The Art Newspaper

Collectors focus on museum quality works at SOFA New York

The 13th annual fair dedicated to functional arts saw strong sales and bustling crowds

By Brook S. Mason. Web only
Published online: 21 April 2010

The 13th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair (aka Sofa) at the Park Avenue Armory, 16-19 April, saw strong sales and bustling crowds. Over 2,500 attended the vernissage.

“I sold my entire solo show of Japanese ceramicist Koike Shoko—with work destined for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Cincinnati Art Museum—on opening night,” said ceramics dealer Joan Mirviss. Chicago architect and interior designer Suzanne Lovell snapped up a massive Felicity Aylieff ceramics column for $41,000 at Adrian Sassoon.

More than a dozen new gallerists were among the 58 participants indicating how dealer turnover, common to contemporary art fairs, now affects this market. Some new dealers, like Allen Stone, have fine arts pedigrees. Chelsea contemporary art dealer Cynthia Reeves signed on only a week before the fair “I picked up five commissions for Korean artist Jaehyo Lee's steel bolts, nails and wood benches, at $28,000 each,” said Reeves. “More of my clients and artists are gravitating towards functional art.”

Thea Burger featured work by ceramicist Ruth Duckworth and the Chilean fiber artist Olga de Amaral. “By Sunday, I sold more than half my stand,” she said.

Collectors overwhelmingly gravitated towards work by artists well represented in museum collections. Palm Beach dealer Donna Schneier sold a Peter Voulkos 1979 Stack for $60,000, a Dale Chihuly 1994 Persian in blue edged with vermilion for $23,000, a large Viola Frey ceramic figure and a Harvey Littleton glass work, among others. “Now the fear of buying is banished,” says Schenier.

Similar sales include a Hiroshi Suzuki silver vessel for $37,000, three Kate Malone ceramic vessels as well as another Felicity Aylieff column for $41,000, all with Beck. An increasingly international audience was noted with Beck snaring a commission from a Spanish client and clinching sales with London residents.

Fiber arts, especially baskets were sought at the Santa Fe Tai Gallery. There Bob Coffland sold more than 16 pieces like a Torii Ippo bamboo Fortitude, 2009 for $25,000. “Sales are up 25% from last year so touch wood, the economy is picking up,” says Coffland.