Russia’s leading contemporary art fair Cosmoscow has moved to a new venue in the suburbs of Moscow. Despite the distance, crowds have flocked to the event, scouring eighty-three gallery booths with prices which cater to both newbies and seasoned collectors.

This year you need to travel to the outskirts of Moscow to visit Cosmoscow, Russia’s biggest contemporary art fair. Its twelfth edition takes place in a new convention centre hidden among residential blocks and budget supermarkets. The fair has changed location numerous times over the last few years as if intentionally moving (or being moved) ever further away from the Kremlin. In 2021 it occupied the Manege, an iconic neo-classical building in the heart of Moscow, then it moved to Gostiny Dvor, another historical building ensemble close to Red Square then last year it was in Expocentr, a somewhat dour, understated venue among office high-rises. However, now Expocentr has been taken over by an exhibition of national achievements called ‘Russia’, rendering the fair once again without a home. Despite a few minor setbacks such as the turnstiles which did not work and the cloakrooms which were full by 8 p.m. when the crowd had just begun to storm in on preview night, this remote location does not feel like an exile. The building is airy and spacious, and packed a buzzing, optimistic, dressy crowd on the opening night. Those who won’t make it to the Timiryazev Centre during the coming weekend will be able to shop for art online until 4th of November.

Some of the gallerists looked less cheerful, however, as the celebratory mood was crushed by censors who visited the fair the night before it opened to the public, a new drill at Russia’s art fairs no longer raising eyebrows. “Not long before midnight the organizers of the fair told me I have to remove four artworks from my booth,” Alexander Sharov, the owner of Moscow’s 11.12 gallery told Art Focus Now. The pieces in question were paintings and a sculpture by Rinat Voligamsi (b. 1968). One of the paintings still stood propped against the booth’s wall during the collectors' preview, waiting to be carried away to the storage. Called ‘Cases’ it depicted a group of men whose lower bodies took shapes of geometric figures, probably an allusion to a famous short story by Anton Chekhov, ‘A Man in a Case’. The sculpture which has been censored, was a rusty five-point star with one extra point. “A similar star two and a half metres high was on display on Red Square in 2021”, Sharov noted, referencing an outdoor exhibition organized by Moscow’s GUM-Red-Line Gallery. This was not his first encounter with censors. 11.12 gallery’s booths have been censored on several art fairs in Moscow and even in Tbilisi, Georgia. Sharov did not meet the censors in person. The officials simply showed the fair's organizers IDs of Moscow City Government’s Department of Culture and gave no further explanations. Other instances of censorship were no less cryptic. Irina Zatulovskaya’s (b. 1954) ‘Coat’, a painting on a metal sheet was removed from the booth of the ‘Who I Am’ Gallery, which featured a well curated display of Zatulovskaya’s signature paintings on reclaimed metal sheets and wooden boards, Pyotr Perevesentsev’s (b. 1962) quirky collages and paintings and intricate ink drawings and a cardboard sculpture by Mikhail Molochnikov (b. 1963). Another dealer who asked not to disclose their name in print told me that they had to remove five artworks from their booth. Unabashed, the dealers pulled other artworks from the storage to cover the blank holes on the walls and continued their business as usual, albeit spirits dampened.

Cosmoscow art fair is known for catering to all tastes and budgets, with prices ranging from 20,000 Roubles (approximately 200 Euros) for a playful nude sketch by Mstislav Pavlov (b. 1967), offered by St. Petersburg’s artist-run Luda art space to 20,000,000 Roubles (approximately 200,000 Euros) for a monumental diptych by Ernst Neizvestny (1925–2016) on display in the booth of ArtGlobe, a newcomer at the fair. Although this antique gallery and auction house deals in everything from icons to Boulle furniture here at Cosmoscow it curated a solo show of Neizvestny, offering an impressive selection of his paintings and sculptures. St. Petersburg artist Ilya Ovsyannikov (b. 1985) whose paintings from the ‘Inner Rose Colour’ series were offered by Artocratia Gallery, told Art Focus Now that he asked the dealer to maintain the same price as if buying from his studio directly. Thus, meditative semi-abstract oils on canvases are priced at 40,000-80,000 Roubles (approximately 400-800 Euros) apiece. Alexander Petrelli, artist and founder of the nomadic Overcoat gallery, walked along the aisles on preview night, offering rare black-and-white photo prints by Francisco Infante-Arana (b. 1943) from the 1970s at 120,000 roubles (1200 Euros) from the inside of his famous overcoat. More bargains await at the Tirage (Editions) Section: Set Project gallery offers a series of silkscreen prints by Haim Sokol (b. 1973), who emigrated to Israel two years ago, at 65,000 roubles (650 Euros) each, images of animals printed on richly textured jacquard fabric. The series from 2019 was printed in an edition of 30.

