January 2011
Passion for Art
January
We are excited to participate in VIP Art Fair?s transformative and innovative sales platform and certainly expect it to enrich the way we do business. The virtual world has emerged as a crucial vehicle for us, both in the way we can present artworks to our clients and in how we can communicate with the community at large. - David Zwirner, New York
Imagine: It is the middle of the night and you find yourself dreaming that you are in the midst of a stimulating International Art Fair with work by many of your favorite artists, work by new artists you are unfamiliar with, proximity to art galleries and dealers that you have long wished to converse with. This is, in fact, VIP Art Fair. You can explore the fair at any hour, in any outfit of your choosing, and jump from booth to booth rather than traversing long carpeted cement floors. You can gather your friends from across the globe and they, too, can visit various booths, various works, with you. The Art World is based on relationships: with artists, with collectors, with one another. The format of VIP Art Fair is designed to encourage one-on-one conversations and to experience all while experiencing a world class art fair in the comfort of one's own home. - Frish Brandt, Director, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
We are very excited about this new online endeavor, and look forward to seeing VIP Art Fair?s development in the years to come. - Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
We recognize that the audience for contemporary art is larger than those collectors and curators who are able to travel to our gallery or art fairs. We like the fact that VIP will broaden access to the artists we represent - not just to new markets, but to everyone who might not otherwise be familiar with our program. We're also looking forward to presenting works that are out of scale for a normal art fair. -Alexander and Bonin, New York
VIP Art Fair opens new perspectives in terms of art mediation. We are excited to be part of this project. - Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, St. Moritz
VIP Art Fair is the ideal opportunity for the gallery to continue highlighting the connections between the older and mid-career artists and emerging artists in the gallery program. - Marianne Boesky, New York
VIP Art Fair gives unprecedented opportunity for collectors to participate in a global market place - without the travel and freight this usually entails. A welcome, responsible and innovative development for the art world. - Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
We're looking forward to participating in the first edition of the VIP Art Fair. A number of our artists - Petah Coyne, Alfredo Jaar, Cildo Meireles and Krzysztof Wodiczko - make art work that doesn't fit into the traditional confines of an art fair booth so we are excited to test this new business model for connecting our artists and the public. - Mary Sabbatino, Galerie Lelong, New York, Paris
We are very excited to participate in the inauguration of VIP Art Fair. - Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
With the rapid globalization of the art market, it was only inevitable that we would reach the online realm. In Brazil and elsewhere, we are in a new and shifting period as the visual arts move to computer screens and our gallery is incredibly excited to be part of this groundbreaking project! - Raquel Arnaud, Gabinete De Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo
Ben Brown Fine Arts is delighted to be participating in the inaugural VIP Art Fair. This hugely innovative initiative will embrace the power of the worldwide web and allow unprecedented access to art for all collectors alike. With the possibility of a truly global reach its success will be measured in minutes rather than days and will bring a true revolution in the way people will be able to view and collect art. This art fair will enable Ben Brown Fine Arts to continue to build on our initiatives in Hong Kong, reaching as wide an audience as possible and allowing us more opportunities to offer for sale our hugely talented artists. - Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, Hong Kong
We are pleased to be invited to participate in the first edition of VIP Art Fair which is an important breakthrough as the first-ever virtual fair worldwide. We are excited to take the opportunity given by the revolutionary format of the fair to exhibit a combination of the latest works by gallery artists alongside select historical pieces from the gallery's 33-year trajectory. - Jean Bernier and Marina Eliades, Bernier/Eliades, Athens
Nature Morte | Bose Pacia is pleased to announce our participation in the inaugural incarnation of VIP Art Fair. We are happy to be counted among the many outstanding participating galleries and look forward to discussing the work of our artists with new audiences. It will be an exciting endeavor to navigate the possibilities of the first ever online art fair and the breadth of viewership that it will provide. - Rebecca Davis, Director, Bose Pacia/Nature Morte, New York, Berlin, New Delhi
