The Curated Object

Fairs. SOFA 2012. The Best Bits from Leslie Ferrin, Mark Lyman, Sienna Freeman, David Revere McFadden. The Curated Object

Timothy Schreiber
Black Ice Tables
richlite material
Wexler Gallery

 

David Clarke 
Ooh La La, 2007
Silver plated nickel, silver coffee pot,
and lead sheet 
25cm x 16cm x 37cm 
Ornamentum Gallery

 

Ann Van Hoey
Growing, 2009 
White Earthenware, 
slab building and molding
H15x30x30cm., H13x23x23cm, H10x15x15cm 
J. Lohmann Gallery

 

Philip Moulthrop
Bundled Mosaic, 2011
mixed wood with resin
13 x 13
Photo: Joel Whisenant
Sarah Myerscough Fine Art

 

Christian Burchard
Another Literary Dynasty, 2011
6 parts, 33 x 46 x 38 cm
Bleached Madrone Burl
Sarah Myerscough Fine Arts

 

Rob and Jaap Thalen
Penguin 1
silver
Thalen & Thalen

 

John Kiley
Obscure Eclipse, 2012
Glass
13 x 14 ½ x 14”
Photo: Jeff Curtis
Schantz Galleries

 

Lola Brooks
Neckpiece, 2012
gold, steel
4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 1 inches, 19 inches long
Sienna Gallery

 

 

Malene Mullertz
Porcupine Basket, 2009
stoneware
6.75 x 6.25
photo: George Bouret
Lacoste Gallery

 

SOFA NYC: The Best Bits from Mark Lyman, Leslie Ferrin, Sienna Freeman, David Revere McFadden 

Interviews by Cappi Wiilliamson 

The Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair impressed fair-goers from April 20-23rd at the Park Avenue Armory. Visitors traveled through a celestial mise-en-scene created by architect David Ling into a world of glasswork, silverwork, sculpture, porcelain, wood, and, in all things, beauty and invention.  Gallerists and dealers from as far away as Tel-Aviv and London and as near as Hudson, New York brought their most cutting-edge wares in the world of contemporary decorative arts: a Jean-Francois Thierion stoneware vase comes under the same roof as a Kent Townsend zircote coffee table and a David Bielander pearl brooch. The fair asked us to transcend labels like “furniture” and “jewelry” and question the very definition of art. Here, we talk with the curators and gallerists redefining contemporary arts and design at this year’s SOFA NYC. 

 

Leslie Ferrin is the owner of Ferrin Gallery. This year, the gallery presented Covet, an installation of new works by ten top ceramicists including Molly Hatch, Kurt Weiserand Sergei Isupov. From simple updates of content and cultural perspective to recreations in new technology, Covet artists reinterpret historic museum artworks in collaboration with curators from the likes of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Fine Arts Boston and others. 

How did the COVET project come about, and what do you hope that it achieved? 

COVET was originally inspired by conversations between Museum of Fine Arts Boston curator, Emily Zilber and designer/artists Molly Hatch about the direct relationship between contemporary artists and historic artworks in museum collections.  Starting in summer of 2011, a formal dialog began between artists and the museum curators responsible for specific artworks or collections.   The exhibition will present new artworks inspired by the curator/artist conversations about content, context, social history and patronage.  The project has exceeded all our expectations.  With Adrienne Spinozzi working with Alice Frelinghuysen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the artists have been given full access to information about the works they reference both in person and through the use of their online digital material.  The same has been true at all the other museums and with curators involved with the project.  They've each opened their offices, storage and helped our artists develop a deeper involvement with the material that inspires them.  At SOFA New York, we preview just the first artworks to be produced in the project, our summer programs in the Berkshires will involve more artists and works in all mediums.  Our programming taking place during the fair will bring artists and curators from throughout the country to a series of talks, panels and conversations and gives the public an opportunity to participate in the process and explore their own "covetousness.  

The COVET project is intended to look at historical artworks through the interpretations of the contemporary artists who are inspired by them. Talk about some of your own favorite historical artists/artworks. Who or what has inspired you? 

The inspiration for COVET began with the dialog begun between Molly Hatch and curator Emily Zilber about the powerful John Singer Sargent family portrait of the Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882.   The painting is prominently on view in the newly opened American Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, positioned between the two large scale 19^th century Japanese porcelain vases in the painting.  It was one of those moments when it became clear that the relationship established by the installation and placement of the Japanese vases portrayed in the painting on either side, was exactly what were doing in the present with our artists producing both two and three dimensional works.  It turns out that several of the artists we were working with felt the same way and were inspired to produce new works based on the painting and the concept of two and three dimensions.  At SOFA you will see a photograph by Bill Wright that references the actual painting through subject and content and works by Molly Hatch that use other paintings in the collection and features sculptural figures as silhouette. 

Can you discuss  one or two of the pairings to be presented, and what makes them especially interesting.

Look at the work of Giselle Hicks, whose work is informed conceptually by European still life paintings, she "covets" the beauty of the temporal moment expressed in the paintings, the careful detailed paintings of flowers that were once alive, captured in their best moment by the painter.  She produces works that are equally beautiful and capture the spirit in those paintings, in real life moments in three dimensions through ceramic still life artworks.  Also see how Molly Hatch is exploring engravings through her plate series and her paintings with three dimensional figures in silhouette. 

What are you most interested to see at SOFA this year? 

How we solve the problem of how to present all the incredible work we have in an installation that makes sense to the viewer.   Sienna Patti, my co-curator and director of a gallery that specializes in contemporary jewelry said last night "we should have done headsets for people to hear the artists talk about their work", I answered "great idea, let's tape the artists during their in-booth conversations and then for the summer, we'll have the dialog captured at the gallery for our artBerkshires program."

 

Sienna Freeman is the director of the Wexler Gallery, who exhibited work from innovative talents such as Vivian Beer, Timothy Schreiber, Philipp Aduatz, David Trubridge, Esque Studio, and more at SOFA NYC this year. 

You say that your booth this year is about “the interaction of contemporary design with traditional forms of craft.” How does the juxtaposition of your master glass artists and such contemporary and cutting-edge work as Vivian Beer’s and Philipp Aduatz’s (two artists whose work you’ll be showing) open up this dialog? 

 By juxtaposing contemporary design pieces with works by master glass artists we hope to illustrate a common thread in visual language. For example, Joel Philip Myers Dr. Zharkov pieces were heavily influenced by his time as a designer at Blenko Glass.  Like Joel, Vivian Beer has roots in craft, specifically metal fabrication. Both of their work crosses over into the design world on an aesthetic and functional level. Our booth aims to challenge viewers to broaden their interpretation of the terms associated with this field.

Can you discuss 1-2 pieces you’re excited to be bringing to the fair, and how they reinterpret decorative arts and design?  

Philipp Aduatz and Timothy Schreiber have backgrounds in industrial design and architecture, however, their work addresses many of the same questions that traditional studio furniture or craft artists have posed in the past. They both create beautiful functional objects that are also sculptural in nature using innovative new techniques and processes as well as the latest technology.

