Slow market at Artissima but quality of offer remains high
Springboard for emerging art and galleries from South America and Eastern Europe
6' min read
Key points
6' min read
The 31st edition of Artissima, the third directed by Luigi Fassi, closed on Sunday 3 November. The number of visitors over four days was 34,200, slightly up on the fair's declared numbers for 2023 (34,000), although the impression was that the long weekend for the festivities of the dead and the fine weather did not help focus attention on the fair. More than 700 collectors were hosted, more than half of them international, according to the organisation.
The offer at the fair once again focused on novelty, acting as a springboard for emerging artists and research galleries, and on the internationality aspect; in fact, 55% of the 189 participating galleries were foreign, from 34 countries and four continents. Another, no less important feature of the fair is the high quality offer in a moderate price range, which in this slowing market can satisfy even the least inclined collectors.
Sales
.The difficulties of the moment were reflected in fluctuating transactions for the galleries. Some reported good deals, others less so, but contacts made at the fair can produce results even in the months following the event itself. "There was a very good audience on Thursday," commented Federica Schiavo, "but the sales were not immediate. Now I can say that it went very well for us, but for a lot of colleagues with whom I dealt, it was a particularly difficult edition in a period in which the market is definitely suffering in general". The gallery sold works between €4,000 and €36,000 by artists such as Italo Zuffi, Andrea Sala and Michael Bauer.
She is echoed by Raffaella Cortese: "The fair went very well despite a slow start, not scintillating on the first day as sales were few and for very small works, in the following days fortunately it was a crescendo and went well and I am very pleased to have realised a stand focused on portraits, with important social themes". Femicide was the focus of Gabrielle Goliath, whose series of photographs 'Berenice' was sold out by the gallery. Other artists on the stand were Anna Maria Maiolino, whose important works were sold out, Roni Horn, Marcello Maloberti, soon to be exhibited at the PAC in Milan, whose work from twenty years ago is still relevant today, Monica Bonvicini, who inaugurated a work on the Pinacoteca Agnelli runway, and Francesco Arena, who did a performance at the Castello di Rivoli.
"Artissima always proves to be a fair with a very distinctive identity, which is an advantage even if it comes after Frieze and Paris and, therefore, at the end of a busy season for collectors," Cortese added. "Italian and European collecting remains very solid, the fair was beautiful, and although there were fewer visitors than in previous years, even on the last day we did well."
