El Concurso Internacional de Bellas Artes de Chelsea

With over 38 years experience in the art world, David Benrimon has the distinct advantage of understanding the art world from many different angles. David Benrimon started with framing and curating when he founded Skyframe in 1977 and Central Art Framing in the 1980’s to serve Manhattan’s growing artistic community. Both companies served as a haven for helping dealers such as Leo Castelli and artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol realize their vision through framing. As the art community in SoHo grew, David acquired important works from artists and galleries that would later become part of art history. In 1994 he founded David Benrimon Fine Art LLC to advise collectors and investors on the dynamic world of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary fine art. David maintains long-established relationships with a select group of dedicated collectors, investors and corporations worldwide, including individuals from Forbes World’s Billionaires. David Benrimon Fine Art buys, sells and invests in important artworks and also curates at least 6 exhibitions per calendar year from its location in the Crown Building at 730 Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Takao Tsutsumi is president of Sezon Museum of Modern Art in Japan. Previously the president of the Japon-Europe pour les Echanges Culturels (AJEEC) non-profit organization and the Association Japon-Europe pour les Echanges Culturels (AJEEC), in 2005, he sponsored a private exhibition of Hanako Miwa, Love Lotus, in Paris, Tokyo and Hagi, Japan. In 2008 he organized Vivre: Akane Teshigahara + Pierre Gilles in Tokyo. In 2009, he arranged the show Mai Takaaki Umezu in Paris. He has been a juror for many competitions including the Tokyo Photo Contest.

Sebastien Pronovost was born in Canada but discovered his passion for art and the art world in Paris, where he started to work at a prominent gallery on the Rue de Seine. Moving to New York City some years later, he began working at the Bertrand Delacroix Gallery/Axelle Fine Arts and is now the Director of Axelle Fine Arts Galerie, in SoHo.

Susan Whitney is the Vice-Chair of Creative Saskatchewan, founding president of Saskatchewan Professional Art Galleries Association, past president and honorary life member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada and has been a member of many other local and national arts and cultural organizations including the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. She founded the Susan Whitney Gallery in 1979, a vibrant and nationally acclaimed commercial gallery in Regina which has represented many important and notable artists throughout its 26 year history. Since 2005 Susan’s professional focus has been devoted to fine art appraisals.

Ave Pildas is a successful photographer and educator who has been working in the art world for 40 years. His own work has been featured in many prestigious publications, both American and international, including the New York Times and ‘ZOOM’ and has been displayed in solo shows all over the world, from Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, to Photographers Gallery, London, to Gallerie 38, Zurich, as well as many others. He loves to inspire new talent, and works to guide and polish the creations of aspiring young artists. He is a Professor Emeritus at Otis College of Design.

Ginevra Bria is an art historian and an independent curator. Her experience and influence are international, and in the past ten years she has worked and collaborated with the likes of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Brazil’s Centro Cultural Banco, the Museo del Novecento in Milan and many more. She currently holds a curatorial position at Isisuf – the International Institute on Futurism Studies. She also works with emerging and mid-career artists to develop public space projects in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Yuko Hasegawa is Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Professor of the Department of Art Science, Tama Art University in Tokyo. She is a member of the Asian Art Council at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), and her recent projects include BUNNY SMASH – design to touch the world (2013) at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Trans-Cool Tokyo (2010-11) at Singapore Art Museum, and Matthew Barney: Drawing Restraint (2005) at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. She is a curator for the upcoming exhibition New Sensorium in Infosphere: Exit from Failure of Modernism to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2016. Hasegawa has also been involved in curating several international biennials, including the São Paulo Biennial (2010) and the Venice Biennale (2003).

Seb Patane was born in Catania, Italy in 1970; Today he lives and works in London. Patane’s research, between abstraction and figuration, moves between the fascination for narration and its shape as a fragment. The artist uses a variety of sources, from cinema to literature, from news to the history of art in order to assemble and reconstruct images, through video, photographs, sculptures and installations, where the layering of different materials expresses the ambiguity of the archetype, with all its symbolic power.

His most recent solo exhibitions include: Abdomen, Galleria Fonti, Naples, Italy (2014/2015); The Foreigners stand still, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy (2013); Year of Corn, International Art Objects, Los Angeles, USA (2011); 400 Sonnets in Reverse, Together, Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France (2011); Seb Patane, Maureen Paley, London, UK (2009); So this song kills fascists, Art Now, Tate Britain, London, UK (2007).

Holly Myers is a writer, critic and curator currently based in New Mexico. Her art writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, the New York Times, Art Review, Art + Auction and Modern Painters, among other publications. She is the co-editor of Rabble, an imprint of Insert Blanc Press that aims to foster innovative critical writing. Her fiction has appeared in the Antioch Review, Zyzzyva and Joyland. Her story “The Guest House” was anthologized in New California Writing 2012 (Heyday) and an excerpt of her first novel was published in “Gen F: An Anthology of Short Stories for the Comic Tragedies of Our Times.” A collection of her stories and other short works is forthcoming in 2016, through Insert Blanc Press.

