Picture: dog meets meat at art fair.
With the economy in Switzerland humming nicely and managers expecting huge bonuses in the banking sector, people look for goods to splurge on. With collecting art becoming a more and more public activity thanks to auction houses, the well-off in Zurich do not want to lag behind and the same trend can be clearly felt in Zurich.
At the recent Preview of the Kunst 2006, the annual local contemporary art fair, many local galleries exhibited a wide range of artists in moderate price levels. But I am afraid to say that most art displayed ranged from badly done to plain boring.
Nevertheless the fashionable crowd at the preview was not deterred and could be seen sipping Prosecco. Frankly, it was only about being seen. Despite the bulk of uninspiring art I was pleased to see the rough wooden sculptures by the Swiss artist Werner Neuhaus at the Artdirekt Gallery booth and a few small but intriguing iron-sculptures by Michael Bali. Also a few large-size photos by a Scandinavian artist caught my eye. But clearly the most popular exhibition was the massive Nespresso commercial-cum-marketing-cum-tasting booth with its pseudo art showcases. Or maybe this is just a sign that most art nowadays has become a consumer good as well.
http://www.artdirekt.ch/index.html?werner_neuhaus/home.html
http://www.kunstzuerich.ch/
Picture:
shall we buy the photograph and the furniture?
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