How does SOFA – and perhaps the art fair in general - validate the importance of contemporary arts and design in today’s marketplace?

Art fairs like SOFA expose works to new audiences with fresh eyes that may not be concerned with categorizing an object as “craft, art or design”. This opens the field to new interpretations for artists, dealers and collectors on an international level.

What other booth, talk, or artist’s work are you most excited to see at SOFA this year?

  We are excited to see David McFadden speak during the Covet discussion, as the mission statement of the Museum of Art and Design is very similar to the vision of Wexler Gallery. 

Mark Lyman is the President of the Art Fair Company. He produced this year’s SOFA show in NYC, as well as the SOFA Chicago and SOFA West: Santa Fe annual fairs. 

What makes SOFA different from the other fairs you produce? 

SOFA is the only art fair focused on contemporary studio arts and design-gallery presented. It explores select works by master-level artists. 

Speak a little bit about how you curated the fair. What were you looking for in this year's collection of dealers and their objects? 

The most interesting, masterful works representing concept and virtuosity with material. We had a dealer-based selection committee to determine presenters. 

Talk about the David Ling installation at this year's fair. How did it come about? 

We wanted to make the experience of viewing art at the Armory a totally different environment. David’s design does just that. The Armory hall is turned into a work of art itself.  

What are you most excited for this year? Are there any particular objects, or booths, you're dying to see?  

SO MANY NEW WORKS!!  The furniture of Vivian Beers At Wexler Gallery - all the furniture at Zimmerman and Jacobson galleries. Thalen & Thalen raised silver objects.  Ferrin and Sienna galleries collaboration "Covet"

David Revere McFadden is Chief Curator and Vice President for Programs and Collections at the Museum of Arts & Design. He participated in a panel discussion titled The Design Continuum: Looking Back to the Future with David Ling (David Ling Architect), Jamie Drake (Drake Design Associates) at the curators breakfast this morning.  

What do you think distinguishes this year's fair from previous years?

Each year the SOFA brings together a broader cross section of the art and design community, and has welcomed new technologies (like rapid prototyping) as part of the vocabulary of processes represented. The world of art, craft, and design is a wonderful blur zone, where old hierarchies no long apply, and SOFA this year represents this new artistic diversity.

Why do you think fairs such as SOFA are so important to the contemporary decorative arts community, and to the marketplace? In the age of online auctions, why do we keep coming back?

Fairs are a wonderful resource for new collectors, as they can see a broad range of work in one place. For the seasoned collectors, it is  a chance to take the pulse on what is happening in the visual arts, and to discover new and emerging talent.

Is there a booth, talk, or artist's work you’re especially excited to see at SOFA this year? 

It would be unfair to single out one booth! I am excited by the live installation by sand painter Joe Mangrum that MAD is presenting as part of its current exhibition Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design at SOFA this year.

For more information pleaes visit the official SOFA site 

 

 

Art Fairs. Special Report: Saxon Henry Explores the Best of SOFA Chicago. The Curated Object

"Transformation Bluejay," Ross Richmond, Duane Reed Gallery

"Torso #5," Ross Richmond, Duane Reed Gallery

Ross Richmond at work

Special Report: Saxon Henry Explores the Best of SOFA Chicago
 
One of life’s joys is walking into an exhibition with no preconceived notions as to the character of the aesthetically rich experiences awaiting within, something that was on my mind as I entered the International Exposition of Sculptural Objects & Functional Art show, or SOFA, recently. The fair, which was held in Chicago the weekend of November 5^th at the Navy Pier, was a sensual feast of artful expressions—from jewelry and paintings to three-dimensional art and sculptural furniture. This year, there was a new twist to the offerings, as Intuit brought its Show of Folk and Outsider Art to Festival Hall for the first time. I felt that mixing primitive and self-taught art with the array of contemporary works was a soulful win-win.

 

Mark Chatterley, figurative sculpture

As I strolled through the maze of booths filled with what amounted to an art lover’s sampler of eye-candy, I found myself drawn time and time again to the human form, which was represented by so many artists working in such diverse media that there seemed to be every incarnation of the self—from bone and breast to vein and viscera. I asked gallerist Ken Saunders, who was exhibiting selections from his eponymous Chicago gallery, why he felt the body was such a ubiquitous symbol in art. “It’s our most important image,” he answered. “It’s our view of our physical selves, as well as the identities of our mothers, our girlfriends, our friends, our lovers.”

Rick Beck, "Shiny New Leg, 2010" Cast glass, 76x21x16, Courtesy of Ken Saunders Gallery, LTD

Saunders also explained how he curates the art he exhibits at shows such as SOFA: “I try to choose objects that are significant in the moment—either based upon aesthetic considerations, technical breakthroughs, or prominence in any current climate.” One of the artists he’d brought to the show was Rick Beck, whose piece “Shiny New Leg, 2010” was one of the first human likenesses to catch my eye.

"Distance to a Wall" by Jeff Wallin

It was Jeff Wallin’s kiln-formed glass that stood out amongst the pieces that Prism Contemporary Glass had brought to the fair. Wallin’s “Distance to a Wall” was a painterly composition of powders, frit and glass paste, which was fused within glass—so beautifully done that the artists brush strokes made the pieces seem as if motion had been enticed into its poetic embodiment and frozen there for all eternity. “He’s not just working with glass,” says D. Scott Patria, director of the gallery; “he’s drawing and painting so that the glass he creates achieves a dynamic new perspective.”

Thornton Dial, "Food Line 2008," 59.75' X 39.5" X 7" courtesy of the Tanner Hill Gallery

from Jimmy Lee Sudduth's series  "8 Green-Eyed Girlfriends" each painting measures 24.5" x 24.5" courtesy of the Tanner Hill Gallery

Angela Usrey of Tanner Hill Gallery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, was one of the Intuit additions to the SOFA show. I’ve followed the talented gallerist from my hometown for years, always enjoying her refined eye and her keen sensibilities when intermingling a diverse selection of art during the shows in which she participates. “After 15 years as an art dealer, curating an installation for any exhibit, whether at an art fair or an in-house at the galleries, profoundly interests me,” she told me. “Curating an installation for SOFA/Intuit was a compelling challenge since I focus on contemporary folk art, which is a bit of a departure from what many folk-art galleries exhibit. I’ve participated in Art Chicago for years and I was excited to have the opportunity to return to town at a second venue this year.” A standout in Usrey’s booth was a collection of eight paintings by Jimmy Lee Sudduth, one of folk art’s rock stars. “It’s the only known series of paintings ever created by the artist, who died in 2007,” Usrey remarked. 

