Art Market Crisis? Art Basel and Liste defend it
Concerns about the two dates showed caution on the part of collectors, who aimed to obtain discounts on final prices
7' min read
7' min read
The most important week for the art market and for the big brand ofMch Group fairs, Art Basel, ended with the usual success of million-dollar sales, but works with more 'affordable' price levels also found buyers. It was, above all, during the opening that gallery owners concluded or started their negotiations. An opening that, as the gallerists themselves stated, was very hectic, only to leave room in the following days for moments of prolonged calm, so that business was concluded more slowly than usual. Overall, 91,000 visitors passed through the fair (82,000 in 2023), taking into account the days with exclusive admission and the days open to the public. In summary, the tone was positive, but caution prevails and collectors, as several gallery owners pointed out, are very slow in making purchases and the aim of concluding deals is to obtain a discount.
The turnout at Art Basel
.285 galleries from 40 countries participated in this year's Art Basel and of these, 22 were first-time exhibitors. The prevalence of works by established artists on the secondary market was perhaps the main theme of the fair, as well as the inclusion of works by many names currently featured in the Venice Biennale. And it was precisely the Venice Biennale, as some gallerists pointed out, that was the reason for the low presence of South American collectors, particularly Brazilians, while there was no shortage of Asians. Although some gallery owners reported having sold works to important American collectors, the general impression was that there was a greater European presence - French, German, Belgian, Swiss - than in previous years and that only a few visitors came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Americans "perhaps prefer Paris" which from the next edition will be called Art Basel Paris and will be held from 18 to 20 October in the iconic and recently restored Grand Palais.
Among gallerists there are those like Jo Stella-Sawicka, senior director of the Goodman Gallery, who states that 'considering the current economic but also political moment with elections all over the world, the balance sheet here at Art Basel was positive, despite the negative views on the art market'. The gallery, founded in Johannesburg, sold several works by Atta Kwami (currently in a solo exhibition at the London gallery) at prices ranging from USD 40,000 to 200,000. Although the Ghanaian painter, who died in 2021, does not have a well-developed secondary market, these numbers far surpass the record of $35,000 set for his 2010 work 'Zongo III' that went on sale at Christie's in early June.
Among Italian gallerists, Massimo De Carlo sold several works at different price levels from 250,000 euro for "This is How We Play Together", Fig. 3 (Marble), 2023 a mando statue by the Elmgreen & Dragset duo, to 120.000 for an acrylic on canvas, 'Rest', 2024 by the artist Lenz Geerk whose portraits, landscapes and still lifes combine the traditions and references of European painting, the artist creates works divorced from their historical context with a unique and recognisable technique, and up to $20.000 for 'Sculpture (Crimson)', 2024, an oil and charcoal on canvas by South Korean artist, born in 1994, Mark Yang who had a solo exhibition last year in the Beijing gallery space in Milan. For Raffaella Cortese, founder of the gallery of the same name, the presence at Art Basel "was productive and, above all, it highlighted how collecting is changing and the most historicised works are now only appreciated by a few collectors". In this regard, the gallery owner exhibited a historical work by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka (price in the region of EUR 220,000) on her stand that attracted the attention of only a few collectors who are 'more respectful towards art'.
Focus on the artists in the Biennial
.Among the sales was no shortage of artists present at the Venice Biennale. Among them, paintings by Alioune Diagne, representing Senegal in Venice, sold between $32,000 and $85,000 at the Galerie Templon (Paris, Brussels, New York) stand. The Brazilian gallery Gomide and Co. (São Paulo Brazil) sold three ceramic works by the indigenous Guaraní artist Julia Isídrez, featured in the Biennale's main exhibition, 'Foreigners Everywhere' for between $15,000 and $20,000.
