Arte in Nuvola celebrates its fifth edition
The fair offers a quality VIP programme to attract collectors but suffers from a lack of appeal to the city's galleries
The fifth edition of Roma Arte in Nuvola (20-23 November) has just ended with the participation of more than 38,000 visitors. This year's event was once again under the artistic direction of Adriana Polveroni, the venue is still inside the iconic building 'La Nuvola' designed by Studio Fuksas, and some 140 exhibitors were present
In the pavilion dedicated to contemporary art, one notices a certain cleanliness compared to previous editions when beyond the galleries in the front lines an abyss opened up that was difficult to cross. Despite the departure of Magazzino, a group of Roman galleries resisted and took the opportunity to give space to national talent. At Ex Elettrofonica, in a stand almost entirely dedicated to the contemporary representation of Rome, the conceptual paintings and expressive modes that can be traced back to arte povera by Federico Pietrella stand out (€5,000 to €10,000), while at z2o by Sara Zanin, in addition to the works of many young artists, the paintings by Cesare Tacchi (1940-2014), whose talent is being rediscovered (prices of works at the fair around €12.000 euros), Rolando Anselmi proposes an ironic painter with surreal verve such as Gianni Di Rosa in a range between 3,500 and 5,000 euros, Studio SALES, always very attentive to emerging artists, also gives space to the mosaics of Diego Mirabella with prices up to 5,300 euros. Among the foreign galleries, i.e. those arriving from outside the ring road, Michela Rizzo from Venice stands out with Ivan Berlafante's mirrored boulders on sale from 5,000 to 11,000 euros, while Daniele Sigalot has studded the Aria Gallery stand with his iconic areoplanes on sale at 200 euros each. Out of proportion and out of scale a large sculpture by Gino Marotta 'Strawberry Mirage' beautifully inserted into the transparencies of the architecture, a true consolatory mirage, at 150,000 euros, the asking price for Richard Saltoun.
The Modern
The pavilion devoted mainly to modern art has always been the most competitive at Roma Arte in Nuvola and sees the Tornabuoni stand take centre stage. Here stealing the show is a red cut by Fontana with a rounded frame, quoted at well over EUR 1 million. Mario Ceroli and Emilio Isgrò are also very much in demand among collectors at the moment, the former with quotations between EUR 40,000 and EUR 120,000, the latter over EUR 200,000. The EDDart gallery is always noted for the refinement of its research, here two paintings by Giosetta Fioroni from the late 1960s stand out, selling for EUR 25,000 and a canvas by Gastone Novelli offered at EUR 90,000. Novelli is particularly in the spotlight given the large exhibition currently underway at Ca' Pesaro to celebrate the centenary of his birth. Galleria Lombardi focused on Roman Pop Art and among its first sales was a work by Afro from 1968. Galleria Campaiola celebrated the sales of a head by Mario Ceroli from 1982 and a canvas by Carla Accardi acquired by a well-known fashion designer. Great space was given to African Contemporary art at Primo Marella with works by the Malian Konaté ranging from €30,000 to €60,000, the works of Hako Hankson, included in the last Venice Art Biennial, are offered between €5,000 and €18,000. Much attention is also being paid to the three works by the Malagasy artist Joël Andrianomearisoa.
Several of the galleries that dropped out of the fair this year (Candy Snake, unosunove, Art Preview, Camilla Grimaldi) found themselves in Valentina Ciarallo's pop-up project 'White Gallery', who also left Roma Arte in Nuvola after four years in various curatorial roles; 90 works representing 23 galleries with a price range of 500 to 18,000 euro were exhibited in an industrial building. A selling exhibition with an experiential lunch dedicated to collectors, who flocked to the exhibition. The entrance welcomed visitors with Myra Bonifazi, skies full of clouds: a casual quotation or a challenge to the fair?
Returning to the pavilions of the Nuvola, the most interesting project is undoubtedly the one presented by the Korean Cultural Centre in Italy entitled "Fever State", an exhibition with six artists involved in which Jongwan Jang's pictorial installation with a fur tail was photographed. South Korea thus confirms itself as a master in cultural diplomacy and in recent years has been able to influence the collective imagination through a thousand forms of expression: from k-Pop to TV series without forgetting the famous skincare and obviously contemporary art.
