GALLERIES AND DEALERS AT SOFA NEW YORK 2005
PRESENT ARTWORKS RICH IN MATERIALITY, VIRTUOSITY AND MEANING

Ruth Duckworth Untitled Archival Inventory # 8581004 Porcelain Wall Mural 20 x 20.5 x 5.5" Represented by Bellas Artes/ Thea Burger, Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY

CHICAGO, MAY 2, 2005. 54 top international galleries and dealers at SOFA NEW YORK 2005 present artworks rich in material expression, virtuoso process and meaning—from modernist simplicity to contemporary abstraction, technologies and camp that distance us from the physical world.

A fine example of materiality and virtuosity at SOFA can be found in the mid-century modern furniture of George Nakashima (1905-1990), to be exhibited at SOFA NEW YORK 2005 by Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia. Influenced by Asian philosophies but true to the harmonious blend of aesthetics and function exposed by the Arts and Crafts Movement, Nakashima’s reverence for wood, mingei process and organic forms made him one of the most venerated of post-war American artist designers.

Nakashima, George Bench with Back (unique piece), 1976 32 x 84 x 35” Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Since 1997, Moderne Gallery has exhibited at the Philadelphia Antiques Show, the first all-20th century gallery to be invited to the prestigious show. Moderne Gallery also regularly exhibits in New York’s trend setting Modernism show, and has led the way at SOFA expositions for the exhibition of vintage works by important 20th century designers and furniture artists such as George Nakashima and Wharton Esherick (1887-1970). Robert Aibel, Director/Owner of Moderne Gallery reports that he will also bring vintage works from the 60’s and 70’s by Arthur Espenet Carpenter and Wendell Castle, among the first to link furniture with sculpture and the fine arts.

Joan Mirviss at SOFA NEW YORK 2004.

Materiality and virtuosity have always been strongly expressed in Asian arts. But Japanese ceramic art in the late 20th century began to explore ceramics as an individual form of expression rather than a universal one, opening the way for artists to express a personal vision. Showcasing contemporary Japanese ceramics, Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd., New York, specialist in Asian decorative and fine arts, will return for the third consecutive year to SOFA NEW YORK. Mirviss exhibits annually at the prestigious Winter Antiques Show, New York’s International Asian Art Fair (IAAF), and serves as a vettor of Asian art at many United States fairs.

Sakiyama, Takayuki(b. 1958) Globular vase with spiraling design sand and orange glaze, 2004 Stoneware 13 x 16.5” Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd., New York, NY

At SOFA NEW YORK, Mirviss will present a focus show of works by contemporary Japanese sculpture artist Sakiyama Takayuki (b. 1958), whose work the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York acquired in 2004 for its permanent collection. Sakiyama also recently was awarded the prestigious Emperor's Cup (top award) at the 2005 Nihon Togei Ten (2005 Japan Ceramics Exhibition). Mirviss said, “Without a doubt, the acquisition by the Asian art department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a major event for this relatively unknown Japanese artist. The impact of his work on both sophisticated academics as well as beginning collectors is immediate. His work is strong yet flowing, sculptural yet functional, elegant yet boldly compelling.” Sakiyama will make an artist presentation in the SOFA NEW YORK 2005 Lecture Series.

de Amaral, Olga ESTELAS, installation view Presented by Bellas Artes/Thea Burger, Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY, in cooperation with the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY

New to SOFA NEW YORK 2005, after exhibiting in SOFA CHICAGO since its inception, is Bellas Artes/Thea Burger of Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY. In cooperation with the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, Bellas Artes/Thea Burger will present a Special Exhibit at SOFA NEW YORK entitled Estelas by Colombian textile master, Olga de Amaral. Olga de Amaral’s painterly, shimmering gold and silver leafed wall hangings and panels challenge narrow critical categorization, combining elements of fiber art, painting and sculpture, testing the limits of materiality in textiles. Her work is in numerous museum collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Musee d' Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.

