An art fair is about entertainment; it is also about the exhibition and promotion of particular products with a selling intention, i.e., art works. I will not write about which artworks where sold by a particular gallery, or which artworks were bought by a certain collector; not event about how much the market valued them, or, even, focus my attention on the Latin American art market performance last May at the main international auctions houses – Sotheby’s and Christie’s had a total turnover of 30.7 million (incl. buyer’s premium) just from the evening sales, whereas the unsold rates were 28% and 25%, respectively. So, what I will convey, here, is more about the Latin American art fair as a subject and the art works as the object of inquire.
To those, which express that contemporary international art is all about money, trendiness, superficiality, etc. no content, no intimacy, no deep, and so on..., I would like to say that when I'm strolling along the corridors of an art fair, such as the Affordable Art Fair – where artworks overcrowd over each other in the physical available space; art objects held one over the other with the minimum possible distance between them; art dealers and artists confine sculptures, paintings, drawings, photography and prints in to a few square meters; where, furthermore, because of the way artworks are held, just there, price tags, on the side, or below, attract more crowds of curious to brightly and catchy art pieces than grayish ones –, I feel much more attuned to the previous mentioned adjectives, then when wandering around an art fair, let's say, as Pinta London – where the size of the stalls various between each other allowing to create rhythmic, subtle levels of meaning, expression and intensity; gives each artwork an intimacy or the bouncy that it requires to express it’s affective potentialities almost to a full – for example.
For a moment this predication, about the art fairs, in general, and about the international contemporary art fairs, in particular, such as Pinta London, reminds, and while sharing some predicaments with the United Kingdom, being more social concerned to the well-being of its society than a Socialist defined country, such as Portugal, for instance, which tend to be more Marxist-Stalinist: rapid technological developments, socialism, a centralized state, collectivization of basic production and financial burdens, and subordination of society well-being to those of the few, which tend to be connected with the ruling and decisive political governments, i.e. from BE to CDS, going through PCP, PS and PSD. While the former, the United Kingdom, controls through consumption and taken part in (inclusion), the latest, controls through suppression and displacement (exclusion). The first, brings capital (social, cultural and economical) into the social reality; whereas, the second, brings absence and dependence into the social realm. The words ‘Capitalism’ and ‘Socialism’ are used as an agency to trigger an illusion. Furthermore, it is easily perceived that not all galleries participating in a fair, such as are those participating in contemporary international art fairs, would make sales on their first participation, most of the times they barely cover expenses, such as the stand cost; while, others, already with their settled audience, which would came to the fair for the sake of it, have some people buying; and, even, others, would mainly do institutional contacts for later, post-art fair developments. On the other hand, in a fair, like the Affordable Art Fair, galleries and artists would cover cost in the first hour.
On the other hand, art fairs, such as Pinta London, it is like going to an art exhibition, in where each art object is entitled to its own space and territory, to express its' affective potentially to almost a full. Art from Latin America reflects on figures and patterns, on nature and culture, on chaos and order; it plays between frugality and prodigality; the colours tend to reflect the chromatic variety that is possible to find in those countries’ nature (the Sub-Saharan Africa and the South-East Asia can also be included in this reality).
Joana and Zé Mário, thanks to you both!!!
No comments :
Post a Comment