SAN FRANCISCO, CA .- Art Market San Francisco was built by its city, for its city - it has become known as the ideal place for the discovery, exploration, and acquisition of modern and contemporary art, and the optimal environment for collectors at all levels. Its return to Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion from April 21st through 24th will yet again exemplify why it is the leading and longest running art fair in the Bay Area.
Back after a two year pandemic-impacted hiatus, Art Market San Francisco’s 10th edition is a true testament to its respected tradition, its vision to improve the ecosystem of events in the visual arts, and its collaboration with the dedicated and resilient local arts community. As such, the fair will be recognized on opening night with the honor of receiving an official proclamation from the City of San Francisco.
For its milestone celebration, this year’s fair will feature nearly 80 innovative and established modern and contemporary art galleries from the Bay Area and around the world, alongside impressive artist installations and activations, and the return of an engaging talks series with Art Market's cultural partners on topical issues including NFT's, the zoom-era’s impact on art, equity in collecting, the intersection of fashion and art, and more.
In addition to nurturing the Bay Area’s gallery and collector growth at the fair, Art Market San Francisco remains committed to fostering arts, artists, and the communities in which they reside, both locally and globally. Locally, to help with the reinvigoration of Union Square, Art Market is partnering with CK Contemporary and the Union Square Alliance for an evening to celebrate the area’s cultural vibrancy, which includes eight renowned galleries exhibiting at the fair this year, as well as a myriad of chic bars, restaurants and retail stores. The event taking place at CK Contemporary’s space on Powell Street will feature food and drink from Union Square establishments ENO Wine Bar, Subtle Spirits, and Bluestem Restaurant & Market. And globally, in consideration of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Art Market Productions will be donating a portion of proceeds from Art Market San Francisco ticket sales to Artists at Risk and UNICEF, while encouraging patrons to collectively support these and other organizations providing humanitarian relief so desperately needed at this time.
Programming highlights at this year’s fair will include:
Installations:
● Seldom Scene (2022), a piece by light installation artist and lighting designer Elaine Buckholtz, presented by Electric Works Gallery will be set up near the front entrance, and showcases Buckholtz’s expertise in utilizing video and light in relation to sculptural forms, digital prints, and more.
● Also near the front entrance will be a mural by Avila Rose presented by Part 2 Gallery entitled Give Me Life (2022). Isaac Vazquez and Lauren D’Amato (who make up Avila Rose), use their art education towards designing murals, branding, and creating hand painted signs for local San Francisco businesses and commercial clients.
● Outside, patrons will pass by Lena Gustafson’s Bloom Sequence (2022), a stunning mural on a shipping container, presented by Part 2 Gallery. The Oakland based painter and multi-disciplinary artist’s work depicts scenes of transformation often with figures or plants merging with their environment.
● Inside, on the main floor, CK Contemporary will present Peasant Red (1962) a vibrant painting by the late Jack Wolfe, who was recognized as one of the most promising young artists of the 1950’s after receiving acclaim from The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Carnegie Institute, The American Federation of Arts, The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and other organizations.
● Located by the mezzanine entrance will be Mads Christensen’s light installation Campfire (2021), presented by Timothy Yarger Fine Art. Christensen, trained as an electrical engineer, has cultivated his creative prowess to imagine visual and emotional experiences using light as a medium. This installation was inspired by the Laurie Anderson quote, “Technology is the Campfire around which we tell our stories.”
● In the mezzanine lounge, Creativity Explored will be presenting a fashion installation featuring garments created for and during the recent Mode Brut exhibition at the Museum of Craft and Design. The fashion-focused exhibition showcased outfits and fiber art by disabled Creativity Explored artists working in partnership with local designers.
● On display in the central lounge will be Marie Watt’s installation presented by Catharine Clark Gallery, entitled Skywalker/Skyscraper (Forest) (2021). It features towers of reclaimed blankets, reclaimed cedar and steel I-beams, and was inspired by Watt’s move to Brooklyn where, as a member of the Seneca Nation herself, she learned that Iroquois ironworkers and their families had settled in the 1950s to work on Manhattan’s skyscraper building boom.
● Christopher Martin’s sculpture Blood For Forgiveness (2021), presented by Hashimoto Contemporary will be featured in the cafe. As a southern-raised multi-media artist from North Carolina, currently working in Oakland and San Francisco, Martin’s hand-cut and sewn tapestry pieces are representative of the modern-day experience of the African diaspora.
