Art fair sales demonstrate dampening of market a myth

The numbers are in for Sydney Contemporary, demonstrating a market downturn is not as bad as we thought.

Sydney Contemporary swept on to the calendar for another edition last week. There was a little trepidation ahead of the event, with the sector noticeably feeling a slight cooling of the market in recent months. However, it appears to be all myth!

Australia’s leading art fair recorded over $21 million in art sales over the five-day event. It was slightly down on 2022, which achieved $23 million in sales, but is still growing upwards, with pre-COVID numbers in 2019 sitting at $18 million.

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina