“Slow” on the other hand was the unsolicited adjective which appeared to come to mind with many exhibitors when they were asked about sales activity midway through it.
The thinness of the crowd ahead of the weekend strollers and "ice cream suckers" caused exhibitors to drew consolation from the "quality" of the visits.
Many hoped-for deferred purchasing inquiries clearly were translated into sales towards the end of the show.
"Fairteague" also appears to have evaporated as the show continued although clearly overhanging it at the beginning.
Collectors were said to be tiring of fairs which are popping up everywhere with competition from fairs in Hong Kong and Korea.
Sixteen Australian galleries were known to be preparing to show at the Korean International Art Fair alone from September 21.
High profile galleries had postponed exhibiting at MAB until the new management took effect next year.
Others had their energies strained by appearing at both MAB and the nearby fairs and the lack of overseas galleries continued the fair in a regional vein.
Dealers were fresh off the plane from the European summer fair cycle and their annual fat farm visits.
Judging by the organisers' survey, prospective buyers appear to have bucked the retail trend, - locals possibly obtaining some retail therapy from the “poor” Australian medal run at the Olympics.
Auctions have swept many of the secondary dealers in particular out of business and are now proving a challenge to dealers representing living artists and recent artists' estates.
Paying $22,000 on average for stand rental, some gallery owners appeared to write off the cost with much more publicly recognised shows at the fair. Visitors appeared happy to shell out an extra $5 at $30 to see these shows at the fair in company with others although they could see them free if they had been at the galleries.
The view that the crowd was more serious this time around was supported by the early presence of the new director of Art Gallery of NSW, Michael Brand and the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art In Sydney, Elizabeth Liz Ann MacGregor.
David Walsh, the director of MONA in Tasmania came late in the show.
But then he is being pressed by the Australian Tax Office so being early did not matter so much.
At least one new media star was born, the reputations of several emerging artists consolidated and a number of gallerists lifted or better defined their profiles among a changing client base.
The biggest new star was Baden Pailthorpe, who was at hand much of the time to articulate the three new videos, all attracting multiple red dots (and frequently) a crowd of viewers at the Martin Browne Contemporary stand.
Groups similar crowded around the video art shown by Joan Ross (a lecturer at UNSW Cofa) at Gallery Barry Keldoulis although her work, "colonial art meets graffiti" are already well known and have become favourites with many.
Two of Pailthorpe's new videos at $5500 each were secured by up to five buyers each and a third was about to take off.
The old issue of whether copies could be run off by the buyer (pirated) appeared to be solved.
No buyer was going to do so because they would cheapen the value of their existing holding.
The new media was thin on the ground reflecting the exhibitors' concern for safeness and security.
But overseas fairs tend not to be too different. The big difference was the absence of overseas art, so much more affordable with the higher Australian dollar.
Annandale Galleries is one of the few Australian galleries that shows high powered art from overseas.
Its director, Bill Gregory, reasoned that the slow opening to the fair, especially evident at the Vernissage, was due to the presence of so much editioned work on the market including his own stand.
Because the work of William Kentridge, who he has shown since the beginning of the millennium was in editions, potential buyers reasoned it was relatively safe to hold off until later in the fair.
Other "identical" works were always around, if not readily available now.
Pailthorpe and Ross proved such treasures. Pailthorpe landed on Browne's doorstep from the School of The Arts, at the University of NSW where he is a Ph.D candidate. Ross has been a regular with Barry Keldoulis for several years.
Browne was “very pleased with the sales all round.” He said while the idea of presenting four one day solo exhibitions entailed a degree of extra work and organization, it has worked “even better” than he hoped in terms of sales and exposure
“Apart from the solos, we have also had excellent sales across the range of gallery artists who we have shown in the ‘group hangs.’
