Brafa, fair that takes place in 37 cities

Until the end of 2020 Brafa, an encounter with art that takes place in Brussels at the end of January, has launched its fair calendar. With a careful and sophisticated design, the Tour & Taxis space brought together around 130 galleries from different countries to show the public their best works from 5,000 years of art history. The pandemic, we already know, disrupted all plans but the event decided to follow a particular model: “the global situation invites us to be creative and develop a new initiative that we called Brafa in the Galleries. This year we asked exhibitors to show their selection in their respective galleries, adopting the security measures of each country”, explains Beatrix Bourdon, general director of the fair, through a video. so that the 126 galleriesof which eleven join Brafa's ranks for the first time, from 13 countries and 37 cities, They will show in their spaces what they selected for physical service. In addition to gallery visits, the fair website will feature up to 9 pieces from each exhibitor.

Brafa is synonymous with time travel and synonymous with eclecticism: we can find ourselves in front of a piece of classic archeology as well as in front of a work of contemporary art. the Belgian antique dealer Didier Claes is one of those essential names and this year opted for a series of sculptures from Nigeria. “The Yoruba are known for their large number of twin births. The reason for this phenomenon remains unknown, but taking into account that infant mortality in the country has been very high, the birth of twins was welcomed with joy. But the death of one or both of them plunged the family into great sadness”, we hear in the video he prepared to present his collection. Thus, wooden sculptures called ibeji served so that the spirit of the deceased could find refuge until reincarnated as a new newborn.

The gallery is also dedicated to tribal art Montagut Barcelona, ​​​​one of the two Spanish spaces participating in this edition of the fair. Although last year the exhibitors were very close to each other, this time they are separated by many kilometers. Guilhem Montagut, director of the gallery that bears the same name, believes that they will receive visits from collectors in their space in Barcelona. “We sell tribal pieces and customers like to see them in person. They approach and come the first two days of the fair to be the first. They are rare objects, our job is to find them, present them and people get nervous”, he says.

Among Montagut's pieces we find a figure from the Ivory Coast, a yaure mask that belonged to Nelson Rockefeller and was at the MET in the 50s, an Igbo figure that belonged to Montagut's mother, or a terracotta. For the gallerist, these pieces can be of interest to both public and private collections: “Cubism was born from African art. Paul Guillaume saw ships arriving from Africa with wood and in them he saw volumes and themes that he exhibited in his gallery. He was a dealer for Picasso and Modigliani, artists who saw forms in these types of pieces that they had never seen before in art”, he says.

The fair's president, Harold t'Kint de Roodenbeke, wanted to show his support for the galleries with this project. “Our event was created to offer art dealers and galleries the opportunity to showcase their treasures; a communication platform that contributed to their livelihood and put their profession in the spotlight”, he states. This new proposal reflects its “willingness to support our partners in difficult times, as well as our decision not to charge exhibitors for their participation in the initiative”. Roodenbeke, as gallerist, He also presented his own proposal at a time when the coronavirus crisis has changed our habits, our way of living and our way of working”. Among the works in his space we find two paintings by Le Corbusier and Karel Appel and several sketches by artists of the stature of Magritte or Léger.

Fernand Léger is also one of the protagonists of Jordi PascualSpanish gallerist who It presents works by other important artists such as Victor Vasarely, Miró, Dalí or Picasso. His presence at Brafa, until now, was as a visitor and this year he decided to be part of the list of selected galleries. To celebrate, Pascual has a painting that Tapies showed in his first exhibition in Paris. The acquisition of works, he indicates, “depends on the needs of museums and foundations. Now is a bad time for them due to the Covid crisis but there are also private collectors who want a good Tapies or a good Saura”. At the moment, it has already aroused the interest of some international collectors, so Pascual, like Montagut, is optimistic about this edition, which leads them to open their spaces with a proposal designed for the fair.

In addition to all of them, collectors will have the opportunity to see (and collect, if applicable) pieces by artists such as Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Pierre Bonnard, Lucio Fontana, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet and drawings by Gustav Klimt or André Derain. As every year, all pieces on display undergo exhaustive analysis by a commission of 100 experts. “Photos and the origin of the works are sent in advance and all documentation is checked so that this year - concludes Pascual - they have the same guarantee as if they were there in person”.

@scamarzana