NEW YORK, NY.- Embarking on its third decade, The Art Show is one of America’s most prestigious art fairs. The 2009 edition will continue the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA)’s tradition of bringing the highest quality artworks from America’s leading art galleries to one monumental exhibition space at the Park Avenue Armory.

The 70 selected gallery exhibitions, designed and executed especially for The Art Show, include an unprecedented number of 24 solo shows and an additional 17 specially curated thematic exhibitions. The group promises cutting-edge works from the 21st century, alongside museum-quality works from the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, The Art Show introduces ADAA Dealer’s Choice, works selected by ADAA dealers at special values, rounding out the diversity of works as well as price ranges throughout the show.

ADAA has also developed a series of three lectures by renowned historian, novelist, and journalist Philipp Blom for the Collectors’ Forum in concert with The Art Show. Entitled Objects of Passion: Reflections on the History of Collections and Collectors, the talks will encapsulate a cultural history of collecting and will take place February 20th-21st also at the Park Avenue Armory. The lectures are free and open to the public thanks to the support and sponsorship of ADAA’s corporate partner AXA Art.

Daily admission to The Art Show from February 19 to 23, and its Gala Preview on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009, will benefit Henry Street Settlement, one of New York City’s best-known and most effective social services and arts agencies.

Also new this year, ADAA will host a private reception in support of the vital arts legislation, The Artist Museum Partnership Act. Leaders of the cultural and political community will gather on Thursday February 19th to support ADAA’s initiative—50 Artists for 50 States. This national effort to encourage the passage of the Artist Museum Partnership Act will include pledges for the donation of 50 works of art by 50 living American artists, one for each state. Robert Lynch, President of Americans for the Arts, and Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will offer their remarks on this important legislation.

“This year’s Art Show reflects ADAA’s commitment to dealers, collectors, and the greater arts community as a whole, noted Roland Augustine, President of the ADAA and partner in Luhring Augustine Gallery. “With the groundbreaking symposium by Philipp Blom and reception for the 50 Artists for 50 States initiative, it illustrates ADAA’s galvanizing role in the art world.”

Linda Blumberg, Executive Director of the ADAA added, The new ADAA Dealer’s Choice concept is part of ADAA’s efforts to maximize the insight and expertise of our dealers. These works will be a first-rate example of what the dealer feels is a work of tremendous value at an attractive price.”

Dealer’s Choice
This year The Art Show will inaugurate a new initiative with the 2009 edition. ADAA Dealer’s Choice is a unique opportunity for ADAA dealers to exhibit a single work of the highest quality, offered at a very attractive price. The scholarship and
connoisseurship of Art Show exhibitors are noteworthy, and this long-term commitment to artists and collectors allow them to exhibit a diverse body of museum-quality works at price points that are accessible to both new and established collectors alike. Works will be available by artists such as Lee Bontecou, Sam Francis, Mel Bochner, and Elaine Lustig Cohen, among others.

Solo Shows
One of the unique aspects of The Art Show remains the high concentration of oneperson presentations, and the 2009 edition is no exception, with an unprecedented 24 solo shows. Friedrich Petzel Gallery will present new, never-before-exhibited paintings by Nicola Tyson. Galerie Lelong will feature early work by pioneering Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, who was recently the subject of major exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Tate Modern, London.

Paul Kasmin Gallery will install new sculptures by Barry Flanagan. Peter Freeman, Inc. will present an installation of new work by Mel Bochner. Painter Merlin James, who represented his native Wales at the 2007 Venice Biennale, will be featured in the booth of Sikkema Jenkins & Co. David Zwirner Gallery will be exhibiting sculpture and drawings from a series titled Pass the Peas, made by Al Taylor between 1991 and 1992. Jason McCoy Inc. will present a body of work by Charles Pollock from the late 1960s and early 1970s revealing his thorough exploration of color field painting and his subsequent turn towards geometric forms rich in graphic clarity.

Susan Sheehan will be exhibiting a portfolio of ten rare, color, woodblock prints by minimalist master Donald Judd, completed in 1992–93. Tibor de Nagy Gallery will exhibit paintings and works on paper by proto-Pop artist Larry Rivers, that date from the 1950s and 60s, and that together explore the early role Rivers played in the transition from the second generation New York School of painting into the explosion of 60s Pop art. D’Amelio Terras will present a new series of works by Dario Robleto, reviving the forms and crafts of the Victorian past to explore contemporary issues. DC Moore Gallery will show a selection of works by Charles Burchfield, spanning his entire career from 1915 through the mid 1960s.

First time exhibitors Betty Cuningham Gallery, Peter Blum Gallery, and Ronald Feldman Fine Art will all be presenting unique solo presentations. Betty Cuningham Gallery will present paintings by Rackstraw Downes that the artist created over the last decade. Peter Blum Gallery will be presenting an interdisciplinary show featuring artist John Beech and playwright Edward Albee in conjunction with their new book collaboration, Obscure/Reveal. The project consists of 40 painted-over photographs with Albee’s writing in response to each image, all of which are reproduced in the new publication. Exhibiting for the first time at The Art Show since 1990, Ronald Feldman Fine Art will present a single installation by Tavares Strachan, Where We Are Is Always Miles Away, an excavated portion of Crown Street in New Haven, Connecticut, featuring earth, cement, a parking meter, and a street sign.

