NEW YORK, NY.- Building on the success of VIP 2.0, VIP Art Fair announced more details about its upcoming 2012/2013 program. Withfive Fairs taking place over the next 12 months, each will create a meaningful event that provides an international audience access to the most exciting art works as presented by the world’s most dynamic galleries.

• VIP Paper (19 - 21st April)
• Media preview 18th April

The inaugural Paper fair will bring together top international modern and contemporary print and works onpaper dealers offering fresh-to-the-market fine prints and works on paper.

Many exhibitors are showcasing some of their finest works at the Fair. Greenberg Van Doren (NewYork) who as the representative of the Estate of Richard Diebenkorn is exclusively showing works from his Estate in advance of the solo Exhibition (works from1961-1992) that premieres April 26th. The booth of ZieherSmith (New York) will exclusively show figure drawings by noteworthy emerging artists such as Jason Brinkerhoff, Paul Housley, Javier Pinon, Wes Lang and Eddie Martinez. Also, concurrent with Damien Hirst’s retrospective at the Tate Modern, Paul Stolper (London) will feature Damien Hirst’s new foil block print editions depicting pills, diamonds, or cigarettes arranged in metal cabinets as an extension of their gallery’s “Utopia” exhibition.

Other participating galleries include Alan Cristea (London), Barbara Krakow (Boston), Poligrafa (Barcelona), Brooke Alexander (New York), Gemini G.E.L. (Los Angeles), Durham Press (Pennsylvania), Tandem Press (Wisconsin), Bernard Jacobson (London), Craig Starr (New York) and many more.

The VIP Discussions series will continue with exclusive films featuring Dieu Donne Papermill, the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, and The Drawing Center. Films from the IFPDA archives will also be available for viewing during the event.

Featured Insider Tours include Gavin Delahunty of Tate Liverpool; Sharon Coplan Hurowitz of CoplanHurowitz Art Advisory; Vivien Bittencourt Katz; and Thomas Lollar and Paul Limperopulos, Director and Assistant Director of the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Rutgers University.

• VIP MFA (1 – 8th June)
• Media preview 31st May
This year, VIP Art Fair will host the first edition of VIP MFA, the first-ever juried online art fair conceived to support and champion artists’ first steps into the market.

A panel of six internationally-recognized judges will select 200 artists from a pool of nominations and open call applicants from renowned MFA (and equivalent) programs. Selected artists will bring 5 – 10 works to the Fair, along with an artist’s statement, descriptions of each work. The works will be for sale throughout the seven-day event.

VIP MFA will award three prizes ($15,000 for 1st prize, $10,000 for 2nd and $5,000 for 3rd prize) to outstanding artists participating in the program.

Featuring judges include Diana Al-Hadid (artist), Jens Hoffmann (Wattis Institute), Kate Fowle (ICI), Joachim Pissarro (Hunter College), Matthew Higgs (White Columns) and O Zhang (artist)

Other 2012 Events:

• VIP Photo (12 - 13th July)
Media preview 11th July

• VIP Vernissage (20 – 22nd September)
Media preview 19th September

• VIP Contemporary (6-10th February 2013)
Media Preview 5th February 2013

While expanding their Fair program, VIP is also introducing new collector-focused tools and services. Building on the successful technology introduced during VIP 2.0 that enabled collectors to save artworks for future views and consideration, the VIP platform now includes the ability for a visitor to choose to follow artists and dealers during the events and beyond. New sophisticated notification systems will keep the collector informed throughout the year about relevant exhibitions mounted by their preferred dealers or featuring their favorite artists—giving the collector a valuable, personalized resource that is accessible at any time.

Lisa Kennedy, chief executive of VIP Art Fair said: “We continue to push the concept of what the art world can offer in the Internet space, giving collectors and dealers the opportunity to connect and transact both on and offline, in the context of our events and our advancing tools and functionality. We’re expanding the program and simultaneously expanding the tools and services so that we can continue to bring the freshest and most innovative works to an active international artmarket.”