ART ATTACK
MAR ET ART + DESIGN RETURNS WITH A MUST-SEE MIX OF WORK FROM EMERGING, ESTABLISHED, AND HIGHLY ESTEEMED ARTISTS. BY STEPHANIE MURG
Market Art + Design returns with a must-see mix of work from emerging, established, and esteemed artists.
The seventh edition of the art fair Market Art + Design, running from July 6 to 9 at the Bridgehampton Museum, includes a program of live music, but the visual jazz of Larry Rivers is what visitors will encounter first. The Los Angeles gallery 101/Exhibit has secured a prime front booth, which it’s devoting to the 50-year Southampton resident and his exuberant improvisations: a shapeshifting anti-style that Rivers once described as “the mixture of grand art and absurdity.”
Between those two poles, great art fairs flourish. Market Art + Design—launched in 2010 as ARTMRKT Hamptons and operated by Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause’s Art Market Productions—embraces that mix, showcasing modern and contemporary work along with a selection of design, ranging from Midcentury Modern furniture to estate jewelry. This year, more than 60 exhibitors will fill two pavilions set up between the bustling center of Bridgehampton and its placid potato fields.
“We’re very excited to be the longest-running fair out East,” says director Kelly Freeman, who has added some first-time participants—such as the Paris-based Nil Gallery, Brooklyn’s Space 776, and Aureus
MORE THAN 60 EXHIBITORS WILL FILL TWO PAVILIONS SET UP BETWEEN THE BUSTLING CENTER OF BRIDGEHAMPTON AND ITS PLACID POTATO FIELDS.
Contemporary, a collective from Providence, Rhode Island—to beloved locals like Vered Gallery, Lawrence Fine Art, and RJD Gallery. “We like to think of ourselves as a single stop for a variety of acquisitions—and a great place to get a sense of what’s happening in the art market.”
“The fair feels like a true community event, where we get to spend time with local art lovers,” says Celeste Kaufman of Bridgehampton’s Kathryn Markel Fine Arts. The gallery is bringing Deborah Zlotsky’s vibrant abstractions, which were inspired by a garage-sale purchase of striped 1970s bedsheets. According to the artist, “The rich colors and repetitive patterns triggered a synesthetic response, recalling my earliest memories of space, light, and move- ment, and a childhood when sleep came easily.”
Stunning vistas will be on view both inside and outside the tents. Sundaram Tagore Gallery is showcasing Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju, best known for his waterfall and cliff images. “Senju combines traditional Japanese techniques with his unique minimalist visual language,” explains Tagore. “He is deeply immersed in ecology and the veneration of natural wonders.”
Soho’s Castor Gallery adds a local touch with Andy Gershon’s photographs of Hamptons beaches. “The idea behind these is to focus on the random beauty that waves create,” explains gallery director Justin dedemko.
Helping visitors savor the splashy images will be new concessionaire Coco & Co., purveyor of “refreshing drinking coconuts.” “They travel around the country to all our fairs and have become a fan favorite,” says Freeman. “They add a tropical element to the show.” Rivers would surely approve. Bridgehampton Museum, 2368 Montauk Hwy., Bridgehampton; artmarkethamptons.com