Good news about Art Shows!

Well, as everyone knows, the incredible week of Art Basel 2008 came and went. There were many predictions of lower attendance, lagging sales, and economic distress for the art business. But, at least at a few shows, that seems to have been mistaken. Below are three press releases that I received recently talking about how well the shows went. It looks like even though we are going through some hard times, people still know that art is important to life.

Check out the press releases below, then come talk about them in the Life Is Art Forums.

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PRESS RELEASE 1: PULSE Miami Defies Art Market Forecast With Solid Sales and Heavy VIP Attendance

PULSE Prize awarded to Emilio Chapela Perez

New York, December 12, 2008 – PULSE Miami concluded its largest edition following a week of solid sales and rave reviews by press and public alike, cementing its status as the strongest fair after Art Basel Miami Beach despite recent economic developments. “While it was not the feverish, trend-oriented seller’s market of 2007, all our dealers said that buyers were serious collectors who carefully selected art, often placing reserves that were finalized later in the week,” said Helen Allen, Executive Director of PULSE. Twelve thousand visited the fair over the course of its five-day run, which was approximately the same attendance as PULSE New York in March 2008.

Following a well attended VIP preview, sales picked up and by Thursday, the mood and weather had turned to sunny and warm. The dealers attributed the fair’s success to the quality of its production and of works for sale. This includes Jamie Angell, owner of Toronto’s Angell Gallery, who said: “If Angell Gallery had not been accepted into PULSE, I had no intention of exhibiting in Miami this year. Next to Basel it’s the finest fair. It’s professionally run, well laid out and showcases respected galleries representing quality artists.” Nick Lawrence, owner of New York gallery Freight + Volume, reported a sold-out booth and commented that, “surprisingly, this fair turned out better than last year’s. It’s renewed my faith that the art market follows its own rules. A lot of deals were closed after midnight at the Raleigh and Le Baron.”

One trend noted by multiple galleries was an interest in new media works, particularly videos mounted in artists’ frames, which were snapped up by buyers. These included bitforms gallery, whose booth sold out of a video “shadow box” by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, which began at $90,000, while Angles Gallery experienced heavy sales of Ori Gersht’s Falling Bird. The edition of eight began at $45,000. Other new media successes included a sell out of Siebren Versteeg’s series of large internet-enabled touch screen monitors at Max Protetch. The work was produced in an edition of 10, and started at $25,000. A real time 3D animation by artist John Gerrard, represented by Ernst Hilger, sold multiple works at $70,000 a piece.

A full, day-by-day, sales report is available upon request.

A long roster of VIPs were in attendance, including Academy Award winning actor Forest Whitaker, artists Chuck Close, Takashi Murakami and Leo Villareal; LVMH Art Advisor Herve Mikaeloff; Director of the Brooklyn Museum and collector Arnold Lehman; Armory Show Director Katelijne de Backer; and a flock of A-list collectors including Shelley and Phillip Aarons, Marty Marguiles, the Rubell family, Joel and Sherry Malin, Raul and Lilly de Molina, Tony Goldman and Jean Pigozzi, as well as Diane Ackerman, Laura Skoler and John and Julie Thornton from Texas. Also noteworthy was the presence of major dealers who were seen cruising the aisles of the fair, among them Jeffrey Deitch, Tim Blum and Sean Kelly. They were joined by a host of museum curators and other professionals, notably SITE Santa Fe Director Laura Steward Heon, David Smith Foundation Director Peter Stevens, Donald Judd Foundation Director Barbara Hunt McLanahan, and newly appointed Andy Warhol Museum Curator of Art Eric Shiner.

Other highlights of PULSE Miami included New York nightlife and fashion icon Amanda Lepore’s performance and preview of her new limited-edition fragrance Amanda, which was produced by exhibitor Artware Editions. Envoy Enterprises had a surprise hit with their performance by Gill and Jill Bumby. The anonymous duo sold visitors “fair and accurate appraisals of their appearance” typed on notecards for $5 a piece, which drew crowds.