Another established Sydney dealer who has embraced the fairs with so much gusto, bringing out his signature kilt to wear for the occasion, Rex Irwin reeled off a list of his sales which included two Austin Lincoln sculptures at $6,600 each, one Nicholas Harding oil at $5,000, one Tim McMonagle at $6,500, one Amanda Marburg at $10,000.
In addition he sold a Fred Williams oil at $300,000 and a gouache by the same artist for $30,000.
In the same corner of the Royal Exhibition building where the fair, as usual, was being held, Charles Nodrum's long attachment to Post War abstract painting and sculpture continued its slow translation into sales.
Only for Charles what is slow to others must be fast for him, as the abstract art of the 1960s and 1970s which he has promoted decades has had a very slow long term uptake.
Auctioneer and gallerist, Mossgreen engineered a sell-out for two - "stuffed" wild beasts from Kate Bergin (the other but pre-acknowledged star of the fair) and tiled sculptures by Deborah Halpern, the takings for which must have approached $400,000 adding further to the prosperity of this pro-active operation.
Not quite as much Aboriginal art understandably was in evidence but Melbourne's Alcaston Gallery made early sales of works by the abstract artist Sali Gavoria at $12,000 and $18,000
After a trying year in the courts involving the divorce of its principal, Robert Gould said the fair was an occasion to remind the public that Gould Galleries handled a diverse range of dynamic artists. "The response to both Stephen Bird and Troy Emery's works has been fantastic," he said.
" We are very happy with a 70 per cent sale rate for each of the artists especially as they are both relatively new to the Melbourne market.
One of the few overseas galleries exhibiting Osaka Gallery Yamaki Art Gallery was busy wrapping its typically elegant Japanese sculptures and paintings from day 1.
Buyers looking for pleasant take away objects – "tschotskes?" – needed to look no further than the miniature glass domed environments, reminiscent of snow domes, containing scenes of Australian life such as caravans and camping.
The scenes were enacted on "giant" (out of scale) embroidered purses. By Kendall Murray they were a new success for the Sydney gallery Arthouse on the Melbourne market .
These were priced at around $4000. Nicholas Folland at Brisbane based Ryan Renshaw's similarly presented glass containers with objects inside. The luckily near-to-the door location of the stand where they were visible helped make the works a sell-out.
Another trend was the elephant in the room. and not just at the fair. Sculpted and painted elephants came from the hands of Halpern and at Australian Galleries, Geoffrey Ricardo. A big celebration around Melbourne was being held by the Melbourne Zoo around the city.
Sotheby's Australia - coincidentally - has two expensive elephant pictures in its coming art sale in Melbourne. .
One sour noted was struck unfortunately with an overseas gallery when international input is really valued.
Matthias Arndt of Berlin said he was unfairly asked to remove part of an artist's exhibit for safety reasons which he disputed as unnecessary.
A surely avoidable row ensued with the fair's organisers and a painful report of what had happened where the offending piece was taken down. Barages of tweets followed.
Even after this Arndt, who has a gallery in Berlin, said "We knew the fair would be a big challenge and an engagement with only long term potential and this expectation seems to be proved now. "
He was "shocked" to find only a couple of other overseas dealers (barring New Zealanders) exhibiting at the fair and little interest barring the Foundation's demand to trim part of his exhibit from MAF committee members and members of the press.
Only a handful of overseas dealers have shown at the fair including a Korean contingent with help from their government over the years and have decided it was not for them, but the places have been readily filled.
In this, the MAF has the same kind or problem as Qantas - catering to a small market at the end of the line in Sydney.
But it is shocking that no big collectors of international art have emerged in a country that is doing relatively well economically.
Sydney's Michael Reid, now planning a new gallery venture in Europe and a major past exhibitor with a big social base, said he was waiting on the new management of the fair to show itself after being disappointed by the much debated supposed shortcomings of past fairs.
The change in management in December last year was “ just too late in terms of our gallery planning.”
He looks forward towards returning to Melbourne in 2014, we anticipate by then, that much will have changed and an entirely new energy will be injected into the organisation.
