We're following this promising trend in 2010: business's support for the visual arts. One of the most compelling booths at December's meta art convergence, Art Basel Miami Beach, was mounted not by a New York, London or Beijing dealer. Instead international art insurer AXA Art's lounge drew gasps for its inspired amalgamation of architecture, design, lighting and graphics. Conceived in participation with Cranbrook Academy of Art and its four Artists-in-Residence. Elliott Earls, Beverly Fishman, William Massie and Heather McGill, the convention center space was transformed after AXA commissioned the Cranbrook gang to add some razzle dazzle (see above). AXA honchos Christiane Fischer, president and CEO AXA Art North America and Dr. Ulrich Guntram, chairman AXA Art, joined AXA Texas representative Frank Herzog, aka Mr. Pop for his early collection of Pop masterpieces, in presiding. And later this month, AXA steps onto stage in Houston to support the outdoor exhibition of monumental works by international sculptor Bernar Venet.
Back to fairs, we're really excited about the Dallas Art Fair, coming February 5 through 7 to the Fashion Industry Gallery in the heart of the Dallas Arts District. Read all about it our special section this month in print and online. How did Texas' first art fair come together? — through the intersection of business and art. Just ask Dallas-based fair co-founders Chris Byrne, a respected private art dealer and John Sughrue, the go-to developer for downtown Dallas, and the man responsible for big-idea projects like Fashion Industry Gallery, the site of the 2010 Dallas Art Fair.
Even Larry Gagosian is getting more commercial. The kingpin of big art biz adds another enterprise to his global empire, with the recently unveiled Gagosian Shop at 988 Madison Avenue stocked with artist editions (yes, that "Puppy Vase" by Jeff Koons, one of the rock stars of the G stable), books, furniture, and even wallpaper. And on the store's lower level, Damien Hirst, perhaps Gagosian's top brand, mounts his NYC outpost, Other Criteria, to offer tees, prints, prints, CDs and jewelry by up and comers.
Austin collective/gallery OK Mountain got into its own retail action at the Pulse Contemporary Art Fair last month in Miami Beach, taking home the Pulse Prize and People's Choice Award for "Corner Store," a booth outfitted into a convenience store showcasing artworks as consumer comestibles. We've seen a version of this concept at Art Basel Miami Beach several years ago mounted by an Asian gallery, but love the outsidery feel of OK Mountain's installation, which ultimately harks back to Claes Oldenburg's "The Store" of 1961.