DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Art Dubai opened this week to strong — if not stellar — sales, confirming the fair’s status as the place to do business in the Gulf. Some 75 galleries from 32 countries took part, including prestige return visitors like Marianne Boesky and Chantal Crousel, joined this year by such diverse new entrants as Pace Gallery, Lombard Freid Projects of New York, Beijing’s Platform China, and Galerie Perrotin.
Even with such impressive international players on board, the fair retains deep regional roots, and of the galleries who made the trip from beyond the Middle East or Central Asia, many have nevertheless chosen to foreground artists with ties to that part of the world. Pilar Corrias, for example, was doing particularly well with a strong showing of work by Iranian-born, now U.S.-based Tala Madani, while New York’s Priska C. Juschka Fine Art commanded attention with exceptional photographic works by Kazakhstan’s Almagul Menlibayeva, whose self-styled “Romantic Punk Shamanism” delivered $100,ooo worth of sales to the gallery on opening night.
Other galleries doing good business early included Grosvenor Vadehra (of London and New Delhi), which sold a canvas by Pakistani artist Syed Sadequain for $200,000, and Dubai’s The Third Line which scored a near-to-sellout success with a booth featuring well-priced works by Iranian artist Laleh Khorramian in the $4,000 to $8,000 range and Iraq-born Hayv Kahraman in the $14,000 to $20,000 bracket.
This is the fifth time that Chantal Crousel has participated in Art Dubai, and she had no hesitation in declaring this year’s edition the best to date, pointing to the depth of engagement she observed in visitors to the fair. (Commercially the fair was also going well for Crousel, with collages and sculpture by Korean artist Haegue Yang moving well at prices ranging from $10,000 to $35,000.)
Meanwhile, first-time exhibitor Pace was also happy to have made the trip. The gallery’s Joe Baptista reported sales of work by Tara Donavan and Keith Tyson, as well as strong interest in Zhang Huan’s ash paintings, two of which they had brought to Dubai. Baptista said he was particularly happy to be meeting — and selling to — new collectors, which is exactly what Pace had in mind in coming to the fair.
Regional collectors dominated the action, with the market’s traditionally strong base of Emirates-based Iranian expatriates complemented this year by notable involvement from buyers from Saudi Arabia.
As a visitor experience Art Dubai benefits from the gravitas that comes from the fair’s strong political support. Under the patronage of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the event has enthroned the Gulf state as the undisputed art market leader for the region, as well as having a lasting effect on the local art scene: there are now 40 galleries that call Dubai home, up from just a handful when the fair started.
Art Dubai runs through Saturday 24 March at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.
To see images of works from Art Dubai 2012, click on the slide show.