Achieving unprecedented success as the youngest curator in China, Xiaoyun Zhang vision is to represent the younger generation of artists on the international art scene. Mentored and deeply influenced by Won-il Rhee, Xiaoyun assisted the great curator in preparing for, as well as curating the Nanjing Biennale in 2008. Since then, she had managed multiple curatorial projects in both Nanjing and the United States, including the Sinamerica I (2015), Interaction (2014), New Fountain of Ink (2013) and others. Xiaoyun Zhang is the founder and president of Arts Without Borders Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on promoting art and culture across borders.

With a background as a visual artist, Irene Tsatsos is recognized as an artist-centered curator with a practice oriented toward artistic collaboration and production. She is currently the Gallery Director / Chief Curator at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA, a position she has held since 2010. From 1997 until 2005, Tsatsos was the executive director of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Prior to that, she worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York where she coordinated the 1997 Biennial. Between LACE and her Armory appointment, Tsatsos maintained an independent curatorial and writing practice, collaborating with individual artists and renowned institutions such as the Getty, the Annenberg Foundation, The Fowler Museum at UCLA, and The California Community Foundation.

Tsatsos is exploring her ongoing interest in social spaces generated by alternative art practices through her research for a forthcoming exhibition and publication entitled Aesthetic Experiments and Social Agents: Renegade Art and Action in Mexico in the 1990s, which she developed in conjunction with the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.

Marisa received her BA from Vassar College and her Ph.D. from Columbia University, with a focus on American Art and the History of Photography. Marisa Kayyem is an Associate Professor at Christie’s Education, where she is the Director of the Short Courses and leads the continuing education offerings. She has taught at several institutions, including George Washington University, Columbia University, Rutgers University and the International Center of Photography before joining Christie’s Education. She has lectured on a variety of subjects including Contemporary Photographers, Themes in Contemporary Art, and Emerging Photographic Practices at a variety of museums and institutions. Marisa’s expertise also includes Art Business. She has lectured globally on such topics as The Power of Today’s Collector, The Value of Contemporary Art, and The Auction House as a Business.

Based in New York, Kyoko Sato is a recognised curator and producer of international exhibitions. She was part of the curators team and later became a contributor at the Waterfall Gallery, New York. Sato has played a major role in bringing Japanese art to New York by aiding emerging as well as established artists and was recently appointed as the Ambassador 2017 for Ronin | Globus Artist-in-Residence Program, which is supported by the Japan Society. Some of her past exhibitions include Press Photo Exhibition: The Great East Japan Earthquake organized by the Nippon Club and the Asahi Shimbun in New York and Spain (2011), Ancient Egyptian Queens and Goddesses: Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Tokyo and Kobe (2014), New York Standard a project at online Gallery Tagboat, introducing American and European artists based in New York to Asian audiences (2016- present), Fermented Souls celebrating 50th anniversary of normalized ties between Korea and Japan, supported by UN Foundation, at Waterfall Gallery (2015), and Public video art project Light Year 14: Japan Parade presented by 3_Search, at DUMBO, supported by the Consulate General of Japan in New York (2016).

Robert Farber’s global recognition has been established through his books, fine art exhibitions, lectures, TV interviews and award winning advertising campaigns. His painterly, impressionistic style that captures the essence of composition in every genre, including nudes, still life, landscapes, and architecture, has influenced generations of photographers. Farber’s photo art books have won multiple awards and sold over half a million copies. Aside from numerous creative awards, Robert Farber also received the Photographer of the Year from PMA (Photographic Manufacturers Association), ASP International Award from the PPA (Professional Photographers of America), and The American Society of Photographers for making a significant contribution to the science and art of photography. Some previous recipients of this award include Dr. Edwin Land (inventor of the Polaroid), George Hurrell, and National Geographic. Farber’s fine-art photographs have been published in virtually every form and he’s exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. He’s lectured at the Smithsonian Institute, The George Eastman House, as well as Universities and professional groups throughout the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe. Aside from his fine art photography, Robert Farber’s work encompasses major campaigns for fashion, beauty and advertising, as well as directing for TV and film. A documentary highlighting Farber’s life and career, is in development for PBS.

Internationally regarded as an advocate for the arts – for galleries, artists, and artists’ ability to work and exhibit their works of art – Ms. Sirois made her permanent mark in the field of real estate and curatorial development with her visionary concept of creating a new art gallery district in the West Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Ms. Sirois’s expertise as a gallerist, curator, and advocate for the arts has benefited regional and international municipalities, prestigious organizations, galleries, and art exhibitions.

In 2012, Ms. Sirois was commissioned by the Contemporary Art Galleries Association of Quebec to organize an exhibition featuring nine artists who would spark interest in the New York art world. The exhibition titled  Under the Radar: The New Visionaries was part of the Armory Show VIP Week, New York’s premier international art fair, and was held at Guided by Invoices, an art gallery founded and directed by Ms. Sirois.
Ms. Sirois has been featured extensively in major art publications and in the mass media for her significant contributions to the arts. These include: The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York Business, The New York Post, Spear’s, The New York Daily News, Artscape, The Art Newspaper, Blouins Artinfo, Art + Auction Magazine, BISNOW, Hyperallergic, Time Out and Brucennial, and more.

