Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art Basel 2024
news

Tepid sales at Liste underscore a soft market for smaller galleries

Dealers at Basel's emerging art fair voice concerns about slow start

Kabir Jhala
12 June 2024
Share
Wooden it be nice: Martin Hotter’s sculptures at Vin Vin gallery are yet to sell David Owens

Wooden it be nice: Martin Hotter’s sculptures at Vin Vin gallery are yet to sell David Owens

“It’s a slow year,” says Camille Houzé, a director at Nicoletti Contemporary gallery, which is showing at Liste for the second time this year. His sentiments are echoed by many exhibitors at the emerging art fair. Nicoletti is showing the New York-based artist Nana Wolke. “Typically, with an artist as popular as Nana, our stand would be sold out by opening day. Not the case this week,” Houze says. There are “discussions” with a major German private collection over a large $25,000 installation of speakers emitting noises gathered by Wolke from New York’s Lower East Side, but it remained unsold as of yesterday afternoon.

Indeed, most ambitious large-scale projects at Liste have yet to find homes, including Martin Hotter’s plywood works at Vin Vin. The gallery’s manager, Claudia Caporusso, says there is interest from a major museum to acquire some of the works, but nothing concrete has come of it yet. Vin Vin’s commitment to a stand devoted entirely to hard-to-place installations is a rarity at Liste this year. Almost all galleries showing big or conceptually ambitious projects are also bringing more commercially viable wall-based works.

At the stand of the Los Angeles gallery François Ghebaly, showing Ragini Bhow, a striking floor-based sculpture covered in ash also remains unsold, but the gallery has shifted several acrylic and crystal abstract paintings for $5,500. Meanwhile, Rele, a gallery that began in Lagos and now has spaces in Los Angeles and London, has sold two photographic prints on textile by Gladys Kalinchi for $2,000. The large video and found object installation for $10,000 is still unsold.

Perhaps anticipating a softer market, the Milan gallery Clima has brought to its third Liste its most commercially viable stand to date, says its founder, Francesco Lecci, with sand sculptures by Nicola Martini, priced at €8,000 to €13,000. “Mind you, the last two years we showed a talking sofa and a stand entirely of video works. We’ve still never brought paintings,” Lecci says.

Art Basel 2024Liste Art FairCommercial galleries
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

Commercial galleriesnews
30 January 2020

Mumbai Gallery Weekend and India Art Fair go on despite continuing protests

Dealers and fair organisers advocate for "freedom of expression" though many worry dissent could prompt retaliation from the government

Kabir Jhala
Art marketnews
22 June 2023

Frieze turns 20: London fair teams up with star artists from Tracey Emin to Alvaro Barrington for anniversary edition

Eight artists have been invited to select one of their peers for solo stands at this year's fair

Kabir Jhala
Art marketnews
9 July 2024

Under a new director, Art Basel Miami Beach rolls out smaller stands to attract emerging galleries

The Florida fair's 2024 edition, its first led by Bridget Finn, will feature 283 galleries and an increased Latin American presence

Kabir Jhala
Art Basel 2024news
12 June 2024

Big ticket sales at Art Basel mask a nuanced market moment

Insiders say that today’s market is “hard to describe, very hard to decipher”

Tim Schneider