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LOS ANGELES — Thursday’s VIP opening of Paris Photo drew the kind of star power one expects at an LA art fair, with cameo appearances by Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Joni Mitchell, and Cherry Vanilla. More important to exhibitors, however, the extended six-hour “preview” viewing drew solid, though not blockbuster, sales from the less-recognizable crowd that remained steady through most of the afternoon until a surge came at 7 p.m. that kept the Paramount Studios venue humming even after the fair’s scheduled 9 p.m. closing.
In fact, the mood among dealers was consistently upbeat, with most reporting “decent” to “strong” sales by end of day as well as confidence that holds would convert to transactions over the course of the fair. A half-dozen dealers mentioned a notably deliberate approach among attendees, but opinion was split as to whether that was a characteristic of Angelenos or photography collectors generally. Director David Peckman of London’s Hamiltons Gallery (which competed for best decorated booth with its homey, wood-paneled display space) took a long view, shared by several other exhibitors, remarking that “dealers have to invest in fairs, just as fairs invest in expanding to new cities.”
Because of the dispersal of the 70-some exhibitors across storefronts in the New York City-themed backlot, as well as three soundstages, determining who could claim to have staked out the prime position was difficult, but Gagosian had a predictably imposing booth. By midafternoon the gallery had sold a mural-size Thomas Ruff photogram in the high five figures and several Ed Ruscha prints from his “Standard Stations” and “Apartment Buildings” series, priced at under $10,000 in an edition of eight. Other artists on show included Taryn Simon, Robert Rauschenberg, and Dennis Hopper. “We wanted works that are approachable to younger collectors,” said Dean Anes.
There was no consensus on the right approach among the exhibitors, however. Thirty-one opted for solo presentations. Among them, Thomas Zander of Cologne featured Candida Höfer — including a series of not-for-sale pictures of On Kawara’s “Today” series in collector’s homes that have only previously been shown in museums — because he wanted to display work less familiar to an American audience and present a German. Around the corner, Robert Morat of Hamburg chose to highlight war-zone photographer Christopher Anderson’s pictures of his family, in part because he is American. Both conceptual and straight photography as well as abstract and documentary work are well represented. Only vintage silver gelatin prints seem in short supply.
The fair provided a rebranding opportunity for Thomas Von Lintel, the veteran New York dealer who relocated to Los Angeles just this season. “I can get three times the space for 20 percent less rent,” he explained of the decision, “but more importantly, in New York it is getting more difficult to take chances. I saw a vibrant art community here.” That community favored its own on opening day with purchases of three photograms by Farrah Karapetian ($5,500-$18,000), a young local who curated Von Lintel’s debut West Coast show.
Broadly speaking, Los Angeles galleries did well presenting the work of young, even highly experimental artists. M+B reported some of the first sales of the day, with Mariah Robertson’s seductive, vibrant abstractions finding takers in both a large size ($12,000) and a jumbo, nearly eight-foot-square mural size ($25,000). By the end of the day, Cherry and Martin reported multiple sales from their solo booth presenting Brian Bress, which featured both photos ($2,500) and videos ($14,000) that mix elements of collage and performance to explore two-dimensional pictorial space. “He treats photos as very material things to be manipulated,” said Philip Martin. “And they are very accessible for people who are intimidated by video.”
At Luis de Jesus, based in Culver City, 10 or so images by Zachary Drucker and Rhys Ernst of Whitney Biennial fame were drawing inquires, but by early evening the gallery had already sold two large prints (priced in the high four figures) by Chris Engman, whose show of conceptual works exploring the nature of photography runs at the gallery’s Culver City space through May 10. And by the end of the day, a Los Angeles collector had bought two haunting works ($18,500) from the “Erased Lynching” series by local Ken Gonzales-Day. Santa Monica’s Gallery Luisotti found success with the pictures of vandalized homes ($10,000 in 24-by-28-inch prints in an edition of five) by longtime Los Angeles artist John Divola, who was on hand Thursday for a book signing with Distributed Art Publishers.
But familiar names found takers as well. Darius Himes reported “a group of strong sales spread out over the course of the day” from Fraenkel’s booth, which was dominated by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Richard Learoyd, and Lee Friedlander. To celebrate David Bailey’s show at London’s National Portrait Gallery, Daniel Blau of London and Munich put together a display here of never before seen darkroom experiments by the master of London cool. These test prints showing excerpted sections from often well-known images — including shots of the Rolling Stones as well as mostly anonymous subjects from India, Burma, and London’s East End — are torn along one or more edges and have a sculptural quality. While a few of his best known images were available in large-format platinum prints priced at between $40,000 and $150,000, these unique works seemed a steal at just $2,800 each. They were already “going quickly,” and the director predicted the remainder of the small format works would “definitely sell out” during the fair. Most obviously pandering to the business of Hollywood, Taschen used the occasion of the fair for the stateside debut of the print that accompanies its special “art edition” of Annie Leibovitz’s Sumo book. Priced at $5,000, or just $2,500 without the print, the publisher said he sold “more than dozens” of copies.
Team Gallery’s José Freire complimented the fair’s organization and operation — which only drew complaints from others about its high costs — and went so far as to say, “I have enjoyed giving these people my money.” The burden was undoubtedly lightened by the knowledge that by midafternoon he had he had sold a Cory Arcangel “Gradiant” and a Ryan McGinley portrait of one of his young friends, both in the middle five figure range. Moreover, he felt he had two strong contenders for a unique grid of 48 McGinley headshots, priced at $115,000.
Another New York space, Danziger Gallery, presented an eclectic booth and sales ranged from Chritopher Bucklow silhouettes ($20,000-30,000) to Corinne Vionnet’s digital composites of hundreds of images of famous tourist locales (bought to be shown in grids in the small size for $6,500 and in the large size $12,500) to Karen Knorr’s surrealistic images of animals in Indian interiors (sold in both small format for $15,000 and large format for $28,000).
Because of the show’s emphasis on contemporary artists rather than modern masters of the medium, there was less repetition across booths than is seen at some photography fairs. But Knorr’s images were on view at Tasveer Gallery of Bengelore and New Delhi, where a new portfolio, titled “India Song III,” of 10 16-by-20-inch prints in an edition of five, drew four serious inquiries by end of day. The first two “India Song” portfolios sold out, and this one debuts here for $18,000. Tasveer’s only sales the first day were of several romanticized works in Indian landscapes by Norman Parkinson, estate prints of images made in the 1950s in edition of 12, priced from $3,500 to $5,200.
Parkinson notwithstanding, even among the more recheché international offerings, contemporary artists had broad appeal. Magnin A gallery of Paris, which specializes in work by African photographers, reported strong sales not only for the master Malick Sidibe, but also for several younger artists, including Dakar-based Omar Victor Diop (whose portraits are priced depending on size from €750 to €3,000) and Filipe Branquinho of Mozambique, making his US debut with prints priced at $3,450.
Even those dealers who had not yet closed a deal claimed to be satisfied with the depth of the interest from both institutions and collectors. Bryce Wolkowitz and Howard Greenberg, who teamed up to present a dozen mural-size prints from Edward Burtynski’s new “Water” series ($22,000-$50,000), reported a handful of strong holds at the end of the first day as well as meetings with several new collectors. Tyler Rollins of New York, who brought a solo presentation of work by Tracey Moffatt in three series priced form $8,000 to $10,000, noted visits from several museum groups, and said that given he already had a base of LA collectors, he came to “demonstrate a commitment to the city.”
