Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Russia’s biggest contemporary-art fair opens tonight, trying to lure billionaire collectors after a year in which they reduced purchases as their wealth declined.
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Russia’s biggest contemporary-art fair opens tonight, trying to lure billionaire collectors after a year in which they reduced purchases as their wealth declined.
Art Moscow, showing works from 40 Russian and international galleries, was postponed from May by its organizer, Expo Park Exhibition Projects Ltd., to coincide with the state-run Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.
“Art Moscow is the most important commercial contemporary event in Russia and will tell us a lot about the art market,” said Marina Goncharenko, director of GMG Gallery in Moscow. “There are only a handful of collectors able to buy very expensive works. Otherwise, the market is mostly about a small group willing to pay between 5,000 euros ($7,395) and 20,000 euros.”
The Russian economy contracted by about 10 percent in the first half of 2009 as prices fell for natural resources, such as oil, on which Russia is heavily dependent. Three auction houses in London sold 29.1 million pounds ($48 million) of Russian art in their June sales, half the total of last year, as art prices also plummeted.
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