News

Celebrating 25 Years 

We are honored to showcase the legendary work of Harry Benson, the talented photographer behind Dan's latest cover.

Link to Dan's Paper  

DALI EXHIBITION AUGUST 16 - SEPTEMBER 8, 2024

SOUTHAMPTON, NY 

Contessa Gallery’s Steve Hartman Talks Salvador Dali

Link to Story

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2024 | 5:00PM-7:00PM

Join us for a one-of-a-kind event that brings together the worlds of art, fashion, and specialty handcrafted cocktails by Croton Dam Spirits.

The event will take place at Contessa Gallery, 9 Main St., Southampton, NY and will feature a Q&A with the legendary fashion critic and author Hal Rubinstein, in addition to remarks from Cristina Cuomo, editor and chief of the Purist magazine and moderated by Ray Rogers, executive editor of Purist magazine.

Press Release - Contessa Gallery to Open in Southampton

Dan's Papers sits down with Gallery Owner Steve Hartman to discuss the partnership with World-renowned artist David Drebin

Link to Story

A HAMPTONS NOT TO BE MISSED EVENING

Alexi Torres Exhibition in the Hamptons

Contessa Gallery is extremely proud and excited to present an extensive selection of Jiménez Deredia's works during Art Miami 2022

Booth AM542, November 29th through December 4, 2022

Slovakian photographer Maria Švarbová has had her colorful work shown in galleries and festivals around the world, from Milan to Mexico City. But the inspiration for the 30-year-old's largest and most exhibited series -- the saturated, soothingly symmetrical "Swimming Pools" -- was found much closer to home.

Contessa Gallery at Art Miami, Dec. 5 -10, will show recent art by Mr. Brainwash, Cayla Birk., David Drebin, Hijack, Brendan Murphy & Daniele Sigalot.

Creating Equilibrium, a first-of-its-kind event focused on generating environmentally impactful innovations, is set to host its inaugural event in Lake Tahoe, CA this August. 

Lake Tahoe will also serve as the backdrop for the Village Green festival, a free, immersive experience for all that unites storied musical talent, eco-visionaries, culinary culture, and experiential art, including a floating, multimedia installation set on the crystal clear waters of the lake. Gilles Cenazandotti, the feature artist at this event, will be leading walking tours around the village grounds and discussing the ecological mission behind his work. The artist will also exhibit several large sculpture works created with tidal debris found in Mediterranean Sea and begin plans for a commissioned work with Contessa Gallery and Tahoe Public Art.

When it comes to the art scene in the Hamptons, bigger may not be better.

While there has never been any doubt that major events like Art Hamptons and Art Southampton attract hordes of well-heeled visitors, questions continue to surface about how commercially successful these fairs actually are. The notion that these events draw casual gawkers rather than serious buyers has been reinforced with recent news that both fairs were being yanked from the summer calendar this year. But have no fear: in the month ahead, there is no shortage of lively art programs for Long Island’s East End—they’re just smaller in scale. Now in its seventh year, Max Fishko’s Market Art + Design is on track to open on July 6 at the Bridgehampton Museum.

It’s a romantic idea, an artist born on a Mediterranean island who makes his work with found objects from the sea. Gilles Cenazandotti is such an artist. Shells are not his interest, however, and while his sculptures and collages are certainly easy on the eye, his latest works, available through Contessa Gallery, carry a powerful and useful message. 

Contessa Gallery's Craig Alan has a restless eye, pushing the boundaries of visual expression with no regard for stylistic constraints. Alan’s body of work co-opts numerous styles from pop-surrealism to magic realism to neo expressionist abstraction and representation. His most recent work, which he refers to as the Populus series, steps outside the tropes of those well-worn formal enterprises with strikingly original images created from hundreds of tiny figures on a white ground.

Contessa Gallery's Chuck Close is on loan to the University of Michigan Museum of Art for their Victors for Art: Michigan's Alumni Collectors Exhibition. Steve Hartman, owner and University of Michigan alumni, is humbled by this opportunity. Steve continues, "It is a privilege and an honor to contribute work to the Victors for Art Exhibition." "This print is one of the most important prints of the twentieth century, signifying a milestone in the history of printmaking and a pinnacle in Chuck Close's career."

