Supermarket Day 4
This is the first day that the fair is open to the public. It is immediately and surprisingly busy. A friend is supposed to come during her lunch-break, unfortunately she is delayed and arrives just as Michael and I are heading off to the Market fair. (Market is the commercial gallery fair held at Akademien – the art academy – a 15 minutes walk from Kulturhuset.) Going around the fair with Michael was good, he had arranged to meet one of the galleries he knows to see the work of an artist he is interested to work with in the future. I was also pleased to be able to introduce him to the galleries that I know here. As we reached the end of the fair Michael commented on how ”cool” it all was, not cool as in trendy but in other senses – the confidence, the palette, the feeling of the work. It is remarkable that this coolness is almost consistent throughout the fair. To me this is one of the most appealing aspects of the Scandinavian art scene – an alternative to so much flash and spectacular work. It’s not only the work that is cool, the galleries and gallerists are cool too. This kind of cool is something that I think (I hope) has the kind of integrity that I have been looking for.
It was interesting to see artists from last year’s graduation shows being presented at Market. I’m sure that galleries at Frieze show their new artists too, however with so many less graduates (and galleries) it is easier to spot them.
There isn’t any coverage of the art fairs in the national newspapers. Roberto’s Mosquito Choir are pictured in the local morning paper which is great however the text says that they will perform tonight, when they actually performed last night at the opening.
After Michael and I come back to the stand Roberto and Cecile go to Market and also to Magnus Karlsson galleri where an artist Michael has worked with is in a group show. The show also includes an artist from the gallery where Roberto works part-time. We play ‘tag’ one more time and when they return from the fair and show Michael and I make a quick trip to the gallery. I really liked Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings and she’s a really charming woman too! We – the MOCA London group – planned to meet with the gallery group for a drink after their dinner but the dinner lasted longer than the pub hours so it didn’t happen.
