Rick Friedman Moves Hamptons Fine Art Fair To Fairgrounds

Summer is the season for art on the East End, and perhaps nobody understands the tastes of art collectors as does Rick Friedman, founder of Hamptons Fine Art Fair (HFAF), which will run this year from July 14-17 at the Elks Lodge Fairgrounds in Southampton.

Nearly a decade ago, Friedman, who lives in Southampton, created ArtHamptons, the East End’s first fine art fair — conceived by his partner Cindy Lou Wakefield — which he sold in 2015. In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Friedman presented the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair, an online-only event. Then, last year, for the first in-person Hamptons Fine Art Fair, he transformed the Southampton Arts Center into a series of galleries in the main museum space along with several pavilions, a sculpture park and a VIP lounge to allow for social distancing.

Now, with the pandemic largely under control, Friedman has shifted the HFAF to a new location — the 17-acre Southampton Elks Fairgrounds, where it has doubled in size. It still has a lot of the same features, including a Sculpture Park, but instead of a series of small galleries, the fair will be housed under one massive 40,000 square foot exhibition space — the Pollock Pavilion — plus will boast an adjacent smaller VIP Pavilion.

“We thought the best thing to do was have it in one big building instead of several tiny spaces,” Friedman explained in a recent phone interview. “Last year, we discovered that people went in one space or another at SAC, but not in all the tents we had. It’s hard to touch all the bases. This year, you can actually see everything in one spot, look at things and compare.”

The number of galleries taking part in the HFAF has doubled for 2022 as well, with dealers from 43 cities and seven countries taking part. This year, prices for art start at $10,000, and Friedman notes that some pieces will be offered for well over seven figures.

“It went from 50 galleries last year to 100 this year, including one from Kiev, Ukraine,” Friedman said. “It’s just amazing. I’m expecting 7,000 guests and we’ll have lectures and parties. It’s the biggest event I’ve done by far.”

Friedman is excited that the fair coincides with Bastille Day weekend, and in keeping with the theme, on Thursday, July 14, from 4 to 9:30 p.m., HFAF opens with a Bastille Day Vernissage to benefit Guild Hall. Working with French Institute Alliance Française as a cultural partner, the HFAF will offer a taste of France with French wine tastings, hors d’oeuvres and entertainment.

“We have a French theme with all French food, we’re pouring French wines and champagne,” he said. “The French singer Chloé Perrier will perform and we have a French jazz band. There are also six or seven galleries from France coming.”

After two years of pandemic, it would appear that there is reason to celebrate as life is returning to normal and things are looking up in terms of art sales. For Friedman, who reports that the collectors are back and buying, it all adds up to optimism.

“The market is back with vim and vigor and a lot of people do now buy online,” said Friedman, touching on how COVID-19 changed who purchases art and how they do it. “That whole development has increased. The secondary market of investment art has really skyrocketed. From the auctions, it’s unbelievable — prices have jumped 50 to 100 percent in the last two years. Expensive art has gotten more expensive, and even middle-level art has gone up.”

Friedman notes that recent instability in the stock market has driven some of the uptick in collecting as people move their money out of Wall Street and into fine art.

“With markets crashing, people will intelligently invest in art. Decorative art is nice, but it’s not investment art,” he said. “We are very strong in the secondary market — which is investment art, art from the ’50s through the ’80s. A lot of guys in our show are selling that kind of art — Renoir, Picasso, Monet, Andrew Wyeth, Andy Warhol originals.

“We also have Kusama, Haring, Alex Katz, Jane Freilicher — we have serious art and nice investments,” said Friedman. “Ronnie Landfield, who is getting our Lifetime Achievement Award, he’s been working since the ’60s and ’70s and was involved in the color field movement.”

Friedman finds there is also an increased appetite for art thanks to a new generation of collectors with funds to spare and an eagerness to enter the market by making major purchases.

“There are a lot of younger collectors spending big money. We didn’t see that at ArtHamptons eight years ago. It had typically been silver-haired guys. Now, it’s people in their 30s and 40s buying things and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Friedman.

