TEFAF-Maastricht Celebrates Stellar Sales To Museums And Private Collectors, Including Contemporary Blockbusters That Captured My Gaze During Previews

Kehinde Wiley’s exquisite, monumental Portrait of Tarek Ali Ellis (2023) sold to a private collector for $950,000, underscoring Sean Kelly of New York’s phenomenal debut at Europe’s preeminent global art fair.

Read more about the portrait and the gallery’s elegant presentation of contemporary masterworks by artists including Marina Abramović, Laurent Grasso, Rebecca Horn, Idris Khan, Shahzia Sikander, and Janaina Tschäpe, in dialogue with Old Master paintings and antiquities sections, featuring masterpieces by an array of diverse and dazzling artists including Marina Abramović, Laurent Grasso, Rebecca Horn, Idris Khan, Shahzia Sikander, and Janaina Tschäpe.

I had no doubt as I encountered the Sean Kelly booth during invitation-only Preview Days of the 36th edition of The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) om March 9-10 at the Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre (MECC) that the inimitable Wiley would find a home. The New York-based painter celebrated for his unrivaled depictions of Black and brown people in heroic poses, brilliantly re-imagines the Pietà, with American YouTuber Tarek Ali Ellis as the Virgin Mary cradling Michael Morgan, standing in for the mortal body of Jesus Christ after his Descent from the Cross.

TEFAF’s return to hosting the fair in March was punctuated by sales to private collectors and international museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Rijksmuseum, Louvre, Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Patek Philippe Museum. More that 250 institutions were represented by directors, curators, and patrons who navigated rare and exceptional works across genres, styles, and geographies representing some 9,000 years of art history. The fair, which closed yesterday, welcomed more than 50,000 discerning aesthetes from all over the world.

“This year’s edition of TEFAF was a truly gratifying experience for the entire TEFAF community and there was a feeling of great positivity and energy. Our exhibitors offered a spectacular platform for the dialogue between diverse works spanning 9,000 years of human creativity, paying homage to the quality of the pieces they Offer,” said Hidde van Seggelen commented, president of TEFAF’s executive committee,. “TEFAF is a special experience for the collecting community who continue to be inspired, year after year, and we all look forward to 2024.”

As I delighted in scrutinizing every stellar detail of Feng Mengbo’s Afghan pink onyx Astronaut (2023), I left the Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art of London with equal confidence that it would be acquired. Mark Slaats, a partner at the art advisory group specializing in Asian works of art, told me March 17 that the singular sculpture sold for €240,000 ($257,00) to a private U.S. “bi-coastal collector.”

Giddy with delight to engage in dialogue with the revolutionary filmmaker depicted in Stéphane Mandelbaum’s Luis Buñel ha ha (1983), I was certain Galerie Zlotowski would match the playful piece with a collector.

“We had good sales, 10 pieces. All Mandelbaum sold. We did not see many French collectors but we sold to Germans, Belgians, Dutch, British,” Marie Hourcade of the Parisian gallery told me today that, but declined to share details on the buyer of the price.

I will keep my eye out for the other two large-scale contemporary works I chose to feature in my preview: Michel Majerus’ Untitled (1990) and Jonathan Meese’s UFO VOLL! (2020).

On view for the first time at TEFAF-MAastricht 2023, Majerus’ massive mixed media on cotton fabric tryptic was restored by the Galleri K, of Oslo and I hope to see it again, preferably in a major museum exhibition.

“At the fair we sold two works by Nan Goldin, the work by Martin Kippenberger, and possibly the woodcut by Franz Gertsch,” Marte Storrø of Galleri K told me today. “The sale of Majerus is not yet wrapped up.”

“TEFAF was an amazing fair for us, and we were very glad to participate,” Dimitri Riemis of Tim Van Laere Gallery of Antwerp, which offered the Meese, told me today. “For confidentiality reasons, we never share information on sales.”

Large-Scale Contemporary Artworks Astound At TEFAF-Maastricht