ARTISTS
Daniel Hug reinvents Art Cologne following 鈥榠dentity crisis鈥�
High-quality exhibits attracted over 60,000 visitors to last month鈥檚 45th Art Cologne as the fair boasted an increasing number of major international galleries.
黑料不打烊
05 May, 2011
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High-quality exhibits attracted over 60,000 visitors to last month鈥檚 45th Art Cologne as the fair boasted an increasing number of major international galleries.
According to Fair Director Daniel Hug, who spoke with 黑料不打烊.com, 鈥淪ales were solid. Contemporary art sold better this year than last year. Attendance increased slightly - around 2,000 more visitors than last year, I gather many who could not make it the year before due to the Icelandic ash cloud in 2010. The mood amongst the participating galleries was very positive - one felt it moving around the halls, everyone was very upbeat.鈥�
鈥淭he Fair is better than ever. Quality was excellent,鈥� said London dealer David Juda of Annely Juda Fine Art. 鈥淒aniel Hug is doing a very good job,鈥� was the verdict at the stand of Karsten Greve (Cologne/Paris/St. Moritz). Indeed, Hug managed to put the struggling fair back on track, as he explains, 鈥淎rt Cologne had a bit of an identity crisis when I got here. It didn't rely on its own strengths, but tried to compete with other 鈥楥ontemporary鈥� art fairs such as Frieze, Art Forum Berlin and Art Basel Miami Beach. I refocused the fair on Modern, Post-war and Contemporary galleries. Reducing its size, thus boosting the level of quality, and moving into more suitable halls.鈥�
Berlin dealer Andr茅 Buchmann concurs: 鈥淭he spectrum of exhibits was very well-balanced. The many facets of the Fair made for a very fine mix. Art Cologne is now structurally improved, more tightly organized and more rigorous in terms of selection and presentation.鈥�
Galerie: Andrew Kreps
The Fair saw a substantial increase in the number of major international galleries exhibiting. They included important newcomers like Andrew Kreps (New York), TEAM Gallery (New York) and Tomio Koyama (Tokyo). High-profile returnees included Lelong (Paris/Zurich), Hauser & Wirth (Zurich/London/New York), Buchmann (Berlin/Lugano), Guido W. Baudach (Berlin), DEWEER Art Gallery (Otegem), Catherine Bastide (Brussels), Leo Koenig (New York) and Fons Welters (Amsterdam).
At 2.3 million euros, Tom Wesselmann's Smoker, offered by Cologne gallerist Klaus Benden, was the most expensive work sold. Other highlights included Neo Rauch's oil titled 窜盲丑尘耻苍驳, which Galerie Eigen + Art sold for 680,000 euros to a British foundation, while works by Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz sold to collectors at prices between 150,000 to 300,000 euros by Galerie Michael Werner. Galerie Schlichtenmaier sold work by Horst Antes including a monumental canvas titled Grosses Paar for 240,000 euros and a still life titled Interieur mit Stillleben for 170,000 euros.
Asked about his own personal favorites, Hug said, 鈥淭here were really too many; a few of my personal favorites were the Andy Warhol Lenin portrait at Galerie Bernd Klueser from Munich, the early Ad Reinhardt painting at Aurel Scheibler from Berlin, the Paul Delvaux painting from 1938 at Guy Pieters from Brussels, the entire series of photos by Ryan McGinley at Team Gallery from New York, the series of drawings by Thadeusz Kantor at Isabella Czarnowska from Berlin, the early paintings of Guenther Fruehtrunk from the late 1950s at Lahumiere (Paris) and Edith Wahlandt Gallery (Germany), the projected films of Ferdinand Kriwet in the booth of BQ (Berlin), the Erik van Lieshout series on paper at Guido Baudach from Berlin, and so many other amazing highlights - I can go on and on - there were just too many highlights!鈥�
Commenting on the state of the art market in general and Germany鈥檚 recovery in detail, Hug said, 鈥淕ermany has always had a healthy interest in difficult art, from minimalism, performance, video, conceptual art, etc - this is also reflected in the kind of art that has emerged from Germany over the last five decades. Some describe Germany's market as regional, which is somewhat right, however, the enormous number of important artists that have emerged from Germany over the last 50 years make this little regional market quite important on a world wide scale. This insularity has also protected the German art market from inflated highs and bottoming-out lows. Good or bad times, there is always a lot of art changing hands in Germany.鈥�
Asked what makes for a successful art fair, Hug simply stated: 鈥淧urpose! A strong reason to exist, not merely because everyone else is doing an art fair. Art Cologne was the first fair of its kind; it was founded by 18 German galleries for presenting "progressive art". I am continuing this quest, showing not only the newest contemporary art tendencies, but also providing an historical context with Modern and Post-war art to properly interpret these new tendencies.鈥�
Written by 黑料不打烊.com staff
