NEW YORK – With a new design scheme and an exciting roster of international dealers, Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair (SOFA NEW YORK) celebrates its 15th anniversary on Friday, April 20, through Monday, April 23, at the Park Avenue Armory, 67th Street and Park Avenue. The fair’s invitation-only opening night preview is Thursday, April 19, from 5-7 p.m., followed by a public preview from 7-9 p.m. by ticket purchase.
“We are delighted to celebrate SOFA NEW YORK’s 15th anniversary in the art capital of the world,” said Mark Lyman, president of The Art Fair Co. and founder of SOFA. “SOFA dealers have always been at the forefront of promoting studio artists and designers when they were just starting to gain recognition.”
According to Lyman, SOFA was instrumental in bringing attention to luminaries such as Rudy Autio, Ruth Duckworth, Wendell Castle, Olga de Amaral, Dale Chihuly, Jun Kaneko, Betty Woodman, Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, Sam Maloof, William Morris, Beatrice Wood, Philip Moulthrop, George Nakashima, Ted Noten, Lenore Tawney, Albert Paley, Ed Rossbach, Lino Tagliapietra, Peter Voulkos and Michael Zobel.
“These artists are always breaking new ground and SOFA dealers continue to reintroduce them, and many up-and-coming artists, to a whole new audience,” said Lyman, whose career as an art fair organizer spans 25 years.
Donna Davies, director of SOFA fairs in New York, Chicago and Santa Fe added, “In celebration of SOFA NEW YORK’s milestone 15th anniversary, plans are under way to reinvigorate the design and aesthetics of the exhibition hall. We look forward to presenting an exciting group of new dealers this fair who are strong in international ceramics.”
Renowned New York architect David Ling will transform the Park Avenue Armory into a veritable work of art for an event that itself overflows with top-tier contemporary and modern arts and design.
SOFA NEW YORK visitors will experience Ling’s creativity as soon as they step into the Armory.
“I conceived of it as a time machine-like procession,” said the architect/designer. “This procession leads visitors from the stately, Victorian-era foyer of the armory through a long, narrow tunnel, tantalizing you with the prospect of an unknown but exciting journey.”
The destination: the armory’s exhibition hall, modernized by Ling’s cutting-edge design, which will hover above the exhibition stands of the 50 participating international art galleries.
“Floating high over the exhibitions will be a huge cube of light, out of which smaller blocks of light explode, traveling to all points within the hall like newly formed stars,” said Ling. “I based the concept on the Big Bang Theory. It’s about creation, re-creation and energy, the origin of the universe in the Big Bang. It served as an inspiration for a modernist constellation to light this year’s SOFA NEW YORK. And with the fair’s universe of offerings,” added Ling, “I think my concept is a fitting one.”
Tickets are $25 for a single day and $40 for a four-day pass; both include catalog. For general information, visit www.sofaexpo.com; call 800-563-7632 or 312-587-7632; or email info@sofaexpo.com.
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