He adds that today’s young collectors are very savvy and well-educated about the art world because they do their research, study the market, read up on trends, get up to speed on recent auction outcomes or make acquisitions with help from advisors.

Beyond the shifting of capital out of Wall Street and the new generation that is driving the East End’s art market, another factor, explains Friedman, is the simple fact that in the last two years, far more people have figured out how to spend a greater amount of time out here.

“Don’t forget, from the Hamptons perspective, so many new homeowners moved in and prices skyrocketed for homes,” he said. “People are paying a lot to be here, they have large, empty, beautiful homes and are looking to put art on the walls. We’ll have 500 artists on display at the fair. It’s the largest show ever in the Hamptons, and I’ve been doing it 17 years.”

Hamptons Fine Art Fair (HFAF) runs Thursday, July 14, to Sunday, July 17, at Southampton Fairgrounds, 605 County Road 39, Southampton. Hours are Thursday, 4 to 9:30 p.m., Friday, noon to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. General admission is $30, VIP Pass $100, Gold Pass $150. For a run-down of events and information, visit hamptonsfineartfair.com.

Some Hamptons Fine Art Fair Highlights:

Thursday, July 14, 4 To 9:30 p.m. — Bastille Day Vernissage, Benefiting Guild Hall

Chloe Perrier and the French Heart Band – 5 to 8 p.m.

French recording star Chloe Perrier will perform live at the fair entrance. The cabaret singer and her jazz band set the tone for the Bastille Day Vernissage celebration mood, by performing popular songs in French.

Performance Art: Featuring Perego – 8 p.m.

Miami-based muralist Perego will perform at the fair entrance. The boundaries will be blurred among paint, music, lights and theatrical performance. Guess what he is painting? You won’t know until the last minute and this unique piece will be available for acquisition.

Additional performances: Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m.

In keeping with the Francophile theme, classically trained ballerina Nadine Azoulay will prance throughout the aisles of the fair, serving guests, while performing “en pointe,” a flute of Pommery Brut or Rosé from the popular Pommery Champagne Cart rolling bar. She transfers her years of disciplined training at the “ballet barre” to the “roving bar.”

Saturday, July 16, 5 To 6 p.m. — “Cool And Collected” —Ronnie Landfield, 2022 HFAF Lifetime Achievement Honoree In Painting

Recognizing his six decade career, Ronnie Landfield, 75, will be awarded the HFAF 2022 Lifetime Achievement award in Painting. As one of America’s greatest living colorists, Landfield began his career in the mid-1960s in the New York School scene, originally as a hard-edge abstractionist, and by the 1970s he evolved and softened his style to become one of the founders of Lyric Abstraction. He is currently in the public collection of virtually every major important museum in America.

Other Awardees In The category Of Featured Artists: Elise Ansel (Carole Corey Gallery), Jennifer JL Jones, (New River Fine Art), local Hamptons artist Chris Kelly (Colm Rowan Fine Art), and sculptor Gilberto Romero, (Winterowd Fine Art).

“War-torn Gallery: The Last Show, From Kyiv To Southampton”

The lives of Ukrainian artists were torn away on February 24 with Russia’s invasion. These artists, both established and emerging, with whom Lysenko Gallery have been working for a long time, in Kyiv, suddenly had to face the abrupt end of their art world. With much complexity, Lysenko gallery (Kyiv and London) has reconstructed the last show in Kyiv at HFAF.

Other Events: Throughout the weekend, guests will able to participate in an expert led guided tour of the fair by docent Sharon Phair and attend various art panels including “A Passion for Possession: Collectors on Collecting,” “ARTABILITY: A Conversation on Creative Expression and the Special Needs Community,” “Which Came First — the Painting or Room Décor?” and “A Passion for Art Philanthropy: Donors on Donating.”

Local galleries taking part in the HFAF include: Loaves Gallery (Southampton), Karyn Mannix Contemporary (East Hampton), Lawrence Fine Art (East Hampton), Mark Borghi (NYC, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor), Quogue Gallery (Quogue) and Wisse Kodde presents Harris Allen (Sag Harbor).