ART TAIPEI 2022, the Taipei International Art Fair, opened on 21 October. Many regular fairgoers noticed that this year there were fewer of the very large public-art commissions, and fewer of the masters’ sky-priced blockbusters; in their place stood galleries with enlarged booths, pushing promising young artists to the very front through themed presentations and introducing them to new collectors.

The report opened with the artist Lo Chan Peng’s new work Soul — 2022, 100 × 60 cm, oil painted on transparent acrylic, with a feeling for light unlike his earlier work. Yu Wen-mei, secretary-general of the Taiwan Art Gallery Association, said that through the years of the pandemic galleries had come to see how important it was to promote their own artists well: “The art industry cannot be only buying and selling; a gallery must have a deeper partnership with its artists.”

Because the fair’s entry deadline fell in August, when border controls had not yet eased, many European and American galleries were unable to register in time; in return, a good number of domestic galleries, supported by the Ministry of Culture, rented larger booths than in past years and could mount themed, upgraded presentations that gave their artists’ work a sharper focus. The fair ran at TWTC Hall 1 through 24 October. (Photograph by Ling Mei-hsueh.)