The Financial Times and CORE: conversations drew great praise from attendees who packed the café for the series and PULSE’s original programming was also in full force, with major installations throughout the fair, as was a new PULSE PLAY> selection.

GEISAI Miami, produced by Kaikai Kiki, was a runaway hit. The fair, which allowed 26 artists to exhibit without commercial representation, was thronged with curators, gallery owners and press. Brooklyn-based painter Asha Canalos sold out her entire booth to German collectors in one fell swoop, while Japanese photographer Keita Sugiura placed scores of works in the hands of collectors that included SITE Santa Fe Director Laura Steward Heon, New York gallerist and PULSE exhibitor Max Protetch, and Italian collector Jean Pigozzi. All 26 artists were in agreement that the fair was an incomparable, positive experience. Painter Nikki Katsikas, of Sea Cliff, New Jersey, was the recipient of the inaugural GEISAI Miami award.

PULSE Prize Miami 2008
The $2,500 PULSE Prize, sponsored by The Financial Times, was awarded to Emilio Chapela Perez, represented by EDS Galeria of Mexico City in PULSE’s IMPULSE section.

PULSE New York
PULSE returns to Pier 40 on March 5-8, 2009, for its fourth New York edition. Pier 40 is located at West Houston Street and the West Side Highway.

For more information and news about PULSE Contemporary Art Fairs, please visit www.pulse-art.com

Media contact:
For more information, images or interviews, please contact:
Andy Cushman
Blue Medium Inc.
T: 212-675-1800
E: andy@bluemedium.com

Press release courtesy of Art Nexus

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PRESS RELEASE 2: Artists Troy Abbott and Enrique Gomez De Molina

Thank you for visiting us at the POOL Art Fair 2008 in Miami Beach, Forida.

It was a huge success for us both. We met a lot of cool new people and
connected with dealers, galleries and collectors from around the world.
(We sold some art too!)

Visit us and view our work at http://www.interactivearts.com

We will be posting more images of our works soon.

Thanks again for a great show!

Happy Holidays!

Troy Abbott & Enrique Gomez De Molina
http://www.InteractiveArts.com

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PRESS RELEASE 3: Miami 08’s Most Talked About Art Fair Draws a Record 30,000 Visitors

Miami 08’s Most Talked About Art Fair Draws a Record 30,000 Visitors

MIAMI–Huge crowds embraced SCOPE’s raw floored pioneer spirit, fueling sales and shifting focus from tough economic times to notable optimism. SCOPE Miami 08 hosted its 90 exhibitors from 22 countries in a new 60,000 square foot pavilion centrally located at Midtown Miami. Undeniably the most talked-about fair during this year’s Olympics of the art world, Miami’s original emerging contemporary art fair drew an enthusiastic audience of 30,000 art world VIPs, collectors, and art lovers as it returned for its seventh year December 3-7.

Recent new comers to SCOPE, included Jacob Karpio Galeria | San Jose, Invisible- Exports | New York, Like the Spice | Brooklyn, Y Gallery | Queens, Ark | Jakarta, ARATANIURANO | Tokyo, Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska | Salzburg, Gallery Peithner-Lichtenfels | Vienna, all reported strong sales with Jacob Karpio exclaiming, “SCOPE is the pioneering fair to break the monopoly in the market, opening the door for galleries around the world and providing viewers with a real-time survey of emerging art. SCOPE took a risk and was a huge success.” Benjamin Tischer of INVISIBLE-EXPORTS beamed, “Traffic was wonderful, the new location brilliant. I had a consistent stream of visitors telling me that SCOPE was the busiest fair.”

Sarah Douglas of ARTINFO reported, “Despite the gloomy global economic conditions, things seemed, rather improbably, to be chugging along over at the SCOPE fair and its new sister event, ART ASIA.” SCOPE Miami’s dynamic partnership with ART ASIA, maintained unique identities with separate pavilions, presenting a combined 135 exhibitors from over 36 countries. The partnership helped to increase audience attendance while attracting new collectors, curators and press. Expanded museum quality programming, which included a well-attended lecture series, was a result of this new partnership. Both fairs look forward to a similar relationship with ART ASIA’s debut in Basel, Switzerland on June 10th, 2009.

