Art & Inspiration Blog

Despite the difficult financial times we live in, Hamptons based galleries are bullishly moving into the international art scene. This new trend involves participating in international fairs and opening branches in Manhattan.

This year two galleries will have booths at Scope Miami, another dealer partners in a booth to raise funds for a charity, as other dealers, artists and collectors from the Hamptons head to the fairs.

The Keszler Gallery of Southampton’s booth at Scope Miami is a direct result of their success as one of the top selling galleries at Scope Hamptons this summer. One of the hits of the summer season for the gallery was a live show by artist Russell Young who created large silkscreens of the famous and infamous using his own blood as ink. This performance will be repeated in two shows in the Keszler Gallery booth, both scheduled for 2 PM, the first privately for the press and VIP reception and the second on Saturday, December 6, 2008.

The Silas Marder Gallery of Bridgehampton also has a booth at Scope Miami. This is a first move out of the Hamptons for this gallery that features young local artists.

The McNeill Art Group is partnering with non-profit organization RxArt at the Red Dot Fair in Miami. Their booth will include an interactive installation created by local artists Jeff Muhs and Tapp Francke.

Also at the fairs this year is gallerist Peter Marcelle of the Hamptons Road Gallery and Peter Marcelle Contemporary. Peter’s gallery was one of the top selling galleries at the ArtHamptons. Is Peter scouting out fairs to participate in next year or looking for art for his collection?

The Charles Cowles Gallery is located in Chelsea, not the Hamptons. However,  the splendid gift of the Charles Cowles Collection of photography to the Parrish Museum certainly establishes the gallerist’s footprint in the Hamptons, beyond his ongoing generous support of arts groups here. The Charles Cowles gallery will be retuning to Pulse Miami this year.

Last year, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller took the unprecedented and bold step of opening the John McWinnie@Glenn Horowitz Bookseller Gallery in Manhattan. Prior to that galleries such as Mark Borghi and Spanierman opened branches here, or Hamptons gallerists used their apartments in the city as private places to show work to their collectors.

Keszler gallery is the first Hamptons based gallery to show and represent contemporary art at international fairs and open a branch in Manhattan. Late October, over 250 guests celebrated the opening of the new gallery space on the Upper East Side , which included works by gallery artists David Gamble and Russell Young, plus works by the artist known as Banksy. The Keszler Gallery has the largest collection of works by Bansky in the USA.

Stephan Keszler says, “We love to work with our artists. Our prices are more affordable so we are positive that we will do well.” This optimism founded in continuing success even in difficult times, has Keszler moving forward by “…increasing our engagement as a dealer in the USA and world wide.”

This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Art Theory and Show Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.