THE OBJECT AS SUBJECT
Ninth Annual International Exposition of
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art:
SOFA NEW YORK 2006
Seventh Regiment Armory - Park Avenue & 67th Street
Thursday, June 1—Sunday, June 4
Opening Night Benefit for Museum of Arts and Design:
Wednesday, May 31

Tokuda Yaokichi Nine-sided, globular flower vase with deep blue and mulberry kutani glazes, 2005 Porcelain with suffusion of deep brilliant kutani glazes  9.25 x 8.75” Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., New York, NY

CHICAGO, APRIL 10, 2006.  What do porcelain vessels by Japanese artist Tokuda Yasokichi III (Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd., New York, NY) with rich Kutani glazes dating from the 9th c. updated in brilliant new color schemes; modernist Hans Coper’s strong, gestural ceramics (Galerie Besson, London, UK); and Beth Lipman’s (Heller Gallery, New York, NY) formal renderings in glass of 17^th and 18^th c. still-life paintings have in common?  Virtuoso materiality.

The stand of Galerie Besson, London, at SOFA CHICAGO 2002.

The Ninth Annual SOFA NEW YORK 2006, the world’s foremost arts exposition of fine objects, returns June 1- 4 to the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue.  In its most international presentation ever, fifty-nine of the world’s finest galleries and dealers from ten countries present for sale one-of-a-kind masterworks bridging the decorative and fine arts.  Countries represented include United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Japan and Argentina.

Tobias Møhl Glassweaver, 2006 Glass 6.5 x 8” Photo: Anders Sune Berg Galleri Grønlund, Vaerløse, Denmark

Mark Lyman, Founder and Director of Expressions of Culture, Inc., a dmg world media company and producer of SOFA said, “Many of the fine objects at SOFA defy narrow categorization, sharing sculpture and ideas with fine art, while celebrating the sensual possibilities of materials intrinsic to the decorative.  What distinguishes SOFA from other art expositions is that the objects often are the subject—remarkable for their sheer material beauty.”

SOFA NEW YORK 2005 Opening Night Benefit Gala for Museum of Arts & Design.

The Opening Night Preview Gala, 5 – 10 pm, May 31^st at the Seventh Regiment Armory benefits the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York.  Lyman continued, “We are very pleased that Opening Night will benefit the Museum of Arts & Design for the 9^th straight year, and congratulate MAD on the celebration of its 50^th year of leadership in promoting the value of materials and mastery of process in contemporary arts.”  SOFA NEW YORK Opening Night also officially kicks off the Fifth Annual Contemporary Decorative Arts Week: Bringing Art to Life, a week-long, city-wide celebration of New York’s vibrant contemporary arts and design scene.  A schedule of CDAW events will be posted on www.sofaexpo.com.

Two Special Exhibits at SOFA NEW YORK 2006 are complimentary with admission:

•	The Museum of Arts & Design, New York, presents a golden anniversary special exhibit entitled Jubilee! 50 Years on 53rd Street, featuring masterworks from each decade since the Museum opened in 1956, all from its permanent collection. Featured artists include Lenore Tawney, Peter Voulkos, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Arneson, Dale Chihuly, Cindy Sherman and Frank Gehry;	Cindy Sherman (b. 1954) Madame de Pompadour Nee Poisson (1721-1764) Soup Tureen and Platter, 1990 Hardpaste porcelain, decals, glazes 11.5 x 22 x 14” Gift of Nanette L. Laitman, 2000 Photo: Eva Heyd Courtesy of the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY
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•	Dean Project, New York, NY presents One Part Clay: Ceramic Avant-garde & Mixed Media. Curator Mark Dean said the exhibit will feature the work of eight international artists, “whose mixed media sculptures are connected through both the formal and conceptual use of ceramics. The group exhibit will focus on artists creating art influenced by a combination of sources such as 20th century art movements, craft, historical references, and the use in their work of diverse materials.”  Artists include John Byrd and Doug Jeck (Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY), and Reinaldo Sanguino and Chad Curtis (Dean Project).	Reinaldo Sanguino Honoring Black #4, 2005 Ceramic, plexiglas 12 x 12 x 12” Photo: Nick Ghiz Dean Project, New York, NY
Read more on Special Exhibits.

Twelve SOFA NEW YORK 2006 Lecture Series presentations, complimentary with admission, take place in the Tiffany Room at the Seventh Regiment Armory from Thursday, June 1 – Saturday, June 3.  View Lecture Schedule. Other presentations of note include:

Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libensky Rhomboid Head, 1991 Cast glass 21 x 19.75 x 12” Barry Friedman Ltd, New York, NY	•	Emergence: Early American Studio Glass and Its Influences  A rare exploration of the emergence of the American Studio Glass movement, presented by pioneers of the movement: artists Howard Ben Tre, Erwin Eisch, Michael Glancy, Marvin Lipofsky, Joel Philip Myers, Tom Patti, Richard Meitner and Toots Zynsky, all represented by Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York, NY.  Moderated by Tina Oldknow, Curator of Modern Glass, The Corning Museum of Glass, NY; Read more on Emergence.
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	•	A Fresh Vision of a Centuries-old Tradition Fourteenth generation Japanese ceramist Katô Yasukage (Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., New York, NY) discusses his quest to find his own vision within the celebrated tradition of oribe and shino ceramics;
Katô Yasukage Vessel in ovoid form with curved vertical faceted bands on the sides, 2005 Stoneware with oribe glaze 15 x 13.75 x 8 Photo: Richard Goodbody Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd, New York, NY
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	•	Archetypes and Mutations  Renowned ceramist Léopold L. Foulem of Montréal, Québec (Dean Project, New York, NY) compares a selection of his works and historical ceramic prototypes, discussing their formal connections;
Léopold L. Foulem Santa Claus Reliquary, 2004 Ceramic 10 x 7.5 x 6” Photo: Pierre Gauvin Dean Project, New York, NY
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David Watkins Leaf Pin 6, 1997 Yellow gold 3.1 d Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, London, UK	•	Form and Process David Watkins (Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, London, UK) discusses more than three decades of aesthetic and technical developments in his internationally acclaimed jewelry.  Watkins is professor and head of goldsmithing, silversmithing, metalwork & jewellery at the Royal College of Art in London.  Presented by the Society for North American Goldsmiths;
Read more on Art Jewelry.
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Ted Noten Lady K-Bag, 2005 Gun engraved with flowers and heavily goldplated- cast in acrylic, textile 7.9 x 5.5 x 4” Photo: Ted Noten Ornamentum, Hudson, NY	•	Anyone CAN Make a Beautiful Brooch Conceptual Dutch artist Ted Noten (Ornamentum, Hudson, NY) gives an overview of ten years of work as "one of the most innovative jewellery designers working in the Netherlands today" (Gert Staal, former deputy director of the Netherlands Design Institute).  The audience will be invited to "Chew Your Own Brooch" and spit out a self-sculpted artwork to be reviewed by an all-star jury tasked to choose gold, silver and bronze winners, whose designs will be made into wearable artworks by Noten himself.

SOFA NEW YORK 2006 presents fine objects whose virtuoso materiality is often the subject, where one need not look through or beyond it for concept—resplendent objectness is meaning enough.

The stand of Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, at SOFA NEW YORK 2004.