ARTISTS
Major European art fair posts uptick in sales
One of Europe's biggest contemporary art fairs, ARCO, posted an increase in sales over last year, officials said Sunday, in a sign the global...
AFP
21 Feb, 2010
AFP
MADRID 鈥� One of Europe's biggest contemporary art fairs, ARCO, posted an increase in sales over last year, officials said Sunday, in a sign the global art market is recovering from the financial crisis.
"Sales forecasts were not only met, they were exceeded," Luis Eduardo Cortes, the director of the sprawling IFEMA exhibition centre in Madrid which hosted the five-day fair, told a news conference on the last day of the event.
Total sales figures are not available because some of the 218 galleries from around the world which took part do not want to divulge their numbers, he said.
One of the works which did find a buyer was a controversial sculpture by Spanish artist Eugenio Merino which depicted a three men dressed in black -- a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew -- praying on top of one another.
It sold on opening day for 50,000 euros (68,000 US dollars) while another piece by Merino depicting a upright Uzi sub-machine gun supporting a menorah sold for 6,600 euros.
The Israeli embassy in Madrid blasted Merino's artworks, calling them offensive to "Jews, Israelis and perhaps others".
ARCO attracted around 150,000 visitors this year, down from a record 200,000 last year when the event lasted for an extra day.
Instead of having a specially invited country, this year the fair turned its spotlight on Los Angeles with 17 galleries from the American city taking part. India was the spotlighted nation in 2009.
During boom times, contemporary art was sought after as a badge of wealth as much as luxury cars and branded jewellery. But art galleries found it harder to sell works after the global credit crunch led to recessions in the West.
At its peak in 2007 the world art market was worth around 65 billion US dollars, double the figure from five years earlier, but it may have since come down to 50 billion US dollars, according to research firm Arts Economics.
Experts estimate that prices for art are down about 40 percent from their peak on average.
The global economic downturn is generating opportunities for buyers, said Marc Spiegler, the co-director of Switzerland's Art Basel, the largest international fair of contemporary art.
"The economic downturn is creating really interesting conditions. And it allows for there to be more time to think about what one should buy. Aside from the fact that prices are more stable," he told daily El Mundo at ARCO.
"Sales forecasts were not only met, they were exceeded," Luis Eduardo Cortes, the director of the sprawling IFEMA exhibition centre in Madrid which hosted the five-day fair, told a news conference on the last day of the event.
Total sales figures are not available because some of the 218 galleries from around the world which took part do not want to divulge their numbers, he said.
One of the works which did find a buyer was a controversial sculpture by Spanish artist Eugenio Merino which depicted a three men dressed in black -- a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew -- praying on top of one another.
It sold on opening day for 50,000 euros (68,000 US dollars) while another piece by Merino depicting a upright Uzi sub-machine gun supporting a menorah sold for 6,600 euros.
The Israeli embassy in Madrid blasted Merino's artworks, calling them offensive to "Jews, Israelis and perhaps others".
ARCO attracted around 150,000 visitors this year, down from a record 200,000 last year when the event lasted for an extra day.
Instead of having a specially invited country, this year the fair turned its spotlight on Los Angeles with 17 galleries from the American city taking part. India was the spotlighted nation in 2009.
During boom times, contemporary art was sought after as a badge of wealth as much as luxury cars and branded jewellery. But art galleries found it harder to sell works after the global credit crunch led to recessions in the West.
At its peak in 2007 the world art market was worth around 65 billion US dollars, double the figure from five years earlier, but it may have since come down to 50 billion US dollars, according to research firm Arts Economics.
Experts estimate that prices for art are down about 40 percent from their peak on average.
The global economic downturn is generating opportunities for buyers, said Marc Spiegler, the co-director of Switzerland's Art Basel, the largest international fair of contemporary art.
"The economic downturn is creating really interesting conditions. And it allows for there to be more time to think about what one should buy. Aside from the fact that prices are more stable," he told daily El Mundo at ARCO.