COLOGNE.- The 13th edition of the ART.FAIR presented an international marketplace for modern and contemporary art one month earlier than usual this year. The interaction between young and established positions once again drew over 35,000 visitors. They particularly praised the high quality of the works on offer, the atmosphere and the new arrangement within the halls. The fair’s vernissage alone enjoyed over 15,000 visitors.

At the booth of the Kunsthandlung Osper (Cologne, Germany), works by Anton Räderscheidt were sold for €43,000, a painting by Markus Lüpertz for €48,000 and a Lüpertz sculpture for €105,000. “We also sold many, many other works, which meant that we were very satisfied with the location and with the ART.FAIR as a whole. In addition, we were able to establish many new and good contacts for follow-up business,” declared Knut Osper.

Rüdiger Voss of Galerie Voss (Düsseldorf, Germany) agreed with this summary: “The fair was wonderful for me: We had great sales, made good contacts and arranged two new exhibitions.”

GALERIE TERMINUS (Munich, Germany) sold a number of works by Günther Uecker and Otto Piene for six- and seven-figure sums.

Works by Sigmar Polke and Hans Steinbrenner for four- and five-figure sums were sold by the Galerie & Kunsthandel DRAHEIM (Eltville-Hattenheim, Germany).

Large-format photographic works by the multimedia artist Kanjo Také were sold by the Galerie Shia Bender im Kunstraum 49 (Düsseldorf, Germany) for five-figure sums. Shia Bender was also pleased about new top-notch contacts. She is already certain that she wants to be a part of ART.FAIR again next year.

Rademakers Gallery (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) exhibited at the ART.FAIR for the first time this year. Their sales included a five-figure sum from a Frankfurt collector for a piece by Sebiha Demir: This was the first presentation in Germany of this work made out of bullet casings.

Galerie Von&Von (Nuremberg, Germany) reported the sale of works by Leszek Skurski, Alfred Haberpointner and the newcomer Michael Dohr at prices ranging from €6,000 to €19,000.

“We have valued the ART.FAIR as an important fair for the work of our gallery for years. We will enjoy coming back,” summarized Oliver Noelte, from kunst-raum schulte-goltz+noelte (Essen, Germany). The gallery was able to sell many works from a total of five artists.

In addition to extensive interest and several options, the gallery graeserschmidt contemporary art (Cologne, Germany) was pleased with their four-figure sales of works by Petra Höcker.

“We will enjoy coming back, because we had very solid sales — not just to repeat customers, but also to many new buyers,” said Sonja Steinberger of Steinberger Galerien (Weikersheim, Germany).

GALERIE FLOSS&SCHULTZ (Cologne, Germany) was pleased to conclude numerous sales on the last day of the fair.

Galerie Freitag 18.30 (Aachen, Germany) was able to build on the success of its ART.FAIR premiere last year. “For me, the fair was extremely successful,” said owner Robert Mertens, who was able to book five-figure sales.

Less than half an hour after the opening, Boesso Art Gallery (Bolzano, Italy) was able to sell its largest work by Marcello Bizzarri.

DOCK SUD (Sète, France) already found itself enjoying five-figure sales by the second day. The gallery was able to sell a total of 85 works and thus drew a positive balance for the fair