Text and photos
By Sam L. Marcelo
A scant few days after participating in Hong Kong Art Week, local galleries were out and about again for Art in the Park (AIP), an affordable fair that places a P50,000 price limit on works. On a sweaty April Sunday that saw temperatures hit 34°C, 60 exhibitors gathered in Makati’s Jaime Velasquez Park for the 10th edition of AIP.
“We ask ourselves why we do this every year,” said Isa Lorenzo, founder and director of Silverlens Galleries, who was spotted taking a break by a cold-taho stand. Silverlens was fresh from its fourth outing at Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK), a glitzy five-day affair that drew Hollywood A-listers like Leonardo DiCaprio and art-world enfant terribles like Tracey Emin, the Young British Artist who made a name for herself by displaying her unmade bed.
AIP, in contrast, is a daylong backyard bazaar that’s several layers of clothing (and dollar signs) away from ABHK. Gallerists, ruddy-faced from either the sun or the bottles of craft beer being given away (or both), support the affordable art fair year in and year out because it raises funds for the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. (MFPI).
Proceeds from a previous edition, for example, partially paid for the renovation of the Museum Foundation Room of the National Museum, where murals by Carlos “Botong” Francisco are now installed and open for public viewing.
“That’s the real answer to the question to why we’re still here — the fund raising,” said Ms. Lorenzo, a former board member of the MFPI. “But, you know, Art in the Park is fun. You can’t beat it. And besides, there are still people who don’t know who Silverlens is.”
Over at the 1335Mabini tent, Rudolf Kratochwill said the two events were apples and oranges. “Art Basel Hong Kong is a high-end fair,” said Mr. Kratochwill, who was clad in shorts in keeping with AIP’s casual vibe. “Art in the Park is little flea market for young collectors and young artists. If you look around, there’s good work here. In 10 years, who knows, you might see them in Art Basel Hong Kong.”
A decade is hyperbolic. If Mr. Kratochwill had walked over to the Silverlens booth, he would have seen pieces by Pio Abad, Bernardo Pacquing, Gary-Ross Pastrana, and Ryan Villamael, all of them artists shown by Silverlens in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, collectors who were hoping to snag a limestone-on-sandpaper piece by Alvin Zafra, whose work at ABHK was shortlisted for the BMW Art Journey prize, were disappointed. “He would have had work here but he’s busy with his proposal for BMW,” said Tina Fernandez of ArtInformal, the gallery that represented Mr. Zafra at ABHK. “Art in the Park has no ego.”
CONSUMERISM VS. CONVERSATIONS
For galleries that participate in international fairs like ABHK, AIP is, save for the heat, a walk in the park (pardon the pun). ABHK attracts blue-chip establishments such as Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, and Pace, mega-galleries described by art critic Jerry Saltz as “bull elephants of the field… that galumph everywhere all the time, Hoovering up artists and money and monopolizing attention.”
In the aftermath of ABHK 2016, the first edition under Adeline Ooi (who replaced Magnus Renfrew), the South China Morning Post reported that the contemporary art market was hale and healthy. According to the paper: “Pace sold 19 works within the first three hours of the fair, ranging in price from $20,000 to $2.75 million” while David Zwirner sold all five of his paintings on day one to Asian collectors, including The Shaker for $1.6 million, and Luc Tuymans’ Forever, also for $1.6 million.
It’s easy to be distracted by these numbers, the most immediate and convenient way of assessing a fair’s performance. But Silverlens’ Ms. Lorenzo offered a different perspective: “The art fairs begin ‘conversations’ between artists and curators, between galleries, between curators and galleries, between galleries and artists,” she said. “At any given time, we have 10 to 15 of these ‘conversations’ going on toward studio visits, projects, collaborations, shows, biennale inclusions, acquisitions by museums, etc. I suppose it is similar to networking, but much deeper since we form professional relationships from these conversations.”
Case in point: Maria Taniguchi, who won the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award in 2015, landed shows in Berlin-based gallery Carlier | Gerbauer and London-based gallery Ibid thanks, in part, to her participation in previous editions of Art Basel. “Sales are just one part of these fairs,” said Ms. Lorenzo, who added that it will take about six months to see whether the conversations that took place in ABHK 2016 will bear fruit.
The art fair — whether in Hong Kong, Jaime Velasquez Park, or elsewhere — is an important cog in the machine. And what Mr. Saltz wrote of art fairs in 2013 still holds true in 2016: “Do we need art fairs?,” he asked, “I don’t. But for now and for whatever complex reasons, we do. That’s how the art game works right now.”
TESTING GROUND
Back in Jaime Velasquez Park, Pia Reyes, who co-founded Vinyl on Vinyl (VoV) along with Gaby dela Merced, pointed out that young galleries have much to gain from joining AIP. For these newbies, fund raising for the Museum Foundation is a mere afterthought compared to the crash course they receive in writing proposals, packing, crating, freighting, and all the other ancillary activities related to “joining a fair.”
When VoV first joined Art in the Park in 2011, it had only been open for about a year. The gallery brought with itself a bit of street cred — and a younger audience — since it specialized in underground art and limited-edition vinyl toys. “We didn’t know anyone and nobody knew us,” said Ms. Reyes, as she loitered beneath the shade of one of the park’s many acacia trees.
For its maiden outing at AIP, VoV showcased doodads, knickknacks, and tchotchkes that cost P150-P300. It moved most of its inventory but made a paltry P40,000 in sales. “Can you imagine how many postcards, keychains, and small toys we sold?,” said Ms. Reyes with a laugh. “Other galleries made that much just by selling one artwork.”
