SAN FRANCISCO FINE ART FAIR

05.20-23.10

(with assistance from DeWitt Cheng and Tami Tsark)

***

San Francisco Fine Art Fair at Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason: Opening Night Preview Party Benefiting the San Francisco Art Institute, and the remainder of the fair benefiting the entire city of San Francisco, May 20-23, 2010.

Final update-- more images c/o DeWitt Cheng (plus a few from Tami Tsark):

Panel on how to buy art: Ann Lydecker (Metropolitan Art Advisors), Patrick Meade (Bonhams & Butterfields), Katrina Traywick (Traywick Contemporary).

Susanne Kiessling (Galerie Nero, Wiesbaden) & art by Joachim Hiller (Walter Bischoff Gallery, Berlin).

***

Update by AB (May 23, 2010, Final Hours): First off, I gotta credit the producers, Hamptons Expo Group, for doing an amazing job of getting warm bodies through the door. Here it is Sunday, the final hours of the fair and a gorgeous picture perfect San Francisco afternoon, yet the place is still packed. The best news is that my informal survey of participating galleries indicates that people actually bought stuff. Thankfully, my initial concerns that San Franciscans might not whip out the wallets-- but rather treat their art fair experiences like a trip to the zoo (gawk but don't touch)-- did not materialize. So a huge thank you to all you fairgoers for your support as well.

Most dealers, particularly those from the area, seem pleased with their sales, contacts made, and overall buzz, while pretty much all dealers I speak with are prepared to do the show again next year. And that's about as good as the news can get for any art fair's inaugural episode. Even dealers whose sales are less than sterling are aware that cultivating buyers can take time; others say that they intend to continue doing the show whether they do well or not, simply because San Francisco deserves an art fair of this caliber. Here's several more pics of the action (with more yet to come)...

Panel discussion - "How the Media Influences the Art Market." Participants, left to right, moderator David M. Roth, Editor and Publisher of Squarecylinder.com; George Melrod, Editor, Art Ltd.; DeWitt Cheng, Art Writer (and generous contributor to artbusiness.com), Michael Rosenthal, Owner/Director; Michael Rosenthal Gallery; Rena Bransten, Owner, Rena Bransten Gallery; Joshua Rose, Editor, American Art Collector.

***

Comment by AB (May 20, 2010, Opening Night: Tonight's gala opening turnout for the San Francisco Fine Art Fair is mindbogglingly prodigious, and deservedly so. You gotta see this fair-- too too good-- almost more than we deserve... or do we? Fort Mason's Festival Pavilion (the largest one) is about as packed to the max as max ever gets, with manifold cornucopian myriads of fine art from eminent galleries from across the land. Believe it. Now if we wanna see Episode II, then here's the deal-- we have to buy stuff at Episode I (aka this weekend). And if we want Episode II to be even better than Episode I-- which we do-- then we really have to buy stuff. Get my drift? Of course you do my artful darlings. Or do you? I certainly hope so. The show runs through Sunday, so you got plenty of time to free up some funds and sidle on down.

Wanna see some pics? I figured as much...

***