Contessa Gallery will be exhibiting new works from Mr. Brainwash, Hijack, Cayla Birks, and more at the Market Art + Design show July 6-9. Market Art + Design returns to the center of Bridgehampton Museum for its seventh edition, with compelling presentations of modern and contemporary art enhanced by a striking design component pulling from dealers and designers from around the world. Expanding this year to accommodate close to seventy exhibitors, Market Art + Design 2017 will be the East End’s premier art fair and the summer season’s top destination for fine art and design.

Contessa Gallery's Blue and Joy (Daniele Sigalot) will be exhibiting the largest installation of his career at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy this summer. The exhibition, which will span seven rooms within the palace, do not merely create contrast between contemporary times and the past, but they are mostly the result of a long study about the Royal Palace of Caserta and its history.

The owner of Contessa Gallery immediately recognized something special about Cayla Birk.’s works.  Exclusively showcased at Contessa Gallery, the young artist pays homage to historical events and characters in a contemporary style that is uniquely her own.  “I don’t normally champion emerging artists.  That’s not what our focus is, however, in this case it’s clear to me where her career is going to go.  She fits in with our roster of internationally recognized artists,” said Hartman.  

The Contessa Gallery will open a seasonal satellite location in West Palm Beach, Fla. The gallery is currently open by appointment only, however, it is expected that special events will be hosted in the future. A specially curated collection of contemporary artists is on display.

The two-story, 8,000-square-foot gallery is at 539 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, Fla.

Art has made its way out of an art show and onto Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. Contessa Gallery's Mr. Brainwash made such a big splash at the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Art Fair this past weekend in the city owned “tent site” that a Cleveland-based gallery has opened a pop-up art gallery downtown featuring his work and other artists.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017 – Cleveland, OH – Internationally renowned Contessa Gallery is thrilled to announce the opening of its first Seasonal Satellite location in West Palm Beach, Florida, at 539 Clematis Street, at the corner of Rosemary. The two-story, 8,000 sq ft gallery space was selected to better serve the gallery’s extensive clientele in the South Florida region. Initially open by appointment only, the gallery also looks forward to hosting special events with charities and other organizations. 

Currently on display is a specially curated collection of works by leading contemporary artists, including a very extensive selection by pop & street art sensation, Mr. Brainwash. Contessa Gallery is excited to showcase the artist’s continual revolutionary experimentation with new techniques, media, materials and subject matter. The special exhibition includes original Mr. Brainwash works on Wood, Metal, Brick, Cement, Canvas, Paper, Sculpture and Neon Light Mixed Media. The gallery also features artwork by David Drebin, Hijack, Gilles Cenazandotti, and Cayla Birk. 

Monday, November 28, 2016 – Cleveland, OH – Contessa Gallery will be participating in the 27th annual Art Miami Fair. Over these past 27 years, Art Miami has established a well-known reputation for providing fine art collectors with the latest in high quality Contemporary and Modern Art. The fair will begin on November 29 and run through December 4, 2016. Contessa Gallery is thrilled to present the most recent works by Mr. Brainwash, Gilles Cenazandotti, David Datuna, David Drebin and Hijack at Art Miami 2016 (Booths #D407 & #D407a). This will be the highly anticipated Art Miami/Basel Week debut of Hijack's artwork with the gallery, David Datuna's Unity Series project and David Drebin's latest masterpiece, Etching on Crystal Starfire Glass, Lips of Love.

First Look: Special opportunity to acquire new David Drebin Dreamscapes ahead of the public release & Late Summer book launch. Available exclusively through Contessa Gallery. David Drebin is one of the most successful and highly collected photographers working today. Contessa Gallery recently debuted his latest monograph, Chasing Paradise, inaugurated with a solo show for the artist at the gallery, October 2 – November 7, 2015. The popular exhibition launched a series of international book signings and solo shows with the artist. Chasing Paradise marks Drebin’s fourth monograph of works (preceded by; Beautiful Disasters in 2012, The Morning After in 2011, and Love and Other Stories in 2007). The book’s title is appropriate, as his works are compilations of alluring fantasies, didactic landscapes and mysterious circumstances, all in some way or another idyllic in appearance. The scenes that the artist creates are worlds nearly utopic in juxtaposition with the viewer’s actuality.

