Tag: Art Fair
Sydney Contemporary 2024
Thursday, September 5th, 2024 Art Column,Sydney Contemporary has quickly found its niche in a city in which the most probing critical analysis of a work of art is usually: “How much did you pay for that?” Variations on a theme include: “Why would anybody pay that much?” and “They must’ve seen him coming.” In Melbourne, art aficianados are more likely […]
Art Dubai 2024
Friday, April 5th, 2024 Art Column,For the second year in a row, I’ve come away from Art Dubai with the feeling that it’s distinctly different from every other international art fair. Even as I write, one of the biggest of all fairs is getting ready to launch. Art Basel Hong Kong remains Asia’s premier commercial art event, despite challenges from […]
Korean Komparisons
Tuesday, October 17th, 2023 Art Column,Last month, within 24 hours, I travelled from the Sydney Contemporary art fair to two fairs in South Korea: KIAF Seoul and Frieze Seoul. The contrast was striking, as are most cultural contrasts between Australia and South Korea. Sydney Contemporary, celebrating its 10th anniversary, was held at Carriageworks over four days. It featured 96 galleries, […]
Sydney Contemporary 2023
Wednesday, September 13th, 2023 Art Column,Contemporary art is forever making statements about political and social justice, but there’s no escaping the fact that art fairs are massive commercial enterprises in which artworks are, first and foremost, commodities. Is there anything wrong with that? No, not unless you are making work that is a strident denunciation of the capitalist system. In […]
The Return of Hong Kong
Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 Art Column,Roll the clock back four years to 2019. In Hong Kong, Art Basel was consolidating the island’s reputation as the heart of the international art market in Asia. The gargantuan West Kowloon Cultural District was starting to emerge but was still largely a building site. The world’s leading commercial galleries were opening branches, hoping to […]
Art Dubai 2023
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023 Art Column,Introducing the 16th edition of Art Dubai, Artistic Director, Pablo del Val, spoke about an art fair dedicated to ‘the Global South’. This new-old concept term has been around for decades but has gained momentum recently, as a way of dividing the developing world from its developed counterpart. At first, I thought this was a […]
Singapore Art Fair 2023
Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 Art Column,Visitors to the new Singapore Art Fair were greeted by a large Robert Indiana sculpture spelling out the word ‘LOVE’. It was an invitation to locals and visitors to share a love of contemporary art that has struggled to take root in this prosperous island state. This time around, there was no room for hesitation. […]
Aotearoa Art
Tuesday, January 17th, 2023 Art Column,A handful of big international art fairs are obligatory annual destinations for the world’s major collectors. Only among the second-tier fairs is there real competition, as cities compete to attract wealthy art tourists looking for something a bit different. All these fairs dream of getting the world’s über-galleries to participate, but the real interest lies […]
Sydney Contemporary 2022
Tuesday, September 13th, 2022 Art Column,It’s been three long years since the last Sydney Contemporary, and the market is more of a puzzle than ever. During the pandemic, when predictions of doom and gloom abounded, many local art dealers enjoyed surprisingly good seasons. It’s widely believed this was because wealthy collectors who had got into the habit of purchasing work […]
India Art Fair 2020
Friday, February 7th, 2020 Art Column,Seen one art fair, seen ‘em all? Not when it’s the India Art Fair in New Delhi. Like everything else on the subcontinent the premier commercial art event is very different in character to the fairs one sees in Europe or America, or even Hong Kong. This is largely because of its proudly provincial stance. […]