Excerpts from:
LIVING WITH ART
By Jessica Lyons
Art Business News Contributing Editor
Art Business News -

A new exhibition combines fine art with contemporary architecture and interior design

Fine the design demands fine art. And ArtHaus' Gallery Director James Bacchi is the first to point this out. "I remember many years ago, a colleague of mine had a poster of a really ugly sofa, and it said 'good art won't match the sofa," he said. "And I always thought, 'I don't believe this is true, given the right sofa and the right work of art."

To support his theory, Bacchi and Gallery Director Annette Schutz decided to create an exhibition that marries fine art to contemporary architecture and interior design. "Above and Beyond the Sofa' debuted in 1998 at the RocheBobois furniture showroom in the San Francisco Design Center to great fanfare. The show still continues a successful run there on a rotating basis.

Due to the popularity of the initial show, Bacchi and Schutz have created a sequel exhibition, entitled "Above and Beyond the Sofa II" which runs through Oct. 14 at the ArtHaus Gallery. "It's fun - here's the sequel to this show, and yet the original is still out there playing," Bacchi said.

The title, admitted Bacchi in a phone interview from his San Francisco gallery, says it all: The concept is to go above and beyond the sofa, partnering art and design in a creative way.

"How often do you walk into furniture stores and see a painting above a sofa - in the art business it's almost been labeled furniture-store art. All of the art we show at the Roche-Bobois [showroom] and at ArtHaus Gallery is museum-quality art. You walk into that showroom and you immediately sense something different than furniture store art."

The sequel show unveils a variety of works from Bay-area artists, as well as artists from around the globe. On view is a new series of handcarved wooden portraitures, titled "Emotions," by Bay-area artist Jeffery Ketcham; large-scale figurative oils by New York artist Joanne Landis; surrealistic black-and-white photographs from Astrid's recent show at Belgium's Museum of Modern Art and luminous pastel landscapes by Bay-area artist Brian Blood.

Since the show opened, works by these and other ArtEaus gallery and guest artists have been acquired and commissioned for a variety of corporate and residential projects by designers and architectural firms such as Arthur McLaughlin and Associates, DeSousa Hughes, Garcia/Wagner & Associates, Kendall Wilkinson, Tucker & Marks, KMD Design, City Studios, Interior Concepts, Regina Interiors and AAI.

An Ideal Location

One of the reasons the "Above and Beyond the Sofa" sequel exhibition has succeeded is because of the location itself and the gallery's experienced staff.

The salon-fashioned gallery lends itself to an intimate presentation of high-quality works. The gallery, located in downtown San Francisco near Nob Hill, used to be Bacchi's own apartment. It's strictly by-appointment-only so that visitors can touch sculptural pieces and stare deeply into on-the-wall photography and oil paintings without distraction.

"The visitors are seeing art in context," he explained. "Also, when they are here it's their time. Our total focus is on them."

"Between Annette [Schutz] and I, we had either owned or directed major cornmercial galleries in New York and San Francisco, and we really felt the need for a more intimate approach to presenting art. There was this real need for people to see art in context as opposed to seeing it in a large gallery space where you are almost fooled by things such as scale."

"There was this real need for people to see art in context as opposed to seeing it in a large gallery space where you are almost fooled by things such as scale."

JAMES BACCHI,
GALLERY DIRECTOR, ARTHAUS

When ArtHaus opened in 1996, the Arts and Entertainment Network produced a special on the gallery. And in the beginning, the gallery's focus was primarily collector oriented. After "Above and Beyond the Sofa" hit the streets in conjunction with San Francisco's Design Week, however, Bacchi and Schutz exploded onto the design scene, quickly developing ties with Bay-area designers, who introduced them to other designers, and also maintaining a continuous presence in San Francisco and Mann Designer Showcases.

"Another thing we have' Bacchi added, "is pretty close relationships with visual merchandisers in San Francisco. Our work or highlights from exhibits have been featured in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue, Wilkes Bashford, Neiman Marcus and Macy's and other high-end stores. As much as we're a by-appointment-only gallery, we're out there in a way that's different from commercial art galleries."

Teaming With Designers

"It's great for designers and it's great for us," said Bacchi, adding that partnering with interior designers and architects is a win-win for any gallery. "Good interior designers seem to have an unlimited number of projects they are working on and at some point, fine art is going to be specified for those projects."

Establishing relationships with designers also provides new opportunities for establishing relationships with designers' clients.

"Our client base of designers and our art base - we are always recommending them to our clients. Often times we have clients who are buying new homes, or moving into office spaces, and they will say 'do you know of any good designers?"

In tough economic times, looking for new avenues to attract clients can't hurt. Plus, he added, it's fun.

"Designers will come here with their clients and pre-select work, or we will show them art for their home. ArtHaus is a cross between being educational and being a fun, enjoyable experience. We found that in a lot of gallery situations, it wasn't as fun. We've created something extremely special - it's not for everyone but it's very much for connoisseurs of art and designs." ABN

Excerpts from the Art Business News.