The following year, VoV retooled its strategy and presented a curated booth that featured large paintings. The gallery tallied P400,000 in sales. With the days of selling blind-box collectibles behind them, neither Ms. Reyes nor Ms. Dela Merced had to explain their presence at Jaime Velasquez Park.
“From ‘what’s this’ and ‘who’s this,’ the question now is ‘do you still have an Iyan de Jesus’ or ‘is Miggy Borja still available?,’” said Ms. Reyes, citing VoV’s popular artists. (An aside: only two paintings by Iyan de Jesus were available during AIP and the privilege of purchasing these pieces was decided by a foot race. The two who emerged victorious were ecstatic. There may have been tears.)
The stories surrounding AIP often focus on how important it is for growing the scene from the collector side. But it goes both ways. Since joining AIP in 2011, VoV has shed its training wheels and graduated to bigger fairs: Art Fair Philippines, organized by the same group behind AIP; and, recently, Art Central, an “edgy” art fair that runs concurrently with ABHK.
“Art in the Park was an opportunity for us to test the waters. It’s a trial for future shows and our artists take it seriously,” said Ms. Reyes, who added that, for most galleries, AIP also marks the end of a grueling fair schedule. “I feel like I haven’t slept since January. I’m looking forward to sleeping.”
For the organizers of AIP and Art Fair Philippines, the cycle begins anew. They start planning for the 2017 edition in May.
‘FAIRTIGUE’
THE FIRST QUARTER of the year is a busy one for galleries owing to a string of local and regional art fairs, which they have to prepare for on top of their regular exhibition program. Art in the Park, a one-day affordable art fair held in April, closed the fair season for many. A conspicuous no-show at this year’s edition of AIP: Finale Art File. “We’re old ladies and we need to rest,” said Finale’s Sylvia Gascon, referring to herself and Vita Sarenas, in a text message to BusinessWorld. The table below is but a small segment of a year-round global art fair circuit that prompted the coining of the word “fairtigue,” defined by Blouin Artinfo as “that special brand of exhaustion that comes from wandering from booth to booth for days on end.”
WHAT (WHEN)
Art Stage Singapore
1/21/2016-1/24/2016
WHERE
Singapore
ATTENDANCE
40,500
# OF EXHIBITORS
170 galleries representing 33 countries
PARTICIPATING FILIPINO
GALLERIES/ARTISTS
Artinformal
Finale Art File
Galerie Stephanie
Mo_Space
*Note that there were Filipino artists represented by foreign galleries:
Ronald Ventura
(Primo Marella Gallery, Italy)
Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan
(Art Front Gallery, Japan)
ORGANIZERS/DIRECTORS
Lorenzo Rudolf
(used to be fair director of Art Basel)
COOL SPEAKER/GUEST
Rem Koolhaas
(controversial Dutch architect behind CCTV HQ, a building compared to a “gigantic pair of pants”)
NOTABLE SALE
Sakurado Fine Arts reported total sales of US$1.2 million for works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
WHAT (WHEN)
Art Fair Philippines
2/18/2016-2/21/2016
WHERE
Philippines
ATTENDANCE
22,000
# OF EXHIBITORS
40 galleries, 11 of which are foreign:
Edouard Malingue Gallery (Hong Kong)
Galeria Cayon (Madrid)
Galerie Michael Janssen (Berlin)
Nunu Fine Art (Taiwan)
Taksu (KL/SG/Bali)
Yavuz Gallery (Singapore)
Arndt (Singapore)
Gajah Gallery (Singapore)
Equator Art Projects (Singapore)
Yod X Kogure (Japan)
Artesan Art Gallery + Studio (Singapore)
ORGANIZERS/DIRECTORS
Philippine Art Events Inc.
Trickie Lopa
Lisa Periquet
Dindin Araneta
(who handle both Art Fair Philippines and Art in the Park)
WHAT (WHEN)
Art Basel Hong Kong
3/24/2016-3/26/2016
WHERE
Hong Kong
# OF EXHIBITORS
239 galleries representing 35 countries and territories
PARTICIPATING FILIPINO
GALLERIES/ARTISTS
Silverlens (Galleries sector)
The Drawing Room (Galleries sector)
Artinformal (Discoveries sector)
1335Mabini (Insights sector)
*Note that there were Filipino artists represented by foreign galleries:
Roberto Chabet (Osage Gallery, Hong Kong; Encounters sector)
Manuel Ocampo (Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels; Galleries sector)
Norberto Roldan (Arndt, Singapore; Galleries sector)
ORGANIZERS/DIRECTORS
MCH Group
COOL SPEAKER/GUEST
Tracey Emin
(controversial British artist famous for an unmade bed)
NOTABLE SALE
“Pace sold 19 works within the first three hours of the fair, ranging in price from US$20,000 to US$2.75 million including two Robert Rauschenbergs.”
— South China Morning Post
WHAT (WHEN)
Art Central
3/23/2016-3/26/2016
WHERE
Hong Kong
ATTENDANCE
32,000
# OF EXHIBITORS
100 galleries representing 21 countries
PARTICIPATING FILIPINO
GALLERIES/ARTISTS
Finale Art File
Vinyl on Vinyl
ORGANIZERS/DIRECTORS
Tim Etchells
Sandy Angus
Will Ramsay
(the three men co-founded Art HK, which was acquired by the MCH Group in 2011 and turned into Art Basel Hong Kong)
WHAT (WHEN)
Art in the Park
4/3/2016-4/3/2016
WHERE
Philippines
ATTENDANCE
16,000
# OF EXHIBITORS
60 exhibitors
ORGANIZERS/DIRECTORS
Philippine Art Events Inc.
Trickie Lopa
Lisa Periquet
Dindin Araneta
(who handle both Art Fair Philippines and Art in the Park)
