Art Brussels 2015, 33d edition: Review

Strong sales, notable attendance of local and international collectors and key international museum professionals; and an exceptional standard of work and artistic programming

Art Brussels closed on a high last night after receiving collective praise for the exceptionally high standard of work in the booths and museum quality of its artistic programming. This was reflected in strong sales and the notable attendance of significant local and international collectors as well as key international museum professionals. The fair also announced the exciting news of its re-location in 2016 to Tour & Taxis, a key historic building in the heart of Brussels.

The 33rd edition of Art Brussels hosted 191 galleries from 33 countries, including 57 newcomers, one new section (DISCOVERY) and a new programme (ARTISTS’ MUSIC).
And 30, 836 visitors came for that 2015 edition.

Managing Director of the fair Anne Vierstraete said:
There has been extraordinary enthusiasm from the collectors during the four fair days which has been confirmed by the significant amount of sales reported by our exhibitors, the majority of whom sold very well. Many of them entirely sold their solo shows at the Preview, including the works they took as reserves. This is of course a very promising start towards Art Brussels 2016. We are very excited about moving to our fabulous new location Tour & Taxis, which will bring us closer to the heart of Brussels’ buzzing contemporary art scene. Together with the very distinctive profile of Art Brussels among its competitors, this will certainly be a huge boost to the fair.

guided tour-®2015 Art Brussels David Noels

Collectors

Most galleries reported exceptional sales due to the impressive presence of Belgian and international collectors. Included were leading Belgian collectors and long-term supporters of the fair Mimi Dusselier, Frédéric de Goldschmidt, Alain Servais, Cédric Lienart de Jeude, Wilfried Cooreman, Lieven Declerck, Tanguy Van Quickenborne and Michel Delfosse as well as international collectors such as Gil Bronner, Ole Faarup, David Brolliet, Haro Cumbusyan, US-based Michael and Susan Hort and UK-based Fatima and Eskander Maleki.

The fair boasted an engaging and lively atmosphere and exceptional opportunities for new contacts with curators and 30 museum groups including Belgium’s Wiels Club, Bozar Friends and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Friends. France’s Amis du Louvre, ADIAF, Amis du Musée National d’Art Moderne (Centre Pompidou) and Amis du Palais de Tokyo; the UK’s Serpentine gallery; Switzerland’s Kunsthaus Zurich and MAMCO and the US’s Pérez Museum Miami.

Installation shot of Sorry Were Closed, (C)2015 Art Brussels David Noels

Installation shot of Tomio Koyama, -®2015 Art Brussels David Noels

Sales

AT YOUNG

Out of the 57 newcomers at Art Brussels 2015, most were featured in the fair’s YOUNG section.

In YOUNG was Bulgarian gallery SARIEV Contemporary, who caught the attention of local collectors and sold a series of drawings and a large oil painting to some visiting collectors from their home country. G262 Sofie Van de Velde (Antwerp) sold works to international collectors as well as local collectors at prices up to €19,000. Other galleries in the section such as New York’s Martos gallery, whose booth sold out, and Niklas Schechinger (Hamburg) stated that Art Brussels 2015 had exceeded their expectations, ‘the atmosphere on the fair was really great – relaxed but concentrated…I’ll definitely be back!’. New York’s Eleven Rivington, whose Director Augusto Arbizo is on the fair’s selection committee almost completely sold out.

Stand view of Michel Rein, -® Kristof Vrancken

AT PRIME

Particular consideration was given to space this year, as less artworks per booth allowed galleries to create a more comfortable experience; all agreed that this was a significant factor in their increased sales, most notably in PRIME. Newcomers James Cohan (New York) reported the sale of Bill Viola’s critically acclaimed Fire Martyr to a Belgian family foundation for €190,000, and to another collection, Xu Zhen’s painting, Under Heaven – 1136NH1409. On the preview day of the fair Brussels’ Meessen De Clercq sold over 20 works, and on Saturday sold a painting by Claudio Parmiggiani for €80,000. Other galleries in this section who sold exceptionally well were Galerie Bernard Ceysson (Paris, Luxembourg, Geneva, St-Etienne) who said it was ‘by far our best edition of the fair: sales and contacts alike. See you next year Art Brussels!’, Michel Rein (Brussels, Paris) sold works by Didier Faustino, Sophie Whettnall and Farah Atass, and Almine Rech (Brussels, London, Paris) sold works by artists including, Mark Hagen, Genieve Figgis, and Ida Tursic & Wilfried Mille. Daniel Templon sold twenty works including a neon sculpture by Ivan Navarro, priced at €150,000 and by Kehinde Wiley at €180,000.

Claudia Cargnel of Bugada & Cargnel (Paris) was ‘very happy with this edition of Art Brussels. All our works by Claire Tabouret were sold during the first hours of the fair to really great American, French and Belgium collections’

Michael Zink (Kromus & Zink, Berlin) said, ‘so far this has been the most successful Art Brussels for us in the three years we’ve taken part. The quality of the exhibitors and work presented attracted the right buyers – this year we reached a different level of collectors’. The gallery sold a set of handmade glass vessels by Chechen artist Aslan Gaisumov priced at €69,000.

New Art Centre, Salisbury (UK) who represent the estates of Barbara Hepworth and Sir Antony Caro sold important work by Caro for €150,000 along with an iconic Hepworth drawing on the opening day of the fair.

Director of the gallery Stephen Feeke said, ‘collectors were very taken by the younger generation of artists we represent. We sold a major piece by Conrad Shawcross (Royal Academician), and had particular success with young German ceramicist Johannes Nagel. We sold almost every work on the stand. All in all, we were very pleased and look forward to next year.”

The section also included an eccentric display by Antwerp’s established gallery Axel Vervoordt, whose SOLO booth performance by Sadaharu Horio (Osaka, Japan) saw visitors queue for hours to get their hands on a €1 artwork available from the artist’s Art Vending Machine.

Artistic Director of the fair, Katerina Gregos said

There is no doubt that this has been the most successful edition of the fair to date, both commercially and in terms of the appreciation of artistic content. I am particularly happy about the fact that an increasing number of galleries went the extra mile to present coherent, adventurous, original, and beautifully installed presentations, something which is not so obvious at art fairs and was remarked upon by collectors and the public alike. Their collective work has confirmed Art Brussels’ unique positioning as a true discovery fair’

NEW Section: DISCOVERY

supported by Anglo Belge Special Risks

Galleries exhibiting at Art Brussels for the first time in the fair’s new DISCOVERY section also reported good, consistent sales. Galleries included UK’s Division of Labour, whose booth was co-curated by Will Lunn, Director of London’s Copperfield gallery; and Paris-based Galerie Allen. As a result of their presence at the fair, Berlin-based KOW gallery had inquiries from curators about holding museum exhibitions for both Tobias Zielony and Renzo Martens.

NEW Programme

One of several new features which made Art Brussels stand out this year was the introduction of ARTISTS’ MUSIC, the unique new section dedicated to performance of artists and their bands. The programme, which opened with a performance by Joris Van de Moortel of Nathalie Obadia (Brussels, Paris), was organised with the Brussels based arts centre Beursschouwburg, and located on the fair’s newly designed Zinneke Terrace. ARTISTS’ MUSIC gave further energy to the already vastly experimental nature of the fair, which was also emphasised by original, adventurous presentations made by the spaces showing in the not-for-profit section, another unique feature of Art Brussels.