Paul Stapleton transforms ordinary objects into an unusual breed of sculpture. (Photo provided)
Things are changing in the art world, changing fast.
The evidence will be on view at the 16th annual American International Art Fair, which opens in downtown West Palm Beach Friday for a 10-day run.
What began as an art and antique fair is making a transition to an art and design fair.
The colors will be stark ? black and white and gray, with LED lighting throughout the show. "There?s a movement toward minimalist works," says David Lester, whose company runs this fair and January?s ArtPalmBeach.
"A contemporary home tends to have white walls and neutral colors. The furnishings of today are rarely as ornate as in the past. Mar-a-Lago was typical of Palm Beach in its time, but today?s house is much more contemporary in nature."
Directions, invite a friend, nearby dining
The fair will still present a broad range, from 19th- and 20th-century paintings and photographs and sculpture to objects that are intrinsically beautiful, from a 17th-century Stradivarius violin to World War I-vintage automobiles.
A daily lecture schedule will cover everything from investing in art to discussions on Rembrandt, Faberg? and Chinese contemporary ink painting. The granddaughter of Andrew Wyeth will talk about her family?s paintings.
The 'Corsican Chair', made from various hardwoods. (Courtesy Todd Merrill)
The idea, Lester says, is to present an eye-pleasing variety.
"We are like a movie theater ? we?re a platform. If you show Casablanca every night, after a week people get bored," says Lester. "My goal is to re-create a much more theatrical event in the convention center, as it was when we were in the big tent on Okeechobee ? more of a wow factor for collectors.
"We have to remember that we?re in the entertainment business ? shopping for cultural entertainment. Brown furniture is having a hard time; chrome is hot. We?re living in the day of the Droid and the iPhone, it?s not a black phone from Ma Bell anymore."
This broadening of definitions is taking place at the same time as a loosening of the purse strings, which was signaled last year when a lovely Renoir went for $9.8 million at the fair. Suddenly, art is selling again, on the high end and for younger, emerging artists.
"It?s much better than it was even two years ago," says Sarah Gavlak of the Gavlak Gallery in Palm Beach. "People are more confident."
What seems to be happening is that since conventional investments have had a rocky ride of late, people are much more interested in investing in tangible objects ? gold, silver, wine, art.
"When the market dips 400 points, and people scramble for liquidity," says Gavlak, "the greatest opportunity comes from blue- chip contemporary art. There?s less risk than there is in trading pork bellies. If you have a Warhol or a Rauschenberg, those objects and images have a built-in, absolute solid market value, and they can be sold in three days."
Things are jumping to such an extent that local artist Bruce Helander is now editing a glossy magazine called The Art Economist, which accepts no advertising and regularly lists the top 300 artists in terms of their auction prices.
For Helander, it?s a switch.
"In the ?60s and ?70s, for artists that were too commercial, made too much money, it was a negative. Now, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst are celebrated in the marketplace. They?re labeled as geniuses by many, but they?re very strict marketers and money managers, and it shows. And it hasn?t taken away from their work."
The Internet has changed the way the collecting game is played, opening up a market that, as Helander puts it, was once as veiled as "a sheik?s daughter in the Dubai airport."
"If someone wants to find out what something is worth," says David Lester, "they can go online and look at the sale prices for a hundred pieces by that artist."
That resulting body of knowledge may also be why there?s a lot more bargaining than there used to be.
Lester feels that the traditional gallery system is failing, and that the growth is in art fairs and online, but then he?s not exactly unbiased. He points to the retail figures for December; conventional retail increased by a little less than 1 percent, online increased 17 percent. "That has to come at the expense of bricks and mortar," he says.
Gavlak says that despite the improved economy, which has resulted in a freer flow of money, quality remains of paramount importance.
"Look, anybody can buy merchandise, but if you?re serious about collecting art, it?s a different story," she says. "It?s about watching the artists of our time who are showing their ideas and watching them go from graduate school to a gallery to having well received exhibitions, to getting bought by museums and collections.
"When you get in on the ground floor of that, it?s very exciting, as well as a validation of your own taste."
American International Art Fair:
Friday-Feb. 12, Palm Beach County Convention Center, West Palm Beach.
Information: (239) 495-7293 or aifaf.com
Source: http://www.pbpulse.com/arts-and-culture/2012/02/02/bringing-a-wow-factor-to-west-palm-s-art-fair/
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