Monday, May 19, 2008

CADD announces the guest speaker line-up for the CADD Art Fair

By Pegasus News wire

Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas is proud to present the following special guest speakers during the 2008 CADD Art Fair at Three Three Three First Avenue near Deep Ellum in Dallas. Programs during the fair will include a keynote address Saturday, May 31, at 2 p.m. by philanthropist, gallerist, and author Paige West and two panel discussions on Sunday, June 1, one exploring the issues involved in collecting and producing new media at 2 p.m. and the other considering the special conservation circumstances in Dallas at 3:30 p.m. All programs are free with the price of admission to the art fair. Tickets are valid for both days.

Keynote, 2 p.m., Paige West, The Art of Buying Art

Paige West describes herself as “a contemporary art addict.” As the curator of a large private contemporary art collection, founder of a gallery called Mixed Greens, and the author of the “The Art of Buying Art,” West has devoted her considerable energy to sharing her passion for contemporary art and converting others. West will be signing copies of her book immediately following her presentation. “The Art of Buying Art” will be available for sale the entire weekend.

West describes her own experience and career transformation as follows: “I went to college as a studio art major, convinced that I was destined to make great art. I spent two years making mediocre art (some would say lousy) and switched majors to focus on my interests in business. I began my professional career as a market and product manager at an investment services firm. I spent four years developing, writing, and launching business and marketing plans for investment products. Although I proved to be somewhat adept at developing businesses and products, I was not passionate about investments. I missed having art in my life. I left investments and returned to study the business of art at Christie's Education and NYU Arts Administration programs. Since leaving school I have promoted and supported artists by curating a major private collection of emerging and contemporary art, producing documentaries on artists Salvatore Scarpitta and Vik Muniz, and starting Mixed Greens to share my passion for learning about and collecting contemporary art.”

Panel Discussion, 2 p.m., New Media

Sunday’s experts on new media include Lauren Cornell, Executive Director of Rhizome and Adjunct Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, as part of the 2 p.m. panel discussion, New Media, along with Paul Slocum, owner/director of And/Or gallery, a recognized new media artist, and musician in the electronic band Treewave. The discussion will be moderated by Noah Simblist, Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Southern Methodist University.

Cornell oversees and develops Rhizome's programs, all of which serve to promote and contextualize art engaged with technology. Previously, Cornell worked as a curator and writer in London and New York. She worked in the Andy Warhol Film Project at the Whitney Museum and, from 2002-2004, she served as Executive Director of Ocularis, an organization dedicated to avant-garde cinema, video and new media. Her writing has been published in a range of international publications and she has organized events or exhibitions at venues including The Kitchen, Foxy Production, Participant Inc, and The Institute of Contemporary Art in London. Cornell is also Adjunct Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, where she collaborates to produce exhibitions and the monthly New Silent Series. Rhizome affiliated with the New Museum in 2003, when the institutions identified a shared commitment to emerging art and ideas.

Noah Simblist has been teaching at Southern Methodist University since the fall of 2003. He has also taught at Hampshire College and at the University of Washington in Seattle. In addition, he has lectured about art historical/theoretical topics at Harvard University, Loyola Marymount University, The University of Urbino in Italy and the Nesiya Institute in Israel. As an artist, his work seeks to question two fundamental poles of painting and drawing practice, identity and the way that it manifests itself within formal investigation. His interests include Jewish iconography and a relationship between image, architecture and text.

Panel Discussion, 3:30 p.m. Dallas Issues: Care and Conservation

How do Dallas heat, humidity, and strong light affect a work of art? Questions like these will be addressed by a panel of local experts on the care and conservation of art. John T. Campbell, new to the Dallas area and an object conservator at the Nasher Sculpture Center, will join with Lyzanne Gann, a photography conservator, and the paper conservators from The Center for Art Conservation, Shannon Phillips and Tish Brewer, to give practical advice on how to keep your collection out of trouble. Cheryl Vogel, curator at Valley House Gallery and Sculpture Garden, will moderate the discussion.

Source: CADD Art Fair

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