Sarah Gavlak Launches Inaugural New Wave Art Wknd
Architectural Digest
Natasha WolffPalm Beach, Florida, gallerist Sarah Gavlak and art patrons including Beth Rudin DeWoody, Jane Holzer, Ann Tenenbaum, and Amy Phelan, alongside curators such as Franklin Sirmans (director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami) and Isolde Brielmaier, have come together to organize an intimate event called New Wave Art Wknd. Held in Palm Beach the weekend of November 30, it's just before Art Basel Miami Beach. In the spirit of events like Art Crush, which takes place in the summer in Aspen, Colorado, this event seeks to bring together diverse artists, collectors, curators, and gallerists for thoughtful conversation and education.
"Miami is an hour away, and we want to bridge a relationship between Palm Beach and Miami," says Gavlak. The weekend will consist of private collection tours, gallery openings, public art installations, and panel discussions to showcase the contemporary art scene in Florida. Some of the most exciting aspects include the opening of The Bunker Artspace: Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, Gavlak's new gallery space, and a site-specific public art project in West Palm Beach curated by Culture Corps' Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen. "Two summer ago, Sarah I were in Germany on our way to the Hall Art Foundation | Schloss Derneburg Museum and discovered this gap weekend," says DeWoody. "We wondered aloud what people would do with all that time on their hands, and Sarah shared her idea about doing an art weekend in Palm Beach. She asked if I could open the Bunker that weekend, and an hour later we were circulating at the Halls telling people to save the date!" The series of events will also include private tours of prominent contemporary collectors' homes, including those of Holzer, the Phelans, and Lisa and Richard Perry.
"Over the years, Sarah has presented dynamic exhibitions showcasing works by emerging artists and took risks to nurture their careers when no one else was showing them," says Amy Phelan. "New Wave is taking that bold support of artists to the next level by engaging with the artists and collectors and giving them a platform to further the discourse."
Gavlak alone has a lot going on in Palm Beach this winter. After years on Worth Avenue, she's opening a new ground floor gallery space at the Royal Poinciana, recently reimagined as a new retail destination. "People don't understand there is this extraordinary contemporary-art-collecting community here," says Gavlak of the Palm Beach collecting scene. "People are building these absolutely world-class collections with the mission of supporting women and artists of color. They are looking beyond art as an asset class and plunging into these new collecting categories."
Rudin DeWoody's The Bunker Art Space, which will open during the art-filled weekend, houses the art-world doyenne's private collection in an Art Deco building in West Palm Beach.
The Norton Museum of Art, which will debut its Norman Foster–designed space in February, is a leading partner for New Wave. Cheryl Brutvan, the museum's curator of Contemporary Art, has championed the work of such female artists as Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Jenny Saville—and will be speaking on a panel. "Cheryl has a special grant to fund solo exhibitions by women artists that have never had a solo museum show in the U.S.," says Gavlak. "It is only through major exhibitions like those that we can ensure more women are part of the art historical canon."
So does this mean collectors and galleries are taking a break from art fairs like Art Basel Miami Beach? Gavlak for one is. "I've been doing Miami for 12 years and it doesn't make sense for me anymore," she explains. "People have time at a gallery. They slow down and want to have long conversations to talk about art and artists—that's difficult to do in a booth in an art fair."
These philanthropists will also be announcing an Immigrant Artist Residency program to ensure more cultural diversity in Palm Beach. It will be a live/work residency program in Palm Beach starting in 2019 where an artist will have a place to live and work and reflect. "We want to shift and change opportunities for artists who do not have access to grants and infrastructure," says Amy Phelan. "We will also provide advice and counsel however we can as collectors, gallerists, and curators."
The Advisory Committee hopes that the New Wave Art Wknd will open up the Palm Beach art scene and democratize the industry in a way it hasn't been before. "We've had a PR problem," says collector Jane Holzer. "People just do not know how interesting and vibrant the scene is, and New Wave will get the word out. There is a real thriving, intellectual contemporary-art-collector base that is engaged in the greater art world, and the larger conversation about inclusivity—we have a lot more to offer than private clubs and beaches."