At the Fairmont Hotel, under a brand-new name, Teos art Gallery MonteCarlo has presented a solo exhibition by the German artist-photographer Axel Crieger, whose photomontages are inspired by celebrities and the luxury good industry. Crieger’s work is by turns thought-provoking and amusing with its unexpected juxtapositions creating a curious and compelling narrative.
On the occasion of the Monaco Art Week, (4-9 July), an important event in the Principality involving all the resident art galleries, which, althought the Principality of Monaco is a small region, are spread over different areas. It is therefore not always easy to go from one to the other. Creating a sense of community in the Principality around the local art scene, in order to facilitate access to its cultural actors, this social-cultural event is a key moment in the calendar and reinforces the cultural influence of Monaco, going beyond the commercial connotation of an art week, to register as a strong artistic event, focused on cultural mediation. The MAW has the particularity of covering all the periods within the history of art. Indeed, auction houses and galleries of ancient, modern or contemporary art are united within the MAW. Gathered around the same criteria, that of quality, each participant prepares for the occasion a special exhibition, in order to highlight his discipline, his artists and his history.
Superyacht Digest and prestigious TEOS Art Gallery have created a solo exhibition for the promotion of a German photographer, whose artworks have already embellished some Superyacht Digest’s past covers: his art photographs present scenes that we wish to be real. Axel Crieger creates compositions of Steve Mcqueen or Brigitte Bardot that are more beautiful than the truth. A combination of sketches, digital effects and a spectacular design yields classic photographs that have never been photographed. For example, Brigitte still exudes in Paris and an eternally young James Dean poses for a propeller plane. Crieger has already produced several exhibitions at international art shows and galleries, with some museums of contemporary art also exhibiting his work. Teos Gallery, guided by internationally renowned art expert Gianluca Gaudio, has decided to promote Axel Crieger’s works recognizing in him the artistic ability to create singular theatrical images, each with its own unique overtones of decadence danger or desire.
Located in the heart of the Principality of Monaco, at the prestigious address of the luxury Fairmont Hotel, near the legendary Monte Carlo Casino, Teos Art Gallery was born from the entrepreneurial and passionate spirit for the art world of the Italian art expert and gallery director Gianluca Gaudio, also known to the public for TV Programs for the sale and promotion of works of art.
With a broad and comprehensive approach to contemporary art, Teos Gallery is reshaping the artistic and luxury scenery of the Principality of Monaco. The remarkable activities in the art sector, including gallery management and consultancy, have made of its founder a true witness in the world panorama of contemporary art collecting. Teos Art Gallery is followed by art lovers, collectors from all over the world and a mundane and glamorous audience that only the Monegasque capital can offer. The Gallery is devoted to an exquisite rich selection of internationally renowned and emerging contemporary artists from different artistic movements.
Teos Gallery participated in the Monaco Art Week, with exhibitions at its prestigious art gallery at the Fairmont Hotel, and in the splendid Belle Époque setting at the exclusive Circé Restaurant in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, in the French Riviera, where they presented the solo show dedicated to the artist Axel Crieger. The Monaco Art Week represents “a very important cultural event which further enhances the Monegasque social tissue and which highlights the artistic scene of the Principality through an extraordinary series of exhibitions and events involving all the galleries”, explains Gaudio.
But what are the processes and paths hidden behind the definition of contemporary art? With Gianluca Gaudio we exchanged a reflection on the state of the art of contemporary art.
The prices of contemporary works today reach even millions of dollars for a single work and, as Gaudio explains, “it is the individual artistic skills, the unmistakable language of each artist and their valid entry into the international market that make the artist’s real market”.
Today the digital reality, NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) and other tools, have changed the rules of the game and therefore impacted on investments. Investors and collectors are adapting to this radical change underway, in order not to remain outside the system.
“We need to keep up with the changing society, and art is the greatest testimony of the relevance of our time when it is avant-garde and not repetition”, explains Gaudio. “Basically, art is daughter and main witness of the times in which it is produced”.
The art world has certainly changed after the pandemic, both in the language used by artists and in relation to the investments that collectors reserve to the market. “Covid has certainly made possible a positive change in the art world as well. The social isolation resulting from the pandemic brought out the importance of surrounding yourself with everything that exalts the taste of beauty, art included. Especially since art also offers the possibility of finding one’s identity through the works each collector chooses. Also on the artistic side, works have been affected by the pandemic, with the artists showing a certain tendency towards positive and full of life languages”.
Art as a taste for beauty but also as an investment. So how to recognize works and artists worth investing in? Gaudio explains that “art has always been a valid alternative investment tool and there are several aspects to consider before each purchase, if this is made as an investment. First of all it is necessary to verify if the artist is internationally recognized, take a look at his/her curriculum vitae, especially if the artist has been exhibited in museums and not only in galleries. And then to find out which collections it is included in, since there are collections more important than others, so if the artist is present, his works acquires greater value”.
The works exhibited in the gallery do not only represent an economic investment of certain success: each work has the ability to make you live an unforgettable experience, to move you, to make you have a real ‘coup de coeur’. When we buy a work of art, we don’t just buy an object to hang on the wall or to place somewhere: when we choose a work of art we are in fact buying an object that has the great and unique ability to bring energy into our environment and into our lives. The energy that embodies each object contains all the emotions that each artist has transferred and enclosed in it.
This article was published in Superyacht Digest / Summer Issue 2023 – ORDER YOUR COPY