PHOENIX magazine by Matthew Johnson

December 04, 2024 A Guide to Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week

The international art world will convene in the West’s Most Western Town this spring with elite galleries, superstar talent and audience-friendly breakouts – plus a touch of bronc-busting cowboy cool.

“Phoenix is ready to take the stage.”

—Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week co-founder Jason Rose

What is Scottsdale Art Week?

Conceived by Valley PR whiz Jason Rose and art dealer Trey Brennen, Scottsdale Art Week is an inaugural, four-day art and design fair modeled after The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), Art Basel and other world-renowned markets of moveable art. Co-owned by PHOENIX parent company Cities West Media and presented by Scottsdale Ferrari, this luxury event is the first of its kind in the Valley.

Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week

March 20-23, 2025

scottsdaleartweek.com

SAW Basics

Though SAW-related events will be staged throughout the Valley, the main gallery marketplace will be located at WestWorld of Scottsdale, home of Barrett-Jackson and other big-ticket annual events.

As this issue went to press, organizers were aiming to recruit 120 galleries from around the world to showcase their paintings, sculptures, jewelry and other media at SAW.

Contemporary art and design will be well-represented by dealers at SAW, which will also feature a special emphasis on Indigenous art, via a partnership with Heard Museum and prominent Arizona artists.

SAW organizers are also planning off-site events in coordination with Taliesin West, Scottsdale Museum of the West and Desert Botanical Garden.

Art Fair Forebearers

SAW was conceived in the spirit of these esteemed luxury art fairs.

TEFAF New York

Long regarded as the world’s largest and most prestigious art fair, The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) debuted in Maastricht, Netherlands, in 1988, carving out a niche with its high-profile sales of Old Master paintings and other antique works. SAW director of development Michael Plummer (see page 13) brought the fair to New York City in 2016, where it leans into modern and contemporary art, including a Picasso painting that fetched close to $2 million in 2024.

Art Basel: Miami

This stateside imprint of the respected Swiss art fair “completely altered the economic landscape in Miami Beach” upon its December 2002 debut, according to Plummer. Attracting more than 80,000 visitors, the 2019 edition of the show boasted multiple seven-figure sales but is perhaps best known for Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, an anti-art classic featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall, which famously sold for $120,000.

Frieze Art Fair

The London-based arts giant now stages fairs in four cities (London, New York, Los Angeles and Seoul) and has earned a reputation for creative and audience-friendly programming. At the 2016 Frieze New York fair, artist David Horvitz hired a pickpocket to secretly place small sculptures in the pockets of fair attendees. A-list stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr. and Jane Fonda were among the 32,000 visitors at Frieze Los Angeles in 2024.

Interview with a Director: Michael Plummer

“This is a coming-out party [for the Valley] on the national stage,” SAW director of development Michael Plummer promises. As the founder of TEFAF New York and a former executive with auction giants Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the Wharton-educated art fair expert was a natural choice when co-founders Jason Rose and Trey Brennen sought a seasoned pro to lead SAW.

Photo Courtesy Michael Plummer

In layman’s terms, what does a director of development do?

Well, I’m bringing a vision to the fair based on my experience creating three other [fine art] fairs. It’s about creating the dealer experience, which is one audience, and creating the visitor experience, which is the other audience. And both have to be great. You need to have good dealers and they need to bring good stuff, and they have to be energetic and present well. And you need to keep them happy [so] they keep coming back. At the same time, you want your visitors to come in and be surprised and delighted and have fun. See things they haven’t seen before and learn things they didn’t know.

How will SAW be different from local art festivals we’ve seen in the Valley?

It’s a luxury experience. You go in, you see beautiful things, and they’re not just artworks, but great pieces of design, furniture, some jewelry. You don’t need to be an art collector to enjoy it, it’s meant for people of all tastes. There will be photography, Indigenous art… we want to give people other options besides Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware to fill their homes.

So, this will be different than, say, strolling the art gallery district in Old Town Scottsdale?

Well, think about New York City. It has more galleries than any other city in the United States, but I created TEFAF New York, where we ended up bringing in all these additional galleries, from Europe and elsewhere in the world. It’s a matter of scale and variety and density… and that creates a different kind of energy. Rather than expect people to travel to the art, we’re moving into a world where the art needs to come to the people.

Are you expecting to draw an audience from outside Arizona?

Absolutely. An art fair [is] hugely beneficial to a community, for real estate values, for hotels, for restaurants and hospitality. A good example is Art Basel… when it came to Miami, it was enormously successful from the start, and in one of the quietest weeks in the off-season, early December. And suddenly, by virtue of them coming there, it became peak season. Restaurants were sold out, streets became thick with traffic… it transformed the economics of Miami and the profile of Miami on a national stage.

Visualizing SAW

Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week will occupy the entire 117,000-square-foot North Hall space at WestWorld of Scottsdale. Besides gallery activations and art, SAW will feature food and wine, artist engagements and exciting specialty events.

Opening Night: March 20

The ASU Art Museum will be the beneficiary of SAW’s Opening Night Gala. Visit scottsdaleartweek.com for more details.

The Layout

To imbue SAW with the energy and feel of a gallery or museum, organizers will erect roughly more than 30,000 square-feet of modular wall units within the hangar-like North Hall. It will feel intimate, not convention-like.

The Scenery

To capitalize on Arizona’s exquisite spring weather and give SAW an indoor-outdoor feel, the North Hall’s massive garage doors will be opened to afford guests lordly views of the nearby Superstition Mountains.

4 Experiential Highlights

Galleries & Dealers

Among the earliest galleries to commit to SAW was DE SARTHE, a prominent contemporary gallery with locations in Hong Kong and Scottsdale. Though a full list was not available as this issue went to press, organizers say that galleries from as far away as Turkey and Japan had confirmed for SAW.

Indigenous Art

SAW organizers also envision special programming highlighting Arizona’s Indigenous arts movement. Speakers include Navajo textile artist Melissa Cody. Mixed-media legend Tony Abeyta was also in talks to appear as this issue went to press.

Special Events

Tentative SAW programming also includes a fashion show and VIP experiences conceived in concert with Phoenix Art Museum and Heard Museum.

Ferraris!

“In car terms, our original vision was a Volvo and now it’s literally a Ferrari,” Rose says of the fair, which signed on Valley supercar dealer Scottsdale Ferrari as the title sponsor and subsequently reconceived itself as an A-list event. The dealership is expected to have merchandise on-site.

Fair Fact

According to director of development Michael Plummer, art fairs represent a significant investment for participating galleries and vendors. Between shipping costs, security, handling, staging and other fees, the cost of participation can run well into five figures.

Rodeo bonus

In a salute to Scottsdale’s frontier heritage, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan will be on-hand for the Cactus Classic Reining Competition, to be held concurrent with SAW at WestWorld. Visit brumleyevents.com/cactus-reining-classic for more information.

The post A Guide to Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week appeared first on PHOENIX magazine.

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