THE ART CIRCUS IS IN TOWN
by Linda Lee–
Want to get out of the rain on Saturday? Your cookout canceled? Want to find something for that empty space on the lawn? Welcome to the Hamptons Fine Art Fair. As of this year, the only art fair in town.
Like a circus it takes place under tents, and has plenty of entertainment. Consuming art isn’t what it used to be, all serious and formal. Now it jumps out at you, rolls its eyes, tricks you and even offers you a Bellini (if you linger at the Cipriani Residences Miami booth, where someone may try to sell you a condo on the 79th floor).
Basquiat
On Thursday 4,500 people smashed their way into the tent at 609 County Road 39, Southampton, otherwise known as the Southampton Fairgrounds, for the fair’s afternoon and evening vernissage.
Rick Friedman, the executive director of the show, said, “I have never seen such an accumulation of wealth, and fashion and interest in art …. The number of guests, style, affluence, status and pedigree ranks with the top art fairs in the nation.” Mais bien sûr. LVMH, and others have already discovered this, non?
Basquiat at Omer Tiroche
For the evening session, Friedman deployed the Parsons Dancers to the aisles, to work it out to Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Shining Star.” That was a throwback to his early days, when he began his career at Regine’s — remember Regine’s? — organizing disco dancing contests. Of the foot stomping at the Vernissage and what he called “static art in motion,” he said, “I do believe couple number two won.”
One hundred and thirty four galleries are exhibiting from as far away as Chile, Japan and Sweden, and as close as Southampton and Lawrence Fine Art in East Hampton. What fun it is to see art from local galleries, things that locals might have ignored, in an art fair setting. Jennifer Hannaford’s “underwater” images have been used several times as covers for local publications. The original paintings are in the Art Studio Hamptons booth, but usually found in Westhampton Beach. Somehow they are more impressive here.
‘Endless Summer’ by Jennifer Hannaford, the Art Studio Hamptons Gallery
Speaking of local galleries, Friedman, who lives in Southampton, said, “Even Vered came out of retirement.” He is referring to Ruth Vered, who now has Vered Art/Roman Fine Art in Sag Harbor. In her booth she has two nice Milton Avery works, one a watercolor, the other a gouache; a de Kooning drawing; a small Modigliani crayon portrait of a woman in a hat; and, among other things, a surprising oil painting by Robert Gwathmey.
At Vered, a Modigliani crayon drawing, 5.5 inches by 8 inches (figure the cost per square inch).
Blue chip artists at the show are represented by Omer Tiroche (London), whose roster of Postwar, Impressionist, Contemporary and modern artists runs, alphabetically, from Ai Weiwei to Andy Warhol. In this case, he is showing plenty, including a Matisse drawing, a colorful Picasso from 1956, a black-and-white Robert Motherwell, and an unmistakable Basquiat.
Picasso, Omer Tiroche Gallery
Among this heady company of first rank galleries are Casterline Goodman (Aspen, Santa Fe); Blond Contemporary (London); Gary Snyder Fine Art, (Montana); and Vertu Fine Art (Boca Raton).
Friedman noted the five-year trend in art is toward recognition of women artists from the Abstract Expressionist period of the 1950s and 60s, including many of those identified with the Hamptons: Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Mary Abbott, Alice Baber. “I acquired hundreds of their works,” he says, “and I have now been a been beneficiary of this explosion [in value].” A small portion of his collection is on display in booth 138 called The Heroines of Abstract Expressionism.
Jeff Muhs, represented by the McNeill Art Group, Southampton, NY
And what about prices? This isn’t a tag sale! Expect even drawings to start at $5,000. The average price is probably $15,000 to $18,000. Some works are going to run hundreds of thousands of dollars and there are some things here that are worth millions. (Ask Omer Tiroche.)
Friedman is praying for rain, or at least cloudy weather, so people have “nothing to do but going shopping for art treasures.” He does recognize that there is a certain rush close to closing, Sunday from 3pm to 6pm “when art bargain hunters return for end of shows deals,” he says, miming ‘You don’t really want to ship that back to Germany, do you?’ ”
Iconic Statues, Westbury, CT
Note, that holds true for some of the furnishings in the booths as well. If a gallery has bought (rather than rented) some snazzy chairs, and they are based in Santa Fe, what are they going to do with those Ghost Chairs? Sell them at a deep discount is my guess.
No need to pack a sandwich or a water bottle. There are two mobile gourmet restaurants and two bars. The Museum Bar and the Pollock Bar. Dealers love to have buyers a little loose as they walk around.
Saturday night is a White Party, $60 per person, from 5 pm to 8 pm and, hint, you know what to wear, especially if you have those kicks left over from Michael Rubin’s Fourth of July party.
