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The double face of Fiac (Off)icielle: locals vs. Los Angeles

 

The atmosphere you perceive at FIAC (Off)icielle, the new Fiac’s section located at La cité de la mode et du design, is quite different from the feeling you had both at Frieze Focus and Sunday Art Fair in London last week. In all the three instances, the emerging artists are the ones in the spotlight. However, while at Frieze and at Sunday the language we heard speaking was mainly British English, at FIAC (Off)icielle, besides the French community, the number of American people was considerably high.

 

What the competent public may have noticed was the large imbalance between the qualities among the exhibitors. While on the one side, you could spot most of the sought-after names on the market, which have most likely been already on auction – which at this point shouldn’t be regarded as a bad sign at all – on the other, there was a rather high number of local art galleries, exhibiting artists that won’t easily reach any significant hammer.

 

Few hours after the opening, the dealers we have talked with seemed to be satisfied, even if we personally didn’t have that feeling of collectors running after the artworks, as it would have happened until some time ago. This could actually turn out to be a good opportunity to finally be able to carry out smart purchases.

 

The two beautiful paintings by Alex Ruthner presented by Ibid. were both sold out but apparently the gallery might be able to satisfy some other collectors’ request. Out of the four artworks by Zak Kitnick at Ribordy Contemporary, two were on hold but his new formula between two-dimensional and three-dimensional looks rather convincing indeed. If you ask, the gallery will show you a series of two-dimensional pieces which are to be taken into consideration too. Worth paying attention to is also the work by the Argentinian artist Amalia Ullman on show at LTD Los Angeles. The best piece was sold but the other ones should still be available. The two artworks by Margo Wolowiec at Anat Ebgi, another gallery from Los Angeles were both sold – if you are wondering why there are so many galleries from Los Angeles, please remember that in March 2015, from 27th to 29th, FIAC will take place in Los Angeles for the first time.

April 27, 2015