Pick up in sales paints rosy picture

One of Europe's biggest contemporary art fairs, ARCO, posted an increase in sales over last year, officials say, in a sign that the global art market is recovering from the financial crisis.

"Sales forecasts were not only met, they were exceeded," says Luis Eduardo Cortes, the director of the sprawling IFEMA exhibition center in Madrid which hosted the five-day fair.

The ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid drew around 150,000 visitors this year. AFP

Total sales figures are not available because some of the 218 participating galleries from around the world do not want to divulge their numbers, he says.

One of the works which did find a buyer was a controversial sculpture by Spanish artist Eugenio Merino which depicts three men dressed in black - a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew - praying on top of one another.

It sold on opening day for 50,000 euros ($68,000) while another piece by Merino depicting an upright Uzi sub-machine gun supporting a menorah sold for 6,600 euros.

The Israeli embassy in Madrid blasted Merino's artworks, calling them offensive to "Jews, Israelis and perhaps others".

ARCO, which closed on Sunday, attracted around 150,000 visitors this year, down from a record 200,000 last year.

Instead of having a specially invited country, this year the fair turned its spotlight on Los Angeles with 17 galleries from the United States city taking part. India was the spotlighted nation in 2009.

During boom times, contemporary art is sought after as a badge of wealth as much as luxury cars and branded jewelry. But art galleries found it harder to sell works after the global credit crunch led to recessions in the West.

At its peak in 2007 the world art market was worth around $65 billion, double the figure from five years earlier, but it may have since come down to $50 billion, according to research firm Arts Economics. Experts estimate that prices for art are down about 40 percent from their peak on average.

The global economic downturn is generating opportunities for buyers, says Marc Spiegler, co-director of Switzerland's Art Basel, the largest international fair of contemporary art.