FotoFest 2012 International Fine Print Auction photo by Michelle Watson

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

On March 20, 2012, over four hundred guests filled the ballroom of the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Downtown for FotoFest's 2012 International Fine Print Auction. 

Thirty-nine sponsor tables were filled with collectors, patrons, guests and artists from Russia, Western Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada and the United States. Heritage Auctions and Auctioneer Madelaine Brophy, led FotoFest’s Auction for the first time.

Bidding was very strong and all eighty-two prints were sold - 30 of were donated by Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus artists. It was the first time a substantial offering of high quality works by respected contemporary Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus artists were offered in the U.S.

Artists Oleg DOU, Gregory Maiofis, Jamey Stillings, Luis Gonzalez Palma, Richard Mosse, Kurt Tong, Abelardo Morrell, Miro Svolik, Alexey Vasiliev, Renate Aller, Takeshi Shikama, and Elaine Ling were a few of the artists whose works sold very strongly in the Fine Print Auction.  The FotoFest 2012 Fine Print Auction earned $366,500 with print sales and table sponsorships. 

The Auction drew institutional and private collectors from Brazil, Russia, France, Mexico and the U.S. Prices ranged from $17,000 to $1,500, with sales being 10% higher than FotoFest’s last biennial Auction in 2010.
 

2012 Auction chair, Eloise Frischkorn, brought many new collectors to the Auction. The prints were framed by Italian moulding provided by ROMA Moulding. Additional institutional sponsorship was provided by the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Downtown, Singapore Airlines, IRIS Art Foundation – In Support of Photography in Russia, Gremillion & Co., Fine Art Inc. The FotoFest Board of Directors and twenty-five additional individual supporters were the major table sponsors.

FotoFest 2012 International Fine Print Auction photo by Eric Hester

Auction Chair Eloise Frischkorn FotoFest 2012 International Fine Print Auction photo by Michelle Watson

The FotoFest Fine Print Auction is considered an exceptional benefit auction for the quality and breadth of its donating artists and their art work. It is one of the main events of FotoFest Biennials and provides a rare opportunity to collect high quality contemporary fine art photography from Russia, Western Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada and the United States. The 2012 Auction was FotoFest’s tenth Fine Print Auction.

Works featured in the FotoFest Auction are hand-picked by FotoFest’s founders in collaboration with selected artists. Donating artists and galleries donate all revenues from print sales to FotoFest. FotoFest is an international non-profit photographic arts and education organization based in Houston, Texas.

The FotoFest International Fine Print Auction is a launching pad for many artists who donate their best works. I think the FotoFest Auction is the best international contemporary Auction of its kind in the United States.

Anne Tucker, Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 


  

Auctioneer Madeline Brophy, Heritage Auctions FotoFest 2012 International Fine Print Auction photo by Michelle Watson

FotoFest 2012 International Fine Print Auction photo by Eric Hester

Gregori Maiofis (Russia) Politics Makes Strange Bedfellow, 2006 Bromoil, mounted on canvas, 16 ½ x 16 inches

 

 

Alexey Kuzmitchev, (Russia) Untitled, 2006 Chromogenic print, Edition 3 31 ½ x 47 ¼ inches

 

MANUAL [Ed Hill and Suzanne Bloom], (USA) Oliver Twist, 2010 Archival pigment print, Edition 4/5, 16 ½ x 21 inches Courtesy of the artists and Moody Gallery, Houston, Texas

Artists in the 2012 Fine Print Auction: 

FEATURED RUSSIAN ARTISTS		FEATURED INTERNATIONAL  and U.S. ARTISTS
AES+F Nikolay Bakharev Sergey Bratkov Valera and Natasha Cherkashins  Andrey Chezhin  Mikhail Dashevsky  Oleg DOU  Alexander Gronsky  Vadim Gushchin  Alexander Kitaev  Yury Kozyrev  Nikolay Kulebyakin  Igor Kultyshkin  Alexey Kuzmichev  Gregory Maiofis  Sergey Maximishin Karen Mirzoyan Evgeny Mokhorev  Margo Ovcharenko  Nikita Pirogov  Tatiana Plotnikova  Andrey Polushkin  Slava Ponomarev  Roman Pyatkovka  Igor Savchenko Valery Shchekoldin  Pavel Smertin  Alexey Titarenko  Alexey Vasiliev  Oleg Videnin		Renate Aller  Pavel Banka  Nicole Belle  Heidi Bradner  Alejandro Cartagena  Emilio Chapela Monica Cheon  Piotr Chizinski  John Darwell  Luis Delgado-Qualtrough  Louis Faurer Andy Freeberg  Flor Garduño  Francesco Giusti  Stepan Grygar  Priya Kambli  Kyu Ho Kim  Mark Klett  Laurie Lambrecht  Christine Laptuta  Erika Larsen  David Levinthal  Elaine Ling  Matt Lipps  Chema Madoz  MANUAL (Suzanne Bloom and Ed Hill)  Marcia Michaels  Liliana Molero Abelardo Morell  Joey Lehman Morris  Richard Mosse  Luis Gonzalez Palma  Louie Palu  Martin Parr  Oscar Pintor  Dana Popa  Peter Riedlinger  Victoria Sambunaris  Alessandra Sanguinetti  Bastienne Schmidt  Takeshi Shikama  Tema Stauffer Jamey Stillings Miro Svolik  Brad Temkin  Kurt Tong  Juan Travnik  Geoff Winningham  Augusta Wood  Mimi Youn

  

Revenues from print sales at the Fine Print Auction benefit FotoFest's art programs. Proceeds from Auction ticket and table sponsorship benefit FotoFest's year-round classroom-based education program, Literacy Through Photography, in Houston-area public schools. LTP provides more than 1,000 students annually with cameras and a curriculum using photography to improve writing and cognitive skills.

 

The Biennial Fine Print Auction is FotoFest’s most important fundraising event. It is designed to honor artists and put exceptional work in the hands of serious collectors. The Auction offers unparalleled access to some of the finest contemporary photographic art from around the world.  Participating artists have included Mike and Doug Starn, Marc Riboud, Atta Kim, Lalla Essaydi, AES+F, Graciela Iturbide, Eikoh Hosoe, Abelardo Morell Graciela Sacco, Jungjin Lee,  Luis Gonzalez Palma, Mariana Yampolsky, Bohnchang Koo, and Byunghun Min.

Wendy Watriss, Artistic Director, Curator and Co-founder, FotoFest