Several years ago the fair began beefing up its modern and contemporary art section, giving other fairs like Art Basel a bit of competition. But this year, although there are 46 modern and contemporary galleries exhibiting, the same number as last year, the selection is noticeably weaker. Gone are many of the big-name dealers like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Annely Juda, L&M Arts and Michael Werner Gallery, all of whom dropped out over the last few years with no heavy hitters to replace them.
Still, there are a few standouts. Anthony Meier, the San Francisco dealer, for instance, has a glass case of small sculptures by Robert Gober: a red shoe ($90,000), a Seagram’s gin bottle ($110,000) and a wax candle ($625,000). “There’s a huge collecting community for Gobers in Belgium,” Mr. Meier said.
Sperone Westwater, the Manhattan gallery, is showing the work of Barry X Ball, a New York artist known for using three-dimensional computer scans as well as traditional carving techniques, who is having an exhibition at the Ca’ Rezzonico museum in Venice this summer timed to the Biennale. His “Envy,” a translucent white onyx sculpture from 2008-10 based on a bust of a snarling, snake-haired Medusa by the Italian Baroque sculptor Orazio Marinali, is priced at $250,000, and as of Sunday it had not sold.
There does seem to be an appetite for good examples of work by proven contemporary artists. Christophe Van de Weghe, another Manhattan dealer, had red dots beside several paintings, including a 1981 Basquiat for $2.6 million and a canvas by Christopher Wool for $1.5 million. Both buyers, he said, were European. “Business is strong as long as the price is right,” Mr. Van de Weghe said. “It’s still a sensitive market.”
