The Grand Palais, Paris, one of FIAC’s principle venues. All photos: ART iT.
The 34th edition of France’s FIAC art fair opened to the public in Paris Oct 21 amid escalating resentment towards France’s Sarkozy regime and nationwide strikes affecting everything from public transit to oil distribution. Yet the fair itself, continuing until Oct 24, was enjoying unprecedented buzz.
Established in 1974, FIAC was an afterthought among the wave of ambitious art fairs that helped to energize the art market boom of the past decade. But after returning to venues in central Paris in 2005 – namely, the Grand Palais and the Louvre museum’s Cour Carrée – FIAC has quietly seen an increase in its profile. With 195 galleries from 24 countries, this year’s edition counts among first-time participants international heavy-hitters such as Max Hetzler and Contemporary Fine Arts from Berlin; Regen Projects from Los Angeles; Victoria Miro from London; David Zwirner, Metro Pictures and Gagosian from New York. Overall international galleries constitute a healthy 62 percent of participants.
Much of this can seemingly be credited to the appointment in 2004 of former gallerist Jennifer Flay as artistic director (since promoted to general director), who has worked to reestablish the fair’s standing in the local art scene. In addition to the main venues, FIAC’s supplementary programs include sculptural installations at the Jardin des Tuileries as well as cinema and performance series, while concurrent events include the announcement of the Prix Marcel Duchamp and numerous gallery and museum openings, topped this year by the unveiling of the latest outpost in Gagosian’s ever-expanding art world empire.
Above: Christopher Wool – Untitled (2009), enamel on linen, 243.8 x 182.8 cm.
Below: Louise Lawler – Faces (working title) (2005/10), Cibachrome face-mounted
to plexi on 3/4″ plywood, 47 x 34 cm, ed 1/5, 1 AP.
At the close of FIAC’s Oct 20 VIP preview, galleries were positive about sales at the fair. New York’s Lurhing Augustine had placed a USD 375,000 Christopher Wool painting, Untitled (2009), with a new Parisian collector. Presenting a solo show of 2010 Whitney Biennial standout Tauba Auerbach, Oslo’s Standard had sold three paintings at prices ranging from $32-42,000 to a European and an American institution, respectively, as well as an American private collector. First-time participant Metro Pictures reported selling two editions of photographer Louise Lawler’s Faces (Working Title) at $30,000 each on the opening day.
At Cour Carrée, New York’s Lombard-Fried Projects found buyers for works by Mounir Fatmi and Tala Madani, although Barcelona’s Nogueras Blanchard had yet to finalize a sale from its solo presentation of Michael Lin, despite plenty of interest.
Above: Installation view of works by Misaki Kawai in the Take Ninagawa booth at the Lafayette Sector, with Star Rider (2010) in foreground. Below: Installation view of works by Atsushi Kaga in the Mother’s Tankstation booth at the Lafayette Sector with, from left to right, Usacchi & the last cat pirate on the ocean with donuts (2010), Sachiko by day (2010) and Polar Bear (2010).
The day prior, Oct 19, had seen the opening of FIAC’s Lafayette Sector, with participants subsidized by official sponsor Groupe Galeries Lafayette. Within minutes of the opening Tokyo’s Take Ninagawa had found a home for Misaki Kawai’s sculptural work, Star Rider (2010), with the private Pigozzi Collection, which is now concentrating on Japanese contemporary art, for a relatively affordable JPY 750,000, while over the course of the day Mother’s Tankstation from Dublin sold several works by Atsushi Kaga at 4,600 euro each.
In addition to Take Ninagawa, Japan was represented at FIAC by Taka Ishii, Tomio Koyama and Hiromi Yoshii galleries in a shared booth. Unlike other fairs, FIAC welcomes collaborative presentations, and several participants maximized this option not only in terms of economy but also in terms of impact. Frédéric Giroux from Paris, Mai 36 from Zürich and Esther Schipper from Berlin combined forces on a booth for the Canadian collective General Idea, subject of a retrospective in February 2011 at ARC / Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Similarly, gb agency from Paris and Jan Mot from Brussels collaborated on a solo show for Deimantas Narkevičius, a member of both galleries’ rosters. In light of costs for participation, shipping and storage amid overall market uncertainty and with the numbers of art fairs increasing worldwide, this unique aspect of FIAC seems to have been a successful draw in attracting top quality presentations, and may help the fair establish an edge going forward in the ever fiercer competition for art market share.
FIAC 2010 Photo Report
Grand Palais
Jardins des Tuileries
Jean Prouvé at Gagosian Paris