"No Man is an Island: Female," 72 x 60 x 3" $38,000

 

"No Man is an Island: Obsidian Male," 72 x 48 x 3" $38,000

 

"Polychrome, 2010," 58 x 16 x 16" $72,000

Polychrome foot

 

"Propylaea, 2010," 58 x 18 x 18" $58,000

"Revenge of Gaia, 2010," 52 x 16 x 16, $62,000

"Amphictyon, 2010", 42x14x9 $19,000, Edition of 6

Clifford Rainey’s work, exhibited in the Royal Oak-based Habitat Galleries’ booth, made a strong impression on me. His “No Man is an Island Female, 2010” with its trajectory of body parts struck me as eerily beautiful—an emotionally rich metaphor for how modern life pulls us apart, perhaps? His “Propylaea, 2010,” was also powerful. Its placid resignation seemed to declare that it was a persona in no hurry to embrace the icily etched crystalline shapes of glass from which its body was forged, though it certainly wasn’t going so far as rejecting them either. 

One of the richest tactile examples of the body as art was the work of Marilyn Pappas, which was being exhibited in the Snyderman-Works’ booth. “Nike and the Life of Beauty,” made of cotton and gold thread on linen, was lushly intricate and served as a centerpiece in the Philadelphia gallery’s booth. Another luxuriant piece was the artist’s “History Lessons: Mixed Messages,” which was embroidered from corner to corner, not an inch of the tableau left unadorned.

Akio Takamori [Japanese, b. 1950] Boy in Black Shoes, 2010, Stoneware with underglazes, 41 x 14 x 10 inches
104.1 x 35.6 x 25.4 cm, BF17531 $17,000.00

Akio Takamori [Japanese, b. 1950] Boy, 2010 Stoneware with Underglazes 40 x 13 x 10 inches 101.6 x 33 x 25.4cm, BF17595 $17,000.00

Akio Takamori [Japanese, b. 1950] Boy in Blue Shoes, 2010 Stoneware with underglazes, 41 x 13 x 11 inches
104.1 x 33 x 27.9 cm, BF17532, $17,000.00

Akio Takamori [Japanese, b. 1950] Boy in Red Shoes, 2010, Stoneware with underglazes
40 x 13 x 10 inches, 101.6 x 33 x 25.4 cm, BF17530 $17,000.00

One of my favorite New York gallerists was at the show. Barry Friedman Ltd., who has made a name for himself when it comes to spotting cutting-edge talent, was exhibiting stoneware figures by Japanese artist Akio Takamori. I asked him how he curated his show offerings. “We’ve learned that less is more,” he answered. “We feel it’s important that someone can walk around every sculptural piece to see the work in all its dimensions.” The lauded tastemaker believes one of the hottest trends in art at the moment is ceramics. For those who know his breadth of knowledge, it’s a sound bet he’s right on the money. I feel a google explosion of ceramic searches going on right about…now!

For more information on the artists and the expo, please visit:  

http://www.sofaexpo.com/

http://www.outsiderfolkartfair.com/

http://www.kensaundersgallery.com 

http://www.prismcontemporary.com

http://tannerhillgallery.com

http://www.habitat.com

http://www.snyderman-works.com

http://www.barryfriedmanltd.com

and to stay on top of Saxon Henry's beautiful and brilliant contributions to the world of design, travel and literature please visit:

Saxon Henry
Roaming by Design
Design Commotion
Chair Chick
The Road to Promise

FourSquare

Author of Four Florida Moderns  

Antiques Fairs, Paris. B-Boys (and a Girl). This Year's Top 3 Dealers at the Biennale des Antiquaires: The Marlborough Gallery, J.J. Lally & Co., and Jason Jacques. The Curated Object

B-Boys (and a Girl)

This year's top 3 Dealers at the Biennale des Antiquaires: The Marlborough Gallery, J.J. Lally & Co., and Jason Jacques

September 15-22, 2010 

By Cappi Williamson

Dealers need collectors. And the most discerning collectors of fine art, jewelry, antiques, and haute couture meet in Paris every other year for the Biennale des Antiquaires. Everyone from Jean-Michel Wilmotte to Christian Lacroix have joined them there, showcasing their wares and looking to make a match, and maybe even a marriage, with the chic clientele at the show.  This year’s event, the 25th Anniversary biennale, focuses on the “next generation” of dealers and designers. Since New York City is arguably the epicenter of what’s untried and on-the-cusp, it’s only natural that there are six “new yorkais” exhibiting this year. Three of them – Janis Cecil of The Marlborough Gallery, James Lally of J.J. Lally & Co., and Jason Jacques of his eponymous gallery – spoke to us about the journey to Paris this year.  

VALDES, Manolo (b. 1942), Libreria, 2010, wood, 108 ¼ x 78 ¾ x 11 5/8 in. 275 x 200 x 30 c © Manolo Valdés. Courtesy Marlborough Gallery, NY 

Double Hamburger, 1985-86, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 116 x 242 in.,  294.64 x 614.68 cm,  © 2010 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Courtesy Marlborough Gallery, NY

Three Studies of the Human Body, 1970, oil on canvas, triptych, each panel: 78 x 58  in, each panel: 198.1 x  145.3 cm © 2010 Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. / ARS, New York / DACS, London, Courtesy Marlborough Gallery, NY

 

Janis Cecil, of The Marlborough Gallery

If you’re in the art world in New York – or in London, for that matter – then you already know The Marlborough Gallery. Janis Cecil, a director of the contemporary art Mecca’s New York galleries, talks about exhibiting at the Biennale for the first time, the new artists Marlborough is bringing to the show, and the Parisians who mixed modern art with antiques before the pairing became ubiquitous. 

If you aren’t in Paris: An exhibition of Dale Chihuly’s amazing glass sculpture art will open at Marlborough Chelsea, 545 W. 25th St., on Sept. 16th and continue through Oct. 16th. Go. The images are a Pandora landscape come to life. 

CO: How do you feel that the Paris Biennale is different from other shows, such as the Armory Show?

JC: The Biennale presents a unique blend of dealers and gallerists that is a showcase for highly specialized and rare works; it’s a vetted fair, so it presents the best objects of each respective category, from antiques to fine art. 

CO: How do you think contemporary art fits into a show that began as a venue to showcase antiques?

JC: Contemporary art fits very well into the Biennale because it is rare now for collectors to have complete “period” rooms in which only one type of furniture, art and objects are featured.  A more modern and relaxed way of living is to combine antiques with 19th-century, modern and contemporary art and objects in order to create a conversation across cultures and time.  This mix can be much more intellectually and creatively gratifying.  I think that the home of the late Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé perfectly exemplifies this thinking.  Their collection spanned eras and continents and they chose only the best.

 

CO: What is the one piece you’re bringing to the show that you are especially excited about?

JC: We will exhibit Francis Bacon’s large-scale painting Three Studies of the Human Body, 1970, at the Biennale this autumn. This is a very rare triptych by the artist, as practically no works of this size and quality are available on the market.  The painting depicts three female nudes balanced on a curved bar or trestle that spans the canvases. The figures’ tenuous positions on their supports reflect the anxiety of humanity in the 20th-century. This painting was exhibited at a number of important exhibitions of Bacon’s work, notably the Grand Palais exhibition in 1971 and the retrospective at the Yale Center for British Art in 1999. Most recently it was exhibited at the 51st Venice Biennale “The Experience of Art” at Padiglione Italia, 2005, and the Bacon and Picasso exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Lucerne in 2007.

