PULSE London Debuts with a Strong Program

PULSE London Debuts with a Strong Program artlover349876889878

Ling Jian, Shut up Revolution, 2007. Courtesy of Galerie Volker Diehl.

LONDON.- PULSE London took place from 11-14 October, with a very strong program of international galleries that attracted many of the world’s most important and emerging collectors. The manageable size of the fair, combined with the quality of works on show, made PULSE London a highlight during the busiest week in the city’s art calendar. The fair is the newest in the PULSE brand, which also produces fairs in Miami and New York. “We were delighted to bring PULSE to London this year. PULSE brought a needed addition to the city’s thriving art scene, by presenting several galleries who had never exhibited in London before. Observed Helen Allen, Founder of PULSE Contemporary Art Fair “With this years success we envision greater potential for the years to come.” Important collectors from both the UK and US were joined at the fair by scores of curators and museum professionals. Many of the works sold were bought by major collections, with gallerists commenting on the “exceptional” contacts made. The cross section of art world luminaries who toured the stands included: London-based collectors Anita Zabludowicz and David Roberts, both of whom have recently launched their own art foundations along with New York-based collectors Michael and Susan Hort and Beth Rudin de Woody, among many others. Donna de Salvo from the Whitney and curators from the Hayward Gallery and Tate Modern were also in attendance. Among the sales highlights, gallerist Ernst Hilger from Vienna was delighted with the sales of Moonshine, a painting by Allen Jones, for £59,000 and an animation work by John Gerrard that was a huge hit, selling for £42,000 to a significant New York collector. Leigh Conner of Conner Contemporary Art in Washington, D.C. had a sell out success with Erik Sandberg’s delicate drawings and selling another oil-on-wood panel painting by the artist. Lukas Feichtner, a gallerist from Austria, noted remarkable results selling paintings by Bianca Regl (£4,200) and Martin Schnur (£12,500), as well as a series of five works in charcoal on paper by Petar Mirkovic for £2000 each. Jack Shainman Gallery had serious interest in their artists, selling a work by Jonathan Selliger, The Birthday Present (one of an edition of 10), for £7,870 and a bronze sculpture by Claudette Schreuders for £7,370. The recent interest in Chinese art from collectors during the week’s big auction house sales was mirrored at PULSE London with a wall mounted sculpture, 1949, by Zhang Huan selling rapidly for £69,000 at Galerie Volker Diehl. There was a buzz at White Space (from Beijing) with works by Wang Mei and Fang Lijun sold within the first day and a steady flow of collectors to their space. There was also great interest in the British artists at the fair, represented by both US and European galleries. For Mark Moore of Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, British artist Kim Rugg’s work sold extremely well, with collectors snapping up her comic book pages which are meticulously reconfigured to look like 3D images. One of the show stoppers, a larger than life-sized cardboard sculpture of Queen Victoria by Chris Gilmour at the Italian Padova-based perugi artecontemporanea’s space, sold for £12,500 to a major London art foundation.