David C. Terry is an independent curator as well as the Director and Curator of Grants and Exhibitions at the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) where he oversees the Fellowships, Curatorial, Residency and Alumni Programs. Prior to coming to NYFA, Mr. Terry was Assistant Director at the Pelham Art Center, where he directed the exhibition, educational and outreach programs.

His professional career covers a wide range of curatorial, artistic, administrative and academic experience. He has taught a variety of classes including objective and figurative drawing, abstract and figurative sculpture, portraiture and environmental and site‐specific sculpture to students of all age ranges. He earned his BA at the College of William and Mary, and while earning his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Terry began his administrative, curatorial and teaching career at the Philadelphia Arts League.

Mr. Terry is a working artist, a curator with over 100 exhibitions and experiences to his name, as well as a juror, and a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural affairs, Bronx Council on the Arts, Westchester Biennale and the Westchester Arts Council’s ’50 for 50’ Festival, the Alexander Rutsch Award in Painting, the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence Program, Lumen Arts Festival, and a member of the GIA Support for Individual Artists Group Steering Committee as well as Board Member of the College Art Association and the Executive Member of the Fine Arts Federation.

Mr. Terry’s awards include Artists in the Marketplace Program, The Bronx Museum of the Arts; BRIO, Bronx Council on the Arts; The Puffin Foundation; New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, the Arts and Business Council’s Arts Leadership Institute Award and the Elizabeth Foundation’s Residency Grant and the Node Center for Curatorial Studies’ Innovators Grant.

An acclaimed photography critic, an ingenious curator and a prolific editor, Frederica Chiocchetti is woman wearing many hats. She is currently working on her PhD in photography, fictions and text from the University Of Westminster. She is also the founder and director of Photocaptionist, an online platform exploring the overlap of photography and literature. Chiocchetti’s writings have also been published in a number of reputed journals and magazines like Der Greif, Photoworks, Foam, Objektiv, Unseen magazine, EXTRA, The British Journal of Photography, Krakow Photomonth,The Photographers’ Gallery Blog and MAPP Editions (MACK). Recently appointed as the guest co-curator for the Jaipur Photo Festival in India. Some of her past exhibitions include Feminine Masculine: On the Struggle and Fascination of Dealing with the Other Sex, for Photo50 at the London Art Fair (2016), P.H. Emerson: Presented by the Author, at Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, in partnership with the V&A and the Art Fund (2015-2016), Amateur Unconcern: A Photo-Literary Fantasia, as part of FORMAT Festival 2015, and Amore e Piombo [Love and Lead]: the Photography of Extremes in 1970s Italy (co-curated and co-edited with Roger Hargreaves for the Archive of Modern Conflict at the Brighton Photo Biennial).

Suzanne Anker is a versatile visual artist and theorist. Her work and research are stemmed from the crossroads between art and biological science. Working in a range of media from digital sculpture to large scale photography, her works have been showcased and appreciated at a number of established museums and galleries across the globe In addition to being Chair of Fine Arts Department, School of Visual Arts (New York), – a position she has maintained since 2005 – Anker has authored a number of highly acclaimed books, namely The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age; Visual

Culture and Bioscience: An Online Symposium. She has been a speaker at several privileged institutions like The Harvard University, The Royal Society, The London Of Economics, The Yale University, Courtauld Institute Of Art, and many more.  Suzanne also hosts the Bio-Blurb Show where she explores the futuristic aspects of the “sci-art”.

Exhibitions: The Walker Art Center (Minnesota), The Smithsonian Institute (Washington D.C.), The Philips Collection (Washington D.C.), The Medizinhistorisches Museum Der Charite (Berlin), The Pera Museum (Istanbul), The Museum Of Modern Art (Japan) and The Center For Art And Media (ZKM, Germany).

At the Brooklyn Museum, Atkins most recently organized Iggy Pop Life Class by Jeremy Deller, and her projects have also included Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull) and FAILE: Savage/Sacred Young Minds. In 2014, she organized Swoon: Submerged Motherlands, as well as the Brooklyn presentation of Ai Weiwei: According to What?. Before her move to Brooklyn, Atkins was the Assistant Curator at the Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, from 2004. Previously, she held positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum. Atkins received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Amanda McDonald Crowley is a Brooklyn based curator. As the Executive Director of Eyebeam from 2005 to 2011 she created many programs and events of new media art, contemporary art and transdisciplinary work. She has staged art events all over the world, from Finland to the Baltic Sea. She has recently been commissioned to develop an exhibition for the Bronx Arts Alliance in 2018.

Amanda is originally from Australia and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Australian National University, double major of Fine Arts and German. She has worked with art organizations all over Australia, including the Australia Council for the Arts and as Associate Director of the Adelaide Festival 2002. Amanda also served as the Director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) where she made links with the science world and key industrial organizations by arranging for artists to take up residency with them.

She has participated in residencies in Europe, North America and Asia and is also an occasional writer for Artlink, RealTime, the Sarai Reader and Art Asia Pacific. Amanda’s curatorial work allows her to develop platforms to bring together both amateurs and professionals from various disciplines and create a space for social change.