ART COLOGNE 2022: Successful art in Autumn

ART COLOGNE in November; that worked exceptionally well once again this year. Around 190 galleries and art dealers from 26 countries presented a successful and consistently ambitious mix of artworks over five days.

This paid off: besides many collectors, the exhibiting galleries were able to welcome interested parties from the museum landscape, from institutions and art consultants at their stands. The regional anchoring of ART COLOGNE in the Rhineland, in the North Rhine-Westphalia metropolitan region and the Benelux countries was a complete success thanks to the autumn date. High quality guests, including from the USA, Austria and Switzerland came to Cologne to convince themselves with the carefully curated offering of contemporary, modern and post-war art.

The new hall layout with spacious plazas, which created space for large scale sculptures, broad corridors and consistently realised visitor orientation convinced both exhibitors and visitors equally.

The Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Salzburg/Paris/London) sold a monumental painting (950,000 Euro) and a smaller work by Alex Katz as well as a painting by Martha Jungwirt. “We look after our customers in the Rhineland at ART COLOGNE”, says gallery director Arne Ehmann.

The Galerie Karsten Greve (Cologne/Paris/St. Moritz), another global player among the galleries in Hall 11.2, was especially successful with its young artists. “We are pleased when we can expand the market”, said Greve, who sold more than 25 works to art collectors from Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Sprüth Magers (Berlin/London/Los Angeles/New York) was highly successful. A work by John Baldessari (275,000 US dollars) and an oil painting by Anne Imhoff (120,000 Euro) were brokered to European private collections, as well as a tapestry by Thomas Ruff (100,000 Euro) and three paintings by Andreas Schulze (5,500 Euro). A photograph by Bernd & Hilla Becher (20,000 Euro) went to a private collector in the USA. A drawing by George Condo (150,000 US dollars) was secured by a Swiss collector.

The Galerie Eigen + Art (Berlin/Leipzig) also met with a positive response. “The first day was spectacular”, gallery director Christian Ehrentraut reported enthusiastically. Especially in demand were the wood sculptures of Maja Behrmann in the sponsor booth; works by David Schnell, Tim Eitel and Titus Schade were also sold. A collector also secured Raul Walch’s mobile of self-dyed fabrics.

“We made regular sales and met with a great response at our stand”, Sabine Schiffer from Galerie Werner (Cologne/Berlin/London/New York) reported. It had outfitted its stand with well over 250 works on paper by Baselitz, Lüpertz, Penck, Immendorff and other artists of the gallery.

Galerie Gisela Capitain (Cologne) also did good business. Several of the works by Wade Guyton, produced specifically for the art fair, were sold (15,000 US dollars each), as well as two works by Charlene van Heyl (27,000 Euro each), monotypes by Laura Owens and works by Isabella Ducrot.

“We had many of our customers at the stand but were also able to acquire new ones”, Sascha Welchering from the international Galerie Max Hetzler (Berlin/Paris/London/Marfa) reported. Up to 200,000 Euro sold well, including works by Hans Hartung, André Butzer, Albert Oehlen and William Copley.

The Galerie Daniel Buchholz sold a large oil painting by Anne Imhoff (140,000 Euro) and a painting by Vera Palme.

The Cologne gallery Brigitte Schenk sold three large-format paintings by Maria Zerres (120,000 Euro each), and several museums expressed interest in the historical video installation of Klaus vom Bruch. The 3D computer graphics installation “Penumbra” by Dennis Del Favero, which transports viewers to highly cinematic forest fire scenes, also received attention from institutions.