The Goodman Gallery is pleased to be taking part in the inaugural online VIP Art Fair. Being a gallery based in South Africa, we rely heavily on the use of digital media and the Internet to showcase our gallery and our artists on an international platform. Taking part in the first professional online Art Fair is both a valuable extension to our institutional mission and an exciting endeavor in the global online context. - Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town
he VIP Art Fair will be an exceptional opportunity for our international clients to see new work by our artists and have an interactive experience with us - without having to buy an airline ticket. We also hope to develop new relationships with collectors who have an interest in contemporary Middle Eastern art and our international emerging artists. - LTMH Gallery, New York
In a contemporary art market seemingly abiding by the Occidental paradigm, new generations of Japanese artists have emerged since the 1990?s. Free from the inferiority complex toward the West that undermined their elders, they feed on Japan?s unique sense of beauty to create an original, hypersensitive aesthetic universe. Mizuma Art Gallery brings those matchless artists to the Global Village through the new stage of VIP Art Fair in a bid to further expand the reach of their messages toward a richer intercultural dialogue. - Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo
We are very excited to take part in the first edition of the VIP Art Fair. This very innovative concept fully acknowledges the revolution that Internet represents in such a global market as the market of contemporary art. This project of a virtual art fair also favors a special connection to the works of art: the collectors will be able to zoom in to examine details of paintings as well as getting multiple views of sculptures. I think it?s a great opportunity to show the identity of one?s gallery and to defend strong artistic statements. It?s great news for anyone passionate about art.
- Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, Brussels
We are excited to focus our presentation on works that will take advantage of this innovative new art fair format. - Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles
CRG has participated in various art fairs over the years and all over the world. The idea of a virtual art fair is timely and appropriate. We are thrilled to feature three emerging artists and give them the opportunity to present their work to the international public with a number of works--allowing more understanding and accessibility into their practice. - Carla Chammas, CRG Gallery, New York
Jackson Pollock has long been the most famous American artist. The promise of VIP Art Fair to bring the artist?s work currently in our Pollock exhibition on 57th Street to a global internet audience marks an exciting moment. In addition, the exclusive worldwide audience gives an unprecedented opportunity for artists shown by the Washburn Gallery to be seen in our VIP online inventory during the Fair. - Joan Washburn, Washburn Gallery, New York
We are very excited to showcase our artist's work in this new platform. IBID Projects will curate a presentation especially for VIP Art Fair that is partly aimed at keeping our current clients and curators whom follow our artist's work updated. But we also hope to meet new contacts in this accessible medium, potentially from parts of the world that we have not been able to reach out to as of yet and that an online forum can facilitate. - IBID Projects, London
Imagine: It is the middle of the night and you find yourself dreaming that you are in the midst of a stimulating International Art Fair with work by many of your favorite artists, work by new artists you are unfamiliar with, proximity to art galleries and dealers that you have long wished to converse with. This is, in fact, VIP Art Fair. You can explore the fair at any hour, in any outfit of your choosing, and jump from booth to booth rather than traversing long carpeted cement floors. You can gather your friends from across the globe and they, too, can visit various booths, various works, with you. The Art World is based on relationships: with artists, with collectors, with one another. The format of VIP Art Fair is designed to encourage one-on-one conversations and to experience all while experiencing a world class art fair in the comfort of one's own home. - Frish Brandt, Director, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
We are very excited about this new online endeavor, and look forward to seeing VIP Art Fair?s development in the years to come. - Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
We recognize that the audience for contemporary art is larger than those collectors and curators who are able to travel to our gallery or art fairs. We like the fact that VIP will broaden access to the artists we represent - not just to new markets, but to everyone who might not otherwise be familiar with our program. We're also looking forward to presenting works that are out of scale for a normal art fair. -Alexander and Bonin, New York
