Displaying items by tag: emerging artists

 New York-based gallerist Dominique Lévy announced that she will open a London outpost this fall. Dominique Lévy London will be located at 22 Old Bond Street within a 19th-century building constructed by the Duveen family. Just steps from the city’s elegant Mayfair district, the building was designed to resemble a Venetian palazzo.

Much like Lévy’s eponymous New York gallery, which is located in a designated landmark building on Madison Avenue, Dominique Lévy London will focus on European and American postwar and contemporary art with curated exhibitions devoted to historical figures as well as living artists. The gallery will also specialize in private sales in the secondary market; produce original scholarship and publications; provide advisory and collection management services; and participate in international art fairs.

After a restless cross-country search in which two curators logged more than 100,000 miles in airplanes and rental cars, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art – founded by the Walmart heiress Alice Walton – announced Tuesday that it had finalized its artist list for an ambitious fall show that will present a snapshot of unheralded 21st century American art.

To organize the exhibition, “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now,” which will open at the museum, in Bentonville, Ark., on Sept. 13, the museum’s president, Don Bacigalupi, and an assistant curator, Chad Alligood, spent several months visiting the studios and homes of almost 1,000 artists, most of whom were not well known outside their cities or regions.

Audemars Piguet has announced the launch of an art commission program that will support one major artwork each year by an emerging or midcareer artist.

Each commission will be overseen by an internationally renowned guest curator and will be unveiled at one of the three international Art Basel events — Hong Kong, Basel, and Miami Beach — on a rotating basis. An announced of the first artist to be selected will be made later this year and that artist’s work will be unveiled at Art Basel in Basel in June 2015.

When Robert Blumenthal decided to open his first gallery, he didn’t consider Chelsea, where most of his local contemporary-art peers operate.

He thought about the Lower East Side, where several younger art dealers have found lower rents, but in February, he opted for a third-floor location with distinctly un-Chelsea crown molding at 1045 Madison Ave., near 79th Street.

“The Upper East Side is so unhip, it’s hip,” said Mr. Blumenthal, 33 years old. “Chelsea is a generation before me.”

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. has received a gift of $1 million from British artist and philanthropist Basil Alkazzi for the acquisition of paintings and drawings by contemporary American and British artists. Alkazzi decided to make the generous donation to the Hirshhorn because of his admiration for the museum’s commitment to supporting emerging artists.

Kerry Brougher, the Hirshhorn’s interim director and chief curator, said, “His gift will allow the Hirshhorn to significantly enhance its holdings of hand-painted paintings and drawings by key figures in the U.S. and U.K. As we celebrate and highlight our collection this year during our 40th anniversary, we are thrilled that thanks to the public-spiritedness of donors like Basil Alkazzi this collection will continue to grow and be a lasting legacy to the nation.”

The Hirshhorn focuses its collection-building and exhibition-planning on modern and contemporary art and sculpture.

Christie’s International announced that they will be closing their Haunch of Venison subsidiaries in New York and London in March 2013. The gallery in Chelsea will close after its exhibition, How to Tell the Future from the Past, ends its run on March 2. The London gallery, known as the Yard, will be converted to a permanent exhibition and sales space for Christie’s private sales department.

Founded by art dealers Harry Blain and Graham Southern in 2002, Haunch of Venison represents and exhibits the works of emerging and established contemporary artists. The gallery’s name comes from the London courtyard, Haunch of Venison Yard, where it was originally based. Christie’s bought the gallery, which had branches in London, Berlin, and New York, in 2007. Haunch of Venison’s Berlin branch closed in 2010, the same year Blain and Southern left Haunch to start a new gallery, BlainSouthern.

Christie’s decision to shutter the Haunch of Venison galleries came as private sales have been gaining ground for the auction house. The restructuring will focus the company’s attention on those private sales rather than working as a primary gallery representing artists. Haunch of Venison has also withdrawn from the upcoming European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht.

From May 23-26, 2013, Art Basel will host 245 exhibitors at their first show in Hong Kong, which will replace the region’s biggest art fair, Art HK. Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, Art Basel Hong Kong will feature works from emerging artists as well as 20^th century masters from both Asia and the West. While Art Basel currently runs two major international shows in Switzerland and Miami Beach, the organization is striving to maintain an emphasis on the Asian region for the Hong Kong fair.

Top galleries from 35 countries will meet at Art Basel Hong Kong, which is divided into four categories: Galleries, Insights, Discoveries, and Encounters. Galleries will present over 170 modern and contemporary exhibitors; Insights will feature galleries solely from Asia and the Asia-Pacific region; Discoveries presents a showcase of one and two-person exhibitions by emerging international contemporary artists; and Encounters features large-scale sculptural and installation works by artists from around the globe.

Exhibitors at the upcoming Art Basel Hong Kong show include Dominique Levy Gallery (New York), Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. (New York), Wentrup (Berlin), Galeria Pedro Cera (Lisbon), Leo Xu Projects (Shanghai), Blindspot Gallery (Hong Kong), and Schoeni Art Gallery (Hong Kong).

The Affordable Art Fair announced that it will launch a version of its popular show in Hong Kong next year. Taking place from March 15-17, 2013, the fair will bring together 80 local and international galleries at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Affordable Art Fair launched in 1999 and strives to make the art world and collecting more accessible. There are currently 16 Affordable Art Fairs that take place worldwide. Since its inception, Over 1 million visitors have attended Affordable Art Fairs and art sales at the various shows total over $275 million.

The Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong will present emerging artists alongside well-known names. In an effort to promote buying, all works will be priced around $130 to $13,000 with 75% of offerings under $10,000. Camilla Hewitson, Director of Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong said, “With Hong Kong’s position as the leading contemporary art market in Asia, we feel it is without a doubt the ideal city in which to launch an Afford Art Fair.”

Art Miami LLC, the company responsible for Art Miami, the city’s longest running contemporary art fair, announced this morning that they have acquired Aqua Art Miami. Now in its eighth year, Aqua is a satellite fair that takes place at the Aqua Hotel each year during Art Basel Week.

Founded by artist Jaq Chartier and collector and dealer Dirk Park in 2005, Aqua is devoted to bringing emerging and early mid-career contemporary artists together from across the globe. Being under the Art Miami umbrella will help Aqua to develop a larger scope of offerings for exhibitors and patrons as well as attract more big-name collectors to the show.

Art Miami LLC will take over operations at Aqua after the fair’s 2012 edition ends on Sunday, December 9.