We met up yesterday with the brains behind a big idea headed to the Bay Area. Nick Korniloff and Pamela Cohen are launching the inaugural Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco from Oct. 9 to 12, inviting 70 international galleries exhibiting 750 artists from 42 countries (expect Picasso to Warhol, priced at a thousand to multi-million dollars). The goal? Turn the Mark Zuckerbergs of the Bay Area into art collectors. They picked San Mateo County Event Center because of its central location.
He calls the Bay Area the most creative community in the world right now. In a way, he says his biz is real estate because his job is to rent galleries space to bring in their artwork. (No guarantees Cindy Crawford will be there like at their annual Art Miami show, above.) It's not so much there's billionaires in the area—there are billionaires based everywhere, notes Pamela—but they think the Bay Area will yield a great group of collectors to care for art.
To promote the upcoming fair, London-based jeweler (and event sponsor) Graff opened its Post Street doors with diamond displays for a VIP crowd last night. We caught a glimpse of the most expensive bling for sale: a blinding necklace over $2M. Nick thinks the fair will succeed because Bay Area residents are already about preserving environment and changing education through tech—this is the next step of interest. Art Miami is the original contemporary art show in the city and the biggest there; Art Basel, which coincides, is the beach's biggest.
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