Newsweek discovers the unexpected connection between art and the wine industry

The struggling art world, long supported by prospectors living off the financial bubble, is looking for new ways to survive. For galleries fighting to stay in the game, the mission now is to attract new audiences and expand the demographics of collectors. One way to do that is to link art more directly with a fun and fast-paced lifestyle. “This comes out of a desire to tap into similar client databases with the assumption that those who consume wine are likely to purchase art and vice versa,” says Gabe Suk, senior representative in Asia for the wine auction company Hart Davis Hart.

In London, “pop up” bars in gallery spaces and late-night art openings have injected a youthful atmosphere into the sometimes staid gallery scene. GSK Contemporary at Royal Academy of the Arts in London staged a series of late-night openings earlier this year, and also employed the hip East End restaurant and cabaret club Bistrotheque to set up a pop-up eatery called Flash inside its Burlington House gallery. In addition, it installed a neon “art bar” in one of its 18th-century paneled rooms. “We’re looking at someone in his late 20s or early 30s who is creative, on the scene and wants to call himself a collector,” explains Tally Beck, director of Red Gate Gallery in Beijing. “The target now is the new collector.”

Paintings with Pinot (Newsweek)