SOFA

Long heralded as the nation's premier fairs for outstanding contemporary decorative arts and design in New York and Chicago, SOFA's 2nd annual Western edition, SOFA WEST: Santa Fe will run from Thursday, July 8 - Sunday, July 11, 2010 at the Santa Fe Convention Center. Opening Night, Wednesday, July 7, is an invitation-only Special Member Preview for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and SOFA VIP Cardholders. Mark Lyman, Founder/Director of SOFA and President, The Art Fair Company says, "We are delighted to partner on Opening Night with the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, which will invite its upper-level donors to an early Special Member Preview, offering them first opportunity to purchase."  Over 2,000 guests attended SOFA WEST's inaugural Opening Night last year, with an estimated 10,000 visitors attending the fair during its four day run, exceeding Lyman's projections by over 50%.  Plans are well underway for the SOFA WEST 2010 ...

Considered one of the foremost fairs for masterworks bridging contemporary decorative, fine art and design, the 13th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair at the Park Avenue Armory enjoyed buoyant sales and steady crowds, from the packed vernissage on April 15 straight through its four-day run, which ended on Monday, April 19. An estimated 2500 persons attended the preview throughout the course of the evening, up from 2200 last year. A sold out, after-preview benefit dinner for the Museum of Arts & Design in the Armory's Tiffany Room honored longtime MAD trustee, collector, friend and colleague, Sandy Grotta. Approximately 18,500 collectors, curators, architects, interior designers, art advisors and new enthusiasts took in SOFA NEW YORK, presented by 58 international galleries and produced by The Art Fair Company. President and founding director of SOFA fairs in New York, Chicago and Santa Fe, Mark Lyman said, "The mood on the floor was energetic ...

For the first time in New York, artist Wendy Wahl will create a massive sculpture entitled branches exclusively for SOFA: New York, which opens with a gala preview on Thursday, April 15 and runs through Monday at the Park Avenue Armory, at East 67th Street and Park Avenue.  The fifth in a series she began in 2005.  Grand in scale and in concept, Wahl’s inviting work seeks to make connections between perception, knowledge, and tactility through fashioning discarded pages from various volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica into whimsical and arresting sculptural forms.  As digital technologies continue to alter how we access and transmit information, Wahl’s manipulation of the expensive and monumental Encyclopedia Britannica encourages the audience to think critically about sources of information in the twenty-first century.     “I love the materiality of books,” explains Wahl. “and branches is a tribute of sorts to a ...

  When the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair opens its doors for a four-day run at the Park Avenue Armory with an evening preview on April 15, cutting-edge modern and contemporary design, decorative arts, and jewelry will take front and center stage.  Sixty galleries from the United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Turkey, Japan, and Brazil will come together and push the boundaries of medium and genre, reinforcing SOFA’s leading reputation amongst art and design enthusiasts.  The pieces on offer, produced by artists and designers from around the globe, go far beyond the traditional decorative arts, not only embracing purely sculptural forms and conceptual meanings, but also new materials and processes.  Luminaries such as Ruth Duckworth, Beatrice Wood, Lenore Tawney, Betty Woodman, Peter Voulkos, Wharton Esherick, and Lino Tagliapietra, stand beside up-and-coming artists such as Beth Lipman, Chris Antemann, Cristina Cordova, ...