News > A grand stage for art – BRAFA 2017

A grand stage for art – BRAFA 2017

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Piia Ausman, head of Haus Gallery

Art gives performances – exhibitions, exhibitions. Thousands and thousands of them are opened in the galleries of different cities around the world, reflecting the efforts of artists and curators to create harmony, objections or modern worlds speaking in separate thinking spaces. Exhibitions in important museums focus on a certain artist, epoch or on the overview of a country's artistic values. Private museums demonstrate the preferences of the collectors through their collections, etc. Art is a powerful performance, a vast medium, like a theatrical stage, the size of which is better understood by visiting its art fairs – Grand Galas!

On the picture: David Rijckaert II, "Still life with trays of oysters, dried fruit, chestnuts and sweets"

Numerous art fairs are held all over the world. These are the places where galleries and artists place themselves on a so-called “common field of sale”. International and dignified fairs gain prominence. In its purest form, these are the best galleries, best artists and best specialists. Fairs showcase and sell art, talk about art, organize conversations and lectures about what is currently on the agenda, and provide the opportunity to exchange professional experiences. Art fairs, especially the largest, are pithy, visually beautiful events that grab hold of many things at the same time. Art itself is the greatest decor of the fairs.

The Brafa Art Fair is one of the oldest and most prestigious

The BRAFA Art Fair has been held in Brussels since 1956. It is famous for its high quality art, representing antique, modern as well as contemporary art. BRAFA takes place every year, during the last ten days of January, and it is one of Belgium's, as well the whole art world's, most important events. The patron of this year's fair was the queen of Belgium, Paola.

This year, 132 renowned galleries, mainly from Belgium and France, but also from Spain, Switzerland, England, Germany and elsewhere, participated in the fair. Only 12 of them were newcomers. Accessing the fair as a gallery is quite difficult. Doing so requires a certain reputation, with even well-known and experienced participants having to pass the so-called “quality control” each year along with the newcomers. Considering that the greater part of the art showcased in the fair is the legacy of art history and possesses investment value, the art committee of the fair also provides a guarantee on the authenticity of the works. There are no random selections.

The visual arts exhibited at BRAFA are mainly through the ages, starting with the old Flemish, German, French and Italian masters, moving on to the most renowned authors of modern art and also briefly touching the contemporary period. The selection of applied arts is strong. Next to top European works, there also ancient Egyptian, Japanese, Chinese and African sculptures and archaeological art objects. Of course, the most gracious and effective art direction of Europe is always represented, art deco – jewels, accessories, furniture and design objects. The fair offers a diverse and emotional stroll through European art history, all in a single day, i.e. in a simplified form – Brueghel, Rubens, Renoir, Manet, Magritte, Ernst, Klimt, Delvaux, Hirst, etc.

Why do art fairs exist?

The chairman of the management board of the BRAFA Art Fair, Harold t’Kint, has said simply yet clearly: "Art fairs like BRAFA reflect the art market and its trends, but they do not create them. This means that we mainly keep an eye on the market and offer the possibility to analyse its offerings and demands.” Art fairs are the indicators of the market; something that is confirmed universally by art dealers. Fairs are places for dealers and gallerists to show themselves, where their powerful presence in the art world is manifested, by testing the taste of the audience and price sensitivity. These are exquisite stages, especially BRAFA in Belgium or TEFAF in the Netherlands, which gather the art history classics of the world, and well-known names. The selection of contemporary art fairs is quite different, more bohemian, defiant, experimental, as well as more ego-centric and aesthetically eclectic.

I prefer subjective cross-sectional art fairs, when one room exhibits more, allowing the viewer to step from one era and style to another, and to create existential bridges between yourself and the world. The aforementioned TEFAF, in the Netherlands, is an even more grandiose and international event compared to the BRAFA Art Fair. It is almost impossible for new galleries to secure a place in this phenomenal and extremely elegant fair for antiques and art held in Maastricht, a small town in the Netherlands. The event has been conquered by old European art dealers who have often been engaged in art dealing for generations, and who ennoble the fair with their aristocratic presence. For those who are interested, TEFAF is taking place this year from 10–19 March. It would be highly dignifying to start the spring with art in the Netherlands.

