Raise your hand if free drinks and the lure of scruffy nubiles were what first introduced you to contemporary art. It's O.K. No one's judging. In fact, you'd be in excellent company on the ever-more-globalized art fair circuit, an unparalleled opportunity for co-mingling and commerce. Gallerist and blogger Edward Winkleman has said the number of fairs today is approaching farce. To some, this new proliferation of art and art-related events is like adding Shanghai and New Zealand Fashion Weeks to their calendars. But with a vast and dynamic contemporary art market, grouping quality indie galleries and their best wares under one roof makes sense. So does importing parties, like Paris bar-of-the-moment Le Baron does, to bring the sexy to Art Basel Miami every year. Like it or not, from the Art Basels (original and American), to the Frieze in London, the Armory show in New York, Art Beijing, and Paris's FIAC, more and more are coming not just to wheel and deal, but to look, booze, and cruise.

Take opening night at the 34th annual FIAC (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain). It's not that gallerists were unenthusiastic about showing there in the past, but in its second year after relocating to the Grand Palais from the dreaded Parc des Expositions in the graveyard of the outer 15th arrondissement, FIAC this year had a palpable sense of It-ness. "Last year, the fair was finding its feet," says Neil Wenman, director of Lisson Gallery in London. This year, he credits venue familiarity and the addition of such first-time New York exhibitors as David Zwirner, Luhring Augustine, Sean Kelly, and Cheim & Reid for the raised voltage. "These strong galleries make FIAC a more important place to come, and it's genteel and civilized as opposed to the rugby scrum of Frieze." Wenman has nothing against Frieze, which started in London only five years ago to become one of the most important fairs on the schedule. Lisson cleaned up there a few weeks ago, selling works by Anish Kapoor, Art & Language, and John Murphy. But at FIAC they exhibited only one artist, Julian Opie (his Suzanne Walking in Skirt and Top (2005), is pictured left) and they sold out the stall completely. Belgian gallerist Xavier Hufkens, who brought photos by Roger Ballen and Robert Mapplethorpe, a work by Louise Bourgeois (on exhibit seemingly everywhere), and one of Adam Fuss's eerie photo transfers, agrees. "It's nice to be here now."