Moscow under art artillery fire
Art aficionados have descended on the Central House of Artists` building in the Russian capital for the annual Art Moscow get-together, where 40 galleries from 14 countries are showing off their best to attract savvy audiences with deep pockets.
ґThe 15th installment of the Russian art fair celebrates stability. Over the years, it has finally turned full circle. In terms of numbers, the 1996 debut exhibition saw 36 galleries taking part. This year and in 2010, some 37 and 40 galleries respectively joined in. The peak of interest came in 2007, with 73 galleries represented and $9.3 million of art sale revenues.
One of Russia`s best-known art buffs, Marat Guelman, wisely remarks that money is not the be-all and end-all for art dealers.
"When the crisis broke out several years ago, many restaurants shut down in Moscow, but not a single gallery vanished from the map," he says.
It is probably because, no matter how high-flown it sounds, it seems that art comes first to real art lovers, really. Then come the revenues, if they come at all.
Tastes differ, tastes change, but probably the most striking piece of art at the Art Moscow belongs to Marat Guelman`s gallery. A series of Erbol Meldibekov`s bronze sculptures - Mutation - shows Vladimir Lenin`s evolution from a communist leader "next door" to a leader destroyed by syphilis.
Guelman, a member of the Art Moscow expert committee, says that if the mission of the first edition of the exhibition was "to launch the mechanism of the cultural life in Moscow," nowadays it is about maintaining the market.
"Art Moscow has turned into a market," Guelman points out.
"Art Moscow has become part of life," one of Russia`s most experienced art experts, Iosif Bakstein, adds
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