Art Rotterdam is the leading contemporary art fair in the Netherlands. This year, as many as 96 galleries presented artworks by many more artists. Added to this, the same fair featured a video art section under the title Art Rotterdam Projections, a section of affordable art at WeLikeArt! and a section that featured as many as 92 artists featured in 2012 were honoured with a start-up grant from the Mondriaan Fund. The Van Nelle factory was bursting at the seams from it.
If you thought you had had it: on the other side of Rotterdam was yet another major art fair with 64 galleries that were just out of the running for the big one. This RAW Art Fair took place at the Cruise Terminal for the third time this year.
And even that was not all. At a happening that attracts so many art-minded people, the number of side-events is almost incalculable. Go figure. A small estimate tells me that I saw over two thousand works of art in three days. Of course, not every work of art makes an impression and more than half of them pass you by anyway.
What does that leave?
[Tweet "Without comment, my own top art from the Rotterdam trading floor."]I selected 15 works that stood out. A selection from various locations whose work was, or still is, basically all for sale. Without comment, my own top art from the Rotterdam exhibition floor.
[Tweet "An artist we will hopefully hear a lot more from is Aldwin van de Ven."]Next year again?