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| Cai Gui Qiang |
If Lorenzo Rudolf can deliver his vision for Art Stage Singapore, then the new fair set to take place Jan. 12 to 16 should quickly find its place on the international art calendar. Mr. Rudolf, who transformed a modest art fair into Art Basel in the 1990s and developed the concept for its little sister, Art Basel Miami Beach, has always dreamed big. For his latest project, he is hoping to bring together for a few days some of Asia’s top artists — including Ai Weiwei, I Nyoman Masriadi, Subodh Gupta, Fang Lijun and Takashi Murakami — as well as some of the world’s top collectors, promising a fair with a clear Asian identity. In addition to attracting many of the most notable galleries in Asia, Mr. Rudolf has organized a number of high-profile events. There will be special projects created for the fair (for example, the Taiwanese artist Michael Lin will do a site-specific installation for Eslite Gallery) and unusual ancillary events like a museum exhibition of large contemporary Asian works owned by important collectors and a private trip for V.I.P. collectors to Indonesia to meet top artists there. Mr. Rudolf is hoping this mix will ensure that international collectors take notice.
About 85 percent of the 90 galleries participating in the fair are from Asia-Pacific, and the list of exhibitors reads like a who’s who of the region, with Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai, Arario Gallery in Seoul, Schoeni Gallery in Hong Kong, Eslite Gallery in Taiwan, Nature Morte in New Delhi and Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo. But Art Stage Singapore will face steep competition. “This year, the third edition of Art HK was very, very strong, and from all reports 2011 will be even bigger and better, with many more international galleries coming in,” said Howard Rutkowski, director of Fortune Cookie Projects, a curatorial and art advisory consultancy based in Singapore. “Any other fair in the region will have a tough time competing.” Read the full story in the
IHT.