Minkowitz, Norma Inhale/Exhale, 2004 Mixed media 14 x 16 x 12.5" Bellas Artes/Thea Burger, Sante Fe, NM & New York, NY

Also represented by Bellas Artes/ Thea Burger at SOFA NEW YORK is Norma Minkowitz, internationally acclaimed for her crocheted sculptures stiffened into hard transparent forms, which are powerful metaphors for containment, shelter and confinement. Through human and plant forms, Minkowitz explores the mysteries of nature by drawing the viewer into her psychologically charged sculptures. With her virtuoso sculpting technique and highly personal content, Minkowitz has turned the craft of crochet into a complex contemporary art form. Minkowitz will make an artist presentation in the SOFA NEW YORK 2005 Lecture Series.

Duckworth, Ruth Untitled No. 692900, 2000 Stoneware 47 x 16 x 15" Photo: James Prinz Bellas Artes/Thea Burger, Sante Fe, NM & New York, NY

Bellas Artes/Thea Burger will also represent ceramic sculptor Ruth Duckworth and Richard De Vore. Working in porcelain and stoneware, Duckworth creates soft, serene pieces reminiscent of bone, where form, material and expression unite to create immensely evocative abstract sculptures. An acknowledged visionary in her field, she has affirmed, most importantly, that clay is a viable medium for sculpture. Master of the vessel form, Richard DeVore has focused his creative exploration on the formal subtleties and quiet gestures of two basic forms, the low bowl and the tall vessel. DeVore's accomplishment has been the establishment of pottery as an abstract art form in which every surface, contour, rim and interior is rich in visual meaning.

Visitors admiring Paul Day's The St. Hubert Galleries, 2002, which sold at SOFA NEW YORK 2004.

Returning to SOFA NEW YORK for the third straight year is Garth Clark Gallery, New York, renowned dealer of 20th and 21st century ceramics, which regularly exhibits in New York’s venerable Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) show. Garth Clark will present work by British sculptor Paul Day, acclaimed for the vitality and plasticity of his terracotta sculptures, where human form and architectural detail come together with a humanist sensibility. Garth Clark will also represent works by Rudy Autio, Beatrice Wood, and Ron Nagle—master of the ceramic cup form, who has worked almost exclusively with this domestic icon since the early 1960’s.

Dillingham, Rick Large Globe, 1987 Raku with glazes, gold leaf 11 x 16" Photo: Mark Freeman Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY

Garth Clark is excited about bringing major artworks by Rick Dillingham (1952-1994) to SOFA NEW YORK, whose ceramic globes, gas cans and cornucopia forms have gained in stature over the years since his early death from AIDS. In an auction in 1998 at Sotheby’s New York, one of his large globes was among the most fiercely contested objects on the sale, selling at over $20,000. Dillingham's ceramic art reflected his knowledge of, and interest in, American prehistoric Indian pottery. He became intrigued by the notion of the vessel as an assembly of shards when he was restoring pots at the Museum of New Mexico, Laboratory of Anthropology, in Santa Fe.

Dillingham, Rick Large Bowl, 1989 Earthenware 14.75 x 18.5" Photo: Anthony Cunha Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY

There is perhaps no one artist more interested in ceramic materiality and process than Dillingham. Garth Clark said: “Dillingham begins by creating a flawless vessel which he then tenderly destroys only to reassemble it, thereby retrieving its form, but with the raw scars of life’s experience evident on the fissured surface.... This symphony of painted shards, a masterfully directed merging of textures, shapes, and colors, is Dillingham’s real gift.” Of his significance, Clark said, “Dillingham directs one to first acknowledge the vessel’s parts before one can appreciate it as a whole. This is a radical step for it completely reverses the process by which we have traditionally looked at pots. For this reason his work has had considerable influence in encouraging today’s increasingly deconstructive approach to the vessel.”

McHorse, Christine Triumph, 2001 Micaceous Clay 17.5 x 10.5" Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY

Garth Clark Gallery will also bring new vessels by Christine McHorse, an innovative ceramic artist who blends the materiality and virtuosity of traditional Indian pottery with contemporary forms and firing methods. Having learned the coil technique from her husband's grandmother, Lena Archuleta of the Taos Pueblo, McHorse sculpts micaceous clay from that area into beautifully symmetrical, sculptural vessel forms, sometimes adorned with an appliquéd design.

