Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

The city of Milan is searching to grow in some way. After the notice of the EXPO anticipated for 2015 in the field of art, we see that the Lombard base is looking to keep in step with the other leading capital in the artistic sector. By now the city is invaded with great photographic exhibits and paintings of international prestige: exhibitions dedicated to Balla, Canova, Bacon and to the controversial Jan Saudek and Joel Petetr Witkin. Within this very favourable Milanese sphere, defined by Vittorio Sgarbi, the thirteenth edition of MiArt was held (4th –7th April).

Two hundred galleries, seventy five of which are foreign, represent a third of the total exhibitors. It is a shame that with this interesting number of exhibitors, some of the main town galleries were missing from the list. “It is true that we do not have any of the galleries in view anymore – responds the managing director Sandro Bicocchi – but in any case, we are a host to 200 establishments, and besides we are characterised by focusing on emerging talents with a section dedicated to under 35s selected by the same galleries. A lot still needs to be developed but from 2004 to 2007 we attracted from 27 million to 38 million visitors”.

To inaugurate MiArt 2008, it opened with a huge event in which over 17 million visitors participated to form a total of 38 million participants. But if the number is a huge quantity, when regarding the quality, some criticisms could be made. The words in order at the start of the art show were: renewal, contemporary and internationalisation. In reality, neither the quality nor the novelty were the principal characteristics of the MiArt 2008. The set up was somewhat chaotic and the distinction of the pavilions between modern and contemporary art was almost useless since in both areas you could find artists that we didn’t really know how to classify properly. In effect, the MiArt exhibition seems to continue to lack a true and competent artistic direction, and managed to realise a rather boring event in which the spectator was obligated to go astray and wear themselves out among the hundreds of exhibitors. It was also a mediocre arrangement on the part of the gallerists who seemed to have played in an improvised space. Perhaps the only kind of originality was by the Galleria Agnellini Arte Moderna di Brescia which offered to the public an arrangement curated in minimal details dedicated to Andy Warhol, transforming the fair grounds into an actual exhibition room where you could admire the precisely selected works.

What’s more is that the gallery of Brescia also obtained excellent economic results: it sold two Warhol pieces estimated at 500-600 million euros. If the thirteenth edition of MiArt had some gaps at an organisational and exhibitive level, we can also confirm that they proposed prestigious works to the public with a very rich array of artists, including the noble Warhol, Morandi, Hirst, Fontana, Birolli, Balla, Baj, Quinn a Rotella, Pistoletto, and Sironi. They were interesting works that did however disappoint the contemporary art fans (except the BND gallery in Milan with LaChapelle, ConiglioViola and Serrano) who usually come to MiArt to be able to observe contemporary artworks up close and in some sense substitute a museum visit in the city wholly dedicated to new trends.

Despite all of this, we can say that this edition closed with excellent sales results and huge gallerist satisfaction whether in terms of the number and quality of visitors or for the negotiations launched at the fair that confirm their grip on the art market, and render Milan as one of the privileged targets of collectors. The bargaining at the fair was also important for prestigious works exposed in these past few days. The Ruota Spezzata by Giuseppe Spagnulo that was acquired by the Milan gallery Grossetti as well as works by Antonella Zazzera and Federico Rizzi, and the Tega gallery in Milan and in Pietrasanta, in the following days of the fair, sold two works by Castellani and two by Parmeggiani. The Cardi gallery presented very high quality pieces like the Damien Hirst’s diptychs and sold almost all art pieces during the inauguration evening and on the opening day. There was also a lot of interest and hype over the youngest artists like those proposed by the Jarach gallery in Venice that exhibited works by unedited authors: Flavia Sollner and Marteen Sleewits. The most requested names at the Tornabuoi gallery were Fontana, Dorazio, Ceroli, Rotella, Basquiat, Chagall, Balla as well as Warhol sales. There was also a lot of satisfaction on the part of foreign galleries like the Japanese Kitai, which declared that they exhausted their own works as did the Rubin and Corsoveneziaotto galleries.