SOFA NEW YORK 2011 - April 14-17, 2011, Opening Night Preview April 13 at the Park Avenue Armory

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

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	New this year! LongHouse Prizes for Best Artwork and Best Booth Design at the Fair Jack Lenor Larsen, internationally renowned designer, author, and collector will present the new LongHouse Prizes for Best Artwork in Show, and Best Booth Design at SOFA NEW YORK. Larsen will select the LongHouse Prize recipients in both categories on Wednesday afternoon prior to the Opening Night Preview, and name them at the Designer Breakfast.
	LongHouse Prizes

	Increased Presence of Top Asian Arts and British Dealers Mark Lyman, Founder/Director of SOFA and President, The Art Fair Company, says, “While the three-dimensional masterworks on offer by SOFA dealers often reference traditional decorative art, many brook no boundaries, mixing sophisticated content with new forms, materials and processes.”
	Top Asian and British Dealers

	Opening Night Preview, Wednesday, April 13, 2011 SOFA NEW YORK opens with an invitation-only VIP Cardholders Preview on Wednesday, April 13, from 5–7 pm, with the vernissage open to the public from 7–9 pm with ticket purchase. Plan now to be among the first to preview the fair and mix with the many international artists, dealers, curators, critics and cognoscenti on the show floor.
	Opening Night Preview

	SOFA NEW YORK Lecture Series Expands to Three Days The SOFA NEW YORK Lecture Series expands to three days this year, featuring internationally prominent scholars, artists, and curators presenting in the Armory’s Tiffany Room on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 14, 15, and 16th. Series standouts include a panel with Ann Hedlund, PhD., curator of ethnology at Arizona State Museum and professor of anthropology at University of Arizona and Grace Glueck, former New York Times art critic.
	SOFA Lecture Series

	Also Debuting this Year! New Collectors/Young Designers Night Also new to the fair this year is an evening for new collectors and young designers on Friday, April 15th beginning at 6:00 pm. Join your peers at the first New Collectors/Young Designers Night at SOFA NY! Expose yourself (figuratively speaking!) to a new mix of art and design, meet up-and-coming artists, designers, collectors, curators and generally insightful people (like yourself!) from both local and national museum and collector groups.
	New Collectors/Young Designers Night

	4th Annual Designer Breakfast On Thursday, April 14, a designer breakfast preview and panel discussion, moderated by Greg Cerio, editor of “Modern,” a Brant publication, features the highly acclaimed modernist designers Alexander Gorlin, Amy Lau, and Juan Montoya. The topic is “Contemporary Design Viewpoints: Where Do We Go From Here?” Gorlin, Lau and Montoya are co-chairs of the SOFA National Design Committee joined by Jamie Drake, Nancy Epstein, Steven Gambrel, David Ling, and Joyce and Maya Romanoff.
	Designer Breakfast

A LIVELY MIX
14th SOFA NEW YORK APRIL 14-17
WRAPS AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY

STEADY ATTENDANCE AND SALES,
ENERGETIC NEW COLLECTORS/YOUNG DESIGNERS NIGHT
1st ANNUAL LONGHOUSE RESERVE SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS
AWARDED BY JACK LENOR LARSEN
Winners announced at Designer Breakfast Preview
attended by record 150 designers



	SOFA NEW YORK 2011

NEW YORK, April 25, 2011. The 14th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair at the Park Avenue Armory enjoyed steady crowds and sales, from the well-attended vernissage on April 13 straight through its four-day run, which ended on Sunday, April 17. An estimated 2000 persons attended Opening Night throughout the course of the evening, and an after-preview benefit dinner in the Armory’s Tiffany Room for the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) honoring Judy Cornfield was a sell-out. MAD also sponsored the new MAD Den Video Lounge designed by NY architect/designer David Ling, adding yet another media to the stimulating mix of art and design at the fair.


	Guests in the Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon booth during New Collectors/Young Designers

A healthy crowd of collectors, curators, architects, interior designers, art advisors and new enthusiasts took in SOFA NEW YORK, presented by 57 galleries from 12 countries, and produced by The Art Fair Company. President and founding director of SOFA fairs in New York, Chicago and Santa Fe, Mark Lyman said, “It was a good show. As in any art fair, there were extraordinary sales for some, more moderate ones for others, but most seemed pleased with the outcome. Weekend attendance was strong and dealers reported well-qualified collectors, designers and curators on the show floor, as well as younger buyers, many attending SOFA for the first time at the New Collectors/ Young Designers evening.”


Jack Lenor Larsen at the SOFA NEW YORK 2011 Designer Breakfast

Lyman continued, “150 designers attended the Designer Breakfast, where we were honored to have Jack Lenor Larsen present the LongHouse Reserve Special Recognition Awards for best booth and best artwork at the fair.” Larsen, an internationally known designer, author, and collector, gave SOFA NEW YORK high marks: “This show is the best show of this work that I have seen in 65 years. I have never seen a show where there is so much I would like to acquire. (It) is increasingly international, and I admire the dealers for continuing to bring new works and new challenges to the viewers.”


	Guests in the Ferrin Gallery booth at SOFA NEW YORK 2011

400 high-level gallery clients participated in the ultra-exclusive VIP program and 470 collectors and arts-interested public alike attended the Lecture Series. Douglas Heller of Heller Gallery, New York said, “Opening night was filled with collectors.” Tom Grotta of browngrotta arts, Wilton, CT agreed, “Unlike many other fairs, we sell particularly to collectors and designers at SOFA.” Many dealers reported securing commissions for work. Designers Geoffrey Bradsfield and Christopher Boshears commissioned porcelain sculpture by Chris Antemann at Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA from the gallery’s stand-out special installation inspired by 18th c porcelain rooms. Adrian Sassoon of Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, London added, “There have been lots of museum people here,” including curators from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Museum of Contemporary Art, London.

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