Christie's Brings Pop-Up Gallery of Auction Highlights to Silicon Valley
- September 03, 2014 22:59
Tech titans in Silicon Valley will now be served up blue-chip artworks for sale nearer to their own doorsteps. New York is coming to the town of Los Altos, Calif., and bringing prime examples of post-war and contemporary art. Christie's auction house has partnered with Passerelle, a local company behind community and cultural initiatives, to offer a preview of artworks offered privately and at auction this fall in New York.
Passerelle previously brought the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) into town for the locally-popular Project Los Altos which featured nine artworks by premier artists set in retail locations and outdoors. The company is associated with 23andME founder Anne Wojcicki and her husband, Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin. Passerelle has quietly and successfully been behind major civic improvements around Los Altos, an affluent town of almost 30,000, nestled near the headquarters of tech giants such as Apple and Google.
To spur on interest with the locals, a panel discussion will be offered titled, StART Up: Beginning (and Growing) Your Art Collection, on Saturday, September 13th. Speakers include: Janet Bishop, SFMOMA’s Curator of Painting and Sculpture, and Co-Curator of Project Los Altos: SFMOMA in Silicon Valley; Sabrina Buell, Art Advisor, Zlot Buell and Associates; Claudia Altman-Siegel, Gallery Founder and Director, Altman-Siegel; and Ravin Agrawal, Private Collector.
Major galleries have also made recent forays into the valley in an effort to cultivate new clients. Among them, New York's Pace popped up last spring in Menlo Park, Facebook's hub, with Alexander Calder mobiles and more. Two art fairs hit the scene in 2014: Silicon Valley Contemporary in April and Art Silicon Valley is set to debut next month (more on it here).