A common challenge faced by gallerists – cooperation and creating interest in the audience

I have spoken to a number of renowned gallerists, who have sold their art for decades in the markets of Paris, New York, London and Zurich, and have followed the development of the fairs as well as general opportunities for selling art and trends for years. These people are the living history of the art market. Last Friday, chatting at the lunch table at the BRAFA fair, the common needs of the dealers were revealed – to be more tolerant towards each other and to work together on joint projects. For example, it was stated that while the previous periods in Paris were centralized in terms of personalities and specific gallerists - emphasising who is better and more influential - then today, possibilities for selling meagre and rare artistic heritage at the same time are being sought.

The times and values have changed, and the art market is very clearly reflecting this. Old dealers reflect on how today's decisions are more emotional, and investments are no longer viewed in the long-term, as they once were. Art is one of the most basic investment objects in the world, and thanks to it often being an incomprehensible, unfathomable and logically immeasurable investment, it gives an opportunity to analyse the psychological parameters of the people of our times, and to create pictures of the playground of status.

“Old school” art dealers view these changes against a backdrop of very long experiences; by listening to them, it seems that they are capable of - based solely on their art selling experience - foreseeing things, smelling the behavioural changes within society more broadly, based on changes in mentality. Art is sold today and in the future. The works once sold to someone are today the ones that are sold on. Rare paintings can be, through one dealer, sold for the second and third time. Trust is respected in the circle of dealers; “old school men” make deals by shaking hands and giving their word. Today, they are together searching for intriguing possibilities for art exhibition; they are thinking about a joint exhibition with their private collections; they are talking about using the possibilities of IT for reaching the public; powerful lighting solutions; how to connect the Renaissance and modernity, etc.

A phrase uttered by an experienced Parisian gallerist, someone who has dealt with the works of the old Italian masters his whole life, is one that stayed with me. He said: “A gallery no longer serves the purpose it once did, whether you are there or not – people no longer visit the gallery to walk about, to simply find something. There is no time for this anymore; things are different today, events have to be bigger...” The art world is marginal, but very busy, full of specialists and broad experiences. Art deals with general human values, and the people around it have, quite obviously, become imbued with it. Every little intrigue is eventually accompanied by a bigger dimension.

Having been involved in art for more than 20 years, it seems obvious at times, but, I can assure you, cognitively inexhaustible. I have walked around the BRAFA fair for many years, looking at both the general and the individual. There is no time to see everything, and there is no need to. I react to what attracts me and step away from what does not. But over and over again, I find myself falling in love with the atmosphere and the conversations with old Europe. I look at those noble art dealers, especially the older generation. Art truly ennobles people.

The art market of Europe works, but it is not as strong as it was generations ago, or even for the last decades. The change in mentality also brings a different kind of consumption of art and culture. Having looked at all of these art fairs for many years, it seems that the emotional approach is more influential today. Creating interesting events, which work firstly through the aesthetic spectrum and grab the viewer visually. During the area of moving pictures, our mind no longer reads the text, but instead the reaction, which is created by this or another picture. It is important to create interest.

How art as a medium fulfils its historical task in this world, when it gives powerful performances to stay in the spotlight, this is a challenge for curators and artists. I see those searches at every fair. This time, BRAFA offered programs related to art outside the premises of the exhibition. Introducing opportunities in an organized way for visiting other important art places in Brussels. The fair was visually enlivened by bringing high art to the public fair premises. The audience had a chance to almost touch the pioneer of the world's op and kinetic art, Julio Le Parci’s, spacious objects.

The art world is active; far from giving up, it is instead full of experiments, contemporary thinking – “construction work” between mind, thoughts and the better realisation of the world. The performances go on. Art has not been removed from the repertoire!

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