CO: Are you unveiling any recent acquisitions or new artists at the show?

JC: Manolo Valdés made an extraordinary wood sculpture of a bookshelf with vases and urns expressly to exhibit at the Biennale. Entitled Libreria, the sculpture measures 108 ¼ x 78 ¾ x 11 5/8 in. (275 x 200 x 30 cm).

CO: This year’s show, the 25th Anniversary Biennale, is focused on the “next generation.” How do you feel that your exhibition contributes to the theme?

JC: We will have an excellent contribution to the theme of the “next generation” at the Biennale this year. The gallery will exhibit Andy Warhol’s monumental Double Hamburger of 1985-1986.  Warhol’s vast influence is very much a part of the “next generation.”  The legacy of the ideas in his work and his methods continues to be vitally important in contemporary art today.

Jim Lally, of J.J. Lally & Co.

James Lally is another newcomer to the Biennale, and to art fairs in general – the Biennale will be his first - however, he’s no novice. Lally has been in the art market for over forty years, and, as the former director of Chinese works of art at Sotheby’s, Lally has been known as the preeminent dealer of ancient Chinese art and artifacts since he opened his gallery, J.J. LALLY & Co., in 1986. Here, Lally talks about the provenance of some of his favorite pieces travelling to Paris, and the stands he won’t miss at the show. 

CO: What made you choose this fair, at this time?

JL: Of course I have attended many art fairs and enjoyed them very much, and the Paris Biennale has always been the best art fair in the world in my opinion because of the quality and diversity of the exhibitors, the high standards and high style maintained by the organizers, and  the sophistication of the collectors, curators and dealers who attend.  I have always said that if I ever did participate in an art fair the Paris Biennale is the one I would choose.  When Herve Aaron told me of the special plans and preparations for the 25th Biennale, the opportunity seemed too good to pass up.  

 

CO: What piece or pieces you are especially excited about exhibiting this year?

JL: The exhibition consists of ancient Chinese works of art, ritual bronzes, jades, ceramics and sculpture.  The Tang dynasty (618-907) sancai-glazed pottery figure of a courtier in Persian dress is one of a dozen extraordinary Tang pottery tomb sculptures from an American private collection formed over the last 25 years. The animated pose of this unusual model with a ‘foreign’ face, dressed in a Persian-style coat and holding a mysterious circular box is really intriguing; the figure embodies the cosmopolitan life at the capital of Tang China in the 7th Century A.D. when Ch’angan (present day Xi’an) was the terminus of the Silk Road and the largest and most prosperous city in the world. The pair of gilt bronze dragons, also dating from the Tang dynasty, were used as ornament in some now unknown imperial context—it was during the Tang dynasty that the dragon first became the emblem of the Chinese emperor.

 

CO: What other exhibitors are you interested in seeing this year? Is there a stand you never miss? Are there any international dealers whose acquisitions you admire and who you look forward to seeing at the Biennale?

JL: Because of my special interest in Chinese art, the first stands I’ll visit at the Biennale this year will be the Asian art specialists, particularly the great Paris dealer Jacques Barrerre, and his son Antoine, and the Chinese art specialist Gisele Croes, who is based in Brussels. I’m also eager to see the paintings and drawings that will be exhibited by Anisabelle Beres, where I have seen many beautiful 19th and 20th century French paintings, as well as the finest Japanese prints.  I know that I’ll see many old friends in Paris in September, and I’m looking forward to meeting some new ones too.

Jason Jacques, of Jason Jacques Gallery, Photo by Alexander Haessner

 

Jason Jacques, of Jason Jacques Gallery

Jason Jacques could be called the bad boy of the Biennale. He refers to himself as a “pot dealer.” He’s a self-made man in the art and antiques world who began as a “runner” for more established dealers in the Paris flea markets. But Jacques’s passion for French ceramics and his dedication to grooming the next generation of antiquarians make him a perfect match for this year’s Biennale, his first. 

If you miss Jacques at the fair: Visit his next exhibition at the gallery, EXOTICA: Exotic Influences on European Decorative Arts, 1875-1925 from Oct. 8th through Nov. 12th. 

CO: What are you bringing to the Biennale from your collection? Is there a particular piece you’re really exciting about exhibiting? What is its provenance and why did you choose to bring it to Paris?

JJ: I am bringing almost nothing from my collection. I purchased the most impressive collection of rarified French art pottery in the world from a private collector and am showing that collection. So nothing I am bringing has ever been seen before with the exception of two vases that I just really wanted to show (see below). The collection is 220 masterpieces by Jean Carries, Georges Hoentschel and other French studio pottery from the 1890's. It’s a mind-blowing thing to bring a collection like this, which has not been on the market, and exposing it all at once at my first Biennale.

We have chosen to be very specific with the Paris Biennale with a highly academic selection of major french japoniste studio pottery. Perhaps one of the most exciting vases of the group is by Georges Hoentschel. 

Georges Hoentschel, Marine Life, urn, stoneware, 37” H x 24” W, France, 1900.

Unmarked, One of a pair of monumental urns, this example and its mate were exhibited at the pavilion of the Union Centrale des arts decoratifs (the forerunner of today’s Musées des Arts Décoratifs) at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. The other example is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In 1900 Emile Grittel was the primary ceramist in Hoentschel’s design atelier and was most likely the designer of this commission. Seemingly dredged from the depths of the sea, the form is covered with seaweed, fish, and shells, modeled in relief. Stabilized by an encrustation of conch shells and vegetation,the urn is further decorated with fluid surges of tan, brown, and green glazes.

 

CO: Paris is sort of your home turf, as you specialize in French ceramics and started as a “runner” in the European flea markets for antiques dealers. Now you’re exhibiting at the Biennale. What does exhibiting at this show mean for you?

JJ: I was told by so many people for so many years that I would never exhibit at the Biennale. I just kept my mouth shut and applied once, when the timing was right, and here I go. Needless to say, for me it is a dream come true. This is the French making amends to their great ceramics tradition, which they lost touch with for 100 years. Most of the great collections since the time these groundbreaking vases were made are American and German. I know this because there were only a few of us building them. Things have changed dramatically since the time I started in business, and now the French market realized the mistake they made and want this art back in France. And they should! French art pottery from the 1890's was a renaissance for the medium.

CO: As a self-taught collector and dealer, what is your advice to the up-and-comers out there?

