The art market

Fairly popular
The rapi d growth of art fairs is changing the way galleries oprate
Jan 18th 20141 Fr om the print edition
That won' t fit i n the l i vi ng room
S H O R TL Y after The Economist went to press, about 25, 000 peopl e. . (expect) to
tura, up at the London Ar t Fai r. Your correspondent vi si ted iust before, as 128 white booths
were being filled wi t h modern paintings and scul ptures. Dealers cl utched mobi l e phones to thei r
ears or gathered i n smal l groups. They seemed nervousas wel l they might be. "I can earn a
year's l i vi ng i n one fair, " said one harri ed deal er whi l e stri ngi ng up a set of l ights.
Before 1999 London had just one regul ar contemporary art fair, remembers W i l l Ramsay, boss
of the expanding Affordabl e Art Fai r. Thi s year around 20 (hol d) i n Bri t ai n,
mostl y i n the capital . Roughl y 90 wi l l take pl ace worl dwide. The success of l arger events such as
Frieze, whi ch started i n London, (stimul ate) the growth of smal l er fairs
special ising i n craft work, ceramics and other things. Ar t i 4 , whi ch started last year, specialises
i n less wel l -known international gal l eries, showi ng art f rom Sub-Saharan Afri ca, South Korea
and Hong Kong.
One expl anation for the boom is the overal l growth of the modern-art market. Four-fifths of al l
art sol d at auction worl dwi de last year was from the 20th or 2i st century, according to Artpri ce,
a datbase. In November an auction i n New York of modern and contemporary art made $6g i m
(422m), easily breaking the previous record. As ol der art becomes harder to buymuch of it is
locked np i n museumsdemand for recent works is ri si ng.
London' s art market i n particul ar _
Russia, Chi na and the Mi ddl e East.
(boost) by an infl ux of rich i mmi grants f rom
"W hen I started 23 years ago I had not a singl e non-Western
foreign buyer," says Kenny Schachter, an art dealer. "It's a different wor l d now." And London' s
new ri ch buy art differently. They often spend little time i n the capital and do not know it wel l .
Trai psi ng around i ndi vi dual galleries is inconvenient, particularly as galleries have moved out of
central London. The mal l -l i ke set-up of a fair is much more suitable.
Commerci al galleries used to rely on regular visits from rich Bri tons seeking to furni sh thei r
stately homes. Many were family friends. The new art buyers have no such loyalty. People now
visit galleries mai nl v to go to events and to be seen, says Al an Cristea, a gallery owner on Cork
street i n Mayfair. Fai rs, and the parties that spri ng up around them, are much better places to
be spotted.
Some galleries are feeling squeezed. Bernard Jacobson runs a gallery opposite Mr Cristea. The
changing art market remi nds hi m of when hi s father, a chemist, (eclipse) by
Boots, a pharmaceutical chai n, i n the 1960S. Seven galleries i n Cork Street relocated thi s mont h
to make way for a redevelopment; five more may fol l ow later this year.
Yet the rise of the fairs means galleries no longer require pri me real estte, thi nks Sarah Monk
of the London Ar t Fai r. Wi t h an international dintel e, many can work onl i ne or from home.
Al though some art fairs sti l l require their exhibitors to have a gallery space, increasingly these
are smal l places outside central London or beyond the city altogether. One gallery owner says
few ri ch customers ever visit his shop i n south London. He makes al l his contacts at the booths
he sets up at fairs, which might be twice the size of hi s store. "It's a little l i ke fishing," he
explains. "You move to where the pi ke is."
From the print edition: Britain
A N A L Y S E T H E S E MU L T I - WO R D V E R B S , S A Y T H E I R C A T E G O R Y A N D E X P L A I N
T H E I R ME A N I N G .
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