An appealing "+guests" concept
The Lahumière gallery achieved great success with its stand made in sync with the Museum im Kulturspeicher of Würzburg on the theme "A look, 1950/2010, 60 years of art made in France", with artists such as Auguste Herbin, Aurélie Nemours, and Hans Jörg Glattfelder. Designed in cooperation with architect Jean de Gastines, Jean Brolly also made a very strong impression by creating correspondences between the architect's models and artists playing with the rules of construction, such as François Morellet, David Tremlett, Michel Verjux, and Nicolas Chardon. With chef Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex as a guest, Olivier Houg Galerie lured art lovers to his stand dedicated to the work of Stéphane Braconnier, one of whose canvasses sold for €15,000. Marion Meyer Contemporain dedicated her stand to the painter Claude Rutault so that she could orchestrate the works of conceptual artists such as Philippe Fangeaux, of whose paintings she sold several. Enhanced by the creations of fashion designer Frank Sorbier, the stand of the Vieille du Temple gallery moved several works by Guy de Malherbe and Hanna Haaslahti, at prices ranging from €3,000 to €12,000. Skilfully conceived by Richard Peduzzi, Olivier Waltman's stand attracted a number of collectors and more than one was tempted by Jean-Pierre Attal's "alveole" photographs, and all of Jorge Enrique's were sold. At its stand, Galerie Guillaume put the spotlight on an older gallery owner, Paul Facchetti, who came to share the same enthusiasm as Guillaume Sébastien for the artists that he represented several decades earlier... A passion visibly shared by others, since all of Shirley Goldfarb's works were sold. The RX gallery played the guest game twofold by partnering both with the Moscow Modern Art Museum and the International Glass Art Centre in Meisenthal. This gamble turned out to be a winning combination, since all of Françoise Pétrovitch's works were sold, as well as two canvasses by Philippe Pasqua, one for €75,000 and the other for €35,000, while Fabien Verschaere whetted the appetites of other collectors.

Newcomers… and new converts
"This is the best fair we've ever done", proclaims Nordine Zidoun, who came from Luxembourg for his first ARTPARIS+GUESTS experience. He sold nearly everything, including a work by Devorah Sperber - spools of thread depicting the Rolling Stones' tongue. It went for €24,000. 10 Chancery Lane from Hong Kong garnered attention not only for the performances of the Vietnamese hip-hop group The Propeller Group, but also for a presentation by one of the greatest contemporary Vietnamese artists, Dinh Q. Lê, who will be on exhibit by the New York MOMA in June 2010. One of his works was bought for €39,000. For their first participation in ARTPARIS+GUESTS, Eva Hober attempted a one-man-show with Jérôme Zonder and his convolutions on paper; the same risk was taken by Valentina Volchokova with Nicolas Panayotou taking up the challenge of digital colour. In both cases, the outcome was positive, as evidenced by collectors. Semiose Galerie from Belleville sold a work by Piero Gilardi for €40,000 and established good contacts with collectors as well as institutions. The Italian gallery Venice Projects saw a work by Jan Fabre go for €60,000.

The ARTPARIS+GUESTS faithful With its Dog Hotel by Oleg Kulik poised at the entrance to the Grand Palais, the Rabouan Moussion gallery had quite some flair… At the stand, collectors liked the audacity of the gallery's decision to showcase the absurd, nostalgia, provocation, humour, and even derision, to erect an incisive portrait of contemporary reality with Kirill Chelushkin, Mary Sue, or Vitaly Komar. The Nathalie Obadia gallery had a winning presence with a canvas by Martin Barré, which sold for €70,000, and a sculpture by Joana Vasconcelos, purchased for €50,000; Daniel Templon sold an emblematic work by Robert Longo made with charcoal for €220,000. He was also showing works by Garouste, Eric Fischl, and Jonathan Meese, which were also met with a warm welcome by collectors. The JGM gallery put its bets on showing recent works by young artists, particularly Jean-François Fourtou, whereas the Sonia Zannetacci gallery found its anticipated success with paintings by Erro. Laurent Strouk sold a Robert Indiana for €160,000, while Ernst Hilger let go of a Mel Ramos for €100,000. Orel Art sold a work by Russians Dubossarsky and Vinogradov for €50,000, while Oniris let go of a work by François Morellet for €48,000. The Meyer Zafra space, which passionately promotes kinetic and geometric art, reached its audience with works by Yaacov Agam, Antonio Asis, Manuel Mérida, and Jésus Soto, one of which went for €150,000. For most galleries that have been showing for numerous years in the spring beneath the glass dome of the Grand Palais, the changes made by the Lorenzo Rudolf team have been perceived positively. They have met new collectors and sensed the new dynamics that were needed to give a new breath of life to an event created some 12 years ago.