Eye of the Collector
With the fair postponed until this autumn, an online preview is serving to whet appetites and expand audiences.
12th – 31st May 2020
By TDE Editorial Team / 7th May 2020
Mimmo Rotella, ‘La rapina’, 1964; Hans Olsen for Bramin, ‘Modular TV bench’, 1957; Greek black-glazed hydria, circa 350 – 300 BC
COURTESY: Tornabuoni Art / Modernity / Kallos Gallery / Eye Viewing Room
12TH MAY SHOULD have seen the opening of Eye of the Collector, a new tightly curated fair of design, antiquities, photography and fine art, in London’s picturesque Two Temple Place. The pandemic has pushed back the opening of the physical event to 8th September, but from now until the end of the month, a preview exhibition is running online.
Glithero, ‘Rendez Vous’, 2019
COURTESY: Gallery FUMI
Founder and CEO Nazy Vassegh, a former Masterpiece London chief executive, explains: “We want to support our exhibitors during this difficult time and offer them an additional platform that also allows collectors the opportunity to participate at a time when they would have been visiting our inaugural edition.”
Glithero, ‘Rendez Vous’, 2019 (detail)
COURTESY: Gallery FUMI
Participants showing design in the Eye Viewing Room include David Gill Gallery, Gallery FUMI, Modernity from Stockholm and Ting Ying from Hong Kong. These offer their selections alongside Modern and Old Master galleries Dickinson, Thomas Gibson Fine Art, Marlborough Gallery, Beck & Eggeling from Düsseldorf and Italian specialists Tornabuoni Art, as well as photography dealership Michael Hoppen.
Zhao Jinya, ‘Non-Existent Existence II’, 2019
COURTESY: Ting Ying
Also in the mix are print specialist Lyndsey Ingram and contemporary galleries, including London’s Kate MacGarry and Vigo. Antiquities – represented by Ariadne and Kallos galleries – are also present, introduced into the on-line presentation in a way, the organisers suggest, “to create new dialogues and suggest new collecting pathways.” Although no virtual arena can compete for ambiance with the Neo-Gothic splendour of Two Temple Place, as audiences grow more familiar with these alternative platforms, these formats may increasingly offer new ways of browsing and buying, and draw new visitors to the physical fair itself.
Eye of the Collector – a creatively driven selling exhibition that will take guests on an intimate artistic journey from ancient to contemporary.
Top reads of the week
People
People
Robert Wilson: “A chair is for me like sculpture, I like to look at it in space and to see it from different sides. I do not see chairs as having any function other than that.”
Exhibitions