VIP Art Fair opens new perspectives in terms of art mediation. We are excited to be part of this project. - Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, St. Moritz
VIP Art Fair is the ideal opportunity for the gallery to continue highlighting the connections between the older and mid-career artists and emerging artists in the gallery program. - Marianne Boesky, New York
VIP Art Fair gives unprecedented opportunity for collectors to participate in a global market place - without the travel and freight this usually entails. A welcome, responsible and innovative development for the art world. - Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
We're looking forward to participating in the first edition of the VIP Art Fair. A number of our artists - Petah Coyne, Alfredo Jaar, Cildo Meireles and Krzysztof Wodiczko - make art work that doesn't fit into the traditional confines of an art fair booth so we are excited to test this new business model for connecting our artists and the public. - Mary Sabbatino, Galerie Lelong, New York, Paris
We are very excited to participate in the inauguration of VIP Art Fair. - Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
With the rapid globalization of the art market, it was only inevitable that we would reach the online realm. In Brazil and elsewhere, we are in a new and shifting period as the visual arts move to computer screens and our gallery is incredibly excited to be part of this groundbreaking project! - Raquel Arnaud, Gabinete De Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo
Ben Brown Fine Arts is delighted to be participating in the inaugural VIP Art Fair. This hugely innovative initiative will embrace the power of the worldwide web and allow unprecedented access to art for all collectors alike. With the possibility of a truly global reach its success will be measured in minutes rather than days and will bring a true revolution in the way people will be able to view and collect art. This art fair will enable Ben Brown Fine Arts to continue to build on our initiatives in Hong Kong, reaching as wide an audience as possible and allowing us more opportunities to offer for sale our hugely talented artists. - Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, Hong Kong
We are pleased to be invited to participate in the first edition of VIP Art Fair which is an important breakthrough as the first-ever virtual fair worldwide. We are excited to take the opportunity given by the revolutionary format of the fair to exhibit a combination of the latest works by gallery artists alongside select historical pieces from the gallery's 33-year trajectory. - Jean Bernier and Marina Eliades, Bernier/Eliades, Athens
Nature Morte | Bose Pacia is pleased to announce our participation in the inaugural incarnation of VIP Art Fair. We are happy to be counted among the many outstanding participating galleries and look forward to discussing the work of our artists with new audiences. It will be an exciting endeavor to navigate the possibilities of the first ever online art fair and the breadth of viewership that it will provide. - Rebecca Davis, Director, Bose Pacia/Nature Morte, New York, Berlin, New Delhi
The Goodman Gallery is pleased to be taking part in the inaugural online VIP Art Fair. Being a gallery based in South Africa, we rely heavily on the use of digital media and the Internet to showcase our gallery and our artists on an international platform. Taking part in the first professional online Art Fair is both a valuable extension to our institutional mission and an exciting endeavor in the global online context. - Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town
he VIP Art Fair will be an exceptional opportunity for our international clients to see new work by our artists and have an interactive experience with us - without having to buy an airline ticket. We also hope to develop new relationships with collectors who have an interest in contemporary Middle Eastern art and our international emerging artists. - LTMH Gallery, New York
In a contemporary art market seemingly abiding by the Occidental paradigm, new generations of Japanese artists have emerged since the 1990?s. Free from the inferiority complex toward the West that undermined their elders, they feed on Japan?s unique sense of beauty to create an original, hypersensitive aesthetic universe. Mizuma Art Gallery brings those matchless artists to the Global Village through the new stage of VIP Art Fair in a bid to further expand the reach of their messages toward a richer intercultural dialogue. - Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo
We are very excited to take part in the first edition of the VIP Art Fair. This very innovative concept fully acknowledges the revolution that Internet represents in such a global market as the market of contemporary art. This project of a virtual art fair also favors a special connection to the works of art: the collectors will be able to zoom in to examine details of paintings as well as getting multiple views of sculptures. I think it?s a great opportunity to show the identity of one?s gallery and to defend strong artistic statements. It?s great news for anyone passionate about art.
- Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, Brussels
We are excited to focus our presentation on works that will take advantage of this innovative new art fair format. - Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles
CRG has participated in various art fairs over the years and all over the world. The idea of a virtual art fair is timely and appropriate. We are thrilled to feature three emerging artists and give them the opportunity to present their work to the international public with a number of works--allowing more understanding and accessibility into their practice. - Carla Chammas, CRG Gallery, New York
Jackson Pollock has long been the most famous American artist. The promise of VIP Art Fair to bring the artist?s work currently in our Pollock exhibition on 57th Street to a global internet audience marks an exciting moment. In addition, the exclusive worldwide audience gives an unprecedented opportunity for artists shown by the Washburn Gallery to be seen in our VIP online inventory during the Fair. - Joan Washburn, Washburn Gallery, New York
We are very excited to showcase our artist's work in this new platform. IBID Projects will curate a presentation especially for VIP Art Fair that is partly aimed at keeping our current clients and curators whom follow our artist's work updated. But we also hope to meet new contacts in this accessible medium, potentially from parts of the world that we have not been able to reach out to as of yet and that an online forum can facilitate. - IBID Projects, London
A new experience of looking at artwork online
VIEWING IN PRIVATE International Contemporary Art Fair
The VIP Art Fair-an acronym for “Viewing in Private”-is the first art fair to take place exclusively online. Opening on January 22, the 8-day fair offers a broad range of international artists and galleries, video tours of artist studios and private collections worldwide, and daily news updates from the Art Newspaper. Organized by James and Jane Cohan of New York’s venerable James Cohan Gallery and Internet entrepreneurs Jonas and Alessandra Almgren, the fair is accessible to anyone, anywhere via its website (www.vipartfair.com).
NEW YORK. Art Bahrain contributing editor Paul Laster recently sat down with VIP Art Fair co-founder Jane Cohan to get the details on this innovative platform for making fine art more reachable to a worldwide audience.
Paul Laster: What is the VIP Art Fair?
Jane Cohan: As the Internet exists today, there is no one location where someone can go to find out who are the leading contemporary art galleries in the world. We wanted to change this. We aim to realize the potential for the Internet in reaching new audiences, as an active platform for introducing artists and artwork, and for working in a direct way with collectors. The idea came to us three years ago when we developed a private room as part of our gallery website. There, we offered works to a select group of our clients and were able to include supporting materials so that they could learn more about the works. Three years ago, we met our partners Jonas and Alessandra Almgren, who are art collectors and who have a long history with development of new projects on the Internet, and started to work together to develop the online art fair project.
PL: What is the geographic diversity of the galleries and artists represented?
JC: There are 138 galleries from 30 countries participating in the fair. With three online exhibition halls, visitors to the fair will encounter a wide range of contemporary art galleries-all leaders in the field. The VIP Premier hall for well-established galleries, representing international and critically acclaimed artists; VIP Focus galleries, presenting works by a single artist; and VIP Emerging, representing some of the most exciting and cutting edge artists working today. The booths sizes, or number of works presented, will depend on which hall they are in. VIP Premier Large and Medium will show 20 works or 15 works, depending, at any one time in their booths. VIP Focus will present 8 works and VIP Emerging will present 10. The galleries will have the ability to make changes to the works in their booth at any time.
With galleries from 30 countries, VIP Art Fair is a truly international fair. The diversity of nationalities represented is a very important aspect to the plan for the fair. With all of the galleries inviting their active clients, and with no travel required, we expect the fair to be a place where collectors can learn more about the galleries, can stay in touch with galleries with whom they already work, and start relationships with new galleries they haven’t previously met. With the growth of global wealth, there are important art collectors and those who have the desire to become collectors from every region of the world. VIP Art Fair becomes a directory to the very best in contemporary art.
PL: What’s the level of the artists that galleries will present?
JC: The artists presented by the galleries will range from established to emerging. The very well known artists include American minimalist John McCracken at David Zwirner, Damien Hirst at L&M Arts, Jenny Holzer at Yvon Lambert, Hiroshi Sugimoto at Gallery Koyanagi, Anselm Kiefer at Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, and John Chamberlain at Anthony Meier Fine Arts. Visitors can also expect to be introduced to talented newcomers to the scene, such as British installation artist Sean Edwards, who will be presenting It’s Not Me, It’s You, which consists of floor-to-ceiling stacks of packing tape at Limoncello Gallery, and New Delhi-based Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, a collaborative team that are at the forefront of the Indian art movement, at Bose Pacia/Nature Morte.