JJ: There are two types of art dealers. Those born into it and the unstoppable renegades that came from nowhere like myself. I don't think traditional education methods work for those of us without pedigrees. Sure universities can churn out bright academics, and we need them - they are my favorite people - the insatiable sponges for knowledge. But dealers need a very different skill set than what can be learned in University, which is why the master-apprentice approach created so many great second- and third-generation galleries. But for those that start from the bottom, nothing can beat the hands-on experience of the trenches, fighting for the material as it gets unboxed at a déballage or sniffing out the treasures at small auctions…

CO: What exhibitors do you look forward to seeing at the show? Are there any dealers you particularly admire? Any friends?

JJ: I have so many friends at this show. I would not know where to start. However, I very much admire Yves Macaux. If I were the guy with all the money, I would buy all my decorative arts from him. My hero in this business will always be Barry Friedman. As a pioneer and someone who started in business much the way I did, I have tremendous respect for him. He had the good luck of being in the right place at the right time. But alas, you asked about other Biennale dealers....

Events NYC. A Tree Grows in the Park Avenue Armory—Reflections on SOFA 2010. The Curated Object

 Wendy Wahl “Branches”, 2010 Represented by browngrotta arts, Wilton CT Photo: Johnny Borter

Wendy Wahl “Branches”, 2010 Represented by browngrotta arts, Wilton CT Photo: Johnny Borter

Wendy Wahl “Branches”, 2010 Represented by browngrotta arts, Wilton CT Photo: Johnny Borter

A TREE GROWS IN THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY—REFLECTIONS ON SOFA 2010

By Natalie Fasano

The Sculpture Objects and Functional Art Fair (SOFA) 2010 premiered at the Park Avenue Armory on April 15th.  An iconic house of New York City Art and Culture, 

The Park Avenue Armory was built in the late 19th century, originally conceived as a “military facility and social club” during Lincoln’s presidency. The Armory’s original list of private patrons reads like a who’s who of 19th century New York elite; the founding fathers of publishing, politics, and corporate monopoly—Vanderbilt, Roosevelt and Harriman, among others.  Two staircases rise from either side of the pavement, which eventually meet in front of the Armory’s heavy brick and embellished stone façade—one feels many miles above street level at the apex. 

For those who may consider decorative arts “much ado about nothing”—a nod to the forthcoming residence of a to-scale Globe replica in the space—something must be said for shows of SOFA’s scope. I did not enjoy every piece of art, sculpture and design at SOFA, which is why I found the exhibit to be so successful. If I had admired everything, I would have felt cheated, an attendee forced to slog through aesthetic redundancy born of singular vision. In my opinion, a person needs to experience both positive and negative reactions to art, in all formats, to further refine their personal relationship with art and augment the experience of eventual ownership. 

Neil Brownsword’s textural and earthy ceramic/”factory detritus” composed pieces, Jason Walker’s fragile porcelain figures featuring circular concrete “feet,” Lucy Feller’s wickedly dark digital collage photography inspired by childhood fairy tales, Gordon Chandler’s recovered metal and welded steel structures conveying a wonderfully discordant sense of vibrant decay, Rik Allen’s otherworldly blown glass sculptures, Elizabeth Gavotti’s slender bronze figures, Ritsue Mashima’s “spun” glass vase—were my favorites.

If this amalgam reads like a breathless and circuitous odyssey within the Armory—it was. If a majority of my time was expended in energetic wandering, the rest was passed in suspended contemplation of one work. I anticipated Wendy Wahl’s contribution, “branches,” with cautious curiosity. Touted as a “Monumental Installation” featured prominently in the entryway, ‘branches” was the obvious hype piece; it would either sink or swim. 

It swam.  An arresting black and white tree greeted guests upon arrival; to me, it was texturally reminiscent of tightly tiered cocktail napkins.  Wahl’s choice of  both subject and materials—not napkins after all, but discarded and deconstructed pages from the Encyclopedia Britannica, aptly conveyed her “ hope [that the piece] will resonate with the viewer...I want [people] …to question their relationship to the natural world…How does a multitude of new ways to communicate alter our understanding of meaning and significance?” 

For some, the Britannica is a symbol of the past, an arduously constructed, and expensively printed, multi-volume tome of Western knowledge.  It is a compendium of everything that publishers knew at the time, and of sufficient editorial and physical breadth, until the 21st century Age of Technology, to insure a healthy shelf life. Our newfound ability to deliver a constant multi-media maelstrom; of sound, audio and video news, sourced and delivered to the minute—scurrilously or not—has drastically altered the role of print in modern society. The definition of “late-breaking news” has never been kept on such a short leash. 

In Wahl’s tree, I discovered two possible interpretations; one of the times, and one for the Times.  To the former, Wahl’s tree represents print media’s mummified corpse, a figure strangled beneath its own, dead weight.  The latter, however, provides hope.  Wahl’s tree is no longer a requiem but and ode to language as a living organism. The experience of print; the subtle rustling of the turned leaf, the heavily inked and bleeding margin, the earmarked page, to me are represented here.  “Branches” actively promotes the confederacy between the page and the reader, calling us all to invest in words with extended, rather than protracted, meaning.  Leave late-breaking news and superficial novellas to technology.  I saw life in Wahl’s tree, and I’m not sure that it would have been half as beautiful had it been constructed with iPads.

SOFA 2010 aptly chose a collective over a singular vision, providing something for everyone rather than everything for someone.  I found inspiration at the Armory—I discovered a moving ode to print,  a newfound interest in ceramics and a desire to return next year.  Let’s hope I find something I don’t like.

Exhibitions NYC. Asia Week Arrives. The Curated Object

From Joan B Mirviss, Liquid Porcelain: The Sculptural Art of Nague Shigekazu

From Art of the Past gallery, 

Dancing Hevajra, 

Cambodia, Angkor Period, 

Bayon Style, 12th century, 

Bronze, 

Height: 9 3/8 inches (23.8 cm)

Martha Sutherland, HUANG I-MING, Gazing (“Ning”), 65 x 97 cm, 2009

From the show "Honored Guests" from Kaikodo, A Chinese Cizhou Tiger Pillow, 

Length: 15 1/2 in. Mid 12th century

Asia Week Arrives: March 20-28

By JoAnn Greco

Full of crouching tigers and bursting peonies, Asia Week sweeps into New York once again, with the 31 galleries represented by Asian Art Dealers New York, a dozen or so museums and cultural societies, and several auction houses all staging special exhibitions. Covering Chinese, Indian, Himalayan, Korean, Japanese, and Southeast Asian works, the wealth of diversity on hand is spectacular — while the recurring motifs and lines of influence always make for an intriguing art history lesson.

Many of the galleries are dotted in townhouses surrounding Madison Avenue near the Metropolitan Museum, making for a centralized experience. At the northern tip, Art of the Past is presenting "Iksita — Behold, Masterworks from South and Southeast Asia," works selected to embody an idea of visual transcendence. Amidst Indian ivories and Tibetan bronzes, it's the gold on hand that truly glitters. A 19th-century jada nagam — a jeweled braid ornament from India —  is topped by pink pearls, and adorned with gold beads on each side, a stunning piece of work.

