The Place to Be

The 2020 edition of FOG Design+Art brought in the largest number of visitors to date

The seventh annual FOG Design+Art recently concluded this past January 16 to 19, bringing in nearly 15,000 visitors to the four-day event, the highest the fair’s seen thus far. With 48 of the top international design and visual art galleries, the event provided engaging talks with creative thinkers and innovators in the art and design industries, including conversations with artists like Rashaad Newsome, Simon Denny and Rodney McMillian. The Preview Gala, which benefits educational programs and exhibitions of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, was held on January 15 and saw more than 1,800 guests including dealers, curators, collectors and leaders in the art, design, tech and business communities.1. An overhead shot of this year’s FOG Design+Art at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. Photo by Andrew Caulfield. 2. Attendees of the 2020 FOG Design+Art fair. 3. Komal Shah, SFMOMA trustee. 4. Nancy and Joachim Bechtle, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art trustees. 5. From left, Sako Fisher, president of the San Francisco Symphony, Bill Fisher and Rose Fisher. 6. FOG Steering Committee members and SFMOMA director Neal Benezra. From left, Katie Paige, Susan Swig, Benezra, Allison Speer, Stanlee Gatti and Douglas Durkin.

“There is likely no other fair quite like FOG. The alignment of a wide-ranging, high level, ever-changing and expanding circle of collectors, dealers, curators, curiosity-seekers, artists and more and the especially welcoming environment of FOG makes it a fair that people return to day after day and are rewarded,” says Frish Brandt, president of Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco.

According to Gladstone Gallery in New York City and Brussels, Belgium, “We sold a lot of primary market artists, including Richard Aldrich, Robert Bechtle [and] Anne Collier.”

Marc Glimcher, president and CEO of Pace Gallery, says they sold out of two artists’ works in their dedicated four-artist presentation. “Since we opened our Palo Alto gallery over five years ago, FOG has always been a wonderful opportunity to connect with our friends on the West Coast, and through the fair we were able to engage a whole new range of collectors,” says Glimcher.

Next year’s fair will take place in winter 2021, dates to be determined. —