FLUX Art Fair

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FLUX ART FAIR LAUNCHES IN HARLEM:
NEW CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR TO DEBUT IN MAY
Open During Frieze Week (May 14th – 17th)
At The Corn Exchange Building

NEW YORK, NY (February 25, 2015) – Curator and veteran Fair organizer Leanne Stella today announced the launch of Flux Art Fair, the only contemporary art fair mounted in Harlem. Underscoring the neighborhood’s culturally rich community, the inaugural Flux Art Fair is slated for May 14-17 and will take place in the newly renovated historic Corn Exchange Building (81-85 East 125th Street).

With a curatorial team lead by Stella and rounded out by Danny Simmons, Manon Slome, David C. Terry, Rachel Weingeist, Raul Zamudio, Roger C Tucker III, Kristin Sancken, and Omo Misha, Flux Art Fair will feature a hand-picked group of contemporary artists, all of whom embody the energy, excitement and diversity of the neighborhood.

“The thought of a new and highly diverse art fair in good ol’ Harlem USA is very exciting,” says Danny Simmons, member of the Fair curatorial team and artist/gallerist in his own right. “Harlem has always signified the best in new and exciting cultural innovation. The Flux Art Fair follows a long tradition of presenting the very best of contemporary culture to a discerning audience.”

“Flux Art Fair’s mission is to showcase artists that underscore the cultural zeitgeist that is Harlem,” says Fair Founder Leanne Stella. “We intentionally chose to mount the Fair in May –at the same time as Frieze– to include Harlem in the contemporary arts conversation and introduce arts patrons to an exceptional group of contemporary artists and to the art-centric burgeoning community of Harlem.”

Designed to attract seasoned and beginner art collectors, Flux Art Fair presents an intriguingly curated fair showcasing established and emerging artists both local and international – the perfect reflection of the very diverse community in which it was created. In addition, Flux Fair shines a bright spotlight on the vibrancy and luster of the neighborhood’s cultural landscape by collaborating with other high-profile local initiatives and institutions –most notably Harlem EatUp!, a new four-day festival celebrating the food, culture and spirit of Harlem, co-founded by Chef Marcus Samuelsson and veteran event marketer, Herb Karlitz.

ABOUT FLUX ART FAIR
Flux Art Fair, the brainchild of veteran Fair organizer Leanne Stella, is a unique model in the New York Fair landscape. Curators’ selections will be based on specific criteria – the artists invited to participate will be progressive and global in reach; selections are based on the central curatorial theme of 21st century artist as a nomad; the work on view will address myriad questions including "How does one's nationality, ethnicity, gender or religion combined with the globalization of politics, society, culture and technology characterize the visual and theoretical direction of their evolving art practice?" For more information: www.fluxfair.com.

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ABOUT LEANNE STELLA
Leanne Stella is a veteran event manager and fair organizer. From 1991 to 2007 she ran Stella Show Management Company, which was responsible for the production of over a dozen fairs annually in both New York and Chicago. In 2011 Leanne founded Art in Flux, an initiative to promote the arts and artists in Harlem by producing pop-up galleries and special events. As a result of her work, in 2013 the Women’s Caucus for Art selected Stella for the President’s Award for Art and Activism, which identifies emerging or mid-career women in the arts whose lives and work exemplifies the WCA’s mission to foster community through art, education and social activism.

ABOUT THE CURATORIAL TEAM
Daniel “Danny” Simmons is an established poet, author, and abstract-expressionist painter whose work has been included in many national exhibitions and is in the collections of Chase Manhattan Bank, the United Nations, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Ranked third on International Review of African American Art’s recent list of top 10 influencers in the black art market, Mr. Simmons is President of Rush Arts Foundation, founder of both the Rush Gallery and Corridor Gallery, and currently sits on the boards of both Brooklyn Academy of Music and Hampton University Museum (LIU). His past board positions include tenure as former chairman of NYSCA and as part of the Brooklyn Museum and New York Foundation for the Arts. Together with Russell, they established Def Poetry Jam, which enjoyed long-running success on HBO.
David C. Terry, an award-winning artist and curator, is the Director of Programs and Curator at the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) where he oversees the Fellowships, Curatorial, Sponsorship and Professional Development Programs. Prior to coming to NYFA, Mr. Terry was Assistant Director at the Pelham Art Center, where he directed the exhibition, educational and outreach programs. He has been a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, Bronx Council on the Arts, Westchester Biennale, the Alexander Rutsch Award in Painting, the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence Program, Lumen Arts Festival, and a member of the GIA Support for Individual Artists Group Steering Committee as well as Board Member of the College Art Association and the Fine Arts Federation.

