From May 26th to 29th, Barcelona will host the 4th International Fair of Contemporary Art called Swab Barcelona which is at the Fira of Barcelona, and brings together 44 galleries specializing in contemporary art.
What is Swab Barcelona
Swab Barcelona was founded in 2006 with the aim of creating a compilation of contemporary artists and art dialers both national and international. The main people behind this project is the architect Joaquín Diez-Gascon, his daughter Mariana, Fernando Rial, owners of private collections from Barcelona, Diezy7, gallery owners Leo Koenig from New York, Fred Mann, of the Fred Mann Gallery LTD of London, and Martha Moriarty, from the Madrid 9 gallery in Madrid, Spain. They all together hope to fill the void left by the now defunct Artexpo.
Swab Barcelona has become an attractive display, a must for for artists and gallery owners who are looking for new things to offer collectors all over and bring new ideas to the exhibition. More importantly, it will continue to promote art as something that welcomes new trends and patterns and surpasses the conservative image of painting or bronze sculpture.
Affordable art at Swab Barcelona
The many stands at the Swab Barcelona fair will sell a range of affordable art. In previous exhibitions, paintings by graffiti street artist Vanessa Alice Bensimon, aka Miss Van were sold between €1000 and €16,000.
Contemporary art has always been around as it’s a name that refers to any sort of art that is being developed at the time in which we live. The term was first used in the 20th century to refer to art of radical change in the definition of art itself, and is characterized by the avant-garde artists who started to break with the dominant aesthetic regulations of the day. Thus, structuralism became the first wave of contemporary art, incorporating all the new concepts in art and aesthetics.
Swab Barcelona and today’s art
Today, contemporary art has been undergone an integration into all forms of creative expression – like graffiti, and video art to name but a few. These days art now the values its concepts rather than the technique itself or perceived compliance with fixed objects. Definition or understanding of the components within the artist’s work to be achieved through general consensos is not necessary but rather, by the use of different routes and approaches. This may seem complicated and elitist but is the opposite.
You can catch Swab Barcelona at the Fira of Barcelona until 29th May 2011 so why not go along and take in some contemporary art – who knows, you may end up buying something!