From the Kang Collection

From the Kang Collection

Kang Collection is concentrating on paintings and folding screens in "Harmony and Nature: Auspicious Symbols in Korean Art." One screen covers a lot of bases with its depictions of ten symbols of long life, from the pine tree to the deer. In contrast to many of the courtly pieces on hand, one screen from the Flower and Bird genre is much more folk-centric, nearly primitive; enlivened by a Rousseau-ean sense of bright colors and whimsy, it all but shouts "Spring is here!"

 From John Eskenazi 

From John Eskenazi
 

No shouting but instead hushed whispers are in order at the beautifully-installed, almost museum-like show from London's John Eskenazi. On hand are several sandstone and terracotta heads and figures from India and Southeast Asia. But while the buddhas and shivas are serenely beautiful and intricately carved, the deep red Ming dynasty silks hung on the walls, almost as backdrops, were also the object of much attention. 

Contemporary works take the spotlight at a few galleries. Joan B. Mirviss, a lovely gallery outfitted in reclaimed wood from midwestern barns and normally opened only by appointment, is showing the origami-like porcelain sculptures of Nagae Shigekazu, in his first solo exhibition outside of Japan. The artist etches the surfaces with fine lines and his firing technique imparts a beaded sheen to the objects, making them eminently touchable. 

M. Sutherland Fine Arts, Ltd., turns to Chinese calligraphy, showing two contemporary masters, Hsu Kuo-huang and Huang I-ming. Both artists allude to the past in the scripts they're working with — from cursive to clerical to the ancient seal characters — as well as the passages they're quoting. Huang, however, departs from that model in several large pieces, isolating one character and turning it into an abstract meditation on the idea it expresses (such as "quiet" in one case, and "auspicious," in another).

Japanese and Chinese art intersect beautifully at Kaikodo, where celadon boxes and gilt-bronze figures hold court amidst dramatic hanging scrolls and delicate fan paintings. Standouts include a gorgeously-patina'd bronze lian, shown with the wooden box constructed to house it. An ancient tubular vessel from 1st-century China, this piece was likely used to store cosmetics. Like many of the antiquities on display here, it ended up in Japan, where it is thought it was used to hold flowers.

Art/Antiques Fair. Tally Ho! Art Antiques London. The Curated Object

Rafferty and Walwyn, GEORGE PRIOR, LONDON, A stunning George III period Musical Lacquer Belltop Bracket. Height: 18 inches (46cm) including handle. Date: Circa 1770

W. Agnew and Co. Ltd., A bust of Michelangelo wearing Van Dyck costume, signed and dated G. Rigali Edinb 1834, Plaster, The Italian sculptor Rigali worked in Edinburgh in the early 19th century.

E&H Manners, A pair of Meissen Obelisks 6 inches high, 15.2 cm  Circa 1750-55 

Laura Bordignon, Japanese koro with silver and enamel mounts, having ivory shibayama panels decorated with flowers and birds, signed in a rectangular seal Masanao koku, late Meiji Period. Size h. 7.5" x w. 5.5" in. ( h.19 x w. 14cm). Price £ 8,500.00

Brian Haughton Gallery, An extremely rare Bottger White Meissen Porcelain Coffee Pot and Cover, gilded with Chinese figures and Magicians, circa 1718-1720. Provenance: The Anderson Collection formerly exhibited at the Orlando Museum of Art.

Art Antiques London

June 9-16, 2010

This June, Kensington Gardens will provide the stunning backdrop to Art Antiques London, which runs from June 9-16, 2010, a new art and antiques fair aimed at both the seasoned connoisseur and those who admire and value beauty and timelessness. Art Antiques London will incorporate the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, which has been a fixture in the London calendar for almost thirty years.

This highly anticipated new Haughton fair will be held in a beautiful custom-built marquee opposite the Royal Albert Hall, adjacent to the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Fair’s participants are leading specialists in a wide range of disciplines, including furniture,paintings, jewellery, clocks, textiles, silver and ceramics, as well as rare books andmodern and contemporary objet d’art. Every object exhibited at the Fair is rigorously examined and vetted for quality and authenticity, so collectors can be assured they can buy with confidence. The Fair will also host a full programme of lectures and seminars that will make Art Antiques London an important destination for international collectors and institutions, and a glamorous Charity Gala evening that will ensure the Fair will become a fixture in the Capital’s social calendar.

Organiser and porcelain expert Brian Haughton is presenting an important Meissen Cream Pot, cover and stand painted by B. G. Haüer with campaign scenes, c.1740, an extremely rare Nymphenburg shell butter box and cover, modelled by Dominikus Auliczek from 1765-1770, and a Böttger White Meissen Porcelain Coffee Pot and cover, gilded with Chinese figures and magicians, c. 1718-20.   E & H Manners will show a stunning Doccia figure of Arlecchina, c 1750 and a charming faceted wine glass, 1730, formerly from the Otto Meyer Collection, decorated in Schwarzlot and gold by Ignaz Preissler.    Other ceramics dealers exhibiting at the Fair include Dragesco-Cramoisan, Kunsthandel Daniela Kumpf,Stockspring Antiques and Adrian Sassoon.

Paintings and drawings from 18th century to the present day will be shown at the Fair.Lowell Libson will be bringing a wonderful Lear watercolour entitled, The Cedars of Lebanon.   MacConnal-Mason is offering a superb painting by L S Lowry, dated 1951. Entitled The Gateway, the painting was first sold in 1955 for £57.00 and was last exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1976. It is a wonderful example of Lowry’s muted colour palette of ivory, black, flake white and yellow ochre.

The Maas Gallery is presenting a beautiful oil portrait by Sir Gerald Kelly entitled Sao Ohn Nyun V. dated 1932.   It is the fifth and most enigmatic of the series of the same name. After an unhappy love affair in Paris, Kelly went to Burma on the advice of the writer Somerset Maugham, who lent him £50 for the journey. In Burma he fell in love anew, but this time with an ideal of Eastern beauty, exoticism and mystery. Back in London, he finally met the embodiment of that dream in the form of Sao Ohn Nyun, the sister-in-law of the Rajah of Thi-Paw. The painting comes on to the market having been in private ownership for some years.

Lucy B Campbell will be bringing works by Juan Luque (b. 1964); Anna Pugh (b. 1938) and Mia Tarney (b. 1973). Spanish painter Luque, is fascinated with the textures and treatment of light on the open sea when it encounters solitary lighthouses or ships. He has twice won the Medal for painting at BMW’s Awards in Madrid and the first prize at the Focus Awards in Seville.

H. Blairman & Sons Ltd, who specialise in furniture from the early 19th to the early 20thcentury with a strong interest in beautifully designed, documented furniture and works of art from the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is presenting a set of six Willow Tea Room chairs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, manufactured by Alex Martin. A plaster bust of Michelangelo wearing Van Dyck costume by the Italian sculptor Rigali who was working in Edinburgh in the early 19th century, signed and dated G. Rigali Edinb 1834, is being shown by sculpture and works of art specialist, W. Agnew & Co. Ltd. 