Fukuchi, Kyoko Bracelet Lacquer, urushi Helen Drutt: Philadelphia/Hurong Lou Gallery

Helen Drutt/Hurong Lou Gallery, Philadelphia specializes in ceramic arts and contemporary jewelry by internationally recognized artists. Ceramic artists represented at SOFA NEW YORK include Nicholas Arroyave-Portela, Rudolf Staffel, Robert Turner, Wayne Higby and Anne Currier. Jewelers represented include Gijs Bakker, Peter Chang, Manfred Bischoff, Georg Dobler, Kyoko Fukuchi, Bruce Metcalf and Hermann Jünger. A maverick in the decorative arts field, Helen Drutt has championed artists who challenge material boundaries to create highly personal bodies of work.

Paley, Albert; American, born 1944 "Double Fibula" Brooch, 1968 Gold, silver, bronze, pearls, moonstone, Madagascar labradorite Photo: Thomas R. DuBrock The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Helen Williams Drutt Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Mecom, Jr., by exchange

Helen W. Drutt English and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), will also present a Special Exhibit at SOFA NEW YORK of artworks from the Museum’s acclaimed decorative arts collection, including the newly acquired Helen Williams Drutt Collection of modern and contemporary jewelry. Helen W. Drutt English will make a related presentation in the SOFA NEW YORK Lecture Series on the Drutt Collection’s formation in the mid-1960’s, and its transition from the private sector to a public institution.

Rossbach, Ed Ripples on the Pond, 1970 Vinyl bobbin lace 48 x 33" browngrotta arts, Wilton, CT

Top international fiber arts dealer, browngrotta arts, Wilton, CT will present work by Ed Rossbach (1914-2002). Rossbach was a pioneer in the fiber arts movement, renowned for his curiosity about textile structures and his experiments with nontraditional materials. In his 30 year career, Rossbach created revolutionary textiles, whimsical baskets and objects -- made of everything from plastic tubing and newspaper to palm fiber, horsehair and twigs. He wrote extensively about textiles and basketry, and his artworks are found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Stedelijk Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design.

van Eijk, Niels (for Droog Design) Cow Chair, 1997 Cow skin and wood 45 x 38 x 72” Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, NY

Championing a stylish mix of antiques and contemporary design, Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York, an exhibitor in SOFA NEW YORK since its inception, and a regular exhibitor in the esteemed Winter Antiques Show in New York, will present work by Droog Design of Holland. Since 1993, when it was co-founded in Amsterdam by jeweler/designer Gijs Bakker and design historian Renny Ramakers, Droog has championed the simplicity of minimalism and its careful choice of materials, but deployed humor – albeit a dry or ‘droog’ humor - to strike an emotional bond with the user.

More artisanal than industrial, Droog designs are one-offs or limited editions, which “in terms of quality and content fit with the image and way of thinking communicated by Droog Design: original ideas (and) clear concepts which have been shaped in a wry, no-nonsense manner.” Niels van Eijk’s Cow Chair with its mix of simplicity, haunting material and verve is a quintessential Droog design.

Ohira, Yoichi Ricordo delle vetrate di Parigi Vase, 2004 Hand-blown glass canes with murrine, granular, and powder inserts; faceted surface 7.8 x 7.36" Photo: F. Ferruzzi Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, NY

Barry Friedman reports he will also represent new works in glass by Japanese born Yoichi Ohira, who has been living and working in Venice for more than twenty-five years. Ohira’s beautiful and unique vessels of contrasting colored powders with glass canes are a virtuoso blend of Japanese aesthetics with traditional Italian glass techniques. Friedman will also represent new works by Italian artist Laura de Santillana, whose glass sculptures are blown and shaped into architectonic tablets, creating spontaneous and enigmatic interior spaces; as well as wood vessel forms by William Hunter, whose intricately fluted baskets, spiraled vertical forms, and tangled helixes celebrate the natural grain and beauty of the exotic woods from which they are carved.

