The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) has elected Adam Sheffer, a partner at Cheim & Read gallery, as its new president.
Sheffer has a long history with the ADAA: he has served as its vice-president since 2013 and as the chairman of the Art Show, the organisation’s annual art fair, since 2009. “Adam’s service to the ADAA and his leadership in the field has been exemplary,” said Linda Blumberg, the organisation’s executive director.
Sheffer, who has more than 25 years experience in the art world, will oversee the 180 members of the non-profit organisation. He begins his three-year term today, succeeding Dorsey Waxter, a partner of Van Doren Waxter gallery, who has served as the ADAA’s president since 2012.
“This is an opportunity for us to all continue to strengthen the position of the ADAA as an advocate for the vital role that art dealers play in the cultural landscape,” Sheffer says. “A lot of that has to do with things that go unnoticed—scholarship; working with collectors over long periods of time to shape meaningful collections; and always serving in the best interest of an artist and their work.”
“We want to assert that galleries represent relationships as well as transactions,” Sheffer says. “Whereas other people call art ‘property’, we’re the people who never stopped calling art art.”