Rare and collectable antique Indian jewellery from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries will be shown by both Susan Ollemans and Samina Khanyari. Susan Ollemans will be showing a nine stone pendant or Navaratna inset in the kundun style with cabochon stones representing the cosmos. A ruby in the centre represents the sun, with other precious stones arranged around it. Once the gems are in harmony around the ‘sun’, the spirit of order is said to bring peace to the wearer. Sandra Cronan and Nigel Norman will be exhibiting a wide range of fine jewels from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.

Among the highlights being shown by Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art from Kyoto, Japan, is a pair of Japanese six-fold screens inlaid with cloud-like gold leaf and beautifully painted with a depiction of stabled horses, from the mid-16th century. Laura Bordignon, a specialist in Japanese ivory and bronze from the Meiji period, will be presenting a Japanese ‘koro’, or incense burner with silver and enamel mounts and ivory shibayama decorated with flowers and birds.

Raffety & Walwyn, the clock and barometer specialists, will be bringing a fine example of a George III period musical lacquer belltop bracket clock made by George Prior, from 1770 and an important James II ebonised longcase clock by Thomas Tompion.  St. James’s clock specialist, John Carlton-Smith, will also be exhibiting at the Fair.

The lecture and seminar programme will offer a series of thought - provoking lectures on a wide variety of topics given by distinguished art historians, including Dame Rosalind Savill, Director of the Wallace Collection; Dr. Ulrich Pietsch, Director of the Porcelain Collection, Dresden; Philippa Glanville, former Assistant Keeper, Department of Metalwork, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Dr. Dora Thornton, Curator, Renaissance Collections of the British Museum.

The inaugural Charity Gala evening at Art Antiques London will benefit the Bush Theatre, which has been at the heart of British Theatre since its inception in 1972. The Bush launched the career of many highly distinguished writers and playwrights including Stephen Poliakoff, Victoria Wood and Billy Roche. The Bush Theatre has recently launched an ambitious education and outreach programme bushfutures, designed to provide a range of opportunities for young people and emerging artists from schoolchildren to young artists designed to sustain both the local community as well as the Bush theatre.

 Albert Memorial West Lawn, Kensington Gardens, Queen's Gate, Kensington Gore, London, SW7, UK

The West Lawn is next to the The Albert Memorial and directly opposite The Royal Albert Hall.

Tel: + 44 (0)20 7389 6555

Fax: + 44 (0)20 7389 6556

 Opening Times : Daily, 11am – 7pm, except Sunday and last day 11am – 6pm.

General Admission: £15.

 

 

 

Art/Design Fairs. Kinetica Art Fair 2010: Robots, Light Beings, Kinetic Masters, Cybernetic Serendipity and a Giant Orchestral Milk Float. The Curated Object

 Nik Ramage makes work that alters the familiar, tinkers with the domestic and toys with function. His 'Contraptions of Distinction' series are assembled from components that were designed for another purpose, often utilising elements that are slightly damaged or completely run down. Credit: Bentwood Gap 2009 © Nik Ramage 

Balint Bolygo's Trace is a sculptural device that alludes to scientific discoveries and pseudoscientific concepts such as phrenology, physiognomy, and craniometry. The sculptor's modelling easel, his tools, pen and paper are all brought to life where the studio activity carries on in the absence of the artist. Reminiscent of the nineteenth century's obsession with the dark potential of science, and its god-usurping powers, the work is once mesmerising and menacing. Credit: Trace (self portrait) 2008 - (Wood, steel, brass, plaster, mechanical components, motor, pen) © Balint Bolygo

Tom Wilkinson has made moving sculpture and automata for museums, galleries and public spaces since 1991. Stemming from an early fascination with illusion and movement, Wilkinson's kinetic sculptures draw inspiration from astronomy and metaphysics. His work reflects the constant motions, cyclical patterns and kinetic energies that are universally present in our surroundings and the patterns made. Credit: Square Dance © Tom Wilkinson 

Hugh Turvey uses x-ray to produce phenomenal and insightful constructed images. Turvey continues to experiment with new emerging x-ray technologies to produce imagery and capture intense detail which reveals character hidden in the most unlikely places. Credit: X-ray Vision © Hugh Turvey / x-rayartist.com

The Kinetica Art Fair, February 4-7 2010

 A family of holographic light beings, sculpting and drawing robots, an orchestral milk float, a giant vertical electronic wave and a special feature exhibition of work from the masters of kinetic art and the groundbreaking Cybernetic Serendipity show, are just some of the incredible exhibits at Kinetica Art Fair 2010. Kinetica Art Fair takes place from 4 – 7 February 2010 at the P3 space in London and is the UK’s only art fair dedicated to kinetic, robotic, sound, light and time-based art.  Art that has a life of its own, talks, workshops, performances and more create an art fair like no other. 



Kinetica Art Fair 2010 (www.kinetica-artfair.com) developed by Kinetica Museum will take place in P3’s unique 14,000 sq ft underground former concrete testing facility opposite Madame Tussauds on Marylebone Road.  

Over 25 galleries and organisations specialising in kinetic, electronic and new media art are taking part and over 150 artists exhibiting.  

Tickets start at £8.  Work ranges in price from £50 - £40,000.  The UK’s first Kinetica Art Fair, run by Kinetica Museum in 2009, attracted over 9,000 people with work sold to visitors, collectors and galleries around the world.  

Artists involved include Paul Friedlander, Ivan Black, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Beckett, Bálint Bolygó, Nik Ramage, Roseline de Thelin, Ben Parry and many others. 

Feature Exhibition
Kinetica Museum in conjunction with John Dunbar (Indica Gallery 1965) and Jasia Reichhardt (Cybernetic Serendipity, ICA, 1968) will be curating a feature exhibition dedicated to the pioneers and Masters of kinetic art.  Many of the pieces will be on loan from private collections and will feature the work of: Jean Tinguely, Roger Vilder, Peter Logan, Yaacov Agam, Peter Sedgely, Liliane Lijn, Takis, David Medalla, Jesus Raphael Soto and more to be announced soon. 



Also on display will be original interactive installations from the 1968 exhibition of cybernetic art Cybernetic Serendipity such as Rosa the Robot, by Bruce Lacey and SAM (Sound Activated Mobile) by Edward Ihnatowicz.



Dianne Harris, Art Director and Curator, Kinetica Museum, said: “For both the collector and the first time visitor, the Fair will provide an opportunity for everyone to enjoy and understand more about this thriving international movement, participate in talks, workshops and performances.  

“We are bringing together work from some of the world’s greatest Kinetic artists and exhibits first shown at the seminal Cybernetic Serendipity show from the ICA in 1968. These pieces shown alongside contemporary kinetic, electronic and new media works create an art of universal knowledge pushing the boundaries of many disciplines across the arts and sciences, collectively demonstrating a new wave of experiential art".

