11th ANNUAL SOFA NEW YORK FAIR
DRAWS RECORD OPENING NIGHT ART FAIR ATTENDANCE

MORE TOP TIER SALES TO ART COLLECTORS
WITH MUSEUMS SHOPPING TOO

	The Galerie Besson booth at SOFA NEW YORK 2008

NEW YORK. The 11th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair, best known as SOFA, at the Park Avenue Armory May 29 –- June 1, 2008 achieved unparalleled sales and crowds. With 2,600 packing the Opening Night party on May 28, Armory officials reported the crowds were largest ever for any art fair on their historic premise. Total attendance was 16,100. 

"While we knew from the recent spate of contemporary art auctions, the pulse of the market was feverish, we were a bit taken back that a similar frenzy of buying marked our 11th edition Opening Night festivities," said Mark Lyman, founder of the SOFA fairs in Chicago and New York, and vice president of dmg Art & Antiques which also owns and produces the prestigious Palm Beach fairs (www.ifae.com), among others. “Dealers reported solid attendance on the floor throughout the weekend and a considerable number of new collectors from here and abroad.”

Hiroshi Suzuki Aqua-Poesy Silver 999 Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon

“Astonishingly successful,” said Adrian Sassoon of the eponymous London-based gallery. “This fair was really terrific.” Sassoon said that most of the hand-hammered silver and gold Hiroshi Suzuki pieces sold including Aqua- Poesy going for $155,000 on Opening Night. The largest piece on his stand, Kate Malone’s ceramic Succulent Mother Gourd, sold for $57,000. He observed that people in America wanted to buy the biggest and the best objects. "Clients from the financial world…filled the floor Opening Night," said Sassoon.

	Guest in the browngrotta arts booth during the Opening Night Preview

Dealers and management reported financial and corporate figures from UBS, HSBC, Chubb, and AXA Fine Art Insurance attending. Key leaders in the design world such as John Barman, Holly Hunt and Suzanne Lovell. Geoffrey Bradfield and Betty Sherrill of the legendary McMillen Inc. were shopping. And curators and trustees from more than a dozen national and international fine art museums including the Museum of Modern Art and Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art were spotted Opening Night.

Jack Lenor Larsen at the Designer Breakfast, Thursday May 29.

The excitement continued the next day with an invitation-only Elle Décor and Cowtan & Tout sponsored Designer Breakfast at which Jack Lenor Larsen spoke on his design inspirations, his career and LongHouse Reserve, the museum and sculpture garden in East Hampton, NY. Prominent designers such as José Carlino from David Easton, Ronald Bricke and Joanne De Palma attended, shopping at the fair before it officially opened to the public at 11:00 am.

	Attendance was strong for each of the SALON SOFA lectures.

Exclusive Salon SOFA VIP events enjoyed full attendance throughout the weekend and 450 persons attended six Lecture Series presentations on Thursday in the venerable Tiffany Room, helping to further establish the SOFA fairs as being on the forefront of what is happening in contemporary arts and design. View SOFA National Designer Committee list.

The work of Mihara Ken at Joan B Mirviss Ltd

"The level of interest and caliber of the visitors, has been higher than ever," said Joan B. Mirviss, New York, whose stand featured the work of Mihara Ken which sold out (one piece was bought by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and another by Yale University). "If we had double the amount of his work, we would have sold them all." Mirviss also said that there was a good balance between well established and new dealers, as well as the media represented on the floor.

	Lino Tagliapietra MANDARA HG5713 Heller Gallery

"Exceptionally strong sales," said Douglas Heller who heads up the Manhattan based Heller Gallery. His sales of glass artistry included a number of Venetian maestro Lino Tagliapietra vessels up to $52,000 each.

Lauren Kalman Tongue Gilding Represented by Sienna Gallery

Art jewelry sales were exceptionally brisk. Sienna Patti of Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA said, "This is the best fair I've ever had." Patti noticed a younger crowd on Opening Night. She also reports that the Museum of Arts & Design purchased pieces by Gesine Hackenberg and that a private collector bought pieces by Lauren Kalman for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Stefan Friedemann of Ornamentum, Hudson, NY said, "There's a steady stream of buyers." Friedemann added excitement to Opening Night by staging a catwalk through the fair by models wearing Dan Jocz's motorcycle jewelry.