PL: When does the fair begin and who can visit it?
JC: The VIP Art Fair opens on January 22nd at 8:00 AM Eastern Standard Time and runs through January 30th. Anyone can visit the fair. With a simple pre-registration process, visitors will be able to browse the fair for free and to create and take guided tours. Additionally, VIP tickets will be available to purchase online at the time of the fair, or clients of the participating galleries may request a VIP Pass from their preferred gallery. The VIP ticket allows special access to the fair, including price information for artworks, live chat with gallery staff, and the VIP Lounge.
Purchasing a VIP Pass on first two days of the fair-January 22nd or 23rd-costs 100 USD and allows for unlimited access for one visitor through January 30th. Purchasing a VIP Pass on or after January 24th costs 20 USD and allows unlimited access for one visitor through the remainder of the fair.
PL: What’s the programming for the VIP Lounge?
JC: There are four different areas of the lounge: New on the Wall, a running list of new works that galleries put on view in their booths as the fair progresses; Tours, where visitors can share and access specially created tours of the fair by well-known collectors, curators, critics, and fellow visitors; Video, where VIP ticket holders can get inside the artist studio via Art21 and visit the best private art collections in the world; and News updates, provided by The Art Newspaper.
PL: Who are some of the artists that Art 21 will be covering?
JC: The fair’s Creative Programming Partner, Art21, is an award-winning producer of films, educational resources, and public programs about contemporary art. For the inaugural edition of VIP Art Fair, Art21 is showing a selection of its films, including nine world premiere exclusives, featuring artists in their studios or installing work in sites worldwide. Eighteen artists will be featured, including Bruce Nauman, Paul McCarthy, Cai Guo Qiang, and Cindy Sherman, among others.
PL: What private collections will be available to visit?
JC: The VIP Lounge’s video tours of notable private collections include Takeo Obayashi’s yun-un guesthouse, which was built by renown architect Tadao Ando, in Japan; Thomas Shao, who is the owner of Modern Media in China; Yang Bin’s collection in Beijing; Howard and Cindy Rachofsky collection, which is housed in their beautiful Richard Meier-designed home in Dallas; and Joel and Sherry Mallin, who have an extensive and very personal private sculpture garden and art barn in New York.
PL: What will The Art Newspaper be reporting?
JC: TAN will be creating daily editorial and video content, which will be available in the VIP Lounge and will simultaneously be posted on the TAN digital site. There will be videos of the opening party in New York City on January 20th; reporting directly from galleries in New York and London; interviews with collectors, curators and artists, and articles about artists whose works are on view at the fair.
PL: How does viewing art at VIPAF differ from looking at art in gallery websites?
JC: It was a key goal of our partners Jonas and Alessandra Almgren and ours to improve the experience of looking at artwork online. On the VIP Art Fair website artwork is presented on a wall (or in the case of a sculpture on the floor) in relation to other works of art and to the human figure. So here, collectors can understand the size of the work. Then, with a simple click, the visitor can zoom way in to see the surface of an artwork; collectors can see the important details and textures that give each work its character. In addition, for every artwork on view, the galleries add supporting materials about each artist and artwork, including multiple views, video presentations, biographical information, and detailed written descriptions, plus more. We are taking advantage of what the Internet does very well-provide lots of information.
PL: Are any Arab galleries and artists participating in the VIP Art Fair?
JC: In the first edition of VIP Art Fair 2011 we do not have any participating galleries from Arab countries. We hope to change this in the second edition of the fair next year. With the broad range of galleries exhibiting this year, there are bound to be some Arab artists in the mix.
PL: What can collectors from Bahrain, Sharjah, Dubai, and other Arab cultural capitals gain from visiting an art fair online?
