SOFA CHICAGO 2011

The Art Fair Company, based in Chicago, again presents two art fairs under one roof at Chicago’s historic Navy Pier (600 E. Grand Avenue) Friday, Nov. 4 – Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011. For the second straight year, SOFA CHICAGO 2011, the critically acclaimed International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair, will share the Pier’s Festival Hall with The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art. SOFA CHICAGO, now in its 18th year, enjoys the prestigious position of being the largest and longest continually running art fair in Chicago, a mainstay of the city’s cultural and social calendar. The Chicago Sun-Times hails SOFA CHICAGO as “amazing,” and Bradley Lincoln of Chicago Home + Garden raves, “This is one of my favorite art shows in Chicago– I guarantee you will see some flashy, jaw dropping works of…genius.” The SOFA CHICAGO and Intuit Show’s joint Opening Night Preview on Thursday, Nov. 3 will be open to the public from 7 – 9 p.m. with ticket purchase. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit sofaexpo.com.

For the seventh straight year, SOFA CHICAGO 2011 is sponsored in part by Chubb Personal Insurance, one of the world’s preeminent insurers of fine homes, art, antiques, jewelry, automobiles, yachts and other prized possessions. SOFA CHICAGO 2011 will again feature more than 60 international art galleries and dealers presenting museum-quality art and design for sale.

“My original vision for the SOFA fairs was to keep pressing to heighten the visibility of art on the cutting edge of the field,” says Mark Lyman, founding director of SOFA and president of The Art Fair Company. “SOFA has always complemented the artwork on offer with educational programming that reveals the deeper stories behind it.”

To this end, SOFA CHICAGO will again feature special exhibits by renowned museums, universities and arts organizations, as well as an extensive lecture series, all included in the admission price.

At SOFA CHICAGO 2011, Blue Rain Gallery’s exhibition will feature work created jointly by acclaimed artists Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni (who individually have very distinct and differing styles). The two share a longstanding history, having been high school friends - and when they collaborate, the blend of their talents produces something truly exceptional.

Highlights of curated special exhibitions at SOFA CHICAGO 2011 include: • Art Jewelry Forum’s Geography, an exhibit of approximately 80 pieces of jewelry from around the world. • Innovations in Glass and Metal: The Work of Richard Meitner, Jack Wax, and Louis Mueller, three iconic artists exploring abstraction and design through the use of glass, metal, bronze, and steel presented by SOFA. • Friends of Fiber Art International will present a special exhibit of works from the collection of Karen Johnson Boyd, a Racine, Wis. philanthropist, renowned collector, and recipient of Friends of Fiber Art’s first “Extraordinary Friend” Award. SOFA CHICAGO 2011 exhibitors confirmed to date include: Aaron Faber Gallery (New York) Litvak Gallery (Tel Aviv, Israel) Adamar Fine Arts (Miami) Llyn Strong Gallery (Greenville, S.C.) Ann Nathan Gallery (Chicago) Lucky Girls Gallery (New Orleans, La.) Arts & Artisans (Chicago) Maria Elena Kravetz (Cordoba, Argentina) Barry Friedman Ltd. (New York) Maurine Littleton Gallery (Washington DC) Beaver Galleries (Canberra, Australia) Mattson’s Fine Art (Atlanta, Ga.) Berengo Studio 1989 (Venice, Italy) Megumi Ogita Gallery (Tokyo, Japan) Blue Rain Contemporary Gallery (Santa Fe, N.M.) Mindy Solomon Gallery (St. Petersburg, Fla.) Bullseye Gallery (Portland, Ore.) Next Step Studio + Gallery (Ferndale, Mich.) Charon Kransen Arts (New York) Option Art / Galerie Elca London (Montreal, Canada) CREA Gallery (Montreal, Canada) Orley Shabahang (New York) Dai Ichi Arts (New York) Oliver & Espig (Santa Barbara, Calif.) David Richard Contemporary (Santa Fe, N.M.) Ornamentum (Hudson, N.Y.) del Mano Gallery (Los Angeles) Perimeter Gallery (Chicago) Donna Schneier Fine Arts (Manalapan, Fla.) PISMO Fine Art Glass (Denver, Colo.) Duane Reed Gallery (St. Louis, Mo.) Pistachios (Chicago) Elliott Arts West (Santa Fe, N.M.) Schantz Galleries (Stockbridge, Mass.) Floating World Gallery (Chicago) Sciacco Gallerie (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Galerie Elena Lee (Montreal, Canada) Scott Jacobson Gallery (New York) Gallery Frédéric GOT (Paris, France) Sherrie Gallerie (Columbus, Ohio) Habatat Galleries (Royal Oak, Mich.) ten472 Contemporary Art (Grass Valley, Calif.) Hawk Galleries (Columbus, Ohio) Thalen & Thalen (Francorchamps, Belgium) Heller Gallery (New York) Thomas R. Riley Galleries (Cleveland, Ohio) Jane Sauer Gallery (Santa Fe, N.M.) Traver Gallery (Seattle) Jean Albano Gallery (Chicago) Turkish Cultural Foundation (Washington DC) John Natsoulas Center for the Arts (Davis, Calif.) UrbanGlass (Brooklyn, N.Y.) KM Fine Arts (Chicago) Wexler Gallery (Philadelphia) Kirra Galleries (Melbourne, Australia) William Zimmer Gallery (Mendocino, Calif.) Lacoste Gallery (Concord, Mass.) ZeST Gallery (London, UK)

Additional curated special exhibits at SOFA CHICAGO 2011 include:

