FIAC L.A., Paris Photo L.A. art fairs to team up in 2015

Two international art fair heavyweights are joining forces: The Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, the 40-year-old Paris art show known as FIAC, will formally announce on Friday that its Los Angeles debut will coincide with Paris Photo L.A. in May 2015.

FIAC L.A. will debut May 27-31, 2015, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Paris Photo L.A., which debuted here one year ago at Paramount Studios, will shift from April to May 28-31, 2015. Both events are managed by Reed Expositions France.

This year’s installment of Paris Photo L.A. opens Friday. Last year’s Paris Photo L.A. drew more than 13,500 people, demonstrating “the enormous cultural appetite in Los Angeles, a city already astonishingly rich in museums, galleries, art schools, artists, collectors and a very broad audience,” FIAC said in a statement.

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The first FIAC L.A. will include four sections: “Modern Masters,” “Contemporary Art & New Tendencies” (the latter featuring galleries open for five years or less), “On Paper” and “Architecture & Design.”

Jill Silverman Van Coenegrachts will serve as director of FIAC L.A. She is an American who was a partner in Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, from 2005 to 2012 and managing director of Lisson Gallery, London, for 10 years before that. Jennifer Flay remains director of FIAC as a whole.

“I think it’ll be a terrific, important moment -- for art and the city of Los Angeles,” Silverman Van Coenegrachts said.

Added Paris Photo Director Julien Frydman: “You get the feeling L.A. is the place to be right now.

“Joining forces helps create even more opportunity -- joint programming, private parties, added shows, outdoor events, shuttling [back and forth] -- there will be more, simple as that.”

Former CalArts President Robert Fitzpatrick will be director of development for both L.A. fairs. Fitzpatrick was president of EuroDisney, where he opened Paris Disneyland in 1992. Ticket proceeds from FIAC L.A.’s opening night will benefit CalArts.

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