JC: With the burgeoning art fair scene in the Arab countries, collectors there in recent years are getting a great introduction to a group of international galleries. At VIP Art Fair, these collectors can stay in touch with the dealers that they have met previously and see what is new on offer from these galleries. With their familiarity with the traditional art fair format, they will find many familiar touchstones in the online format, such as the fair map, the booth wall, and many of the exhibitors.
A key aspect of the fair is that it is a live event. The gallery booths are actively staffed and dealers are online for 12 to 18 hours a day to work with clients across the globe (for galleries with multiple international locations access can be available 24/7). VIP ticket holders have the ability to connect one-on-one with gallery staff through an integrated chat and messaging system. Once these conversations are initiated (and they can be seamlessly transferred to Skype or telephone, as preferred), dealers can discuss works being offered in the booth and can provide access to their back room inventory, directly on the ticket holder’s computer screen. Here, works can be shared with clients discreetly through tailor-made “private rooms.” This unique form of interaction allows dealers and clients to connect in real-time-as if sitting on opposite sides of the same desk, even though they may be thousands of miles apart.
NEW YORK. Art Bahrain contributing editor Paul Laster recently sat down with VIP Art Fair co-founder Jane Cohan to get the details on this innovative platform for making fine art more reachable to a worldwide audience.
Paul Laster: What is the VIP Art Fair?
Jane Cohan: As the Internet exists today, there is no one location where someone can go to find out who are the leading contemporary art galleries in the world. We wanted to change this. We aim to realize the potential for the Internet in reaching new audiences, as an active platform for introducing artists and artwork, and for working in a direct way with collectors. The idea came to us three years ago when we developed a private room as part of our gallery website. There, we offered works to a select group of our clients and were able to include supporting materials so that they could learn more about the works. Three years ago, we met our partners Jonas and Alessandra Almgren, who are art collectors and who have a long history with development of new projects on the Internet, and started to work together to develop the online art fair project.
PL: What is the geographic diversity of the galleries and artists represented?
JC: There are 138 galleries from 30 countries participating in the fair. With three online exhibition halls, visitors to the fair will encounter a wide range of contemporary art galleries-all leaders in the field. The VIP Premier hall for well-established galleries, representing international and critically acclaimed artists; VIP Focus galleries, presenting works by a single artist; and VIP Emerging, representing some of the most exciting and cutting edge artists working today. The booths sizes, or number of works presented, will depend on which hall they are in. VIP Premier Large and Medium will show 20 works or 15 works, depending, at any one time in their booths. VIP Focus will present 8 works and VIP Emerging will present 10. The galleries will have the ability to make changes to the works in their booth at any time.
With galleries from 30 countries, VIP Art Fair is a truly international fair. The diversity of nationalities represented is a very important aspect to the plan for the fair. With all of the galleries inviting their active clients, and with no travel required, we expect the fair to be a place where collectors can learn more about the galleries, can stay in touch with galleries with whom they already work, and start relationships with new galleries they haven’t previously met. With the growth of global wealth, there are important art collectors and those who have the desire to become collectors from every region of the world. VIP Art Fair becomes a directory to the very best in contemporary art.
PL: What’s the level of the artists that galleries will present?
JC: The artists presented by the galleries will range from established to emerging. The very well known artists include American minimalist John McCracken at David Zwirner, Damien Hirst at L&M Arts, Jenny Holzer at Yvon Lambert, Hiroshi Sugimoto at Gallery Koyanagi, Anselm Kiefer at Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, and John Chamberlain at Anthony Meier Fine Arts. Visitors can also expect to be introduced to talented newcomers to the scene, such as British installation artist Sean Edwards, who will be presenting It’s Not Me, It’s You, which consists of floor-to-ceiling stacks of packing tape at Limoncello Gallery, and New Delhi-based Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, a collaborative team that are at the forefront of the Indian art movement, at Bose Pacia/Nature Morte.
PL: When does the fair begin and who can visit it?
