Lisson Gallery’s booth at Art Basel (Anish Kapoor. Push-Pull. 2008)
Lisson Gallery is a contemporary art gallery based in London that represents many artists including Ai Weiwei, Sol LeWitt, Anish Kapoor, and Richard Deacon. Since 1972, Lisson Gallery has never missed a single Art Basel (Thornton 90). Thornton’s account of Lisson’s booth shows that its booth at the fair was “minimal and sculptural” (90). Lisson Gallery shows at about seven art fairs a year (Thornton 90). In 2012, it’s scheduled to show at six fairs: India Art Fair, the Armory Show, Zona Maco, Frieze Art Fair New York, Hong Kong, and Art Basel (Lisson). One of the gallery’s marketing strategies is exhibiting different kinds of work in different places---“placing an accent on its Spanish and Latin American artists at ARCO in Madrid or an emphasis on younger American work in Miami…” (Thornton 90). Catering to the interest of the region in which each fair is held may seem too commercial, but Lisson Gallery is a commercial gallery, and Art Basel is a fair designed and used like a market where selling and buying occur. As Scott Wright stated, Basel is great for “interactive advertisement” (Thornton 89). Lisson is so successful in attracting buyers and selling works to them at fairs that 50% of the gallery’s total turnover comes form these art fairs (Thornton 90).
I’m not sure if Lisson also employs these tactics, but according to Scott Wright of Victoria Miro Gallery, no red dots or price tags are put on the walls because their absence sparks conversation and opportunities for promotion of certain artists or works (Thornton 87). Also, dropping the names of the famous people or institution that also have works by the artist in discussion or saying the work is a “museum” quality is likely to increase the chance of sale (Thornton 89). Another trick galleries use is not to sell works immediately to the first interested collector or the one that offers the highest price but to wait to get the work sold to the most prestigious home possible (Thornton 88).
Nicholas Logsdail, Lisson Gallery’s owner, says that he likes artists “who are on a slow burn, very good, very serious, not in the fast track, but pursuing their own artistic interests with tenacity, quirkiness, and confidence” (Thornton 90). Pursuing their art with tenacity, quirkiness, and confidence indeed are Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor, both of whom are Lisson’s artists. Weiwei was detained by the Chinese government last year, and many believe the reason to be his political activism against the communist regime despite the Chinese government’s claim that the arrest was due to the artist’s tax evasion (Jones). This incident provoked indignation among fellow artists, and Kapoor, openly opposing the Chinese government’s action, refused to show his sculpture at the National Museum of China in Beijing and dedicated his installation shown in Paris to Weiwei (Bailey, Jones). To petition for the artist’s release, Tate Modern in London posted the message “RELEASE AI WEIWEI” on its façade. Kapoor’s call for artists’ protest and Tate’s clear stance on this issue are proof that art and politics are not always unrelated and distant from each other. Moreover, the Chinese government’s arrest of Weiwei demonstrates how politics can limit art when it sees certain art as dangerous to its scheme.
Ai Weiwei
Tate Modern’s petition message on its façade
http://www.randomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/tate-modern-release-ai-weiwei.jpeg
The Art Fair Calendar provided by ArtVista shows the profusion of art fairs in recent years. Barbara Gladstone sees the reason for this success in that nowadays “everyone feels comfortable viewing art as an asset, not just a pleasure" (The Economist). András Szántó, consultant and contributing editor to The Art Newspaper, said: “The fairs have done very well in exploiting a structural weakness of the gallery system...it is inchoate and based on local markets” (Burns). During the downturn, many withdrew from these markets and, according to dealer David Zwirner, “the overall weight has shifted to clients who don’t live where you work...so you service them through art fairs” (Burns).
However, a closer look at relevant statistics reveals something that can be otherwise overlooked.
Statistics – Art fairs, Biennials and Triennials: http://www.artvista.de/pages/art-fair-and-biennial-statistics.html
Number of Art Fairs by Month: http://www.artvista.de/pages/statistics/number-of-art-fairs-by-month.html
Top art fairs by Number of Visitors: http://www.artvista.de/pages/statistics/top-art-fairs-by-number-of-visitors.html
These statistics are rather curious in that the number of visitors to most art fairs increased whereas the number of art fairs itself decreased, both in monthly and yearly totals.
Robert Curcio, a member of the founding team of Scope Art Fair, says he foresaw the decline of art fairs. "There are too many fairs, too many things to go to…Even in 2007, collectors were beginning to skip fairs. There has been this general fatigue for some time now, regardless of the economy" (Young). What he says doesn’t seem to be an entirely subjective opinion. Gallery owners are reducing the number of art fairs they attend each year. James Fuentes of James Fuentes LLC decided to cut it down from five to two fairs (Young). Even the Armory Show will cut the number of galleries in 2012 by around 40 in the Pier 94 contemporary section and by around 10 in the Pier 92 modern section (Russeth). It seems to me that many galleries, artists, and collectors are choosing to only go to certain fairs, resulting in the decreased in the total number of fairs but record attendance at big, popular fairs like Art Basel. Hopefully this won’t prove too damaging for those artists who cannot get themselves a spot in those trendiest fairs.
Works Cited
Barragán, Paco. “The Art Fair Age.” Metropolis M. 2008. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. <http://metropolism.com/magazine/2008-no3/the-art-fair-age/english>.
Bailey, Martin. “To support Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor rejects China show.” The Art Newspaper. 14 Jun. 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. < http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/To-support-Ai-Weiwei-Anish-Kapoor-rejects-China-show/23991>.
Burns, Charlotte. “Gallery system is structurally weak.” The Art Newspaper. 28 Jul. 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. < http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Gallery-system-is-structurally-weak/24188>.
Jones, Sam. “Anish Kapoor calls for Ai Weiwei protest.” The Guardian. 10 May 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. < http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/may/10/anish-kapoor-ai-weiwei-protest>.
Russeth, Andrew. “As Director Steps Down, Armory Show Announces Trimmer 2012 Edition.” New York Observer. 20 Sep. 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. <http://www.observer.com/2011/09/as-director-steps-down-armory-show-announces-trimmer-2012-edition/>.
Young, Faith-Ann. “The Party is Over.” Intelligent Life. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. <http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/art-fairs-lean>.