Huge Sales & Attendance at 2012 SF Fine Art Fair
$3.5 Million & 14,000 Plus!
Huge Sales & Attendance at 2012 SF Fine Art Fair May 16 – 20 at Fort Mason Center
New “7×7 ArtBike” Auction raises $10,000 for San Francisco Bike Coalition
22 May 2012 – San Francisco, CA: As the moon moved in front of the sun at around 6pm Sunday, May 20, 2012, the other things being eclipsed on San Francisco Bay were records as the SF Fine Art Fair (www.sffineartfair.com) saw a staggering attendance of 14,000 plus and sales of more than $3.5 million. The West Coast’s most important art fair ran May 16-20 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion and featured 70 dealers, from 28 cities in the United States and nine other countries including the United Kingdom, Thailand, China, South Korea, Spain, Austria, Mexico, Canada, and Israel.
“Never before have we had such a wide selection of art from around the world,” said Rick Friedman, director of the SF Fine Art Fair. “I am pleased that we attracted both experienced collectors and enthusiastic newcomers. We presented treasures for every budget level from $1,000 to $1 million, but averaged in the $25K-$50K level. We successfully opened the private and exclusive art world to many eager first time buyers who ‘caught the fever’ and began collecting art at Fort Mason this weekend.”
In addition to the lively trade in art, this year’s SF Fine Art Fair paid tribute to beloved Bay Area philanthropist Roselyne “Cissie” Swig with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” honor on Thursday night. In addition, the internationally acclaimed William Wiley was the Fair’s “Featured Artist.” On Saturday, the Bay Area’s Asian cultural institutions were highlighted with tributes in food, panels and song, while over 3,000 people poured through on a special “sneak preview” event Wednesday evening to raise funds for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A new addition this year was a special section of the Fair devoted to the East Bay’s Oakland Art Murmur. In addition, other local cultural institutions and projects such as the Chinese Historial Society, ArtSpan, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, ChinaSF and America’s Cup were featured at the Fair. Throughout it all, San Francisco’s acclaimed Academy of Art University provided free shuttle bus service from Fort Mason to other fairs around town.
One of the most popular and eagerly anticipated additions to this year’s lineup was the “7×7 ArtBike” auction in which seven bikes provided by Public Bike were given a full artistic makeover by noted artists and then auctioned off. The result: over $10,000 for the nonprofit San Francisco Bike Coalition.
“The San Francisco Fine Art Fair has gotten better every year,” said gallery owner Seb Hamamjian. “I repeatedly heard from several whom I consider to be respected in the SF art community that this fair was of high quality and a ‘must attend’ on the annual calendar.”
“The mid career contemporary artists flew off the walls and big sales went to masters as well,” Friedman said, noting that a 1960 Kenneth Noland went for $750,000 an Andrew Wyeth for $175,000 and a Joan Mitchell for $150,000.
While virtually every gallery in the Fair reported significant sales, a heavy volume of sales activity were reported from the following galleries: Westwood Modern, Center Space, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, George Krevsky Gallery, Hamamjian Modern, Hang Art, K. Imperial Fine Art, Madison Gallery, Sandra Lee Gallery, CK Contemporary, Kips Gallery, Robert Green Fine Arts, Stephanie Breitbard Fine Arts, Villa del Arte Galleries, and Zemack Contemporary Art.
“Our closing day saw the greatest attendance,” said Friedman. “Many fairgoers waited till Sunday afternoon to make their buying decisions, when a flurry of buyers blew in to grab up their carefully chosen treasures.”
The 2012 SF Fine Art Fair took place at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion (Marina Boulevard @ Buchanan Street), May 16 through May 20, 2012. Details about next year’s Fair will be released shortly. www.sffineartfair.com