Kinetic art is art that has a life of its own. 

Pioneered by world famous artists including Maholy Nagy, Jean Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp and Alexander Calder during the 1900s, modern contemporary kinetic and electronic artworks utilise and warp technology itself, to explore, nurture and comment on our evolutionary processes and challenge scientific and universal exploration. 

Artists exhibiting at the Kinetica Art Fair 2010 include:     


•    Rosaline de Thélin uses light as a medium and a subject to create sculptures and installations to explore life and illusion. For the Fair, she will create a family of holographic light beings inspired by astronomy, scientific theories and quantum physics. 

•    Andrew Stonyer explores colour, movement and the division of time in a dynamic installation entitled Timepiece. The sculpture explores the patterns of time that exist within the hour and significantly how they are revealed through seconds, minutes and the quarterly divisions of the hour. 

•    Ben Parry creates kinetic sculptures using reclaimed materials. A fully charged 1975 Milk Float and the junk of the city undergo a metamorphosis to become an orchestra of discord through a series of interlocking kinetic sculptures which create a reverberating cacophony of motors, pulleys, wheels and cogs. The milk float will tour London before arriving at the fair.   

•    Patrick Tresset and Frederic  Fol Leymarie take the 30,000 year old practice of artistic drawing and sketching and use sophisticated computational simulations to enable machines to recreate some of the identifiable perceptual and cognitive processes involved in face sketching by artists. 

•    Paul Friedlander specialises in work that continually blurs the lines between art and science. A scientific artist and light sculptor, Friedlander uses waves to create luminous, dynamic and transparent works. 

•    Squidsoup combine sound, physical space and virtual worlds to produce immersive and emotive headspaces. Ocean of Light explores the creative and immersive possibilities of light-based visuals in physical 3D space.  

Kinetica Art Fair 2010: Thursday 4 February – Sunday 7 February. 

Location

P3, 35 Marylebone Rd (opposite Baker Street Tube), London, NW1. P3 is London’s newest multi-disciplinary art space. A 14,000sq ft former concrete testing facility.

Booking tickets and further information: www.kinetica-artfair.com

Exhibitors and artists include:

Jason Bruges, Nik Ramage, Balint Bolygo,  Margaret Michel, Peter Sedgley,  Raday Gallery, A22 Gallery, Goldsmiths MFA,  Squidsoup, Interactive Agents, Ben Parry,  Bruce Lacey, Edward Ihnatowicz, Jean Tinguely,  Takis, Yaacov Agam, Peter Sedgley, David  Medalla, Peter Logan, Harry Bertoia, Roger  Vilder, Jesus Raphael Soto, DAM Berlin,  Di Mainstone, Andrew Stonyer, Dennis Da  Silva, Kathy Taylor, Michael Zeltner, Patrick  Tresset, Paul Friedlander, Rosaline De Thelin,  Hans Kooi, Davide Angheleddu, Thames Valley  University Masters, Esther Polack, Kitchen  Budapest and Kinetica Museum.

 Sponsors and Supporters:

Arts Council England, XL Video, Musion Academy,  Robe, PLDA, Davenport Lyons, Hungarian Cultural  Centre, Contemporary Art Society.

 The Kinetica Art Fair 2010 will also be  teaming up with Pachamama Forest to conduct  a joint exercise that will allow for the  calculation of Fair's carbon footprint and  the development of a carbon compensation  strategy. Pachamama Forest's team will be  monitoring the energy and electricity consumed  throughout the duration of the fair, and  estimating the emissions generated from  visitor commuting to and from the fair.  Pachamama Forest will then provide Kinetica  Museum with a reforested plot of land in  its tree plantation in Finca La Ponderosa  Colombia as part of the carbon footprint  compensation strategy. This will reduce  Kinetica Art Fair's environmental impact  and diminish its contribution towards climate  change.  

ART FAIRS/EVENTS BASEL. The Allure of Art + Artifice. DESIGN MIAMI/BASEL. THE CURATED OBJECT

Christina Grajales

Christina Grajales

Christina Grajales

from Galerie Perrin Antiquaires

From Galerie Perrin Antiquaires

from Galerie Perrin Antiquaires

From Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin

From Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin

From Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin

Design Miami/Basel

June 9-13, 2009

This year marked the fourth anniversary of the Basel edition of Design Miami, the pre-eminent international forum for showcasing studio-made, limited edition furniture and furnishings. Situated in a warehouse-like building, it received more space than previous incarnations and boasted a record number of design satellites, lectures, and other activities. With just 27 exhibitors, it still has nary a patch, of course, on the 300-plus art galleries who set up shop in the main convention halls. Nevertheless, that design is ever-more strongly represented at what is termed the world's biggest and most prestigious commercial art fair is an important signal and accreditation for the field.

Armed with a plethora of the usual suspects-- works from Ron Arad and Ettore Sottssss, say-- most galleries relied on the tried and true masters of contemporary design. A few, though, dared to be different.

One, Paris' Galerie Perrin, harkened to the 18th-centruy, with a collection of French baroque mirrors and bookcases, as if to remind us that there is truly nothing new under le soleil. And, in a delightful wink back, Rotterdam's VIVID Gallery exhibited beautilully-gilded compote bowls and candelabra from Studio Job, Blazing with white gold and silver mosaics, they set the darkened building alight, all the more so because their classical forms were of outsized scale, At Cologne's Cabrielle Ammann Gallery, South Korean designer Gimhongsok cast a backward glance-- to an iconic sculpture by Robert Indiana, squishing its familiar red form into a chair (L is the back, VE the seat) and ottoman (a pert little O). Wit also infused the work of Wouter Scheublin at Heusden, the Netherlands' Privee Kollektie, where crowds gathered to at first watch, then try their hand at, "Walking Table 2009," a beautiful walnut piece which, when pulled gently, ambles along eight leg-like bases in Trojan-horse fashion. And who could resist Takashi Murakami's "Flower Ball," a round carpet or wall hanging, 9-feet in diameter, fashioned with a pop motif of widely-grinning daisies? Provided, that is, they had a spare $60,000 to pass on to Paris' Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

More serious work was in evidence, too, of course. New York's Cristina Grajalas Inc. brought along several pieces by the father and son metalworkers Philip and Klevin Laverne. Grajalas says she was introduced to the duo only a few years ago and now makes a point to seek out and sell only their top pieces. In Basel, she showed a bronze, pewter, and enamel patchwork coffee table that featured inlaid references to ancient Greek coins. "They were originally sculptors," she said. "And when they started working in furniture in the 1950s, they were among the first to merge art and design.' The "Hellenic Memories Coffee" table, from 1960, was priced at $35,000, high for their work. But Grajales says the team's case pieces has approached $100,000 at auction. "I like to think I can take a little credit for their newfound popularity," she added with a smile. 

For more information, please visit : http://www.designmiami.com
Posted by JoAnn Greco