"ART MOSCOW" FAIR TO OPEN IN CENTRAL HOUSE OF ARTISTS

MOSCOW, May 19 (RIA Novosti) -- From June 1-30 the Central House of Artists will be hosting the 9th Art Moscow exhibition of modern art, the Vedomosti daily reports. This is the biggest art fair of the year and the main trendsetter in contemporary Russian art. This year's theme is "Art Territory, No Censorship," meaning visitors should be prepared to see extraordinary and even shocking works.

The organizers selected half of the 110 galleries, which submitted applications to participate in the fair. Twelve applications from foreign galleries were rejected because they were found unsuitable.

According to art critic Yekaterina Dyogot, a member of the expert council, artists regard Art Moscow highly and consider it, as well as the Moscow Biennale, an annual account of their creative accomplishments. Artists try to complete their new projects yearly by mid-May (Art Moscow) and once every two years by mid-December (Moscow Biennale).

In the beginning Art Moscow was not so much a contemporary art fair as it was an art show. Today, however, the artists try to sell their works.

Last year at Art Moscow the XL gallery sold a huge painting by Dubosarsky and Vinogradov, The Beatles in Moscow, for $60,000 and the Stella Art Gallery sold an estimated $350,000 worth of Ilya Kabakov's works. Small graphics by Andy Warhol were sold for $30,000. Nothing sold for less than $2,000.