Antwerp has been a hub for collectors for centuries. Research has shown that at the beginning of the 1500s, 90 percent of the owners of houses in Antwerp owned at least one image or religious painting. Against this background, art antwerp, when it was founded in 2021, is set with a deep heritage. The fifth edition, which will take place from December 12 to 14 with a preview day on December 11, gathered 79 paintings from 11 countries with only MALEDITION that did not draw borders between what came.
Belgian exhibitions make up 42 percent of the Exhibition District, with the Netherlands and France being the most prominent countries at 25 percent and 16 percent, respectively. There were 20 new exhibitions in the mix, including Night Cafe from the UK, Alzueta Gallery from Spain and Stuna – Fabienne Leclerc from France. Of the nearly 270 artists featured in the fair, 16 percent were under the age of 35.
Antwerp’s Art Wear Antwerp, with 18 percent of participating exhibitions in the city itself. Sofie van de Velde participates in the art of Brussels but, according to Galari Liayong I Theresia wastesia wasteruu, she sees art antwerp as “too close.” wastiau also praised “gaining hometown.” Among the many compelling contributions to the trash was a fused glass, acrylic resin and aluminum piece by Filip Vervaet; Klaas Roumlemaere’s Embroiderey in cotton; Also Ives Maes UV Print on Multiplex in oil paint, graphite and aromisosia wood sold out on preview day.
Koen Leemans, director at Antwerp-based Koteleer, also spoke about the local appeal and the strong interest in young and emerging musicians, of which there are few. Keteleer had the second largest booth and showed new works by 16 artists, Spanning Print on paper by Paul Kooiker for €40,000, Stephan Balkenhol painted wood sculpture for €64,000.
The third local gallery, gallery fifty one, put up a solo booth – a decision that repeats itself after installing Bruno V. Roals last year. “It’s quieter than the big fairs like Paris Photo, which are very crowded,” said the gallery’s assistant director Fanny Sniddlers. This year, the gallery showed the work of the Belgian artist katrien de blauwer: she describes herself as a photographer without a camera, she combines images from the center of the camera, her magazines, her magazines dissolve the faces and silhouettes of women. A series of all new jobs are done directly in reality. The unique images started at €1,200, while the hit edition has prices of €3,000. The picture that covered the gallery book Blue Bruises sold out on preview day.
The exhibition Lelong & Co exhibits at many fairs in major hubs such as Paris, Basel and Miami, but Gallery Director Nathalie Berhhege feels that those places are not the only ones worth exploring. “It’s good to have these types of fairs compared to big clothes; it’s another opportunity to find artists under good conditions,” Berghege told the viewer. “The Belgian people are very open … so it is important that we come to them, not that they come to us.” In addition, he added, it is a way to “empower young artists to be a part of great things.” The prices of the booth are drawn from accessible works on paper by Pierre Alechinsky (€ 3,000-€ 4,000) in the 2024 bronze scar by Jaume Plensa (€ 320,000). Christine Safa, whose work is currently on view in a gallery space in Paris, was represented in the booth by a small painting (€ 9,000).
The gallery Richard Saltun keeps pace with the pairs with 22 masters a year – Frieze Masters, Tefaf and Abu Dhabi Art among them – in a rotation that includes lower antwerp like Art Antwerp. “It’s really interesting to test small markets,” said gallery Rep Tessa Cranfield, noting that Richard Salson also participates in the same Vienna deal. Their booth focuses on artists from or near Belgium, including a piece by André Cadere of André that had the significance of the International Centrum (ICC) in Antwerp in 1975 at €180,000; Nearby pieces, pieces by Belgian artist Jacqueline Poncelet range from €8,000 to €20,000. These were combined with selected works by Henri Chopin, Fernand Khnopff and Francis Picabia.
Stigror van Dourg from Amsterdam showed three female artists (full gallery of three women). Bobbi Essers and Erika Peucelle, whose oil works on Canvas range from € 4,000 to 20,000, while Dina Danish artist sells hand-laid embroidery fabrics. Gallerist David van DEYBURV told the viewer: “I think in Belgium, of course [more common] for people in the community to buy art and collect it. In the Netherlands, I think it still represents class. It’s more democratic here… Culture is part of everyday life. “
The latest edition of Art Antwerp marked the renovation of the Artwerp prize, a loan of the recently cleared culture that started in Art Brussels. The artwork valued at up to €10,000 was donated to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), sponsored by Delen Private Bank. There are no criteria regarding the artist’s age, gender or nationality. The award is a win / win / win: It allows the artist to have his work included in the institution’s collection, the gallery is sold and the museum adds to its holdings. This year’s award was given to French artist Laure Prouvost for her Trompe l’oeil oil on Mirror Piece flowers A sweaty cuddle. Represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Brussels and Paris, Proouvost already has a well-established name, having received the Turner Prize in 2013 and presenting France at the Venice Biennale in 2019. He will have a solo exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Other new features in this year’s program include a free counseling desk, which helps the community navigate the right way to do an action to collect members or an in-depth one of a kind.
The Fair has been welcomed by the national frenzy of Belgian Art. In October, the Flemish government announced plans to dissolve the former MKA-Belgium Museum of Antiquities, which opened in 1985 – a move met with fierce pushback. Its collection of 8,000 works is to move to the Museum of Modern Art in Ghent; The merger is due to take place in 2028, in Tandem by canceling the multi-million Euro project for the new M HKA building that was in the works for years. “Nobody’s happy about it,” Fanny Snijders from the fifty gallery told an onlooker. “I’m not sure what it’s going to be in the long term — how it’s going to change, if it’s going to change.” M Hka senior anne-claire Schmitz called the Move “explosive” and “disturbing,” especially the power of cultural institutions “in general.
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