CONTRASTING OLD WITH NEW, LARS BOLANDER CREATES VISUAL TOUR DE FORCE AT THE ART AND ANTIQUE DEALERS LEAGUE OF AMERICA SPRING SHOW NYC, APRIL 28-MAY 2, AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY
Taking a bold approach to the conventional design of art and antique fairs, Lars Bolander, one of America’s leading interior designers and tastemakers, will create a visual tour de force for the inaugural Spring Show NYC, organized by the Art & Antique Dealers League of America (AADLA). The five-day fair opens with a benefit preview for the ASPCA, on Wednesday, April 27 at the Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue and 67th Street.
“We are delighted to enlist the talented Mr. Bolander who will create the mise-en-scene for our inaugural Spring Show NYC,” said Clinton Howell, president of the Art and Antique Dealers League of America. “We want this fair to be fresh, cheerful and thoroughly modern – a wonderful juxtaposition between the old and the new that speaks to the way people live today.”
When visitors open the Armory’s monumental oak doors, they will pass through a tented entrance flanked by rows of seven-and-a-half-foot tall obelisks. Once inside, Bolander takes full advantage of the Armory’s spectacular, vaulted ceiling, integrating its intricate metalwork into the show’s overall design scheme. Spotlights circling the balconies will dramatically illuminate the vault, showcasing the Armory’s soaring height.
“Unlike many of the traditional Armory antique fairs, which do not expose the ceiling’s architecture, we will keep everything open, modern and loft-like,” Bolander said, adding that “color will reign supreme.” Taking their cue from his novel design, even the dealers have jumped on the color bandwagon, selecting bright paint colors for their walls that will bring the cheerful hues of spring’s blooms along Park Avenue indoors.
The obelisks – each in a different tones of gray, yellow, orange and green – will continue down the
aisles of the exhibition hall, punctuated with benches covered in a yellow-on- oatmeal linen zebra pattern. Yet more color will be introduced into the mix with bright tablecloths in apricot, cornflower, parrot and jasmine shades for the restaurant’s café and bar tables.
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With a roster of sixty-five top specialists from all over the United States, the AADLA Spring Show NYC – at the heart of New York’s Art & Antiques Week – will offer something for every collector's taste, whether scholarly or decorative. Visitors will be lured into the Armory’s grand exhibition hall with a dramatic mise-en-scene created by interior designer and tastemaker Lars Bolander, the Swedish designer recognized for his signature style of mixing the old with the new.
ABOUT AADLA
The Art and Antique Dealers League of America, Inc., is the oldest and principal antiques and fine arts organization in America. The purpose for organizing the league was to bring the various members of the art and antiques trade closer together to promote a greater understanding among themselves and with the public, and generally to devote itself to the best interest of dealers and collectors of antiques and works of art.
ABOUT 1STDIBS.COM
1stdibs.com, the Spring Show NYC sponsor, is an online luxury marketplace that presents a carefully curated selection of highly coveted items from the most prestigious dealers in high-end antiques, 20th- and 21st-century design, estate- and fine-jewelry, vintage couture, and fine art. Founded in 2001 by Michael Bruno as a way to bring Parisian flea market finds to the world, today the site now lists over 2,000 new items each week, totaling over 100,000 pieces annually and sells everything from Venetian windows to classic Eames furniture.
ABOUT ASPCA
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is the first humane organization established in the Americas and serves as the nation's leading voice for animal welfare. One million supporters strong, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. A 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA is a national leader in the areas of anti-cruelty, community outreach and animal health services. The ASPCA, which is headquartered in New York City, offers a wide range of programs, including a mobile clinic outreach initiative, its own humane law enforcement team, and a groundbreaking veterinary forensics team and mobile animal CSI unit.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Spring Show NYC opens with a benefit preview for the ASPCA, at the Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue and 67th Street, on Wednesday, April 27, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM by VIP invitation or $250 at the door. After 7 PM admission is $75 and the preview continues to 9:00 PM. All proceeds from preview tickets go to the ASPCA. The Honorary Co-chairs of the Connoisseurs Committee are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The Committee co-chairs include: Michael Bruno, Mario Buatta, David Patrick Columbia, Celerie Kemble, Brian McCarthy, Miles Redd, Ellen and Chuck Scarborough, Michael Smith, Bunny Williams, and Vicente Wolf.
The show opens to the public on Thursday, April 28. Hours are Thursday, April 28: 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM; Friday, April 29: 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM; Saturday, April 30: 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM; Sunday, May 1: 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM; and Monday, May 2: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. General admission is $20 per person; a five-day pass is $40 per person.
Arts’ Night Out, celebrating New York’s Art and Antiques Week with young new collectors, is slated for Friday, April 29, from 5 – 9 pm. The $30 ticket available at the door includes that day’s admission to the AADLA Spring Show NYC plus beer, wine and ABSOLUT cocktails beginning at 5 pm. Arts' Night Out is sponsored by Doyle New York, Antiques and Fine Arts Magazine, and ABSOLUT Vodka. For additional information, visit springshownyc.com. or phone 800-563-7632.
ABOUT THE ART FAIR COMPANY
The Art Fair Company, founded by Michael Franks, the former COO of dmg world media, and Mark Lyman, Founding Director of the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fairs (SOFA), now produces SOFA fairs in Chicago, New York and Santa Fe, the leading contemporary decorative art and design fairs in the world. They also produce The Intuit Outsider and Folk Art Fair, in Chicago. The company also provides professional promotional and operational support to other art and antique fair producers.
