Finding common threads in three San Francisco art fairs ties together an experience of contemporary art in California. With 175 galleries the opening question was: Will San Francisco draw enough attendance and support to sustain three art fairs? Three well-attended fairs, each catering to niche audiences while welcoming crossover, marked my experience. Conversations with dealers indicated that clear gains were yielded in the form of new collectors, increased gallery visibility and sales.

Richard Bassett

ArtMRKT was sleekly designed, well marketed and very consistent in the quality of the 65 contemporary galleries included. San Francisco gallery, Jack Fisher presented smart sassy new works by Richard Bassett. Bassett’s convenience store hold-ups woven into throw pillows amused and frightened while touching on our darker culture.

The Quick The Dead by James Georgopoulos

Those images draw to mind the Lurie Gallery at SF Fine Art Fair, offering gun portraits by James Georgopoulos. He sees guns not only as imbedded symbols in contemporary culture but also as props of the film industry.

TM Gratkowski

At artMRKT, the film industry is also explored at Blythe Projects with the work of TM Gratkowski offering tangled fragments that reveal entertainment industry references from Disney to porn.

Renaud Delorme

Back at the SF Fine Art Fair McLoughlin Gallery presents an epic scale Liz Taylor portrait by Renaud Delorme. The iconic image upon closer investigation is created of found objects such as toys and computer parts, weaving together mass-media connections.

Jeff Hantman

Collage elements persist in all three fairs, from artMRKT’s Jeff Hantman at the Kala Art Institute to Art Pad SF at the legendary Rock and Roll Phoenix Hotel which featured 30 galleries, events and panel discussions.  The venue quickly became known not only for colorful after-parties but edgy and intriguing art.  Art Pad SF was the brainchild of Chip Conley (CEO of Joie de Vivre) assisted by William Moreno as associate director of ArtPadSF; it was a grand success! Moreno moderated a lively discussion on Contemporary Art in California including Peter Selz, Alma Ruiz, Lawrence Rinder and Erik Bakke.  Trends offered were the rediscovery of abstraction in the California tradition of Hoffman, Stills, and Rothko, collaborative practice and the intimate hand of the artist resurfacing.

Thomas Campbell

Two of these trends were clearly on view at Art Pad SF in the work of Thomas Campbell at Gregory Lind Gallery with work like his sewn flower image based in film, text and collaborative street culture. The love of text in Campbell loops back to the SF Fine Art Fair where Cain Schulte offers a stunning exhibit based in text as a dimensional object. The gems on display include Mark Fox’s text paper sculpture. The line-quality in the Fox leads us back to TM Gratkowski, looping in nature, knitting together trends and fairs.

Mark Fox

Finally, the SF Fine Art Fair led the way for this three-part collaboration as a contemporary art destination last year with the resurgence of the art fair model in San Francisco. This classic fair was the biggest, offering a wide range of art. The fair welcomed guests with a dramatic red May Pole and sculpture garden. It’s unique location overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, defines the quintessential San Francisco experience.