JC: The VIP Art Fair opens on January 22nd at 8:00 AM Eastern Standard Time and runs through January 30th. Anyone can visit the fair. With a simple pre-registration process, visitors will be able to browse the fair for free and to create and take guided tours. Additionally, VIP tickets will be available to purchase online at the time of the fair, or clients of the participating galleries may request a VIP Pass from their preferred gallery. The VIP ticket allows special access to the fair, including price information for artworks, live chat with gallery staff, and the VIP Lounge.
Purchasing a VIP Pass on first two days of the fair-January 22nd or 23rd-costs 100 USD and allows for unlimited access for one visitor through January 30th. Purchasing a VIP Pass on or after January 24th costs 20 USD and allows unlimited access for one visitor through the remainder of the fair.
PL: What’s the programming for the VIP Lounge?
JC: There are four different areas of the lounge: New on the Wall, a running list of new works that galleries put on view in their booths as the fair progresses; Tours, where visitors can share and access specially created tours of the fair by well-known collectors, curators, critics, and fellow visitors; Video, where VIP ticket holders can get inside the artist studio via Art21 and visit the best private art collections in the world; and News updates, provided by The Art Newspaper.
PL: Who are some of the artists that Art 21 will be covering?
JC: The fair’s Creative Programming Partner, Art21, is an award-winning producer of films, educational resources, and public programs about contemporary art. For the inaugural edition of VIP Art Fair, Art21 is showing a selection of its films, including nine world premiere exclusives, featuring artists in their studios or installing work in sites worldwide. Eighteen artists will be featured, including Bruce Nauman, Paul McCarthy, Cai Guo Qiang, and Cindy Sherman, among others.
PL: What private collections will be available to visit?
JC: The VIP Lounge’s video tours of notable private collections include Takeo Obayashi’s yun-un guesthouse, which was built by renown architect Tadao Ando, in Japan; Thomas Shao, who is the owner of Modern Media in China; Yang Bin’s collection in Beijing; Howard and Cindy Rachofsky collection, which is housed in their beautiful Richard Meier-designed home in Dallas; and Joel and Sherry Mallin, who have an extensive and very personal private sculpture garden and art barn in New York.
PL: What will The Art Newspaper be reporting?
JC: TAN will be creating daily editorial and video content, which will be available in the VIP Lounge and will simultaneously be posted on the TAN digital site. There will be videos of the opening party in New York City on January 20th; reporting directly from galleries in New York and London; interviews with collectors, curators and artists, and articles about artists whose works are on view at the fair.
PL: How does viewing art at VIPAF differ from looking at art in gallery websites?
JC: It was a key goal of our partners Jonas and Alessandra Almgren and ours to improve the experience of looking at artwork online. On the VIP Art Fair website artwork is presented on a wall (or in the case of a sculpture on the floor) in relation to other works of art and to the human figure. So here, collectors can understand the size of the work. Then, with a simple click, the visitor can zoom way in to see the surface of an artwork; collectors can see the important details and textures that give each work its character. In addition, for every artwork on view, the galleries add supporting materials about each artist and artwork, including multiple views, video presentations, biographical information, and detailed written descriptions, plus more. We are taking advantage of what the Internet does very well-provide lots of information.
PL: Are any Arab galleries and artists participating in the VIP Art Fair?
JC: In the first edition of VIP Art Fair 2011 we do not have any participating galleries from Arab countries. We hope to change this in the second edition of the fair next year. With the broad range of galleries exhibiting this year, there are bound to be some Arab artists in the mix.
PL: What can collectors from Bahrain, Sharjah, Dubai, and other Arab cultural capitals gain from visiting an art fair online?
JC: With the burgeoning art fair scene in the Arab countries, collectors there in recent years are getting a great introduction to a group of international galleries. At VIP Art Fair, these collectors can stay in touch with the dealers that they have met previously and see what is new on offer from these galleries. With their familiarity with the traditional art fair format, they will find many familiar touchstones in the online format, such as the fair map, the booth wall, and many of the exhibitors.
