DISPATCH- AUG 1, 2012 (9:45 p.m.)
SOUTHAMPTON, NY.
The team for Art Southampton is pleased. So pleased that the gears are already turning to present next year's art fair in the Hamptons. According to Art Southampton, galleries have already requested to be part of next year's fair and the feedback has been favorable by this year's galleries and attendees.
Art Southampton 2012 drew around 11,750 people with 3,624 attending the VIP Preview Party, according to the art fair. Sales "were brisk" on Friday and Saturday, according to Art Southampton. Noted artwork sales ran from $16,000 to $390,000, the art fair reported. Figures are based on information supplied by the selling galleries, according to a release.
(For those who "have to know," reported sales included a work by Fernando Botero for $390,000, John Chamberlain's "Sparkle Party" for $250,000 and works by George Rickey and Luis Tomasello for $80,000 each, according to Art Southampton.)
The final hours of Art Southampton revealed people continuing to arrive to look at art. Abstraction and sculpture (Modern and Contemporary) were prominent at the fair. Modern and Contemporary art seemed to be presented in equal measure with plenty of works by well-known Post World War II artists.
Following is a visual account of some of the art that caught my eye and some of the people participating in the first Art Southampton:
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"The Dream" by Brad Ascalon (McNeill Art Group), "Kvinna" by Hal Buckner (Arcature Fine Art) and "Windseed" by Norman Mooney (Waterhouse & Dodd).
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"S-Man" by Keith Haring, 1987. On left is "Inheritance (Shared)" by Ross Bleckner, 2004. On right is "Dickinson Crater (In the Night Garden)" by Marc Quinn, 2010. All were exhibited with Galerie Forsblom (Helsinki, Finland).
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Mobile by Hal Buckner floats above the VIP Lounge.
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Detail of video and sound artwork by Tony Oursler, 2012. Steel stand, projection, and mixed media. Exhibited with Galerie Forsblom (Helsinki, Finland).
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Art dealer Beth McNeill of McNeill Art Group (Southampton and New York, NY) with artist Jeff Muhs. In rear are "Love Making" by Jeff Muhs and "Neverscape" and "Maersk II" by Nano Rubio.
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The Elkon Gallery (New York, NY) devoted its booth to the paintings of Lluís Lleó. The artist was born in Barcelona, Spain to artistic family but now lives and works in New York.
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"Bloom" by Jessica Lichtenstein. UV printed on acrylic, LED lights, stainless steel. Exhibited with Gallery Nine5 (New York, NY). Lichtenstein creates her anime-inspired tableaux in wall sculpture, furniture and diorama-like works. Lichtenstein believes art should entertain and does so by imbibing Japanese cartoon figures with imagined lives in ironic situations, according to the gallery.
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Detail of "Bloom" by Jessica Lichtenstein. Exhibited with gallery Nine5.
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"Cardboard People" by Alexander Kaletski. Exhibited with Dillon Gallery (Chelsea, NY). Kaletski transformed the gallery's booth into an installation where his "drinking" characters could congregate. Kaletski's paintings are typically made on cardboard and capture an array of characters found in New York City, according to the gallery.
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"Judy Garland and her Friends" by Scott Covert, 2011-2012. Oil and wax crayons, acrylic on muslin, 19 x 20 inches. Exhibited with Edelman Arts & Art Assure (New York, NY). Covert's art begins as grave rubbings on linen capturing people he admires, according to the gallery. The result is art that combines Pop and Abstraction with hints of conceptual and narrative components.
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Mindy Solomon of Mindy Solomon Gallery (St. Petersburg, FL). On left is "Guatemala" by Georgine Ingold, 2009. Sculptures by Elke Sada are "Phyrulla" (bottom), "Fringilla" (middle) and "Pica Pica (In Love) (top). The painting on right is "Bay Rigger Blue" by James Kennedy, 2012.
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Foreground: "Ten Breaths: Congress of Wits - Study, 2007" by Eric Fischl, bronze, 27 x 40 x 68 inches. Sculptures along the wall are made of leaded glass. Exhibited with Hexton Modern and Contemporary (Chicago IL).
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"Healing Blossoms" by Ran Hwang, 2012. Buttons, beads, pins on wooden panel, 66 x 325 inches. Exhibited with Leila Heller Gallery (New York, NY).
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"Taburete" by Cornelis Zitman, 1975/76. Bronze. Exhibited with Ascaso Gallery (Miami, FL).
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Nick Korniloff, the Art Southampton Fair Director. Photograph by Erika Delgado Photography.
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BASIC FACTS: Art Southampton was held from July 26 to 30, 2012 at the Southampton Elks Lodge fairgrounds. Around 50 galleries exhibited in the inaugural fair. www.art-southampton.com
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© 2012 Pat Rogers and Hamptons Art Hub. All rights reserved.