At the fair

More manual skills and hybrid works in emerging art

At Art-O-Rama in Marseille, young artists and new trends are discovered with opportunities under EUR 10,000

by Silvia Anna Barrilà

2 September 2024

Ben Gomes, Buried Spring (2023), olio su tela e cornice in alluminio, Courtesy 243 LUZ and the artist

6' min read

Key points

The hybridisation of techniques
The quest for manual skills
The Current Topics The Italian Galleries

6' min read

It no longer makes much sense to talk about artistic techniques in contemporary art. Artists increasingly combine painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, creating hybrid works, in which the boundary between two- and three-dimensional art is disappearing. It was clearly visible in the aisles of the 18th Art-O-Rama, a fair for emerging art that took place from 30 August to 1 September in Marseille inside a former tobacco factory converted into a centre frequented by creative people, young people, but also families from the neighbourhood. With its alternative air at the end of the summer, it always attracts numerous collectors from France and Belgium but also from Italy, looking for new names to bet on, often just fresh from the academy, with affordable prices below €10,000.

The hybridisation of techniques

For example, British artist Ben Gomes, born in 1989, starts by painting motifs somewhere between figurative and abstract on unframed canvas, which he then integrates into aluminium sculptures. Presented by gallery 243 Luz in Margate, a coastal town chosen by various artists including Tracey Emin, prices range from £4,750 to £7,500. In contrast, the works of Samir Laghouati-Rashwan, born in 1992, are aluminium frames with images embedded in resin inside, whose transparency or opacity alters the iconography and the visitor's perception. Hanging from conspicuous chains, they are sometimes in the centre of the room, sometimes on the wall, or even stacked on top of each other (at Sissi Club in Marseille, they range from €1,200 to €5,000).

Also Marilou Poncin, 32 years old, French, currently exhibiting at the festival for photography Rencontres d'Arles, mixes techniques and means of expression, in particular, she uses ceramics by combining them with photography and painting to show how the representation of women's bodies and desire changes in the digital age (from Spiaggia Libera in Paris, from €750 and €4,800). She has already had a solo exhibition at the Mac in Lyon and in 2025 we will see her in Milan and Japan in as yet undisclosed locations.

Marilou Poncin, fotografia con ceramica presentata ad Art-O-Rama a Marsiglia dalla galleria Spiaggia Libera Parigi

The quest for manual skills

"Among emerging artists, painting has been the dominant medium of expression in recent years," commented Jérôme Pantalacci, director of the French fair, "but we can observe an increasingly pronounced search for manual skills and craftsmanship, with the use of techniques and materials such as ceramics and textiles, while remaining within the conceptual art.

Isabella Fürnkäs, born in 1988, uses ceramics to make the ironic remote controls of the 'Remote Controls' series, replicating the first technological devices to give humans the illusion of controlling a screen (at Windhager von Kaenel in Zug they cost €2,500-3,500; €4,500 for the drawings). He studied in Düsseldorf with Keren Cytter and Andreas Gursky and in Berlin with Hito Steyerl and has already exhibited in several museums, mainly in the German area.

Caroline Mesquita, born in 1989, bends and hammers metal by hand, colours it with ammonia and various acids, and then leaves the rest to patina and oxidation (€ 2,500 to € 9,000 at Union Pacific in London). His works were exhibited until the end of August in the Hèrmes showcase in Venice, while at Art-O-Rama he is in dialogue with the Chinese Wei Libo, born in 1994, a recent graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Art des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied with Petrit Halilaj & Alvaro Urbano and Tatiana Trouvé. His illusory works, replicating fruits and vases inside cabinets using ceramics and wood marquetry with great skill, earned him the Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts de Paris (from sans titre in Paris, prices from €4,000 to €10,000).

The English Lara Smithson, on the other hand, uses technical fabric for works inspired by the history of art, in particular, medieval and Renaissance art, which she studied in depth during residencies in Rome and Oxford. Her works evoke triptychs and altarpieces with references to archaeological excavations, anatomical elements, body parts of saints dismembered as relics, reflections on the body between life and death (at Des Bains in London, prices from € 3,000 to € 12,000, with a major sale recorded in the first hours of the fair).