TOP SALES INCLUDED:

	Red dots on all four of the figurative ceramic sculptures by Akio Takamori at New York's venerable Barry Friedman's stand indicated an Opening Night sell-out. Pictured at left: Akio Takamori, Sitting Mother in a Blue Dress and Baby, 2008 Barry Friedman Ltd
	London's Galerie Besson reported strong sales of Spanish artist Claudi Casanovas' rugged ceramic block sculpture. Pictured at left: Claudi Casanovas, Large Open Form, 1992 Galerie Besson
	Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia sold a 1978 oak Music Stand by Wendell Castle. Pictured at left: Wendell Castle, Music Stand, 1978 Moderne Gallery
	Joanna Bird Pottery, London, reported a major sale of a large scale stoneware pot mixed with industrial waste by Chilean Fernando Casasempere. Pictured at left: Fernando Casasempere, Green Sculpture, 2008 Joanna Bird Pottery
	Jane Sauer of Santa Fe sold Isadora of lotus pod tops, yellow cedar bark, sharlyn melon peel & waxed linen to the Racine Art Museum. Pictured at left: Jan Hopkins, Isadora, 2007 Jane Sauer Gallery
	Leslie Ferrin, Pittsfield, MA said their big sale was Chris Antemann's Lust and Gluttony, purchased by the Museum of Arts & Design for inclusion in their opening show in September at MAD's new home at 2 Columbus Circle. Pictured at left: Chris Antemann, Lust and Gluttony, 2008 Ferrin Gallery
	Donna Schneier, a private dealer from Palm Beach, reported excellent secondary market sales. "We had a very good show, selling top pieces by Michael Lucero, Toshio Takeazu, and Adrian Saxe." Pictured at left: Michael Lucero, Pre-Columbus Donna Schneier Fine Arts
	Loveed Fine Arts, New York sold Night and Day, 1991 by the late Rudy Autio. Pictured at left: Rudy Autio, Night and Day, 1991 Loveed Fine Arts/New York

	Guests at the Opening Night Preview

Mark Lyman said, "Plans are well underway for the 15th Anniversary edition of SOFA CHICAGO, November 7 – 9 at Chicago's historic Navy Pier, with Opening Night on Thursday, Nov. 6. Save the date!"

Special thanks to Barefoot Wine for its generous support of the SOFA NEW YORK 2008 Opening Night.

The World's Foremost Fairs of
Contemporary Decorative Arts & Design

11^th SOFA NEW YORK FAIR:
MORE MUSEUM CALIBER WORK

SOFA NEW YORK 2007

The 11th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art fair, best known as SOFA NEW YORK returns May 29-June 1, 2008 to the Park Avenue Armory, Opening Night Wednesday, May 28. 67 leading international galleries will offer masterworks in ceramics, glass, metal, wood and fiber by major artists like George Nakashima, Peter Voulkos, Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, Wendell Castle, Lenore Tawney and Anthony Caro, as well as the new generation of emerging artists bound to appeal to both seasoned and new collectors.  Galleries from eleven countries including Japan, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, Korea, Argentina, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States, present museum quality work which bridges design, decorative and fine art. View SOFA NEW YORK 2008 galleries highlights.

Exhibitors Barry Friedman (left) and Joan Mirviss with her husband at SOFA NEW YORK

"More than two decades ago, I witnessed a host of artists creating work in clay and glass with an unheralded vitality that transcended function," says SOFA founder and director Mark Lyman, Vice President of parent company dmg world media, who won no less than two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for his own sculptural ceramics.  "Today, their work is in hundreds of museums internationally while continuing to climb the price charts at both Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses." 

In showcasing remarkable artistry from leading artists and designers, museum curators from around the world routinely take in this fair. On view is dazzling contemporary glass art based on centuries old rich Venetian traditions, sculptural Japanese ceramics, superb hollowware by Scandinavian silversmiths, modernist and contemporary furniture, and the most avant-garde European art jewelry. The acclaimed SOFA Lecture Series featuring major museum curators, collectors and artists takes place concurrently. The Designer Champagne Breakfast held prior to the opening of the fair, and an unrivalled, innovative VIP program of exclusive tours to private collectors' homes along with corporate collections and behind the scene curator-led tours of museums enhances this fair.

SOFA is also pleased to announce the creation of its new National Design Commitee, co-chaired by John Barman, Holly Hunt, Amy Lau, Suzanne Lovell and Alison Spear.  View Committee List

The SOFA NEW YORK 2008 Opening Night Preview Gala, Wednesday, May 28 has undergone a creative revisioning! This year's gala from 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the Armory will offer VIP card holders first viewing and selection of top quality pieces offered at the fair.VIP cards will be sent by participating galleries to their clients. Non-cardholders may purchase a ticket for $100 online anytime or at the door beginning at 5:30 pm on May 28. Opening Night attendees may also support the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD), New York by purchasing a ticket to attend a private dinner in the Armory's Tiffany Room beginning at 8:30 pm

Superlative galleries participating in the show to date include two late-breaking additions from London, Galerie Besson and Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon; Barry Friedman Ltd., Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., and Heller Gallery all of New York; and Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia.

