Lots of people, lots of Spanish art and gallery owners mark the beginning of ARCO: the fair opens its 42nd edition this Wednesday with an offer surrounded by expectations and trying to meet expectations. attract international collector’s attention to the detriment of controversial or controversial parts.
The doors of Ifema Halls 7 and 9 opened at 11:00 a.m. for professionals only, and soon the corridors filled with the public as if it were a day.
This year, enthusiasm and optimism of the galleries -211 is twenty more than 2022 – remarkable. Everything points to a pressure to recover, after several years of epidemic and warfare.
“The Spanish market is a bit out of place, but Latin American collectors have bought homes worth several million in Spain and are decorating them in full swing,” says the fair’s founder, Juana de Aizpuru.
Senior gallery owner brought offer marked with color and large sizesHis eyes were turned to Latin American collectors and Madrid as the new Miami of Europe.
His greatest work is a canvas by Federico Guzmán that is almost 3.5 meters long, 2 meters high and has bright colors. There are also attractive and large paintings by Wolfgang Tillmans (2.40 vs 1.80), Miguel Angel Campano (1.95 vs 2.60) or Philipp Fröhlich (2.45 vs 1.75).
In search of an international collector
The Spanish market is under control, but the foreign collector, especially the Latin American, does not seem to have been affected by the war, inflation or the last throes of the epidemic.
It is they who can afford to buy some of the most expensive works; A statue of Eduardo Chillida, 3.7 million eurosBringing the Carreras Múgica and weighing 1,500 kilograms. Another smaller work, “Puerta de Libertad I”, costs 2.4 million (Guillermo de Osma gallery): Basque sculptor and Joan Miró takes first prize at the highest prices this year.
Miró’s painting “La femme et l’oiseau” has a price tag of 2 million euros (Mayoral Gallery) and another similarly sized oil painting has a price tag of 1.6 million euros (Leandro Navarro Gallery). A Juan Gris from the cubist era, a rare case on the market, and a Fernand Léger, “Nature Morte”, for the 1.3, which closely follows them, about 900,000 euros.
There are also a few Tapies (a bronze armchair, 380.000 euros) and the mysterious statues of Juan Muñoz for around 800.000 euros. A 700,000 Euro drawing by Richard Serra followed soon after.
This Market scarcity of Chillida’s works and Miró’s acceptance Prices skyrocketed by collectors around the worldAccording to the gallery owners.
There is no work of Picasso at the fair. Íñigo Navarro, who brought the works of the painter from Malaga in other years, could not obtain a work, as he explained, due to the multitude of exhibitions held on the anniversary of his death.
All gallery owners consulted showed themselves enthusiastic about the level of the congregation: The fair invited nearly 400 international collectors and 200 professionals, a record number in its history. “ARCO’s success is to attract the international collector and it has succeeded,” explains Íñigo Navarro.
Neither discussion nor political art
The discussion disappeared from ARCO. A 2017 veiled Picasso by Eugenio Merino of the ADN gallery attracts more media attention for the elegance than the controversy itself.
Barcelona gallery ADN and Max Estrella carry a variety of pieces with strong political implications, such as the “Emosido Engañados” neon protest or a bunker by Eugenio Ampudia. “Guernica”.
Particular mention should be made of the Ukrainian gallery Voloshyn, who was the first gallery in the country to visit ARCO. two Ukrainian artists, Nikita Kadan and Mykola Ridniyi.
Located in a basement during the first weeks of the occupation, the gallery became a haven for artists and their staff’s families.
“Stop buying gas from the fascists”, “Decolonized Russia” (Decolonized Russia) and “Gas embargo on Russia” (Gas embargo on Russia), among other slogans, those days angrily and sporadically with black wax.
The José de la Mano gallery brings a series of four pieces on a political line – not for sale, just on display. Made in prison by Agustín Ibarrola.who molded them with the scraps of bread his friends gave him and his own saliva.
Gallery owner Pepe de la Mano explains that the Basque artist was imprisoned in 1963, shortly after the dissolution of Equipo 57, working as best he could with elements such as bread, but also painting on sheets.
The gallery owner is optimistic about the number of people interested in coming this year. In other years they still had invitations at this point but no invitations on the first day of the fair. “There’s a very good level, it shows the gallery owners have put all the meat on the grill,” he says.