BASEL, Switzerland — Each June, the Swiss city of Basel gives itself over to Art Basel, the world's biggest and most influential contemporary art fair, where established galleries make deals with some of the biggest spenders in the global market.
Four Tokyo-based galleries were selected to participate in the 38th Art Basel, nearly all well seasoned in the art-fair world.
"In comparison, Art Fair Tokyo is very domestic, where the mostly Japanese buyers have limited budgets, reaching at the most to $100,000 per piece," said Maho Kubota, the director of SCAI the Bathhouse, a Tokyo gallery. SCAI, at Basel for the sixth time, also attended the Gulf Art Fair in Dubai in March and will be going to the Shanghai Contemporary art fair in China in September.