Photofairs | San Francisco, the cutting-edge contemporary art fair dedicated to photography and moving image, opens this week for its second edition. Featuring 40 leading international and US galleries, Photofairs is a highly curated, boutique fair that offers collectors and curators access to artists and galleries never seen before in the Bay Area.
The Fair’s First Look opening night event on Thursday, February 22, will benefit SFMOMA’s photography program, supporting an acquisition of works by three contemporary Chinese artists that will be presented at the fair.
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
Spotlight: Hai Bo “The Southern”
This exhibition highlights an international artist of particular relevance and importance to the contemporary photography market. For 2018, distinguished Chinese artist Hai Bo will debut his latest work “The Southern”. Hai Bo’s highly conceptual photographs document the changing social, economic and environmental climate of contemporary China. The work is brought to PHOTOFAIRS | San Francisco by partner Branding Shanghai together with Pace Gallery and Zephyr Art.
Insights: “The Poetry of Silence”
A unique exhibition featuring 50 works for private sale by 45 artists. Exploring photography’s ability to be quiet, calming and self-reflective, featured artists and galleries include: Gagosian Gallery (artists Taryn Simon & Vera Lutter); Jessica Silverman Gallery (artists Matt Lipps & Tammy Rae Carland); Gallery Wendi Norris (artists Yamini Nayar & Eva Schlegel); Anthony Meier Fine Arts (artist Erica Deeman), and Bruce Silverstein Gallery (artist Penelope Umbrico), among many others.
SFMOMA – Chinese Photography Now!
From the fourth edition of PHOTOFAIRS | Shanghai, SFMOMA selected twenty-eight pictures by three different Chinese artists: South Ho Siu Nam, Chen Wei and Chen Xiaoyun. Those photographs, displayed at our San Francisco edition, will enter the SFMOMA collection through the generous acquisition support of PHOTOFAIRS.
Connected: “The Channel of Democracy: Womanhood, Power & Freedom in Video Art”
A new annual exhibition dedicated to contemporary video and new media art, meeting the increased demand by collected for this expanding genre of photography. The 2018 edition will feature 16 female and queer (non-cisgender binary) artists who each challenge social issues in visually powerful and political ways. Featured artists are Shiva Ahmadi, Zeina Barakeh, Sophie Clements, Kate Gilmore and Pixy Liao.
Conversations
Running throughout the fair, the talks program explores key themes regarding the international fine art photography market and offers collectors insights and access to artists via in-depth discussions. Participating artists and expert speakers include: Mandy Barker (artist), Nion McEvoy (collector); Sarah Meister (Curator, Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York); Abelardo Morell (artist) and Thyago Nogueira (Curator, Instituto Moreira Salles, Sao Paulo).
Staged
A curated platform featuring photographers pushing the boundaries of the photographic medium. The 2018 edition includes new works by Darren Harvey-Regan (The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam) will be presented alongside original pieces by Mona Kuhn (Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York & Zurich), Meghann Riepenhoff and Klea McKenna (both EUQINOMprojects, San Francisco), and Roman Signer (Galerie Stephan Witschi, Zürich).
