amid the abundance of fairs springing up all over the world, Arco, which is held in Madrid until 3 March, stands out for having its own unique charm. Firstly because it takes place in this fun-loving capital and constitutes the largest national artistic...
The Fiac in Paris attracts Michael Heizer, Hauser & Wirth, a monumental Calder, 100 starfish and an organic gallerist
Information has a resounding impact in the art market not when it addresses such notions as beauty, aesthetic renewal or visual research, but rather when it uses superlatives: it’s always the most expensive, the biggest, the most spectacular. In the race to extremes...
Tehran: how to keep hope alive through art. Journey to the land of the mullahs where there’s a very active art scene
She told me: “If I were you I would think twice before you decide to go to Tehran. The Grand Bazaar is on strike. The last time that happened the Shah was overthrown”. She’s an American-Iranian friend who receives daily news from Tehran via her family who live in the...
Art Basel Hong Kong: From Bradford to de Kooning the fair attracts million-dollar transactions
It’s nothing new: the contemporary art market consists of several strata, the most visible of which focuses on a small group of artists displayed by the most powerful galleries. This phenomenon tends to present a certain geographical unity: the majority of these kind...
ABMB: The Miami fair exhibits ever more classic and expensive artworks, while new museums open in the city.
In the art world we often talk about the Guggenheim in Bilbao effect, or how a museum managed to transform the image of a city through its exhibitions and architecture. Perhaps we should henceforth be talking about the ABMB effect on Miami. The Florida city is best...
In Brazil, despite the chaos, the art market is still in good shape
In Brazil a country already wracked by corruption, economic crisis, an acute political crisis and violence, Rio de Janeiro’s police haven't been paid for two months, its university professors for four, live venues are organising events where audiences have to bring...
Art Basel: An abundance of the very, very big and the very, very expensive
While History shows as a whole, and the Renaissance in particular, that posterity has a predilection for works by artists afflicted by madness, the art market is far more rational agent. Artworks that are too large, too complicated, too noisy, in other words too...