A key aspect of the fair is that it is a live event. The gallery booths are actively staffed and dealers are online for 12 to 18 hours a day to work with clients across the globe (for galleries with multiple international locations access can be available 24/7). VIP ticket holders have the ability to connect one-on-one with gallery staff through an integrated chat and messaging system. Once these conversations are initiated (and they can be seamlessly transferred to Skype or telephone, as preferred), dealers can discuss works being offered in the booth and can provide access to their back room inventory, directly on the ticket holder’s computer screen. Here, works can be shared with clients discreetly through tailor-made “private rooms.” This unique form of interaction allows dealers and clients to connect in real-time-as if sitting on opposite sides of the same desk, even though they may be thousands of miles apart.
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VIP ART FAIR
Co-Founders
Jonas Almgren combines a lifelong passion for art with more than 15 years of management and technology experience from Silicon Valley. Prior to co-founding VIP Art Fair, Mr. Almgren helped launch five successful start-ups: Vantive (IPO 1995), InterWeave (sold 1997), E.piphany (IPO 1999), PremierGuide (sold 2007), and One Art World. Mr. Almgren has worked with Internet applications since 1995. He holds a MSc in Computer Science from The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
Alessandra Almgren brings a decade of high-tech marketing and business development experience from Silicon Valley. In 1998, Ms. Almgren started the Home Theater Research Group, a market research company focused on the high-end video consumer market (with clients such as Sony, Mitsubishi, NEC, and InFocus). Prior to that Ms. Almgren was part of the small team that started the Palo Alto Innovation Center for Texas Instruments' DLP division. After moving to New York in 2005, she sold her market research business and co-founded One Art World. Ms. Almgren holds an MBA from Università Cattolica in Milan, Italy.
Jim Cohan has been active in the contemporary art world for more than 25 years as a dealer. Mr. Cohan served as director of the John Weber Gallery, Paula Cooper Gallery and Anthony d'Offay Gallery over a 17-year period. He founded the James Cohan Gallery in New York in 1999, and opened a second branch of the gallery in Shanghai in 2008. He serves on the board of directors of the Art Dealers Association of America, Art 21 and Independent Curators International. Mr. Cohan holds a BA in Art History from Washington University, St. Louis.
Jane Cohan is partner at James Cohan Gallery, New York/Shanghai, where she manages press relations and acts as Artist Liaison. An industrial designer by training, Ms. Cohan was a research fellow at the Royal College of Art and holds an MA from Pratt Institute and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College.
Directors
Noah Horowitz joins VIP Art Fair from the Serpentine Gallery in London. He holds a PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art and is Adjunct Professor of Art Business at the Sotheby's Institute of Art, New York. Dr. Horowitz is author of Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market, forthcoming from Princeton University Press.
Stephanie Schumann brings to VIP Art Fair a depth of experience from institutions including The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Drawing Center, and The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown. She holds an MA in the History of Art from Williams College and a BA from Duke University.
About the interviewer:
Paul Laster is an editor, writer, and independent curator. He is editor of Artkrush.com, and a contributing editor at Flavorpill.com, artBahrain and ArtAsiaPacific magazine. He was the founding editor of bkyn, an online journal of the arts, first art editor of Flavorpill.com, and last art editor of Russell Simmons' OneWorld magazine. He has been a frequent contributor to Time Out New York, Art in America, New York Observer, Modern Painters, Tema Celeste, amNew York, TheDailyBeast.com, and Artnet.com.
Paul Laster is an editor, writer, and independent curator. He is editor of Artkrush.com, and a contributing editor at Flavorpill.com, artBahrain and ArtAsiaPacific magazine. He was the founding editor of bkyn, an online journal of the arts, first art editor of Flavorpill.com, and last art editor of Russell Simmons' OneWorld magazine. He has been a frequent contributor to Time Out New York, Art in America, New York Observer, Modern Painters, Tema Celeste, amNew York, TheDailyBeast.com, and Artnet.com.
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