At the higher end of the scale, Vostochnaya Gallery is offering for sale elegant abstract panels punctured by numerous holes by Vladimir Tryamkin (1952–2017) at 5,000,000 Roubles (approximately 50,000 Euros) while a mushroom sculpture by Igor Makarevich (b. 1943) from his ‘Pagan’ series is on offer for the same price at XL Projects. Among living artists, the most expensive is probably Paris-based Igor Shelkovsky (b. 1937), whose metal sculpture is offered at 60,000 Euros by Alina Pinsky Gallery.

Young and fearless Jessica Gallery from St.Petersburg has won the Best Booth award: it is a booth slash grim total installation incorporating works of several artists on the gallery roster, mostly working with raw, inexpensive found materials. The space is dominated by a statue of a mysterious moose-headed character by Nestor Engelke (b. 1983), offered for 1,000,000 Roubles (approximately 10,000 Euros). House-shaped wooden assemblages by Grecht (b. 1989), 350,000 Roubles or 3500 Euros each, sculptures by Vera Svetlova (b. 1978) – 150,000–370,000 Roubles (approximately 1500-3700 Euros) and torn paper banners by Ivan Chemakin (b. 1986), 300,000–1,000,000 roubles (approximately 3000–10,000 Euros) work in harmony creating an atmosphere of the absurd, where everything is possible and things are not what they seem.

Several galleries such as ArtGlobe, have put together solo booths, creating thoughtfully curated and eye-catching displays. Pennlab, a Moscow gallery specializing in photography, has given over its booth to Vladislav Efimov (b. 1984), with some works from his recent project ‘The Mystery of Living Matter’ (2024), an escapist installation with photographs of cloudy skies, flying zeppelins, and mysterious ceramic faces, framed by garlands of filament lamps. The dreamy mood-lifting artworks are offered for 300,000 roubles (approximately 3000 Euros) each, or you can take the whole series home for 4,000,000 roubles (approximately 40,000 Euros). At RuArts Gallery booth, black-and-white prints by Mikhail Rozanov (b. 1973), a photographer with a passion for classical architecture and strict, mathematically balanced compositions, work unexpectedly well together with latex inflatable sculptures by Sasha Frolova (b. 1984). Pop art and neo-classicism are united by the same colour scheme. Other dealers opted for a more maximalist approach hanging artworks in two layers. At Atelier Choutko’s booth in the Design Section, owner Evgeny Choutko playfully lifts the corner of Albina Voronkova’s rug from the 1990s, to reveal a new colourful mosaic panel by Olga Soldatova (b. 1965) hidden underneath.

In the centre of the fair, St.Petersburg’s Alexandra Gart (b. 1988) who was declared Cosmoscow’s Artist of the Year, constructed a merry-go-round with worn and weary wooden horses covered in dough, perhaps a subtle hint of the futility of the human condition in general and the art market in particular. In some way, art lovers doing their yearly art fair circuit are not much different from children riding their wooden horses in circles without going anywhere. The installation called ‘A Constant of Fun and Filth’ is offered by Anna Nova Gallery for 2,500,000 roubles (approximately 25,000 Euros). With such a varied array of local art the Persian section featuring four galleries from Iran does not stand out, despite its location near the entrance of the fair. Referring to current realities, pop/off/gallery is offering for sale two large canvases by Vladimir Potapov (b. 1981), ‘More Sad than Tragic’ and ‘Before the Abyss of History and Weight of Memory’, at 1,100,000–1,600,000 roubles (approximately 11,000–16,000 Euros). Both are ‘reverse paintings’ with ruins of houses scratched on white background. These powerful images of destruction look like a memento mori reminding us that the world outside the playground of the art fair is not as safe or welcoming as it once seemed to be – and probably never will be again.