The final day of this year’s ART.FAIR and BLOOOM is over, but the positive resonance remains!

Today, ART.FAIR and BLOOOM concluded their successful stay in Cologne’s Staatenhaus. This year—with more than 32,000 visitors, including 12,000 visitors to the vernissage alone—even more art lovers found their way to the art fairs. The stream of guests remained steady throughout the duration of the fair. The spectrum of visitors ranged from young potential buyers to true connoisseurs and famous collectors from Germany and abroad. Looking back, both the organizers and the exhibitors were extraordinarily pleased with the results.

The networking between ART.FAIR gallerists and BLOOOM exhibitors was a particularly positive feature. Following its premiere last year, it was now not only BLOOOM that profited from ART.FAIR—the reverse was also true. Established exhibitors, such as the Galerie Filser und Gräf, developed contacts among BLOOOM exhibitors. Ewald Karl Schrade (Galerie Schrade) also enjoyed the more diverse public and experienced the proximity to BLOOOM, with its young artists, as very inspiring.

Galleries representing well-known artistic positions enjoyed not only the diverse range of visitors, but also the larger professional public, whose size increased in comparison to recent years. Some BLOOOM exhibitors also praised the openness of the visitors, who were clearly very interested in the new formats of the young exhibitors. The Goldsaal (golden hall) of the upper floor—incorporated for the first time—was also a very popular feature. In this 3,500 m² (ca. 37,500 sq. ft.) hall, the generously spaced exhibitors primarily showed modern art. Visitors enthusiastically praised the inviting atmosphere and the quality of the lighting conditions.

Among others, Galerie Terminus achieved superb sales. A work by Gerhard Richter sold for 760,000 euros and a sculpture by John Chamberlain for 240,000 euros; the majority of the gallery’s sales at ART.FAIR involved new clients and also included six large-format works by Jan Davidoff, a former pupil of Günther Förg.

Michael Schultz was also extraordinarily successful. In addition to the sale of numerous works by artists such as Sabina SAKOH, Bong Chae Son and Burkhard Held, he was able to sell an early Richter landscape to a visitor for ten million dollars.

Galerie Heitsch was able to sell 12 sculptures by Lutz Wagner—in the course of the artist’s first exhibition at a fair—as well as a painting by Jorge Villalba for 16,000 euros. In an adjacent space, Galerie Schrade and Galerie Heitsch jointly presented works by Antonio Marra. Galerie Schrade will be headed home without a work by Christopher Lehmpuhl as well as several bronze sculptures by Dietrich Klinge.

Kunsthandlung Knut Osper achieved exceptional successes with the sales of two works by Richter and also with the young artists of its project space. The Galerie Voss, of Düsseldorf, sold numerous works by its artists Kate Waters, Frank Bauer, Davide de la Rocca and Harding Meyer as well as a work on paper by Amparo Sard for five-figure (euro) sums.

The positive comments of many exhibitors complemented the successful developments of the fair. For example, the Romanian JECZA gallery was not only pleased with its sales, but also with its numerous new contacts. Through the Strychnin Gallery, Yasha Young sold works by every one of her artists, most of whom are from New York. The concept of presenting these artists in a separately curated booth proved an unqualified success.

The Cologne kunstgalerie, a first-time participant in ART.FAIR, was also able to sell works by all of its exhibited artists. The gallery’s owner, Luc de Groof, praised the supportive relationship among his colleagues at ART.FAIR.

The sales figures for BLOOOM were also good. Many exhibitors were able to book sales of a comparable quality—taking their lower price segment into account. These included the Galerie Irrgang, which has already announced its interest in doubling the size of its booth for the coming year. Berlin’s UF6 Projects sold almost all of its works.

In addition, the new contacts that BLOOOM exhibitors were able to develop at the fair were of great significance. Thus, the Projekt Farbwerte, which presents itself as a project office for all matters black-red-gold (the colors of the German flag), is now in touch with the Bonn historical museum Haus der Geschichte.

Mr. Peters – ART HUNTER, of Belgium, and art conexxion, an agency that cooperates with select galleries and businesses to plan and organize exhibitions and projects for internationally recognized artists, were among those who were able to take advantage of the quality networking that took place between visitors and exhibitors.

This year, BLOOOM was once again enthusiastically embraced both by visitors and by exhibitors from a wide range of creative fields as a space for experimentation and innovation. The concept of building bridges between ART.FAIR and BLOOOM and between established positions and cutting-edge projects has proven a success; together, the organizers are looking forward to the tenth anniversary of ART.FAIR in the Staatenhaus next year.

The art.fair International GmbH would like to cordially thank its sponsors, the Warsteiner brewery and CITROËN.