When SOFA NEW YORK opens it doors on May 29 to June 1, at the Park Avenue Armory between 66th and 67th Streets, an unrivalled international assemblage of one-of-a-kind contemporary decorative arts, design and jewelry will be on view.  Here are some of the outstanding highlights from the fair:

Hervé Wahlen Bis, 2006 Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, NY

HERVÉ WAHLEN AT BARRY FRIEDMAN LTD., NEW YORK
Billionaire Bill Gates is among the noted collectors taking on the distinctive hand-hammered metal sculpture of Hervé Wahlen. “Collectors, especially those with cutting-edge painting and sculpture, are drawn to the enormous tension between surfaces running from a rich copper patina to the textured gold leaf interiors as well as the precarious appearing stance of Wahlen’s work,” says Friedman. But Wahlen’s sculptural objects are also marked by surprisingly masterful conceits.  Secret compartments, doors and lids mark each work. Wahlen’s sculpture can be found at the Fond National d’Art Contemporain in Paris as well as numerous collections in both Europe and the U.S.  In addition, Friedman represents SOFA artist Wendell Castle whose art/design furniture is sought by collectors here and in Europe as well as Asia.

	Dale Chihuly Macchia, 1988 Donna Schneier Fine Arts, Palm Beach, FL

DALE CHIHULY AT DONNA SCHNEIER,
NEW YORK
Rarities by Modern masters are also front and center at SOFA with private dealer Donna Schneier featuring Dale Chihuly’s huge 1988 Macchia in a palette of flaming vermilion and cobalt blue descending in clouds of white.  “Dale’s early work when he first fully developed his own groundbreaking techniques, palette and vision rarely comes to market,” says Schneier.  She has witnessed prices for his work dating from the early 80s jump more than ten times.  “These days, the value of early pieces are bound to increase considerably over time as more collectors with fine arts move into this field,” says Schneier.  She is now seeing major contemporary art collectors seeking examples by the founding fathers of studio glass, wood, fiber and metal.   While primarily dealing in that classic material, Schneier routinely racks up sales to museums including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and a host of other institutions.  Further proof of her renown by the fine arts institution community, Schneier’s contemporary art jewelry collection is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Hiroshi Suzuki Aqua-Poesy XI Kin, 2008 Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, London, UK

HIROSHI SUZUKI, CLARE BECK AT ADRIAN SASSOON, LONDON
Suzuki claims his preeminent position on the global radar screen as silversmith/goldsmith extraordinarie as more than a dozen museums have acquired his work in a scant three years alone. His museum roster list includes Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Cambridge University Fitzwilliam Museum, not to mention a slew of prestigious fine art institutions in both France and Australia. Leading collectors include no less than the Duke of Devonshire, whose ancestral home Chatsworth is filled with masterpieces from the 17th century on. “What makes Hiroshi’s vessels so extraordinary is that each is hand hammered sometimes requiring dozens and dozens of different sized and shaped implements from a single flat sheet of silver or gold,” says dealer Clare Beck who works with London dealer Adrian Sassoon, a former Getty Museum curator.  “The delicacy of these art objects is unsurpassed and masks a complexity of skills,” says Beck.

Spotlight on Studio Jewelers Featured
in Major Art Museum Shows Dazzling Craftsmanship
and Fast-Paced Triple Digit Growth
Matching the Contemporary Art Market

The David Collection booth at SOFA NEW YORK 2007

CHICAGO, March 17, 2008—The 11th annual SOFA NEW YORK, long the world's leading contemporary decorative arts and design fair, opens May 29-June 1, 2008 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. This fair features premier international dealers from 11 countries and over a dozen will represent more than 90 studio jewelers whose work is now exhibited in a fast-growing number of fine art museums nationwide.

Of the 67 SOFA NEW YORK exhibitors, jewelry is represented by the world's leading dealers including: Ornamentum, Hudson, NY.; Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA;, Jewelers’ Werk Galerie, Washington, DC.; Charon Kransen Arts, NY.; Aaron Faber Gallery, NY.; The David Collection, Pound Ridge, NY.; Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge; and Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, London. Represented art jewelers hail from the U.S., England, Holland, Germany and Japan, and key ones will speak in the SOFA Lecture Series, free with admission.

Giampaolo Babetto Brooch, 18k gold Represented by Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA

“With the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and other museums acquiring work by artists represented at SOFA, there's been a sea change of recognition and validation of studio jewelry,” says Mark Lyman, SOFA fair director, who founded the fair in 1994.   Additionally, more and more museums are recruiting contemporary jewelry curators, which further heightens the importance of this field in museum circles, academic communities and the art world at large.  To further confirm the importance of contemporary jewelry on the international scene, London's Victoria & Albert Museum's new jewelry galleries open in May with work reaching back 3,000 years and a staggering one third of their exhibition space is devoted to cutting-edge examples made in the past 20 years.