The 22nd miart (Milanese Art Fair) took place from 31 March to 2 April. During these days 45.000 people visited the 174 booths of Italian and international galleries. To underline its anchoring between modern and contemporary art, there were different sections focussing more on the one or the other period.
Nevertheless, the section “Generations” united eight couples of galleries, which presented two artists of different generations, to mark the connection. Here met Giorgio de Chirico (Galleria Tega, Milan) and John Stezaker (The Approach, London), Pedro Cabrita Reis (Magazzino, Rome) and Rodrigo Torres (A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro) and Henri Michaux (Galerie Lelong, Paris-New York) and Riccardo Baruzzi (P420, Bologna).
Like last year, nine galleries were chosen for the section “Decades”. They showed for each decade of the 20th century the oeuvre of a single artist, significant for this period. On view were inter alia the first Italian abstract painter Alberto Magnelli for the 1940s by Lorenzelli Arte, Milano and the French post-war avant-gardiste Colette Brunschwig for the 1950s by Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris.
Focussing on the 21st century, the section “Emergent” was reserved for galleries not older than five years. In consequence, the presented artists are coming from the young promising generations. CAR DRDE from Bologna confronted the 1988 born Italian Nicola Melinelli to the nine years older American Joseph Montgomery and Acapella from Naples showed Pennacchio Argentato, a Neapolitan artist duo born in the late 1970s.
Even the “Established” galleries were subdivided into three categories. “Master” was reserved for galleries, which are dealing with artworks created earlier than 2000. On view were well known artists like Fontana, Chirico and Morandi. The established “Contemporary” galleries showed classics as well as newer and latest creations. A nice dialog of different generations was shown by the Berlin based Galerija Gregor Podnar, where Irma Blank’s “Trascizioni” from 1975 communicated with Marcius Galan’s “Bureaucratic Paintings” from 2017. At the same time, it was interesting to see recent works by Franҫois Morellet (Mal Barré après reflexion n°8 from 2015 at A arte Invernizzi, Milan) or Nanda Vigo (solo show at Galleria Allegra Ravizza, Lugano). A “First Step” made galleries, which were before present in the Emergent section and found their way into the Established.
Another pace forward into the very contemporary art was the section “On demand”. It showed site-specific works like installations and wall paintings, uncompleted works, commissions and performances. Referring that collecting art is a responsibility that might initiate new creations; there were works on view that needed to be “activated” somehow. In the context of the section, this means, that the artworks were conceived for the special booth, reorganised for the exhibition or that a performing artist gave them a new reading, like the ceramics “Fashioned to a device behind a tree #15” with a performance by Salvatore Arancio (Federica Schiavo Gallery, Milan, Rom).
Last but not least, there was the section “Object” that crossed the border between art and design. Object was not the unique piece, but limited editions, decorative arts and experimental designs.