Kristin Sancken is a New York based writer, curator, and art consultant. She is the editor of Fluence magazine and is a contributing writer for Whitewall Magazine, Highbrow Magazine and several other publications. Recently, she has curated several exhibitions in New York including Logical Guesses and Breathless. Ms. Sancken holds an MA in Art Business from the Sotheby's Institute of Art in New York City and a BFA in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Arts and Design.

Manon Slome is the Founder and Chief Curator of No Longer Empty. Previously, she served as the Chief Curator of the Chelsea Art Museum where she curated and directed a program of over 40 exhibitions, symposia and publications. Prior to the CAM, Ms. Slome worked as a curator at the Guggenheim Museum for seven years, she has written widely on contemporary art.


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Omo Misha is a curator, artist and community arts activist. She is co-founder and director of the Irwin House Global Art Center (Detroit, MI) and a founding member of artHARLEM, a non-profit organization that managed HOAST - the first self-guided art walking tour staged throughout Harlem. Previously, she served as program director and curator for the LeRoy Neiman Art Center. Ms. Misha has curated independent exhibitions on behalf of Community Works NYC, City College Center for the Arts, No Longer Empty, the NYC Parks Department and Columbia University. A published author, Ms. Misha is Managing Editor of Morningsider and a contributing writer to ArtSlanT and Of Note Magazine
Rachel Weingeist is a curator and advisor focusing on domestic cultural policy and program development, with a special interest in contemporary Cuba and Tibet. Ms. Weingeist served for eight years as Senior Advisor to the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and is the Founding Director and Curator of The 8th Floor, a non-commercial exhibition space dedicated to giving a voice to under-recognized and emerging artistic movements and artists. She has curated over 25 Cuban exhibitions internationally, has built the largest private Cuban art collection to date, and launched the first contemporary Cuban video art archive. Ms. Weingeist is a board co-chair of The Lower East Side Girls Club and is actively involved in several community and arts organizations including the Harvard Cuban Studies Advisory Board, the Cuban Advisory group at the Bronx Museum, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Fields Sculpture Park at Omi, where she serves on the Board of Architecture.

Raul Zamudio is an independent curator and writer. He has curated exhibitions in Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S., including co-curated exhibitions at El Museo Del Barrio Biennial, Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennial, and Seoul Media Biennial. As a writer, he has authored, co-authored, or contributed to more than 70 art-related books and exhibition catalogs.


Roger C. Tucker III is an independent curator, art advisor, private dealer as well as the founder and director of Tucker Contemporary Art. TCA represents an eclectic mix of inspired emerging artists poised to challenge the class, culture, gender and racial boundaries that define contemporary art today. TCA’s program includes African American and other underrepresented artists, classically trained or outside the mainstream. Mr. Tucker holds an Art Business Certificate from New York University, a Master of Science from Pratt Institute and Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Cooper Union.

SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
Flux Art Fair would not be possible without the support of its sponsors and partners including Artimus Construction, Quiet Lunch Magazine, The Corn Exchange Building, The Durst Organization, Uptown Magazine, and VOSS Water.

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FAIR INFORMATION
Private Preview, Wednesday, May 13: 6pm - 9pm
Advance Tickets are $75 per person. Tickets will be available at the door for $100 per person.
Early Patron entry 5pm

Public Opening Hours:
Thursday, May 14 – Saturday, May 16: 11am – 8pm
Sunday, May 17: 11am – 6pm
Admission:
General Admission $20
Students and Seniors $15
Group discounts $10 (10 people or more)
Children under 12 FREE.
Sunday is FREE for Harlem Residents
For additional information, please visit: www.fluxfair.com

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Media contacts:
Helen Allen & Meryl Cooper, Allen/Cooper, 212-260-8100, [email protected]