February 19, 2015
Art Wynwood, Miami's five-day International Contemporary Art Fair opened Thursday, February 12th, with the highly anticipated VIP Preview. Featuring 70 international galleries, which presented emerging, cutting-edge, contemporary and modern works of art, Wynwood spoke to the art enthusiast and seasoned cultural traveler alike. Each year, Art Wynwood is a unique opportunity to discover, explore and collect some of the most significant art forms of our time, and it's fourth annual incarnation was a great sucess!
Taglialatella Galleries was well-represented, with pieces from both our New York and Palm Beach gallieries, and we were happy to showcase our variety of contemporary and pop artwork.
For a more detailed summary of the events, please read the following press release!
ART WYNWOOD ACHIEVES RECORD SUCCESS AND ATTENDANCE
IN ITS FOURTH YEAR
Major Collectors from New York, Miami and Abroad Make Important Acquisitions
Miami (February 19, 2015) - Art Wynwood, the annual Presidents Day Weekend art fair, presented over 60 galleries, from 9 countries representing over 25 cities, featured a wide breadth of quality works from both established and mid-career cutting edge artists. The Fourth Edition reported record attendance, attracting over 35,000 enthusiasts and some of the world's most prominent collectors; as well as a strong show of patrons from the international clientele in town for the Yacht & Brokerage Show. Art Wynwood has secured its position as the most important contemporary art fair in the southeast during the winter months by offering the most discerning international collectors, art enthusiasts and seasoned cultural travelers the best opportunity to discover, explore and collect some of the most significant art works of our time.
"The City of Miami and The Wynwood Arts District continues to deliver for our participating dealers while quenching the thirst of an active international art collecting community who are visiting or residing in South Florida each winter," said Nick Korniloff, Executive VP of Art Miami LLC. "This past weekend proved that Miami continues to develop as a serious cultural destination outside the month of December".
"For the fourth edition of Art Wynwood, the enthusiasm, focus and momentum of our local, regional and international galleries has made the fair an exceptional success," said Grela Orihuela, Art Wynwood Fair Director. "Our clear determination was to continue to grow and shape this fair into an event embodying the tremendous art character and talent of its Miami roots."
Christie's International Real Estate hosted an interactive booth at the entrance of Art Wynwood, exhibiting international luxury residential real estate offerings, and a new addition to the fair was a special exhibition titled SOLO Miami where a selection of local galleries, including Emerson Dorsch, GUCCIVUITTON, Primary, Fredric Snitzer Gallery and Spinello Projects, exhibited side-by-side to present solo exhibitions premiering exciting new work by consequential local artists.
"Major collectors like Mera Rubell, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Jorge Perez and Jessica Goldman came through the fair. We are thrilled that Susan and Michael Hort have continued to support Farley Aguilar with their acquisition of Mourning, one of the three large oil on canvas painting that were featured in Spinello's booth. Beth DeWoody also acquired a large oil painting, Patriarchy, as well as several ink on mylar paintings. In total, we placed 20 paintings - sold out!" said gallery owner Anthony Spinello. "Judging from the packed aisles, there is definitely an audience and most importantly people are buying."
Famed gallery owner Fredric Snitzer, who also participated in the SOLO Miami exhibition said, "The reason I was happy to be a part of the fair this year was in the choice they made of selecting a few galleries from the community and having each focus on showing a Miami artist. It gives a snapshot and cross section of what's happening here in a brief moment."
Other new exhibitions this year included, "La Habana in Waiting," a solo exhibition by New York-based Chinese artist, Quentin Shih, in collaboration with participating gallery ART LEXÏNG. In his most recent series, "La Habana in Waiting," Shih explores the tensions and melancholy in Cuban citizens sitting for an artist's lens; the polarities between expressive individuals struggling for identity within a Communist regime. The fair continued its collaboration with Cash, Cans & Candy, an international festival of street art from Vienna, Austria, presented by Galerie Ernst Hilger. Curator Katrin-Sophie Dworczak of Cash, Cans & Candy lined up famed street artist, Boicut, to create original works onsite at the fair. Esteemed gallery owner, Bernice Steinbaum, presented a design installation by young artists, 10 percent of the proceeds of her sales from special project "Art in the Natural World and Cultured Settings" will go to the Museum of Art and Design in the Freedom Tower. Artists sold at her project included Enrique Gomez de Molina, Aurora Molina and Carrie Sieh among others. Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties, aligned once again with the fair and sponsored the Wynwood Walls Go! Shop pop up on-site at the Art Wynwood Pavilion. The Go! Shop invited the public to shop the Walls, through a curated collection of limited art editions, inspired and created by the artists of Wynwood Walls. Lastly, Art Wynwood partnered with Miami Children's Museum to provide a fun and interactive kid's center - ArtRageous Kids Center.
Major sales included:
• Archeus Post Modern of London sold Sam Francis' "Los Angeles-Tokyo"; Asking price $250,000
• Laura Rathe Fine Art of Houston sold two works on the opening night, including a 15ft long Christopher Martin piece with a price tag of $45,00
• Jorge Perez acquired a Mel Ramos piece from Galerie Ernst Hilger
• Cynthia Corbett Gallery sold "Stahl House V" by Andy Burgess with a list price of $30,000 and pieces by David Hayes and Andreas Stanislav
• The Great Dane Collection sold an original Keith Haring for an undisclosed amount
• Sponder Gallery sold three Maz-Steven Grossman pieces to one client
• Shine Artists sold a Jeff Robbs piece to a local private collector
• Hollis Taggart sold a Pablo Atchugary sculpture for an undisclosed amount
• Tagliatella Galleries sold a Banksy and two Shepard Fairey prints
• Cernuda Arte sold over 20 works including, "Dream Navigators" and "Meditation in the Night Garden" by Robert Fabelo and "The Midnight Sun" by Vincente Hernandez
• Art Lexing sold "Kaleidoscope" and "Whimsical" by Ye Hongxng and three photographs from Quentin Shih's "La Habana in Waiting" special exhibition
• Projects Gallery sold two pieces by Harry Enchin, which will be shipped to Europe; and sold "The Sun" by Frank Hyder to a local collector
Art Wynwood celebrated Mel Ramos' 80th birthday and his exceptional art career by presenting him with its first ever Art Wynwood Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award at a Private Dinner at db Bistro Moderne. The 2016 recipient of the award will be announced in the Fall of 2015 when the award is renamed the Art Wynwood/Tony Goldman Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award.
