The 2024 Hamptons Fine Art Fair set many new records in the 18-year history of art fairs in the Hamptons, which concluded on Sunday, July 14th in Southampton. This summer's show offered the largest and widest selection of post-war and contemporary art ever displayed with a record-breaking 13,000 art enthusiasts attending the fair over the four days. On display were 150 international exhibitors and gallerists, presenting 600+ respected artists, representing all mediums from sculpture, paintings, prints and photography.
The kick off on Thursday, July 11th saw art lovers line up early for the VIP Opening Preview, which has now expanded into an afternoon session, benefiting Guild Hall, followed by the VIP evening session, which benefited the Parrish Art Museum. Both events attracted 4,500 chic VIP’s, which established an opening preview attendance record in the Hamptons.
During the opening Preview, world renowned contemporary dance company, Parsons Dance performed two dances in the Collectors Lounge and aisles of the de Kooning Pavilion. The first was a version of Juke, a mesmerizing Jamar Roberts work set to the fabulous Miles Davis piece and Bitches Brew that made its world premiere in May during the company’s Joyce Theater season. The second dance was performed to Shining Star by Earth, Wind and Fire. This pioneering demonstration of static art in motion is the first integration of visual arts with dance arts in a contemporary art fair setting.
A cloudy, drizzly day did not deter enthusiastic art lovers on Saturday, when an all-time single day attendance record was set at 5,500, as guests swarmed into the de Kooning and Pollock Pavilions to peruse the displays. In addition to showcasing traditional post-war blue chip artwork, the fair also focused this year on being more inclusive, and expansive, with galleries and art displays from a far ranging 20 countries, making it the most cosmopolitan art show ever in the Hamptons. According to Rick Friedman, founder and executive director of HFAF, "This is an open minded, sophisticated art community in our little corner of the world. We wanted to provide our art savvy attendees a well curated selection, in a wide range of prices, ranging from $5,000 to the $6 million Frank Stella masterpiece in the Omer Tiroche booth. Most pieces are within the $10k to $30k range and happy to report, many transactions were made. Red dots appeared everywhere, and many dealers reported their total weekend transactions surpassed six figures.”
Curation also expanded to include galleries focused on female artists, and artists of color. These included Dacia Gallery (NYC), Doziearts (New Jersey), Tanya Weddemire Gallery ( Brooklyn), Pencil on Paper ( Dallas) , Purple Matters ( London ), Roselle Gallery ( Miami) , SHEER ( Brooklyn) Womens Live Artist Studio ( Chicago), Roya Khadjavi Projects ( Iran) , Libby Klein (New Jersey) and many others. The fair also presented a gallery display devoted to the acclaimed women AbEx artists of the 1950’s from the New York School entitled The Heroines of Abstract Expressionism.
The results were stunning, as over four million dollars in art was sold over the weekend and red dots appeared in virtually every booth. Some galleries reported selling their entire inventory, such as Taya Weddemire Gallery, who displayed artist Guy Stanley Philoche Garden, and Green River Fossil Company, who exhibited 50-million-year-old rare wall fossils, including a 40” fossil Caiman for $250,000.
Over the four days, sales of prints were robust including works by Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Tom Wesselmann, Alex Katz, Robert Longo, Harland Miller, Roy Lichtenstein, Kenny Scharf, Frank Stella, Keith Haring and Alexander Calder.
A sampling of many paintings sold included Guy Stanley Philoche, Denis Leon, Leila Pinto, Giancarlo impiglia, Vera Neumann, Marie-Josie Primeau, Michael Gorman, Rebecca Leveille Guay, Susan Rand, Alexander Calder and many more.
Photography was also a popular medium with attendees with works sold by several leading photographers including the acclaimed Chinese " invisible artist" Lui Bolin, and the noted equine photographer Roberto Dutesco. Dramatic outdoor sculptures found loving new homes locally- including two works by Domenico Belli and indoor metal wall sculptures by Bruce R. MacDonald.
In an attempt to recognize and salute East End artists that have been overlooked and undervalued, HFAF held its second Hamptons Artists Hall of Fame inductions in the Collectors Lounge on Saturday, July 13th The six 2024 awardees were painters Herman Cherry, (1909-1992) Connie Fox (1925-2023), sculptors William " Bill" King(1925-2015), William " Bill" Tarr ( 1925-2006) , Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas (1929-2023) , and multi-disciplinary artist Amy Zerner. Family members spoke about their parents’ accomplishments and accepted the award.
HFAF also attracted 60+ cultural partners, the most ever for any edition of the fairs, as well as 20 corporate sponsors, the highest number ever for the fair, led by Gold sponsors, Yvel, Heritage Auctions, GREY/VEN and Silver sponsors Asprey, Abushi, Hastens, and Ircode.
The Hamptons Fine Art Fair is produced by Southampton based ShowHamptons. Next year’s dates have been announced for July 10-13, 2025, at the Southampton Fairgrounds. For more information, visit www.hamptonsfineartfair.com.