Everyone knows that the Big Apple loves art. You understand it while walking along the streets where it is not unusual to find galleries and artists looking for a collector willing to invest in them.
Added to this are the important trade shows dedicated to the sector during which New York is transformed into a real museum collecting experts, critics and gallery owners from all over the world.
This will happen in March from the 4th to the 6th when the doors to The Armory Show open. The exhibition that has reached its 13th year of life, transforms the piers of the Hudson River into a meeting place for the protagonists of the international art scene. Even in this edition, the trade show has a growing number of exhibitors and countries present. It is estimated that it will host more than 60 thousand visitors with more than a third of these being foreigners.
Some galleries, for the most part local, put on personal exhibits to tempt potential buyers ; instead, the foreign galleries focus on presenting diverse artists in order to offer a wider vision to the dealers and collectors.
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To better understand what the atmosphere is like in New York during the days of the trade show, we have interviewed Franco Calarota, founder of the Galleria d'Arte Maggiore who participates every year at The Armory Show.
Why is it important to be present at the event ?
Because New York is the center of the American market, which is very large, and because it is a city that is alive from a cultural point of view. In the last edition, our proposals were welcomed with a lot of sincere interest both the press who wrote a number of articles about us and television pieces – even the New York Times took time to talk to us – and the American public. For this reason, we are happy to have been invited to exhibit even this year.
What do you expect ?
For us a success will be to once again obtain the approval and a result similar to last year, both in terms of attention from the press and contacts with important collectors and museum directors. The relationship between American galleries and museums are an example of how institutions and the market should not just co-exist but also culturally enrich the entire art system. In Italy, we are far behind from this point of view, although we have had experiences that have allowed us to collaborate with important directors foreshadowing similar changes.
What is your relationship with American dealers?
Important collaborations do not finish once the show is completed but continue and are strengthened with time. We have found a high level of professionalism and that typical concreteness that characterizes the American population.
What are the most interesting markets to focus attention on?
While New York and the United States represent a market that is very important, our interest is also focused on the East. The Asian continent needs to be carefully observed for new and interesting opportunities that it can offer in terms of market and culture.
We are the strongest points of an exhibit such as The Armory Show in comparison to an European trade show?
The large size of the market that it can offer. The Armory Show in New York attracts a group that has concrete interests and that comes from not just the United States but even Europe and Asia. To this, you can add a cultural vitality that is not found everywhere, due to the capability of involving the directors of museums and important people from the world of culture who are interested in forming work connections. This is one fundamental aspect of a gallery like ours, which is always interested in collaborating with museums and institutions for the organization of important collections.
What do you think about the situation of the art market today and what does the future hold?
The key word is “quality”. The future market, and that which is already present, is a market that is very selective and careful with respect to the quality of the artists and the works presented and not to fashionable names that have during these years had too much importance given to them and are now destined to become less important, becoming frivolous aspects. History should have taught us something by now.