Brook S. Mason tallies up on Artnet.com some sales from the smaller SOFA West held in Santa Fe earlier in the month:
Early sales were clinched. Joan Mirviss racked up substantial sales to collectors from San Francisco and the Bay Area, Seattle and Greenwich, Conn. “All were new clients — the level of sophistication is high here and by 7:30 of opening night, I decided to sign up for next year,” says Mirviss.
Pounced on immediately were a 1991 Suzuki Osama sculptural object drenched in a fiery red glaze, and a Wada Morihiro vessel. The Morihiro with its textile references, from its kimono shape to design patterns, was snapped up by a collector who sits on the board of two East Coast museums, reports Mirviss.
The venerable Holsten Galleries, which recently relocated from the Berkshires to Santa Fe, is front and center at the fair. There Ken Holsten quickly sold five Lino Tagliapietra glass vessels including Riverstone (2010), for $40,000, with bundles of black cane stacked vertically. It’s the textile-like character of Tagliapietra’s work that seems right in sync with collectors’ taste here. One work is titled Madras and replicates that preppy fabric. Boosting sales of Tagliapietra is the artist’s strong visibility in museum permanent collections. His work is represented in the Palazzo Grassi, V&A Museum, Detroit Institute of Art and the Tokyo National Modern Art Museum.
Also moving briskly were early Dale Chihuly vessels at the stand of New York and Manalpan, Fla., dealer Donna Schneier.
Santa Fe Scene (Artnet.com)
