State of The Fairs

This years Sollentuna Art Fair starts tomorrow and continues through the weekend. It looks very promising, but the problems with having two competing art fairs located in the Stockholm area is becoming more apparent each year. Some of the high profile galleries will not be showing up in Sollentuna this year, probably since they’ve already shown off their artists at the Market Art Fair just a few weeks ago.

It’s a pity, really. Market was very much stripped down to suit the galleries wishes to exhibit and sell art. Of course this is a necessity for any art fair, to some degree, but there has to be some room for the younger artists too. Sollentuna had an extremely good selection of works from art students last year, and though it looks thinner this time around, at least it’s still there. I can’t afford to buy art anyway, and the main reason I visit the fairs is to be surprised, to see something new and exciting.

The "artist of the year" according to Sollentuna Art Fair is Nils Kölare. Not exactly a young whippersnapper, but I’ve always had a weak spot for this kind of aestethics. It’s almost meditative to watch, although I doubt that was the original intention of the artist. Born in 1930, he is considered a constructivist. In later years he has been preoccupied with the square. The title of the featured picture is Square – not surprisingly…