When Contemporary Art Becomes Tradition: Sm’Art Art Fair

From the 2nd to the 6th of May, Aix-en-Provence hosted the 8th edition of Sm’Art contemporary art fair. Born European, but having been based in New York for the past 6 years, I found this fair very interesting, especially in comparison to small, independent American fairs such as Fountain Art Fair, Aqua Art Fair and Context Art fair (among others). The difference between the old and the new continent is pretty stunning!
At Sm’Art the two most traditional visual art media– painting and sculpture – were absolutely prominent. Photography was almost absent and pretty badly represented by obvious, played-out landscapes and portraits. There was absolutely no trace of video art, installations and post-media experimentations and in their place there was a multitude of arts and crafts. Contrarily, those American fairs overall present a huge variety of works: all media are included and a general effort towards innovation is detectable and appreciated.
Sm’Art pretty much felt like a country gathering: artists and gallerists were absolutely relaxed, drinking rosé and comfortably sat on garden chairs chatting with each other. Nothing to do with the American corporate and entrepreneurial attitude, where artists, dealers and curators literally attack the crowd promoting themselves, their businesses and negotiating the best deals to sell as much as possible.
There weren’t that many red dots at Sm’Art but at least exhibitors enjoyed the gorgeous Spring weather of the South of France.