Elite Traveler January-February 2015

There are many new, exciting art scenes happening around the world. We show you where collectors in the know are headed

A s excitement bubbles for the forthcoming opening of the $400m Louvre Abu Dhabi in December 2015 and the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in 2017, anyone with an interest in art can’t fail to have noticed the emergence of unlikely destinations onto global creative radars. The London and Parisian art markets are hardly stagnant, but art buyers and traders have begun to look beyond these traditional locations to the buzz of new cities. In a development that would have been unimaginable 15 years ago, Hong Kong is now the world’s third-largest art market. And previously unheard of destinations are helping draw interest away from the major centres. In the UK, rural Somerset is attracting attention thanks to Hauser & Wirth’s new farmhouse-turned- gallery and arts centre in the picturesque town of Bruton. Likewise, in cities from Seoul to Baku, exciting work is emerging that counters the loud vibrancy of Western contemporary art. In Seoul, South Korea, it can be observed in the calm, quiet greys of the monochromatic paintings by Park Seo-Bo or Lee Ufan. In Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, it manifests as a new art form; Faig Ahmed creates sculptures from Eastern-style carpets with hand woven digital imagery that looks like a print. “Our inspiration comes from daily life and things which can be found in this country. This allows us to destroy the stereotypes of tradition, create new modern boundaries and be unique,” says Ahmed. These different outlooks and new-found political freedoms help fuel creativity whether in Azerbaijan, Russia, Mexico or Uruguay. As Mexico City’s Cristobal Riestra, owner of Galeria OMR, says: “Mexico is undeveloped, like a young son. Life is rough, raw and dangerous – a breeding ground for creativity. Everything is accidental and unplanned. Our society is unstructured – unlike London where there’s so much CCTV that people are trapped. We can bend the rules.” These are the destinations to watch, the ones that are upping the ante and the places whose small localized events may well be the next decade’s creative hubs.

Words: Melanie Abrams