“This year, SCOPE definitely was my favorite fair, not only because the work for sale was superb, but their commitment to inviting local artists and musicians to take part in the festivities is refreshing.” said Jose Duran of the Miami New Times. Spotted early at the SCOPE Pavilion were collectors Melva Bucksbaum, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Richard and Eileen Ekstract, Michael and Susan Hort, Stephanie Ignacio, Arnold Lehman, Takashi Murakami, Todd Oldham and Charles Saatchi. The SCOPE Collectors’ tours attracted members from Art in Embassies, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Christie’s Education-New York, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Miami Art Museum, MoMA, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, The Phillips Collection, RBC Financial Group, Smithsonian American Art Museum, TATE Modern, and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Much viewed and reviewed, programming at SCOPE was curated by the SCOPE Foundation, newly named the ARTIST FOUNDATION 501 (c)(3), Miami 08 Foundation highlights included

• SCOPE’s third edition of Museum Presents, Narrative/Non-Narrative: Contemporary Artists from the CIFO Programs, a nonprofit exhibition focusing on Latin American artists co-presented and curated by The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO).

• SCOPE’s Collector Mentorship Auction also celebrated its third auction with competitive bidding for its ten collectors: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Lisa Kirk, Arnold Lehman, Kathryn Mikesell, Dennis Oppenheim, Dennis Scholl, Nancy Seltzer, Andres Serrano, Rob Teeters, and Ultra Violet. Past participants included Louisa Buck, Melva Bucksbaum, Frank Cohen, Bob Colacello, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Eileen and Richard Ekstract, John Friedman, Raymond Learsy, Arnold Lehman, Adam Lindemann, Enrique Norten, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lowell Pettit, Julia Peyton-Jones, Kay Saatchi, Kenny Schachter, Terrie Sultan and Rick Wester. The fourth edition of the CMA will reach outside of the art world to include titans of industry, tastemakers, and iconoclasts.

• Thirteen projects were presented, included: The Girl Project, GLOWLAB, mr.brainwash, and Matthew Porter’s Startled Birds. FriendsWithYou’s Fun House, transformed SCOPE’s VIP Lounge into an interactive bounce house, a crowd favorite.

Returning galleries posted strong results with Toby Clarke from the Fine Art Society (FAS) reporting that Annie Kevans, who only joined the gallery three months ago, sold 12 portraits, all priced at $4,300, while a painting by Keith Coventry went for $40,000 and another by Stephen Goddard for $27,800. “Long time SCOPE exhibitor Helmut Schuster of Galerie Schuster | Frankfurt/Berlin commented, “SCOPE is no longer a satellite fair and has made its mark for presenting the young and emerging contemporary artists. SCOPE is what collectors and curators want to see- the buzz about the fair is proof! I thought because of the problems in the market that it would be harder to sell, but the first day relieved all my anxieties.”

With total sales of over $100 million and attendance of over 250,000 visitors, SCOPE Art Fairs have drawn wide media attention including The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Art in America, and ArtNet Magazine, which wrote, “Of the various art fairs in Miami, it was SCOPE that served up the best and most playful energy, both inside and out.”

For more information, please visit our website at www.scope-art.com.

Contact: Adam Abdalla/Dan Schwartz
Susan Grant Lewin Associates
212/947-4557
adam@susangrantlewin.com

Press release provided by Art Nexus

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So, things are looking pretty good for the art scene. Come by and let us know what you think.

I hope that everyone had an amazing time during Art Basel Miami Week. For us, I think this was the best one ever. It started on Monday and did not stop until Sunday night. We met a lot of great contacts and saw some awesome art. Now, finally, we can get back to the business at hand, producing our own art show.

This past week, we had fantastic artists from all over the world, but we know, we have our own crop of outstanding artists based right here in Miami. The first Lift Is Art will feature as many of these as we can manage. Come and join the discussion to talk about Life and Art in Miami with us and let’s create a great community right here.