PaceWildenstein, now presenting their 9th consecutive solo booth at The Art Show, will present a series of 12 gouaches by Sol LeWitt produced over various decades. Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art will show a series of landscapes by Hans Hoffman, produced between 1914 and 1943.

Several galleries will present solo booths of photography, including Janet Borden Inc., who will show work by Jan Groover. Photographs of Joel Sternfeld’s Walking The Highline series will be on view at Luhring Augustine. Sperone Westwater will present vintage photographs by William Wegman, in addition to paintings and postcard collages showing the depth and breadth of Wegman’s lesser known oeuvre.

A new installation by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto will be featured at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. Metro Pictures will present newly completed, small, graphite drawings of great art masterpieces created by Robert Longo as an homage to his ancestors and heroes. Further adding to the diversity of works on view at The Art Show, L&M Arts will be presenting a new series by Chinese artist Tianbing Li.

Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art will exhibit a group of drawings, watercolors, and collages by Mexican artist Günther Gerzso, ranging from his surrealist works of the 1940s through his constructivist works of the 1970s.Marian Goodman Gallery is presenting a solo show of rare work by Gerhard Richter. Ken Price: New Sculpture and Works On Paper will be on view at Matthew Marks Gallery and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog.

Thematic Exhibitions
In addition to solo shows, The Art Show 2009 will remain unparalleled within the context of an art show, in its presentation of thematic exhibitions — this year numbering 16. First time exhibitor James Cohan Gallery has curated the thematic show Body As Prop, which will present eight internationally acclaimed artists’ representations of the human figure. Artists to be shown include: Vito Acconci, Fred Tomaselli, and Bill Viola, as well as a live daily performance by Chinese artist Xu Zhen. A survey of American Modernism will be on view at Martha Parrish & James Reinish, Inc., including painting and sculpture from 1905 to 1955, with three areas of focus: the figure (Winslow Homer), buildings and landscapes (Charles Sheeler and Edward Hopper) and abstraction (Charles Shaw and Joan Mitchell).

David Nolan Gallery will curate a different two-person pairing for each day of the show between a major German art historical figure and a contemporary artist represented by the gallery. With a focus on drawings and works on paper, the four shows will include Otto Dix and Jim Nutt; Max Beckmann and Peter Saul; Hans Bellmer and Carroll Dunham; and, Max Ernst and Alexander Ross.

Allan Stone Gallery is preparing an exhibition tracing the evolution of Abstract Expressionism from the movement’s founding fathers to contemporary heirs apparent. Gallery Paule Anglim of San Francisco, exhibiting at The Art Show for the first time, will install conceptual art originating in the Bay area from 1968 to the present, including works by David Ireland, Paul Kos, and Tom Marioni. Maxwell Davidson Gallery will be exhibiting a two artist show of works by Tom Wesselman and George Rickey.

A group of contemporary artists including David Altmejd, Katy Moran, Matthew Ritchie, and Wolfgang Tillmans will be the subjects of the show at Andrea Rosen Gallery, concentrating on abstraction as it is explored in both contemporary and historic works. Rena Bransten Gallery will present a series of contemporary figurative works including the diamond photographs of Vik Muniz.

Forum Gallery will exhibit Insight, a group of perspective portraits by artists including Jules Kirschenbaum, Larry Rivers, and John Graham. Lehmann Maupin will present an exhibition of contemporary work by Lee Bul and Shirazeh Houshiary. An installation of ten sculptures by Robert Watts from the series New Light on West Africa (1976) will be presented alongside Agnes Denes drawings at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects. Visitors to The Art Show 2009 should make sure to pay attention to not just the walls at Margo Leavin Gallery, but also to the custom vinyl floor installation by Allen Rupperberg, Reading Standing Up.

At Nancy Hoffman Gallery, Art Show visitors will see Juxtaposition: A Compliment and a Contrast, a two person show featuring a dialogue between the works of Michael Gregory and Nicolas Africano, who share a contemporary yet old master sensibility. Cheim & Read will show “sparkle knot” sculptures by Lynda Benglis from the 1970s as well as recent works on paper by Bill Jensen. Classic works by John Chamberlain and Frank Stella will be presented by Greenberg Van Doren Gallery.

Richard L. Feigen will feature a group of paintings and drawings by 19th and 20th century masters, including Vincent VanGogh, Henri Rousseau, Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, Willem de Kooning, and Tom Wesselmann. A selection of 20th century masters, with a strong focus on Picasso, de Kooning, and Warhol, will be highlights of The Art Show 2009 at Acquavella Galleries Inc. Also adding to the strong presentation of modern masters will be Moeller Fine Art Ltd, who will be exhibiting works by The Blue Four — Feininger, Klee, Kandinsky, and von Jawlensky.

Hirschl & Adler Modern, will showcase works by American masters including Edward Hopper, Charles Demuth, and Charles Sheeler. Paintings and sculptures by Karin Kneffel, Neil Jenny, and Fausto Melotti will be on view at Barbara Mathes Gallery.

Galerie St. Etienne will present museum quality works by important German and Austrian Expressionists including Egon Schiele and Emil Nolde, and will also feature a special section dedicated to self-taught, outsider artist Grandma Moses.