Wendy Norris, Norris Communications
Featuring 65 contemporary and modern art galleries from around the world, artMRKT brings some of the art world's most intriguing artists and galleries to the Bay Area.
February 2011, San Francisco – artMRKT, a newly formed Brooklyn based organizer of art
fairs, co-founded by third generation gallerist Max Fishko and longtime business partner Jeffrey
Wainhause, will debut their first official artMRKT modern and contemporary fair this May 19-
22, 2011 at San Francisco’s Concourse Exhibition Center. Featuring 65 contemporary and
modern art galleries from around the world, including New York’s Nancy Hoffman Gallery
and Forum Gallery, London’s Other Criteria and San Francisco mainstays Catharine Clark
Gallery, Hackett|Mill, and Gallery Paule Anglim, artMRKT will bring some of the art world’s most
intriguing artists and galleries to the Bay Area, and many for the first time.
Commenting on the growing number of Bay Area collectors and the West Coast’s art market
potential, Fishko shares, “In many ways we are trying to push the boundaries of what it means
to create a temporary marketplace for fine art. Foremost artMRKT is about the art, however
it is also about the ideas, the energy, and the excitement that are harnessed and shared by
everyone involved. Ultimately we hope that the transactions that occur at our event are more
than simply economic. We intend artMRKT‘s atmosphere and approach to foster cultural,
educational and intellectual transactions – and this responsibility we take seriously.”
artMRKT will kick off the fair’s 2011 debut with a two-tiered Opening Preview Party on Thursday,
th
May 19 . Proceeds from the first half of the evening will benefit the art program for the
University of California, San Francisco’s new benchmark children’s, women’s and cancer
hospital complex in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San
Francisco. Currently in development, the ‘Art Program at UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay’
will feature commissioned artworks by emerging and established contemporary artists, and will
support the world-renowned hospital’s overall mission of “caring, healing, teaching, and
discovering.” Taking place during the first two hours of the fair, this exclusive event, followed
by a VIP Preview Party, offers attendees first access to the fair, intimate opportunities to interact
with gallerists and artists, and the ability to assist in funding the placement of significant
artworks in the new UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay.
Further invigorating the excitement created by the San Francisco debut of artMRKT, co-
founders Fishko and Wainhause have set out to create a platform for recognizing the strengths
of the Bay Area’s arts organizations and community of supporters. Notes
Fishko, “San Francisco has a number of elements that define its arts culture and while it would
be impetuous to say that we can encapsulate them all, we can say that each year we will provide
a vehicle for the exploration of the work, movements, institutions and individuals that drive this
unique creative and philanthropic environment.“ One of these vehicles will be achieved via
MRKTworks, an online and live auction created to benefit a selection of local arts nonprofits
paired with participating artMRKT galleries who will each donate one work to the program.
Notes co-founder Wainhause, “Working closely with a city that so fervently embraces our
goals as we prepare to host 65 contemporary and modern art galleries from the US and abroad
in an amazing 57,000 sq. ft. refurbished railroad station, allows us to attend to the details at
hand with ease and remain completely focused on putting the emphasis on the art and curating
a seamless viewing experience. San Francisco is the quintessential location for the 2011 launch
of artMRKT.”
ZERO01 INSTALLATION
Wearable architecture graces the entryway to the inaugural artMRKT Fair. Created by ZER01 artist alums Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, the Dirty Shower Dress Tent and Ice Queen: Glacier Retreat Dress Tent (both part of the larger 'Dress Tents: Nomadic Wearable Architecture' project) are a fusion of architecture, the body, and the land played out through living sculpture, moving images, and still photography. Simultaneously utilizing and addressing a history of fantasy associated with women, they delight and provoke wherever they go. Ice Queen was part of the 2008 01SJ Biennial.
We are proud to support ZER01's vision to inspire creativity at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture. In the three iterations of the 01SJ Biennial (2006, 2008, 2010), more than 100,000 visitors have experienced work by 500 artists representing 50+ countries at venues ranging from the San Jose Museum of Art to the Catharine Clark Gallery; 80 original artworks have been produced for the biennial making ZER01 one of the largest commissioning bodies in the U.S. We look forward to an on-going partnership with them as they transform Silicon Valley into a global epicenter for the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture.
More: http://www.art-mrkt.com
Press contact:
Wendy Norris, Norris Communications (415) 307-3853 or
wendy@norriscommunications.biz
Benefit Preview Party | Thursday, May 19, 2011 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm
VIP Preview Party | Thursday, May 19, 2011 | 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Concourse Exhibition Center
620 7th Street - Brannan Street - San Francisco, CA 94103
Hours: Friday: 11AM–7PM, Saturday: 11AM–7PM, Sunday: 11AM–6PM
1 Day Ticket - good for Friday, Saturday OR Sunday - $20 online / $25 at the door
3 Day Ticket - good for Friday, Saturday AND Sunday - $40 online / $45 at the door