Collecting

One of a handful of sales held at this LA auction house each year.

5 March 2017

Los Angeles Modern Auction (Lama) assembles just a few auctions a year, which director Peter Loughrey says allows him and his wife Shannon, Lama’s president, to “tell a story about these pieces, creating a context and not just pushing pieces through the mill”. This year the Winter 2017 Modern Art & Design Auction includes Roy Lichtenstein lithographs from the artist’s “Brushstroke Figures” series and a rare painting by Ed Ruscha called “Zip Rooster”. The auction also comes at a particularly auspicious time for the LA art market. “We’re going through a renaissance here: it used to be that every one of these pieces went to one of the big auction houses in New York,” says Loughrey. “What we’re establishing is an equal conduit, sometimes getting better prices.”
lamodern.com

A family-run studio that works with artists to produce prints in an idyllic country setting.

Master printer Peter Pettengill founded Wingate Studio in 1985 on his grandparents’ farm along the Connecticut River. Today he is joined at the helm by his son James and daughter-in-law Alyssa in a classic New England barn, where the studio maintains a focus on printmaking and particularly intaglio etchings.

On a 24-hectare plot on the southern edge of New Hampshire, artists can stay in-residence, fed by the working farm (operated by the senior Pettengill’s daughter) and entirely immersed in their art. “Wingate offers a quiet, contemplative, bucolic setting in which invited artists are able to focus completely on their work in the studio,” says James. “We see ourselves as unique in that we foster innovation and exploration that transcends the traditional printmaking process while maintaining a mastery of intaglio.”

Wingate Studio is on-hand to assist the artists in navigating the intaglio process and has worked closely with artists such as Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Sascha Braunig, Walton Ford, Orion Martin and Barbara Takenaga. Surrounded by five universities and with a direct rail link to New York, Wingate has a large pool from which to draw talent to its winsome setting.

“First and foremost we wanted to continue the tradition started by Peter and foster the unique community of artists enabled by the studio,” says James. “We also believe that offering artists an opportunity to make work outside their usual context generates new and interesting ideas within the contemporary-art discourse.”
wingatestudio.com

The international art fair for contemporary objects is back – and bigger and better.

After a year off, contemporary-craft fair Collect is returning to the Saatchi Gallery this February with a bigger, wider scope – one that reflects the discipline’s increased favour with collectors worldwide.

“Jewellery, textiles and furniture are all recognised as collectible works now,” says Annie Warburton, creative director of the event’s organisers Craft Council. “We’ve seen that shift happen in the design world and now it feels like craft’s moment.”

As usual, the 13th edition will maintain a balance between European and Asian exhibitors, with newcomers to its roster of more than 30 gallerys including France’s Maison Parisienne and Japan’s Sokyo Gallery. What’s new is the emphasis on adventurous work: Spotlight Booths will be dedicated to concept-driven artefacts and the inaugural Open section will feature experimental installations. A live silent auction is also debuting, inviting visitors to bag works by British artists Grayson Perry and Edmund de Waal.

The fair’s biggest strength, however, remains the titillating exclusivity of each exhibitor’s selection. “Almost all you see at Collect has never been shown or seen before,” says Warburton. “That’s exciting for a collector.”
craftscouncil.org.uk