MORE TOP TIER SALES TO ART COLLECTORS
WITH MUSEUMS SHOPPING TOO

NEW YORK. The 11th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair, best known as SOFA, at the Park Avenue Armory May 29 –- June 1, 2008 achieved unparalleled sales and crowds. With 2,600 packing the Opening Night party on May 28, Armory officials reported the crowds were largest ever for any art fair on their historic premise. Total attendance was 16,100. 

"While we knew from the recent spate of contemporary art auctions, the pulse of the market was feverish, we were a bit taken back that a similar frenzy of buying marked our 11th edition Opening Night festivities," said Mark Lyman, founder of the SOFA fairs in Chicago and New York, and vice president of dmg Art & Antiques which also owns and produces the prestigious Palm Beach fairs (www.ifae.com), among others. “Dealers reported solid attendance on the floor throughout the weekend and a considerable number of new collectors from here and abroad.”

“Astonishingly successful,” said Adrian Sassoon of the eponymous London-based gallery. “This fair was really terrific.” Sassoon said that most of the hand-hammered silver and gold Hiroshi Suzuki pieces sold including Aqua- Poesy going for $155,000 on Opening Night. The largest piece on his stand, Kate Malone’s ceramic Succulent Mother Gourd, sold for $57,000. He observed that people in America wanted to buy the biggest and the best objects. "Clients from the financial world…filled the floor Opening Night," said Sassoon.

Dealers and management reported financial and corporate figures from UBS, HSBC, Chubb, and AXA Fine Art Insurance attending. Key leaders in the design world such as John Barman, Holly Hunt and Suzanne Lovell. Geoffrey Bradfield and Betty Sherrill of the legendary McMillen Inc. were shopping. And curators and trustees from more than a dozen national and international fine art museums including the Museum of Modern Art and Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art were spotted Opening Night.

SOFA NEW YORK 2008 HIGHLIGHTS:
UNRIVALLED CUTTING EDGE CONTEMPORARY
DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN

When SOFA NEW YORK opens it doors on May 29 to June 1, at the Park Avenue Armory between 66th and 67th Streets, an unrivalled international assemblage of one-of-a-kind contemporary decorative arts, design and jewelry will be on view.  Here are some of the outstanding highlights from the fair:

The 11th International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art

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