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Put away the champagne and hors d’oeuvres—this art fair isn’t like the rest.
“The Hamptons” is often synonymous with ostentatious, over-the-top events at prestigious venues where only the finest rosé is served and the most distinguished guests are invited. Art shows are no exception to this formula, that is, until the Upstairs Art Fair came to town. Harper Levine, owner of the East Hampton used bookstore Harper’s Books, and his friend and gallerist Bill Powers of Half Gallery in Manhattan, grew tired of seeing the same old extravagant fairs on the East End that were more focused on a “gala” aesthetic than the art itself, so this summer, they took matters into their own hands.
When Mr. Levine and Mr. Powers came across a barn in Amagansett, formerly Elizabeth Dow’s art school called Amagansett Applied Arts, they thought it would be the perfect location for the low-key, no-frills fine art fair they were aiming to develop.
“Our fair is really about the art and the artists and the people who want to come to the fair,” Mr. Levine said in an interview at his bookstore. “It’s not so much about having a big tent with champagne and corporate sponsorships. It’s less about decoration and more about art and the interaction between the community and live artists and what the artists are actually doing in their studios.
The name “Upstairs” Art Fair is no coincidence. As it turns out, the duo was able to rent only the top floor of the three-story red barn, but the organic salon-style venue was perfect for what they were trying to achieve.
“Because the building is so idiosyncratic and rustic we’re going to have to keep the fair sort of low-tech. It’s not going to look like a fair that you would go to if you were in Miami for Art Basel,” Mr. Levine noted.
Art galleries taking part in the inaugural fair are local venues like Halsey McKay of East Hampton and Karma of Amagansett, as well as downtown New York City venues that have yet to visit the East End like James Fuentes, Magenta Plains and New Release. Although the list is short compared to their sizable counterparts—the fair has 12 galleries signed up as of now, according to the fair website—the “quality over quantity” mentality is what Mr. Levine and Mr. Powers had in mind.
“We wanted a mixture of local galleries and also New York galleries, mostly downtown ones that have never had exposure in the Hamptons,” Mr. Levine said. “We picked these galleries because we thought that they would bring something interesting to the Hamptons that hadn’t previously been here, especially in the other fairs.”
Mr. Levine invites art collectors new and old to the fair. The show will have works of art for seasoned collectors, but with more comfortable price points than typical shows, he believes that this will be the perfect opportunity for people who haven’t collected before to dip their toes into the art buying world.
“What we’re hoping for is that the art speaks for itself and that people feel more relaxed since it’s small and you’re not overwhelmed by tons of exhibitors,” he said. “We’re trying to create a space where people who are new to collecting can start out by buying works from living artists. The level of connoisseurship even at a low price point is going to be quite high.”
Mr. Levine’s largest goal for the show is not a massive turnout, but instead that people come to have a great time while finding interesting works of art.
“We aren’t really too concerned about the success of the show,” he reflected. “We’re mostly interested in exposing the community to a segment of the art world that didn’t exist in the Hamptons previously in a fair.”
The Upstairs Art Fair will take place at 11 Indian Wells Highway in Amagansett on Friday, July 14, beginning with a VIP preview from 4 to 6 p.m., followed with the official opening from 6 to 10 p.m., and Saturday, July 15, and Sunday, July 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The fair is free and open to the public. For more information and inquiries for the VIP list, visit upstairsartfair.com.
on Jul 7, 2017