Ibiza’s Lively Art Fair Is Ushering in a Burgeoning New Scene

It’s a typical Ibiza scene: A DJ is playing pulsing lounge music as beautiful, blissed-out people dressed in boho chic dance and sip on cocktails served by ultra-cool bartenders. No, this isn’t a beach club; instead, we’re at an art fair.

At Contemporary Art Now Ibiza (CAN), the art fair that is now in its third year at the FECOEV events space, you can forget the usual art fair vibe of suits, handshakes, and a buttoned-up demeanor. Here, a part of the draw (for both visitors and galleries) is the chilled-out social scene. Open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. each night (perfectly timed to follow a day on the beach), the event takes the typical elements of an art fair—booths and artwork, gallerists, and visitors—and puts an Ibiza spin on it. Case in point: The opening party took place at legendary nightclub Pacha, and ran until 6 a.m.

It’s obvious that Ibiza’s natural beauty, endless social opportunities, and luxurious charm hold major appeal for any visitor, yet the island is well off the beaten path of the typical art fair circuit. As CAN kicked off its third edition, with a focus on the local Balearic art scene, the fair showed how its desirable location and focused curation is building a thriving scene well beyond the traditional art world hubs.

In conversations during the VIP opening on Wednesday night, plenty of the fair’s returning gallerists made it clear how much the social elements influenced their decision to attend. Brussels gallery Ballon Rouge, which has participated in every edition of the fair so far, was well aware of the fair’s benefits. “First of all, the hours,” said Helene Dumenil and Nicole O’Rourke, founder and founding director of the gallery.

This “work-ation” atmosphere overflowed into the booths, where conversations seemed low-key. With prices up to €5,000 ($5,348), Ballon Rouge’s booth focused on figurative painting and textile works by solely queer artists (the gallery specializes in women and LGBTQ+ artists) in bright shades, a style that was prevalent across the fair: “We realized we can go brighter and a bit flashy here,” the pair added.

Indeed, there was a clear coherence among the 35 booths on show, and many of the works at the fair could fit in well in other galleries’ booths. Most of all, there was an emphasis on accessible figurative painting—which is why it comes as no surprise that the curated fair was all selected by one man: Saša Bogojev. “Contemporary figurative art is what I’m most passionate about, and am most familiar with,” the curator said, noting that the fair is intended to be a boutique experience. “The fair has the potential to be so niche, and quite focused on this one corner of the art world.”

Nevertheless, he noted several striking instances of abstraction at the fair—such as a new series of bright halos at Ruttkowski;68 by renowned Op Art painter José María Yturralde, a Spanish artist who has received considerable critical acclaim in his homeland. Almost all of the works at CAN were made in the last three years, he said. Prices across the fair are accessible, with most priced in the four- to low five–figure range.

Bogojev was invited to curate the fair by founding director Sergio Sancho, who also founded long-running Madrid fair UVNT (a satellite that runs alongside ARCOmadrid). Sancho explained that this focus on figurative painting was tailored to what he sees as the natural audience for CAN: the island’s growing number of new residents, relocated to their second homes here since COVID-19.

He estimates that this is a cohort of the Ibiza population is in the 35 to 50 age range, may have spent time on Ibiza previously, and is likely to stay on the island year-round—as the pandemic proved that being physically present in New York, Paris, or Münich was no longer necessary.

As they spend more time on the island, this audience has had a growing appetite for cultural events: “People who usually live in London and live the whole year here, they need something cultural—they want to go to openings and meet people,” Sancho said. Similarly, these collectors have more time and space here on the island: “When it’s your second residency, you might only have a few things,” he said.

It’s a similar dynamic that has contributed to the growth of the culture sector in Majorca, the largest Balearic island, which has seen a burgeoning art scene, particularly in the last few years. Many of Majorca’s newer galleries were present at CAN Ibiza, such as LA BIBI Gallery, which was showing fluorescent, shimmering paintings by Michael Staniak, among others.

Also from Palma in Majorca, Fran Reus, who founded his eponymous gallery in 2016, noted that while Majorca is “not a hub like London or Paris,” there were plenty of collectors who pass through the island on vacation. “At Untitled Miami, I see collectors who say ‘Oh, Majorca, I have a house there!’” he said. “Step by step, we are becoming known to people who have second residences, especially in the last two or three years,” he added.

While Majorca’s gallery scene is more mature (and Menorca, of course, has a Hauser & Wirth outpost), Ibiza has only a smattering of contemporary art galleries. Yet that is slowly changing. Just six weeks ago, London tastemaking gallery Gathering opened its new outpost in the north of the island. The gallery was present at the fair, too, with a strong booth of large-scale abstract paintings from artists such as Christopher Page. During the fair, Gathering was opening a big-name joint show of Stefan Brüggemann (who has a studio in Ibiza) and Bruce Nauman.

Of course, Ibiza is a tempting hotspot for visitors without second homes here, too, and the fair runs a program allowing each gallery to bring nominated collectors to the fair free of charge, making the most of the white island’s eternal appeal to spread the word about the fair.

But for some galleries, CAN Ibiza is about more than the people who actually attended. For New York gallery Hollis Taggart, which was showing a range of colorful abstract works by Osamu Kobayashi, Dana James, and Kathryn MacNaughton, the fair’s impact went far beyond visitors to the booth: “It is not so much ‘Ibiza collectors’ as it has brought in a broader exposure to collectors from Madrid, Barcelona, and surrounding areas,” said the gallery’s founder, Hollis Taggart. “More importantly, the social media outreach has brought inquiries and interest from a much broader audience globally. We sold a Dana James [work] to a collector in Omaha!…We have connected with artists and art advisors here that we would never meet in the U.S.”

As the fair expands to include more established international galleries (notably, major Italian dealers GALLERIA CONTINUA took part in the fair for the first time this year), it is also seeking to bolster the local arts scene to keep the island’s residents engaged in the contemporary art world year-round. CAN Ibiza organized an “off program” to highlight local artists and projects, especially those engaging with the recent history and current issues of local island life.