Tagliapietra, Lino Bilbao, 2003 Glass 26 x 13 x 8.25” Photo: Russell Johnson Heller Gallery, New York, NY

Regular SOFA exhibitor, Heller Gallery, New York, has long been recognized for playing a seminal role in promoting contemporary sculpture that celebrates the use of glass as a fine art medium. For over twenty five years, Heller has exhibited premier international artists working in glass. New York's Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art have acquired works from the gallery for their collections as have The Corning Museum of Glass, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and numerous museums abroad, including Victoria & Albert Museum, Musee des Arts Decoratifs de Louvre, and Hokkaido Museum, among others. At SOFA NEW YORK 2005, Heller Gallery will premiere new work by Italian maestro, Lino Tagliapietra (b.1934), one of the world's most eminent living glass artists.

Boucard, Yves Eleonora, 2004 Wood, paint 43 x 49 x 27.5” Leo Kaplan Modern, New York, NY

Long-time SOFA exhibitor and leading dealer of contemporary glass sculpture and art furniture, Leo Kaplan Modern, New York, was founded in 1990 as the contemporary complement of Leo Kaplan, Ltd., which has been dealing in 18th, 19th and 20th century decorative and applied arts for over thirty years. Recently discovered by Leo Kaplan Modern’s Scott Jacobson in Switzerland, and new to SOFA NEW YORK this year, is Swiss furniture artist Yves Boucard, whose elegantly playful sculptural forms are carved from solid blocks of wood with a chain saw. Bouchard first conceptualizes fantastical furniture "figures," large-scale, three-dimensional sculptures-for-use, which he then constructs and paints in bright but delicate hues. The life-like impression is paradoxical, a simultaneous perception of artifice and life, calculation and spontaneity, detachment and intimacy.

Bergner, Lanny Folding Space: Long Tooth, 2004 Bronze and aluminum screen 54 x 18" Snyderman/Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA

Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, one of the oldest exhibiting galleries of contemporary studio crafts, will present works by Lanny Bergner who in a mix of the traditional and contemporary, combines conventional textile processes with advanced materials, creating high-tech wall sculptures that, ironically, reference organic forms. The vibrant colors and complex textures of his work are testament to his love of the natural world and his desire to explore its infinite variety of forms. Bergner said, “By using hands-on processes of coiling, fraying, twisting, wrapping, glueing and knotting, I transform industrial screening, wire, silicone and monofilament into organic constructions. My desire is to create works that appear to have grown into being.”

Marvin Lipofsky at SOFA NEW YORK 2004

Also deeply influenced by nature and landscape, is new glass sculpture by Marvin Lipofsky, represented at SOFA NEW YORK by Holsten Galleries, Stockbridge, MA, an internationally recognized gallery representing leading contemporary glass artists. Lipofsky was one of the first students of Harvey Littleton, father of the American studio glass movement, and went on to introduce glass as an art form into the Design Department of the University of California at Berkeley, and to found and head the California College of Arts and Crafts.

Lipofsky, Marvin Australian Landscape # 4, 2004 Glass 11.5 x 2 x 16” Photo: M. Lee Fatherree Holsten Galleries, Stockbridge, MA

Lipofsky created his new Australian series in 2004 at the hot glass facilities of The Denizen Studio in North Manly, Sydney, and the Jam Factory in Adelaide, working with a team of different artists in each studio. Of his new work, Lipofsky said, “I tried to acknowledge the Australian landscape, the diversity of cultures and the rich natural environment of the country, choosing to use the earth tones of the "bush" and the "outback" observed during the Australian summer period. The unfinished organically abstract forms were then shipped back to my California studio where I cut and ground the work into finished sculptures.”

Whether functional, abstract, allusive or figurative, the artworks at SOFA NEW YORK challenge boundaries between the decorative and fine arts, united by their materiality, virtuosity and meaning.