APR.23-27: LOS ANGELES ANTIQUES SHOW RETURNS, ADDING EXHIBITORS, INSTALLATIONS; RENEWS P.S. ARTS CHARITY PARTNERSHIP, WELCOMES SPONSOR MERCEDES-BENZ

13th Annual Showcase Will Be Held On April 24-27, 2008 in Santa Monica, with Preview Party April 23rd

posted by Don Rose

Presented by the Antique Dealers Association of California (ADAC), The Los Angeles Antiques Show 2008 will return to the LA area for a 13th year with a newly defined aesthetic. The ADAC, designers Waldo Fernandez and Joe Nye, and the Show’s chair and Obsolete gallery owner Ray Azoulay have worked together to achieve significant changes. The Antiques Show has joined hands once again with charity partner P.S. ARTS and welcomes Title Sponsor Mercedes-Benz USA to celebrate this year’s Opening Night Preview Party.

The Opening Night Preview Party on the evening of April 23, 2008 will be the first buying opportunity and kick off the weekend longevent with extraordinary designer installations, crossing vocabularies of collecting and decorating, a stellar Mercedes-Benz USA installation, lecture series, book signings, tours for families, champagne brunch, and ultimately the masterful presentation of 65 of the premier antique and fine art dealers from the United States and Europe.

The extraordinary entranceway will set the tone for this year's Los Angeles Antiques Show. The first installation will showcase Mercedes-Benz USA vehicles “from then to now”, leading into an “interior designer installation” space featuring the work of Windsor Smith and Joe Nye -- and finally, before entering the show, guests will experience the 40 foot antique-filled movie trailer designed by hip young designer Jane Hallworth. Guests will be able to enjoy this remarkable three fold entrance and also frequent it over the weekend since this is where lectures, booksignings and champagne toasts will take place before entering the Antiques Show each day.

The Los Angeles Antiques Show is a widely anticipated annual event featuring 65 premier antique and fine art dealers from the United States and Europe, including first time exhibitors, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NY, Amy Perlin Antiques, NY, Geoffrey Diner, DC, Suzanne Rheinstein of Hollyhock, CA, Polyedre Antiques, Belgium, and some of our returning exhibitors such as Kentshire, NY, Daniel Stein, CA, Greg Nanamura, NY, and Il Segno del Tempo, Italy. All 65 exhibitors represent various furniture, decorative arts, photography, and paintings from antiquity through the 20th century. Each piece in this international show is authenticated through a vetting process by accomplished and experienced experts in their respective fields.

The four day event is attended by leading design professionals such as Michael Smith, Kelly Wearstler, Joe Nye, Craig Wright, Karin Blake, Rose Tarlow, Waldo Fernandez, Windsor Smith, Kathryn Ireland, Laurie Ghilimetti, Douglas Durkin, Jane Hallworth, Erin Ferucci, Barclay Butera, Thomas Beeton, Jay Holman,Kerry Joyce, Ron Radziner, Leo Marmol, Steven Shortridge, important collectors, Victoria Jackson, Blaine Halvorson, Kristin Smith, Brett Hoffer, Joel Silver, Mollie and Richard Mulligan, Peter Markman, Brittany Lovett, and celebrities such as Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Molly Sims, Rita Wilson, Steven Spielberg, Penny Marshall, and at least one notable political guest -- California Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Renowned event-designers Caskey-Lees produce the four day event, which presents the exhibitors with professionalism and style at Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Air Center. The Opening Night Preview Party is produced by Carleen Cappelletti of Best Events.

On behalf of the Antiques Dealer Association of California, Ray Azoulay states, “We have continued to evolve the show and its components to reflect the dynamic creative community we serve in Los Angeles. Our goal is to continue to inspire, enhance and create excitement by having exhibitors who present the very best of their respective vocabularies in unique and creative settings. This year in particular we are also expanding our efforts to have visitors return over the course of the weekend and experience the comprehensive and exciting event schedule. We are especially honored to continue our charity partnership with P.S. ARTS and are equally excited by having Mercedes-Benz USA as the Title Sponsor for the Opening Night Preview Party. We all have recognized the important mission of restoring art education in our public school system, and supporting the continued work of P.S. ARTS in educating and supporting our future artists.” PS ARTS Chairperson Maria Bell states, “We are honored to be the beneficiary of the Los Angeles Antiques Show’s Opening Night Preview Party yet again this year. By partnering with ADAC to celebrate art from our past, P.S. ARTS is able to uphold its mission of restoring arts education to students in public schools.”

The Opening Night Preview Party will kickoff this year’s event. Benefiting partner P.S. ARTS, the Preview Party will bring together more than 1,000 of the community’s most influential individuals. With the help of Title Sponsor Mercedes-Benz USA , the Preview Party will honor elite members of the art, design, architecture and entertainment worlds. The Antique Dealers Association of California, founded in 1924, is a group of knowledgeable dealers pledged to integrity and fair dealing in the buying and selling of antiques. Members are experts in their individual fields with inventories ranging from 17th century baroque to Americana , from 18th century ceramics to fine rugs and textiles, from fine art to Asian antiquities to 20th century photography and design.

P.S. ARTS is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to restoring arts education programs to public elementary and middle schools in disadvantaged areas, predominately serving children who live at or below the national poverty level. P.S. ARTS, which was originally founded by Paul Cummins as an outreach project of the Crossroads Community Foundation, provides comprehensive, skills based, and sequential classes in visual arts, music, theater and dance to nearly 12,000 students in Los Angeles County and California’s Central Valley. P.S. ARTS also offers arts-related workshops for classroom teachers, integrating creative expression and arts into the core curriculum. Recognized by local, county and state agencies as an outstanding arts provider, P.S. ARTS now serves as a national model, advocating arts for all students. P.S. ARTS strives to raise more money to provide even more children with access to the arts.

Los Angeles Antiques Show. Opening Night Preview Party at Barker Hangar inside the Santa Monica Air Center on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. The Collectors’ Preview will be held from 5:00 pm – 7:00pm and the Preview Party will be held from 7:00pm – 10:00pm. (See below for ticket prices.) The public portion of the LA Antiques Show also takes place at Barker Hangar; hours: 11:00 am to 8:00 pm on Thursday, 4/24, Friday, 4/25 and Saturday, 4/26. Show hours on Sunday, 4/27: 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Ticket prices 4/24--4/27: $15 for daily admittance, which includes catalog. For more information about the LA Antiques Show, please visit www.psartsantiques.com, call 310.455.2886 or contact BWR Public Relations.

Ticket prices for the Opening Night Preview Party April 23rd are as follows:
Collectors' Preview* 5pm – 7pm:
$500.00 1 Ticket - $750.00 2 Tickets - $3750.00 10 Tickets.
Preview Party 7pm – 10pm:
$150.00 1 Ticket - $250.00 2 Tickets - $1250.00 10 Tickets.
For more info call: 310.559.9334.
(*Collectors’ Preview Tickets include Tickets to the Preview Party.)
The link to buy Preview Party tickets is:
http://www.psartsantiques.com/tickets/index.html