The world’s biggest art fair prepares for a wobbly market

ALL art fairs are not made equal. While each has its own selling point (some less convincing than others), Art Basel in Switzerland is incontrovertibly at the top.

“Basel is the only fair where really, all the important market players come together,” says Marc Payot, co-president of megagallery Hauser & Wirth. “The dealers, collectors, curators and also, a lot of artists and auction house people. No other fair attracts, to this extent, these different actors in our industry.”

The contemporary and modern art galleries that show in the Swiss convention centre are broadly understood to be the best in the world, and the art those galleries bring is supposed to be the finest they have to offer.

“It’s the most important moment of the year,” says Parisian dealer Kamel Mennour. “So we’re all thinking about it for months. It’s very important for the gallery to show its DNA, where we’re going, the direction of our programming.”

Unsurprisingly, Art Basel also has the justifiable reputation for being the most expensive of the art fairs. (Quality doesn’t come cheap.) But this year’s fair (VIP days are Jun 13 and 14; public days run Jun 15-18) will arrive just as collectors around the world seem to have become extremely sensitive to price.

“We are in a recession, there is a war, there are social and political movements, and we can’t deny that,” Mennour says.

Pricing sweet spot

At New York’s massive spring auctions, with few exceptions, the higher the estimate, the fewer the bidders. Many multimillion-US dollar paintings sold below their low estimates. While noting that the auction market is subject to very different forces than art galleries are, many dealers say that over the past few months, galleries of varying size have also experienced turbulence.

“Certain dealers you’ll talk to, they’ll tell you-no matter what day of the year or month-that sales are gangbusters and that everything’s perfect,” says the New York dealer Marianne Boesky. “But it’s not always perfect. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster.” It’s particularly tough, she continues, for primary market pieces priced in the range of US$500,000 to US$1.5 million.

“Anything over US$500,000, people want to know that there’s a market in place already,” Boesky says. “They don’t want to risk overpaying-they never do, but particularly now.” The flip side, however, is encouraging: “If you have something good that’s US$250,000 and under, you can sell it,” she says.

Because planning for Art Basel often starts as early as December, galleries have most of the artworks they’re selling lined up, if not already shipped, by the time the May auctions roll around. So it’s difficult for them to respond in real time to the results. But there were some advance warning signs, even at the end of 2022-not least, aggressive recession predictions-that this spring would bring a softer sales environment.

In many instances, booths at this Art Basel will thus have a slightly more moderate price range, with even hotter and rarer artworks than previous years. “There’s no credit-or less credit, or maybe less cash,” Mennour says, which makes collectors “more conscious. They will buy very carefully. Something they were waiting for for months, or years? Then, they’ll say, ‘Let’s go for it.’ “

To be clear, differences at Art Basel 2023 versus past years, dealers say, will be subtle.

“I would say we took a slightly different approach to our internal conversations and the conception of the way we were thinking about the booth,” says dealer Sean Kelly, whose gallery is bringing a super-rare ready-made from Marcel Duchamp that’s priced at US$1 million, among other pieces.

“It’s not dramatically different, but there’s a slight sense that the booth is looking at more established artists’ rarer works, and then a number of younger artists with some things that haven’t been seen at Basel,” Kelly continues. He will also bring work by the in-demand artist Anthony Akinbola, whose Camouflage pieces are made from different-coloured do-rags and range from US$18,000 to US$40,000.

Cream of the crop

Paris dealer Mennour says he’s bringing art works which are mostly in the range of 300,000 euros to 2 million euros (S$434,370 to S$2.9 million). “Some years, we’d bring some higher-priced pieces, but this year I really want to bring what my market can digest,” he says.

Mennour’s booth is focused around artists Camille Henrot, Anish Kapoor and Ugo Rondinone, though he’s brought pieces by others as well. Based on sending out previews to collectors, he’s already received what he says is an encouraging amount of interest, and has pre-sold a work by Lee Ufan for around 1 million euros.

Boesky says she’s bringing mainly primary market material; her booth will include work from such sought-after artists as Danielle Mckinney, Suzanne McClelland and Donald Moffett. “We have reserves on several of the works, which is great,” she says. “Who knows what that will turn into, but we have a sense of what has interest. It’s helpful, and it gives us a bit of a good vibe going in.”

Payot from Hauser & Wirth, whose booth is always a packed, colossal affair, will bring a collection of comparatively more expensive work, including a Louise Bourgeois Spider IV wall sculpture priced at US$22.5 million. He’ll bring a US$2.8 million painting by George Condo, which “has a surreal, nearly Dada moment in the composition,” he says, along with a very large painting by Robert Ryman from 1977, carrying a price tag of US$9.5 million.

“We’re Swiss, so we have our whole Swiss support,” Payot says of his collector base. “But then, we also have global players. These two things combined is just, for us-from a structural point of view-a very good starting point for a successful fair.”

He’s aware that it might be a tough market environment for some, and he acknowledges that nothing is a sure thing. “I’m not saying we’re bulletproof or anything like that. That would be ridiculous,” says Payot. “But when you’re a wealthy person who’s passionate about buying art, then you’ll also buy when things are more uncertain.” BLOOMBERG