From 18 to 22 March 2010, ARTPARIS+GUESTS and its 114 international exhibitors met their challenge: to provide Paris with a new springtime art event reflecting the city's artistic and cultural potential, and to attract players from the international art community while appealing to new clientele.

Broadening the scope of a modern and contemporary art fair, ARTPARIS+GUESTS has emphasized inventiveness and combined approaches, thus underscoring the vitality of the Paris art market and the contemporary art scene.

The 47,352 visitors and numerous sales that have marked this edition of ARTPARIS+GUESTS have vindicated the concept developed by Strategic Director Lorenzo Rudolf and his new team. Thus, the first step toward the creation of a genuine art fair based on horizontal projects has been made.

Role of the fair confirmed by BVA study Ordered for the ARTPARIS+GUESTS event, the BVA study on the relationship of the French to contemporary art is supportive of Lorenzo Rudolf, since it tells us that more than one Frenchman out of two has an interest in contemporary art and that 42% of the people surveyed go to an art fair at least once a year. Thus, for 34% of the French, a fair is seen as the most appropriate place to buy a work of contemporary art.

Opening day attended by 15,477 people
The day after the charity dinner organised at the Grand Palais by the association Dessine l’Espoir patroned by Lady Cristina Owen-Jones, the preview of ARTPARIS+GUESTS took place on 17 March in the presence of more than 15,000 guests. Gallery owners, artists, collectors, journalists, professionals, and celebrities from the world of art and culture all rubbed shoulders at the event. Among them: Frédéric Mitterand, François and Maryvonne Pinault, Alain Seban, Fabrice Hergott, Marc-Olivier Wahler, Jean Todt, Mathilde Meyer, Jacques Grange and Pierre Passebon, Agnès B, Jean Reno, Costa-Gavras, Inès Sastre, Jean-Claude Jitrois, Lilian Thuram, etc. On the opening day, the Henriot Champagne Award for artist catalog was given to Richard Fauguet for the creation of a work co-produced by Frac Île-de-France and Monographik in partnership with Frac Limousin, the Issoudun museum, the “art : concept” gallery and with the participation of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, French National Plastic Arts Centre.

Collectors' horizons broadened by platforms
As a 2010 novelty at ARTPARIS+GUESTS, one continent and three countries were represented on some impressive platforms: Africa, Finland, Indonesia, and Ukraine. Not to mention Paris, the international art capital with its galleries in the Marais District (Anne Barrault, Patricia Dorfmann, Frank Elbaz, Nuke, Odile Ouizeman, and Chez Valentin) on the Utopia/Dystopia platform, and those of the Left Bank (Downtown, In Situ-Fabienne Leclerc, Jousse Entreprise, Hervé Loevenbruck, GP&N Vallois) recreating a Collector's Apartment… Also present were some young European galleries (Aeroplastics Contemporary, Bongoût, Riccardo Crespi, and Eric Mircher) combined in a new kind of curiosity cabinet entitled Visions.

These original transborder platforms drew considerable curiosity from ARTPARIS+GUESTS' visitors… and collectors made no mistake about it. The "Africas" platform presented by André Magnin, Gervanne, and Matthias Leridon was a near sell-out; a canvas by Chéri Samba, for instance, went for €100,000. Entitled "The Grass Looks Greener Where You Water It", the Indonesian platform showcased by collector Deddy Kusuma also logged some impressive sales, particularly with works by Agus Suwage and Nyoman Masriadi. At the Finnish platform called "The Stressed Beauty", the design was met with unquestionable success, especially the famous coloured "ball-shaped" chairs by Eero Aarnio.