• The American Association of Woodturners will present The World Turns: American Association of Woodturners at 25. A celebration of the AAW’s 25th anniversary, the special exhibition consists of works by 25 renowned international artists. • Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Cranbrook Academy of Art will present Monomator, works executed either in a single material or in ones with similar sensibilities, created by students and alumni of the Cranbrook metalsmithing department over the past five years. • Aaron Faber Gallery (New York) will present Two Generations: The Jewelry of Earl and Tod Pardon, featuring the acclaimed father-son jewelers. • Watershed Center for Ceramic Art will present LEGENDS: Watershed Artists Honor Artists featuring four artists whose contributions to the field of ceramic art have influenced two generations of artists, collectors and students. Ceramic works from Val Cushing, Richard and Patti Warashina will be included, in addition to a collection of ceramic artist photographs by Paul J. Smith. • The Parents Circle – Families Forum, an organization dedicated to spearheading a reconciliation process between Israelis and Palestinians, will present an installation of political cartoons, Cartooning in Conflict. This special exhibit is curated by Michel Kichka, one of Israel’s most famous cartoonists. • The American Craft Council will present Gold, an exhibition curated by Michael Monroe that features the work of 27 artists who received the ACC Gold Medal from 1994 to 2010. • Also returning to SOFA CHICAGO by popular demand, The Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass Roadshow presents live demonstrations of hot glass blowing, featuring SOFA-represented artists and master glassblowers.

Special exhibits at SOFA CHICAGO include corresponding lectures, and are free with paid admission.

SOFA CHICAGO 2011 Lecture Series

The SOFA Lecture Series will again feature top museum curators, artists, collectors, scholars and critics who will share their professional and personal experiences in the field:

• Janet Koplos, critic, juror and writer about all art media for 25 years, will have a conversation with American Craft Council’s Gold Medal Award winner William Daley. • Glass Magazine Editor Andrew Page will discuss a new book on Paul Stankard, the artist known for manipulating glass threads into minuscule, anatomically correct flora, fauna, and human figures encapsulated in molten glass paperweights, cubes, and orbs. • London ceramist Gareth Mason will discuss his work, exhibited at SOFA by Mindy Solomon Gallery.

“The SOFA lecture series format offers a convergence of artists, representatives, collectors and the public together in the same room – an important opportunity to broaden interest in the field, answer questions and learn from the audience as well,” said Pilchuck Glass School Executive Director Jim Baker. VIP Program A VIP Program for high-level gallery clients will again be offered for SOFA CHICAGO and The Intuit Show, featuring exclusive private and corporate collection tours, curator-led museum exhibition tours, VIP discussions in the VIP Lounge, and other special events.

The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art For the second year in a row, The Art Fair Company will produce The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art on the same show floor as SOFA CHICAGO, due to the resounding success of 2010’s combined fairs. The Intuit Show runs concurrently with, and alongside SOFA CHICAGO 2011 in Festival Hall at Navy Pier, and will again be produced in conjunction with Chicago’s seminal non-profit organization, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. The Intuit Show will bring together leading dealers and galleries from around the country of self-taught art, outsider art, art brut, ethnographic art, non-traditional folk art and visionary art. All artwork is for sale. Lecture series presentations and special exhibits are also planned for The Intuit Show and, like SOFA CHICAGO’s educational programming, are included with paid admission.

“SOFA CHICAGO’s addition of The Intuit Show last year widened the horizon of art offered and expanded the audience of collectors,” says Mark Lyman. “We’re pleased to partner again with The Intuit Center and are delighted The Intuit Show will again share center stage with this year’s SOFA CHICAGO.”

Cleo Wilson, executive director of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, says “SOFA CHICAGO 2010 provided momentum to The Intuit Show that helped pique the interest of new buyers, who may not have previously been familiar with outsider art. Intuit enthusiastically looks forward to continuing our partnership with The Art Fair Company this November.”

Intuit Show exhibitors confirmed to date include: American Primitive Gallery (New York), The Electric Pencil (New York), Galerie Bonheur (St. Louis, Mo.), Just Folk (Summerland, Calif.), Lindsay Gallery (Columbus, Ohio), Outsider Folk Art Gallery (Reading, Pa.), The Pardee Collection (Iowa City, Iowa), Ricco / Maresca Gallery (New York) and Russell Bowman Art Advisory (Chicago). Admission to The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art is included with purchase of SOFA CHICAGO 2011 general admission; no separate ticket purchase is required. For more information, visit outsiderfolkartfair.com.

SOFA CHICAGO 2011 + The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art Calendar Listing

The Art Fair Company presents the 18th Annual SOFA CHICAGO 2011 + The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall (600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 60611) Nov. 4 – 6. This two-fair, three-day art event features contemporary art and design presented by more than 60 international art galleries and dealers at SOFA CHICAGO; and outsider art, ethnographic art, non-traditional folk art and visionary art at The Intuit Show. Joint lecture series and special exhibits are free with paid admission. All artwork is for sale. Tickets are on sale now. One general admission ticket of $15 admits visitors to both fairs, related lecture series, special exhibits and events. $25 three-day passes and discounted student, senior and group tickets are also available. Catalogs are $15. Hours are Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 6, noon to 6 p.m. For tickets or more information visit sofaexpo.com and outsiderfolkartfair.com.

The public is also invited to SOFA CHICAGO and The Intuit Show’s joint Opening Night Public Preview on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. Preview tickets are $50 and may be purchased in advance at sofaexpo.com or at the door beginning at 5 p.m. The opening night preview is much anticipated by collectors, museum curators, art advisers, interior designers and architects, artists and cognoscenti, because it offers first viewing and the best selection of works on offer, as well as the opportunity to meet and mingle with leading members of the art and design communities. Wine and hors d’oeuvres are included in the price of public preview admission.

SOFA CHICAGO 2011
The International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art
Ort: Navy Pier's Festival Hall