"New top marks for art KARLSRUHE"

"The art fair is perfect now", said fair curator and project manager Ewald Karl Schrade, thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of the sixth art KARLSRUHE. 40,200 visitors were counted in 2009, more than five percent up on last year."It has proven true once again that gentle growth and continuous fine-tuning in quality and service pays off in the end", Schrade explained. Exhibitors and visitors were impressed in equal measure by the "largest and most attractive gallery in southern Germany".

 

Visitor numbers up again – another rise in quality

The fact that this was reflected in the art dealers’ turnover is another positive result. Many sellers simply waved aside any mention of that emotive word "crisis". The preview itself pointed the way. Government delegate for culture and media Bernd Neumann caused a sensation when he announced that the Federal Government’s buying commission will be heading for Karlsruhe as from next year, adding the art fair to its itinerary along with Basle, Berlin, Cologne, and London.

 

Besides the special showcase featuring conceptual photography from the "Becher school" from the collection of the Berlin architect Arthur de Ganay, the exhibition programme also attracted visitors in their multitudes with discussions between the compère Karlheinz Schmid and prominent guests such as Marion Ackermann, Gregor Schneider, Peter Weibel , and Christina Weiss at the ARTIMA art meetings.

 

The Hamburg painter Friedrich Einhoff is the winner of the second Hans-Platschek Prize for Art and Writing. The second Baden-Württemberg and City of Karlsruhe art KARLSRUHE Prize was awarded to the Michael Sturm Gallery of Stuttgart with its artist Thomas Müller. The panel of experts judged the gallery to have the best one-artist show at the event. The 15,000 euros in prize money will be used to buy drawings by the artist Thomas Müller to add to the art KARLSRUHE Collection.

 

art KARLSRUHE

A collector from Reutlingen put his views in a nutshell: "I prefer this fair to others because it caters better to the needs of collectors". It is therefore hardly surprising that besides Frieder Burda and the chairman of the executive board of Porsche AG, Wendelin Wiedeking, the art collector Rüdiger Hurrle and the long-standing presenter of the ZDF cultural programme "Aspekte", Manfred Eichel, were there, too. Important figures from the museum sector paid a visit as well, among them Frankfurt’s Städel director, Max Hollein, and director of the Stuttgart State Art Gallery, Sean Rainbird. The former head of Karlsruhe’s State Art Gallery, Klaus Schrenk, now director of the Bavarian State Collections of Paintings, also remained faithful to the venue and travelled in from Munich.

 

The mood amongst buyers and sellers was positive from start to finish. "There are a great many visitors this year", said Hamburg’s Siegfried Sander of Multiple Box, summing up. "We have had excellent talks, our customers are loyal to us." He is very pleased that suppliers of photography, multiples, and prints have moved to Hall 1. At the same time the interest in works in moderate and high price categories remained unbroken. Henze & Ketterer once again showed just how well they know their clients. Sales went well beyond the million mark. Besides a painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the art dealers from Wichtrach/Bern also brokered works by Hans Hartung, Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.

 

But they were not the only ones reporting success: the Wuppertal Galerie Epikur welcomed clients from Cologne and sold a total of 30 pictures. In great demand were the delicate natural forms by Marina Schreiber. Buyers were found for ten objects made with finely interwoven electronic components. Dierk Lemcke, St. Gertrude of Hamburg: "We are not really noticing the recession at all". He sold a tableau by Daniel Spoerri. He was particularly happy with his visitors: "A great deal of time is spent contemplating the pictures". Walter Bischoff of Berlin also drew a positive balance. His stand , flanked by two one-artist shows on Dennis Ekstrom and Joachim Hille, found buyers for pictures by artists such as HP Zimmer and Helmut Sturm. Dorothea van der Koelen of Mainz/Venice was pleased with "effectively new clients, acquired through the art fair, who spent up to 30,000 euros". It’s also an excellent sign that growing numbers of galleries rich in tradition are coming to Karlsruhe as a place for trade.

 

The conclusion drawn by Thole Rotermund of Hamburg: "Absolutely no cause for complaint".

So, ideal conditions for the coming art KARLSRUHE, taking place from 4 to 7 March 2010.

remains a magnet for all art enthusiasts. "Recent works can be discovered here as well as fresh artists with new ideas", reported Helmut Kaumanns. He travelled in from Neuss in Rhineland with his wife and hoped to encounter works that "unsettle" him. The Polke fan browsed through the halls systematically and explored. Did he find what he was looking for? "Certainly. And another deal will follow without doubt." At Schilling Contemporary from Stuttgart Kaumanns found a works by Jörg Kutschke, and Ryo Kato took his fancy, too, who Carsta Zellermayer of Berlin had on display. It was precisely the greater representation of contemporary art that he felt was the enriching factor this year. "We meet other collectors, too, in Karlsruhe and swap ideas", said Kaumanns, highlighting another advantage of the art fair.

---

---

---