Lara Smithson, Their voices dying down, 2023, matita e foglio di alluminio su tessuto riflettente, 23 x 48 cm, Courtesy Des Bains

Current topics

The search for craftsmanship is not an end in itself: at the heart of the work there is always a conceptual reflection, which is often directed at the identity of the artist, or at current events, and it is important that it is there, so as not to risk buying a work that is merely decorative.

Think of Hoa Dung Clerget, a Frenchman of Vietnamese origin, who elevates so-called 'nail art', the art of painting nails with nail polish, to contemporary art. His small sculptures hanging on the wall are lotus flowers made with nail gel, inside which are portrayed women in sensual poses. They refer to the now very popular Nail Studios, which for the women of the Vietnamese community (in this case) represent a ticket to employment and Western society (from Studio Chapple, €1,070-1400).

Hoa Dung Clerget, Blue Porcelain Dragon, Courtesy Studio/Chapple Londra

Italian Galleries

Two Italian galleries were also present at the fair: Gian Marco Casini of Livorno, with a new work by the Bolognese Margherita Moscardini, born in 1981: an installation made up of three elements that refer to the episode of the writing on the wall of the Dara'a school that triggered the war in Syria in 2011. The artist reproduced in ceramic the words "It's your turn doctor", in reference to Assad, which some young people had written on the wall of the school, later erased by the authorities, as seen in a photograph on display. The third element is a sound work that reproduces some of the sentences of the arrested boys. A significant moment not only for the history of Syria, but also for the consequences that the wave of migration has had on the unity of Europe and on the ideals of welcome and national identity (€24,000 edition of three).

Margherita Moscardini, Dara’a, Syria, February 16, 2011, 3 a.m., 2024, Courtesy Gian Marco Casini, fotografia Margot Montigny

This is the gallery's third participation in the fair, while for Triangolo di Cremona it is the first time. The gallery brought two series by the Swiss artist Samuel Haitz, born in 1997, who is also currently exhibiting in the gallery. For one of the two series, the artist, who always starts from literature, the cue was homosexual magazines from the last century, in which he intervened in a poetic manner. The other series, entitled 'Coke', also refers to homosexual love, starting with a poem byFrank O'Hara, 'Having a Coke with You', but also taking up the work 'Ale Cans' by Jasper Johns and reflecting on the social acceptance of gay unions.

Italy is also well represented in the context of prizes, in fact, there are two promoted by Italian collectors: the Because Of Many Suns prize is supported by Francesco Taurisano and went to Max Guy, represented by the American gallery Good Weather. His installation 'Matrix', 2024, will be donated to Madre in Naples. The Marval Prize by Valeria and Marco Curina, on the other hand, went to Stefania Batoeva of Public Gallery in London.

An Italian curator, Francesco Tenaglia, was involved in the selection of artists for the Région Sud Art Prize and Région Sud Design Prize, which went respectively toZoe Saudrais and Cassandra Naigre.

Non-profit spaces

But discoveries in Marseille are not only made at Art-O-Rama. At the same time as the fair, a festival called Systema has been taking place for the past three years, in which four curators, Won Jin Choi, Lucas Jacques-Witz, Myriam Mokdes and Ryder Morey-Weale, invite independent spaces from all over Europe inside an unused music school in the summer to show their artists. This year there are 13 of them, including E A Shared Space from Tblisi in Georgia and Closing Soon from Athens, which is particularly focused on sustainability.

The festival is partly supported by public funds, but mainly through the voluntary work of the founders. "The works on display are, above all, videos and small works on paper, which reflect the precariousness of these spaces," explained one of the curators, Ryder Morey-Weale. "The spaces do not pay to participate, rather, they receive a fee from us and we take care of transport and set-up. We take no commission on sales, should there be any."

Another parallel event, this time with a more fair-like format, is Paréidolie, now in its 11th edition and organised by the Chateau de Servières association. The quality of the offer is mixed, but interesting works can also be found here. Before the restart of the autumn season, Marseille with all these proposals is certainly worth a visit for collectors in search of new proposals.