The fair hosted its largest edition, welcoming a maturing crop of local collectors. Even before the pandemic hit art fair attendance, the halls at Abu Dhabi Art were sparsely populated with visitors, leaving many dealers to wonder if the market in the UAE capital had dried up.
However, at the 14th edition of the fair this year, crowds of visitors from the region and beyond crowded the fairgrounds on all days. “It’s the best edition in a long time!” exclaimed Sunny Rahbar, a longtime Dubai-based dealer.
The fair, which returned to Manarat Al Saadiyat from November 16 to 20, seemed to have become something of a bridge to international collectors for gallerists from nearby countries experiencing socioeconomic and political upheaval. This year’s fair, organized once again by the Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi, featured 80 galleries from 28 countries, including 33 new galleries from Colombia, France, Tunisia, Italy, Nigeria, South Korea, Italy, Morocco, Turkey, and the UAE.
Turkish galleries increased their presence in response to the challenging market conditions in their home country. In October 2022, the Turkish lira’s inflation rate reached 83 percent, a 24-year high. Dirimart, an Istanbul-based 20-year-old gallery, said they haven’t had to adjust their prices due to inflation but admit that some Turkish collectors are hesitant to buy. “The UAE is a good place to develop right now,” director Levent Ozmen said.
A work by prominent Turkish artist Fahrelnissa Zeid was sold by the gallery to an Abu Dhabi-based collector for more than $100,000.
Prices ranged from $3,000 in the Emerge section to $5 million to $8 million at Galeria La Cometa for a museum-quality painting by Cuban master Wilfredo Lam. Andrés Córdoba of the gallery said they returned for a second year after selling a work by Fernando Botero for just over $1 million last year.
“At this fair, people take their time; it is not a fair where people are buying with their ears and trying to get the next thing that will make them money,” echoed fair director Dyala Nusseibeh.
Abu Dhabi is now a transformed city, brimming with world-class museums such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which celebrated its fifth-anniversary last week, and newcomers such as the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, and the interfaith Abrahamic Family House.
The presence of institutions, art galleries, and fairs, as well as regular exposure to such pivotal works of art at new museums, has inspired younger residents to appreciate and collect art.
“They grew up with the museums, art fairs, and galleries and are now eager to buy,” Nusseibeh said, stressing how the boutique fair is ultimately for the benefit of the “community and the wider public.” And the royal family supports such aims. “They are very supportive of galleries,” Nusseibeh added. “For them, it matters that they have come and invested in Abu Dhabi.”
For a fair that started in 2009 with a handful of blue-chip galleries like Gagosian and David Zwirner eager to sell to Abu Dhabi’s Nahyan royal family, Abu Dhabi Art has evolved into a distinctly regional event, focusing on artists and galleries from the Gulf and broader Middle East.
However, over the last two years, the fair has included a more diverse mix of galleries and artists, with this year’s fair being incredibly multicultural, with an increased showcase of art from North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey, and Iran.
“It’s very important to raise awareness about what is happening through art—art is a reflection of society on a deeper level,” says Hormoz Hematian, founder of Dastan’s Basement, “Ossouli is a pioneer in bringing Persian miniature painting into contemporary art. We felt the fair was a way to bring attention to her work.” While the gallery’s branch in Mahshahr, southern Iran, remains open, there is a strong emphasis on international platforms for his artists, whether through its space in London’s Cromwell Place or programming at his upcoming downtown Los Angeles gallery, which will open in April 2023. And what is his take on Abu Dhabi Art? He claims that the fair is becoming “high-level” this year.