Monday, January 25, 2016 – Cleveland, OH – Contessa Gallery will be participating in the LA Art Show, which is recognized for its reputation for providing fine art collectors with the latest in high quality Contemporary and Modern Art. The fair will begin on January 27th and run through January 31st, 2016. Contessa Gallery is thrilled to bring to Los Angeles the latest groundbreaking works by Mr. Brainwash, David Datuna, David Drebin and Gilles Cenazandotti.

Monday, November 30, 2015 – Cleveland, OH – Contessa Gallery will be participating in the 26^th annual Art Miami Fair. Over these past 26 years, Art Miami has established a well-known reputation for providing fine art collectors with the latest in high quality Contemporary and Modern Art. The fair will begin on December 1 and run through December 6, 2015. Contessa Gallery is delighted to present the most recent works by David Datuna, Mr. Brainwash, David Drebin and Gilles Cenazandotti at Art Miami. 

It’s a romantic idea, an artist born on a Mediterranean island who makes his work with found objects from the sea. Gilles Cenazandotti is such an artist. Shells are not his interest, however, and while his sculptures and collages are certainly easy on the eye, his latest works, available through Contessa Gallery, carry a powerful and useful message. 

Contessa Gallery's exhibition of David Drebin's Chasing Paradise is selected by Artsy as a Feautured Show for the month of October. 

Datuna: Portrait of America, a documentary about the life of Contemporary Artist David Datuna, recently won Best Film at the 23rd Raindance Film Festival in London. Directed by Brian Bayerl, the film was screened at the festival alongside 90 feature length films and 200 shorts, which were represented by 48 countries around the world.

Cinematic, sexy and mysterious are a few words to describe David Drebin’s portfolio of landscapes and femme fatales. His distinct photographic style eludes yet entices viewers to step into a world beyond their own. Drebin’s new book Chasing Paradise will debut with a tour launching in Cleveland on October 2 at Contessa Gallery. It is only appropriate that with Contessa Gallery’s long standing reputation for dealing the highest quality of artwork from the world’s most talented artists, that Drebin should inaugurate his global tour with a show at the prestigious gallery.

Please join us for an opening reception on Friday, October 2 from 6 – 8PM, as well as Saturday, October 3 from 1 – 4PM. Drebin will be there, along with copies of Chasing Paradise available for purchase. Attendees will also be able to see Drebin’s latest works, which will be on exhibition at Contessa Gallery until Sunday, November 7.

David Drebin (B. 1970 - )

Blowing Away, 2015

Digital C Print

Contessa Gallery to exhibit at Art Southampton, July 9 - 13

Contessa Gallery to exhibit at Art Miami New York, May 14 - 17

Contessa Gallery to exhibit at Art Miami, December 2 - 7, 2014. 

In an unprecedented move, Contessa Gallery will be exhibiting in two booths at Art Miami (December 2 - 7, 2014), with one booth dedicated exclusively to a special presentation of the work of Mr. Brainwash. 

Contessa Gallery will be premiering David Datuna's homage to Andy Warhol's iconic serial celebrity series, Ten Marilyns, on the main wall of their Art Miami booth, December 2 - 7, 2014.

Contessa Gallery featuring new works and new media by notable Contemporary artist, David Drebin, at Art Miami (December 2 - 7, 2014).

Fair Hours:

Fair Hours:

VIP Preview

Thursday, October 9:

6-7:30PM, Access for Art Silicon Valley / San Francisco Platinum VIP Cardholders 

7:30-10PM, Access for Art Silicon Valley / Art San Francisco VIP Cardholders

Daily

Friday, October 10, 2014                 11:00AM-9:00PM

Saturday, October 11, 2014             11:00AM-8:00PM

Sunday, October 12, 2014               11:00AM-6:00PM  

Fair Location:

San Mateo County Event Center

Expo Hall

1346 Saratoga Drive

San Mateo, CA 94403

Please visit us at Booth #SV68

Fair Hours:

VIP Preview

Daily

July 25-27, 12-7 PM  

July 28, 12-5 PM

Fair Location:

Art Southampton Pavilion | Southampton Elks Lodge
605 County Road 39
Southampton, NY 11968

Please visit us at Booth #AS 6.

Fair Hours:

VIP Preview:

May 8, 2-5pm

General Fair:

May 8, 5-9pm

May 9 & 10, 12-8pm

May 11, 12-6pm

Fair Location:

Downtown Armory

68 Lexington Avenue at 25th Street

New York City

Please visit us at Booth # DT10.

