With 65 international galleries from 17 countries and 14 states, this year's ArtPalmBeach features global emerging and contemporary artists with galleries and dealers from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe.
Opening with a preview Wednesday, the fair runs through Jan. 25 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach.
Lee Ann Lester, who along with her husband, David, owns ArtPalmBeach sponsor International Fine Art Expositions, says it takes “a lot of patience and diplomacy” to mount the fair, now in its 18th year.
“The art market is growing in Palm Beach County,” she says. “The Palm Beach Cultural Council has put a tremendous effort into promoting cultural tourism. The influence of Palm Beach cultural institutions such as the Norton and Flagler Museums, the Palm Beach Opera, etc., bring world-class performing arts right here.
“Artists, exhibitors, dealers and patrons all want to visit Palm Beach in the winter, as it is one of Florida’s cultural jewels,” Lester notes. “There is a tremendous desire to incorporate the arts into daily life.”
ArtSynergy, a countywide gallery walk weekend founded by local artists Rolando Chang Barrero and Craig McInnis, returns for a second year, bringing weeklong art events and art walks to nine historic art districts, including the Boynton Beach Arts District, Continuum in West Palm Beach, Artists Alley in Delray Beach and the Urban Arts Loft in Lake Worth.
“When people think of ArtPalmBeach, I want them to think not only of the expo but of a countywide fine art event,” says Barrero, who founded and runs the Boynton Beach Arts District (BBAD) as well as his own gallery, ActivistArtistA, and Rolando Chang Barrero Fine Art Gallery on Lucerne Avenue in Lake Worth.
This year, ArtSynergy hosted a juried exhibition and selected 20 local artists from hundreds of submissions to be represented at ArtPalm Beach.
Winning artists include Wellington painter Molly Aubry, sculptor Orlando Chiang of Palm Beach Gardens, and photographer Tony Arruza and painter Erin Fromkes, both of West Palm Beach.
Chiang’s mixed-media sculpture, Domestication, of a human bust with a collar and chain around his or her neck, was inspired by his reaction to gender stereotypes.
Fromkes, who suffers from a chronic illness, paints to “escape my day-to-day reality.” Her mixed-media paintings are an attempt to “color myself out” of her difficulties, she said.
On Saturday, BBAD will host a tour of the district and of the kinetic art sculptures up and around the downtown area of the city in advance of the city’s International Kinetic Art Exhibit and Symposium Feb. 6-8, as well as the studios and galleries of Artists Alley in Delray Beach.
“The events at the Convention Center are not an isolated event, but a community-wide art showcase,” Barrero says. “The goal of ArtSynergy is to develop an ongoing sense of an arts community.”
Highlights of the weekend include a screening of Pull of the Moon, a collaborative film project by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and Navajo artist Bert Benally, and Karen Bystedt’s The Lost Warhols, a collection of photographs lost for 28 years, presented by the Evan Lurie Gallery.
Also screening is a new documentary film, Pilchuck: A Dance with Fire, a story about the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, co-founded by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly in 1971.
Israeli artist Danielle Sheinman’s canvas, graphite and wooden installation, String Line, will be suspended over the fair entrance with its black and white graphite lines creating an impression on the canvas.
“Sheinman creates a piece with a great emotional response,” notes Lester, “despite the black and white nature of her work.”
This year’s panel discussions and presentations include, “Progression of Kinetic Art,” sponsored by the International Kinetic Art Exhibit and Symposium and Boynton Beach Art in Public Places, and features international kinetic artist Ralfonso and the city of Boynton Beach’s public art manager, Debby Coles-Dobay.
Jim Baker, executive director of the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, will moderate a discussion with artists Lino, Tagliapietra, Jan Frydrych, Shelley Muzylowski Allen and Rik Allen titled, “The Future of Glass Is Already Here.”
And, Irvin Lippman, executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art, will give a talk called “Surrealism and Magic,” exploring the surrealists’ interest in magic and spirituality.
The first view of ArtPalmBeach is set for 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, with a Collector’s Invitational from 7:30 to 10 p.m. The fair’s hours are from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, with hours on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. A one-day pass is $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. For more information, visit artpalmbeach.com or nextlevelfairs.com.
ArtSynergy: The 2015 ArtSynergy program will include over 65 county wide gallery receptions, open artist studios, performances, museum openings, lectures and art tours and art demonstrations in nine historic art districts:
Jan. 22: Northern Palm Beaches; Jupiter; Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Park
Jan. 23: ART POP Lake Worth; Worth Avenue, South Dixie Antique Row
Jan. 24: Boynton Beach Art District; Artists Alley, Delray Beach
Jan. 25: Historic Northwood Village; Continuum W. Palm Beach; Whitespace, The Mordes Collection.
