stARTup SF 2019 Selection Committee
stARTup gathers a prestigious Selection Committee of curators, artists, and dealers for each fair to ensure that every event is fresh and exciting for people looking to discover new and emerging talent.
This jury brings local celebrity, global perspective, and expert experience to the review. We're honored to have them participate and can't wait to announce our latest exhibitors coming soon. Applications are open now ‘till February 19, 2019.
dorka keehn, san francisco
Dorka Keehn is a major force for art in the public realm. She is the Principal of Keehn On Art, an art consulting firm that specializes in working with city planners, developers and architects on their public art requirements. Projects include Salesforce Tower and the Golden State Warriors Arena. As a San Francisco Arts Commissioner, Dorka chairs the Visual Arts Committee that commission’s all of the city’s public artwork. Additionally, she is the co-founder of Sites Unseen, a project that is bringing arts programming to neglected alleys in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena neighborhood. Dorka also led the fundraising effort for The Bay Lights, the 25,000 LED light installation by artist Leo Villareal for the Bay Bridge.
Dean Daderko, houston
Dean Daderko is curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Previously working as an independent curator based in New York, Daderko has mounted curatorial projects in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montreal, Canada; and Vilnius, Lithuania, among other locations. He has also organized programming for Art in General, Artists’ Space, The Kitchen, and Visual AIDS in New York. Daderko has been a graduate seminar instructor at Yale University School of Art where he led the course Queer Strategies, and a visiting curator at Centro de Investigaciones Artisticas in Buenos Aires; Cooper Union School of the Arts in New York; the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris; M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA; and the University of Houston. He writes and speaks extensively in conjunction with his exhibitions, and his writing has been published in catalogues by CAMH, The Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, The Americas’ Society, and Rutgers University.
Jakub Spanhel, Czech Republic
Jakub Špaňhel was born 1976 in Karvina in Czech republic. He has graduated Academy of fine art in 2002 in Prague. His paintings have inspiration in Baroque churches, Gas stations, old furniture, flowers and butterflies. He uses dark tones with combinations of black and gold color which compare his painting to German expressionism. He use also graphic of Bohumil Reynek as inspiration for black and white minimalist paintings. He is one of most important Czech painters from generation of contemporary Czech painters. His work can be found in the public collections of Czech National Gallery, Moravian National Gallery and many private collections in Czech, Slovak, Hungary, Germany, Austria, UK and USA.
Nancy toomey, san francisco
Nancy Toomey has over twenty years experience in San Francisco as a gallerist, consultant and curator. Her gallery, Toomey Tourell, was located at 49 Geary Street in downtown San Francisco for eighteen years. Her experience has encompassed board memberships in Central City Hospitality House, the Access Institute and the San Francisco Art Dealers Association. Nancy Toomey Fine Art opened in May of 2016 at the exciting and prestigious Minnesota Street Projects in the Dogpatch district. This arts enterprise offers sustainable spaces for art galleries, artists and related nonprofits, creating an internationally recognized arts destination. As an original member of this destination collective, her gallery continues to exemplify the innovations of contemporary art within a variety of mediums.Nancy has curated exhibitions in wide ranging and diverse locations throughout the Bay Area, and participated in numerous art fairs throughout the world.
Su-en Wong, New York
New York-based artist, Su-en Wong, was born in Singapore in 1973. At an early age, she came under the tutelage of Liu Kang, one of Singapore’s pioneer artists. She held her first solo exhibition in Singapore at the age of 14, and she moved to the US at the age of 16 to continue her studies.
Su-en's work examines her ongoing fascination with identity, socialization, fantasy and the construction of culture. Her work renders a very private and deeply personal paradise, a haven in which to explore the conflicting contexts of power and vulnerability, fear and desire, assimilation and individuality, drive and repression, predators and prey. Steeped in humor and never taking herself too seriously, Su-en challenges her viewer to morph between the gazer and the gazed-at, to reconsider their public and private personas, and to look with renewed appreciation at portraiture as a genre.
Su-en's work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the US and in Europe. She lives and works in New York, and is currently working on several exciting projects including a series of children's books.
Matea Fish, San Francisco
Matea Fish is the Director of Gallery Wendi Norris. From its global headquarters in San Francisco, Gallery Wendi Norris represents Modern and Contemporary artists working in a variety of media around the world. The gallery specializes in re-contextualizing the work of Modern artists while providing connections to contemporary art, artists, and culture. Active on both the local and international stages, Gallery Wendi Norris mounts exhibitions where they are most relevant, and also works with individual collectors and museums in both the primary and secondary markets. Founded with an emphasis on scholarship and education, the gallery produces highly researched exhibitions and catalogues, sponsors artist talks, hosts visiting academics, and engages in public art projects.
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See leading contemporary artists at the hip and stylish Kinney Venice Beach hotel this February 15-17, 2019 for stARTup LA 2019. Tickets are on sale now!