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 The Exclusive Airline of SOFA CHICAGO 2005 |
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 The Exclusive Wine Sponsor of SOFA CHICAGO 2005 Opening Night Preview |
SOFAEXPO.com
The Website of the biannual International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art (SOFA) Expositions in New York & Chicago © 2004 Expressions of Culture, Inc. No reproductions may be made of any content of this site without the approval of Expressions of Culture, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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ENTHUSIASTIC
COLLECTORS PACK SOFA CHICAGO 2005 VIEW
LIVE UPDATES FROM THE SHOW WITH
October 30, 2005. The 12th Annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art: SOFA CHICAGO 2005 opened Thursday night with a tremendous surge of serious buyers and energy. Ann Nathan of Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago said the show floor was “Packed! Loaded with expectation and enthusiasm.” “Phenomenal Opening Night!” said Leslie Ferrin of Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA.
“Opening Night was spectacular,” said Terry Davidson of Leo Kaplan Modern, New York, NY. “Best we’ve ever had. We had people in the booth at 5:01 pm. It was amazing—a very focused group of buyers.” Major sales Opening Night included works from new series by Kaplan artists Dan Dailey and Richard Jolley.
The
Twelfth Annual International Exposition of
The Sphere of the Material CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER 12, 2005. Whether one stands before a monumental ceramic human head made from 8000 pounds of clay by James Tyler, pondering the single word TRUTH carved repeatedly into it like a scar or mantra; the polished, raw surfaces of an Ivan Mares molded glass sculpture, at once a lamentation and tribute to nature’s brute carvings and selective sheen; or Norie Hatakeyama’s ectoplasm of simple packing paper, mysteriously alive, breeding dead-end tunnels from the inside—is to be confronted by these artworks’ very objecthood, their materiality and virtuosity of process.
Mark Lyman, President and Founder of SOFA CHICAGO and its sister show, SOFA NEW YORK in early summer, said, “Reports from dealers reflect their commitment to bringing the best of the new to the exposition. Many are investing in major presentations, including large-scale installations. And we are delighted with the number and quality of international galleries participating from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy and United Kingdom.”
Join artists, collectors, curators and cognoscenti at the festive Opening Night Public Preview, 7-10 pm, Thursday, October 27, and be among the first to view and acquire top quality pieces at SOFA CHICAGO! Lyman said, “We were very pleased with the response to last year’s inaugural Public Preview with over 600 persons attending from 7 – 10 pm. At the affordable ticket price of $50.00, we hope to encourage a new generation of collectors.” 1800 key collectors and press are again expected to attend the invitation-only “First Choice” Preview from 5 – 7 pm, which also offers select non-profits like Northwestern Memorial Foundation the opportunity to host private fundraising events in conjunction with the Opening. DOWNLOAD OPENING NIGHT PUBLIC PREVIEW RESERVATION FORM. (adobe .pdf document)
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GALLERIES AND DEALER PRESENTATIONS
Striking visual, textual and material expressions promise to combine in the presentations of a record-number 100 galleries and dealers at SOFA CHICAGO 2005. Twelve new galleries will exhibit at SOFA CHICAGO this year, including Chicago’s West Loop contemporary art gallery, gescheidle, which will debut paintings as well as very strong dimensional work, including Whitney Lee’s ironic pastiche of the decorative and fine arts.
Barrett Marsden Gallery, London, leading gallery for applied arts dealing in contemporary ceramics, glass, metal and wood, returns to SOFA CHICAGO for the sixth straight year. Principal among represented artists is Philip Eglin, winner of Great Britain’s prestigious Jerwood Applied Arts Prize in 1996 for “the most significant contribution to contemporary ceramics in the past five years.” Inspiration for Eglin’s iconoclastic porcelain figures comes from Northern Gothic religious woodcarvings, Chinese export porcelain and English folk ceramics. He is renowned for his painterly use of slips and glazes, and for his “bucket” vessels, whose surfaces carry complex layers of imagery and text.
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LECTURE SERIES PRESENTATIONS
Complimentary with admission to SOFA CHICAGO, the acclaimed Lecture Series features internationally renowned artists, collectors and arts professionals in a face-to-face dialogical forum—increasingly rare in our technologically mediated world. From examining expressions rooted in traditional materials, processes and history, to new art forms that explore unexpected relationships between decorative arts and painting, sculpture, conceptual and installation art, the Lecture Series is a stimulating educational opportunity for all. VIEW LECTURE SERIES SCHEDULE.
This year’s Lecture Series addresses such large philosophical questions as how does electronic technology amplify and perpetuate Cartesian dualism’s mind-body separation? Artist and head of the ceramics department at Michigan State University, Brian Boldon (Dubhe Carreno Gallery) discusses his usage of electronic imagery on ceramic form to question the sustainability of the absent body. Boldon said, “Real-time electronic visual ‘experience’ removed from the physical body in the world is extending a third person conception of the body, detached from perception, based on inference and abstraction.”
SOFA
CHICAGO 2005 SPECIAL EXHIBITS AND EVENTS:
Three Special Exhibits at SOFA CHICAGO 2005, complementary with admission, feature international artworks bridging political, geographical and “function versus art” divides. Special Exhibits at SOFA are educational in nature and are designed to supplement the gallery presentations.
For the third straight year, the Association of Israel’s Decorative Arts (AIDA) in cooperation with the Eretz Israel Museum, presents a curated exhibit of contemporary decorative artwork by artists currently living in Israel. This year, the AIDA Special Exhibit is entitled Updating Traditions, and will include artwork by a Palestinian-Israeli artist, Buthina Abu-Milhem, who lives in the Arab village of Arara. Abu-Milhem’s textile art iconically references and metaphorically decorates the traditional Palestinian shirt. Asked why her work was selected along with eight Israeli artists, Abu-Milhem said, “I think there is something different in my works, which emerges directly from the culture and the environment in which I live.”
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| CONTACT INFO |
| For
more information on SOFA CHICAGO 2005, October 28 - 30 at
Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL, call 800.563.SOFA
(7632) or e-mail:info@sofaexpo.com. For editorial support,
contact Barbara Smythe-Jones at 800.357.SOFA (7632) or e-mail
barbara@sofaexpo.com. For assistance downloading hi-res images
of artwork for sale at SOFA CHICAGO in the Press Images/e-press
kit section of www.sofaexpo.com and for press credentials,
contact Jen Haybach at 866.870.SOFA (7632) or jen@sofaexpo.com. |
