FOG ART FAIR ROLLS IN WITH GALA
The fifth edition of Fog Design + Art was atmospherically en pointe Wednesday, Jan. 10, as moody, misty skies enveloped Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion where this dazzling art fair unfolded.
Founded by maverick modernist Stanlee Gatti (and his stellar steering committee: Douglas Durkin. Susan Swig, Roth Martin, Katie Schwab Paige and Allison Speer with honorary chairs Abigail Turin and her husband, Jonathan Gans), the dynamic display — a four-day feast of 45 international dealers tantalizing collectors with an array of contemporary and modern fare — is now a highlight of the once-sparse winter social season.
“What we’ve hoped for in the cultural life of San Francisco is that we increasingly become one of the great art capitals of the world,” enthused San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Director Neal Benezra. “And this week, between all the new galleries here and the increased quality yet intimate size of Fog, we’re sort of the center of the art world.”
The exquisite opening-night gala has become one of the hottest tickets in town. From $175 ducats to $10K sponsorships, 3,000 revelers beelined for the chic, sold-out soiree benefiting the exhibition and education programs at SFMOMA.
This year’s fair also paid tribute to the late Cathy Topham, an arts patron, SFMOMA supporter and founding Fog steering committee member who died last January. Family members, including her husband, Ned Topham; their sons Ned and Christian Topham; her sister and brother-in-law, Eileen and Peter Michael, were out in force to remember Cathy’s bright, bohemian spirit.
The event also inspires participants to up their game: McCalls Catering dished up a creative menu starring sushi, delectable mini-lamb chops and roving food carts rife with handily carried bites like jalapeño biscuits topped with Andouille sausage and shrimp gumbo. Yum.
And with the luxe Italian line of Fendi as lead sponsor, fair fashions were off the hook.
“It’s a bit distracting,” noted McCalls executive vice president Lee Gregory. “The designs and accessories people are wearing are as interesting as the art!”
In addition to numerous panels with heralded creators-influencers as artistactivist Theaster Gates; filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson; Design Miami chief creative officer Rodman Primack; gallerists Anthony Meier, Deborah Rappaport and Martin Muller and Christie’s celebration of Ray and Charles Eames’ designs, the fair also honored Chez Panisse culinarian Alice Waters at the Innovator’s Lunch
A16 restaurateur Shelley Lindgren designed a tribute menu (Andante goat cheese farm lettuce salad, duck confit and breast, Meyer lemon cream puff) honoring Waters’ leadership in sustainable, local foodstuffs and her Edible Schoolyard nonprofit that’s transforming children’s relationship to and understanding of healthy food.
“It is important that art lift up ideas. Beauty needs to be present at every event. When you set a bouquet on the table, it expresses a language of care,” said Waters, in conversation with Dosa clothing designer Christina Kim. “Children deserve a nutritious cafeteria meal. In the face of urgent issues like climate change and rampant diabetes, we must bring a sense of quality to their lives.”
Fort Mason Center aside, the fabulousness of Fog has spread its dewy tendrils all around town.
Embracing this art-world moment, new exhibitions bloomed: from Gagosian in SoMa; “The Modern Institute” group show at Jessica Silverman Gallery in the Tenderloin; Ryan McGinley in the Mission District at Ratio 3; all the way out to Dogpatch, where gallerists Claudia AltmanSiegal, Adrian Rosenfeld and Nion
McEvoy hosted a Lee Vilensky Trio hootenanny at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.
“This year, design is incredibly strong. Yet designers are showing art pieces, and galleries like Ratio 3 feature light installations,” said gallerist Jessica Silverman, who exhibits globally at international fairs. “Fascinatingly, dealers take their cue from Fog’s design-art context to produce booths speaking to the space between those disciplines.”
Parties proliferated, too: Photography gallerist Jeffrey Fraenkel, president
Frish Brandt and Levy Gorvy gallery hosted Fog-ers at Mission Bowling Club for their now annual down-home Fog kickoff party.
Near the gleaming lanes, Fine Arts Museums Director Max Hollein , an elegant Viennese native, eschewed retro bowling fashions worn by other guests. But he appreciated the mellow “dude” vibe.
“Sarah Morris (whose exhibition just opened at Berggruen) asked how I’ve adapted to the San Francisco art scene,” Hollein relayed, with a laugh. “In Europe, I’d attend a well-behaved, philosophical art gathering. But in San Francisco, I go bowling.”