Fair Hours:

VIP Preview:

February 13, 6 - 10pm

General Fair:

February 14, Noon - 9pm

Feburary 15, Noon - 8pm

February 16, Noon - 7pm

February 17, Noon - 6pm

Fair Location:

The Art Wynwood Pavilion

Midtown Miami | Wynwood

3101 NE 1st Avenue

Miami, FL 33137

Fair Hours:

Preview Evening:
February 4th, First View 6-7:30pm (by invitation), Collectors' Invitational 7:30-10pm

General Fair:

February 5-6, Noon - 7pm

February 7, Noon - 9pm

February 8-9, Noon - 7pm

Fair Location:

Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401

Please visit us at Booth 118.

Fair Hours:

VIP Preview:

January 23, First View, 6 - 7:30pm, Collectors' Invitational, 7:30 - 10pm

General Fair:

January 24-26, Noon - 7pm

January 27, Noon - 6pm

Fair Location:

Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401

Please visit us at Booth 210.

Fair Hours: 

VIP Premiere:

January 15, Patron Reception 7 - 11pm, Opening Night Premiere Party, 8 - 11pm

General Fair:

January 16 - 18, 11am - 7pm

January 19, 11am - 5pm

Fair Location:

Los Angeles Convention Center
South Hall J and K, 1201 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015 

Please visit us at Booth 900.

The highlight of Contessa Gallery’s Art Miami booth will be David Datuna’s Jay-Z / Picasso: Opposition of Imaginations. Two portraits, Picasso and Jay-Z, represent the contact of the conceptions of two diverse artistic periods. This opposition creates an energetic, mental, philosophical, and emotional perspective on art’s evolution. The two portraits together serve as a collective image, with Picasso embodying and conceptualizing the energy, fundamentalism, and expression of the 20^th century, and Jay-Z’s fragmented portrait representing modern art as an experimental puzzle.

Read Full Story

VIP Opening Preview: December 3rd

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 8, 2013

Contessa Gallery Announces Exhibition, Chuck Close: Radical Innovator, November 8, 2013 - January 12, 2014

Contessa Gallery is pleased to present a solo-exhibition of important Chuck Close works in a variety of media. Working almost exclusively in the subject of portraiture, Chuck Close has been consistently breaking artistic boundaries with his printmaking for more than 40 years. The 39 works in this exhibition span Chuck Close's career and will feature limited edition prints (including new revolutionary archival watercolor pigment prints and felt hand stamps, mezzotint, aquatints, etchings, linocuts, screenprints, woodcuts, and paper pulp works), photography (including unique Polaroid prints, daguerreotypes, and gridded working maquettes, as well as woodburytypes), and large-scale Jacquard tapestries. 

The Club at Sea Fair will be at the 54th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

VIP Preview:
October 31st, 10am - 7pm
General Admission:
November 1st - 3rd, 10am - 7pm
November 4th, 10am - 5pm

The fair will take place at the following location:
Bahia Mar Yachting Center
801 Seabreeze Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

VIP Opening Preview: July 25th

NASHVILLE — The work of Nashville-based photographer Jack Spencer will be on view at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts from July 12-Oct. 13 in the Center"Ÿs Upper-Level Galleries.

The first major museum exhibition of the artist"Ÿs work, “Jack Spencer: Beyond the Surface” is composed of 70 photographs — selected by the artist and Mark Scala, chief curator at the Frist Center — that reveal the artist"Ÿs interest in the ephemerality of life, the subjectivity of perception and the overriding value of beauty.

Spencer is renowned for his toned photographs and Southern subjects, but for many years he has focused on other regions and produced color work that approaches pure abstraction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2013

Contessa Gallery Announces Exhibition, Lens of a Legend: Harry Benson Photographs, May 31 – July 7, 2013

Contessa Gallery is pleased to present a one-man exhibition by the award-winning photographer Harry Benson. Arriving in America with the Beatles in 1964, Benson has spent his six-decade career photographing politicians, musicians, actors, athletes, writers, artists, soldiers, and activists. Considered the finest photographic chronicler of American pop culture, Benson has photographed every U.S. president from Eisenhower to Barack Obama. He was feet away when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated; in the room when Nixon resigned; with Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Meredith march; and with Coretta Scott King at her husband’s funeral. Benson chronicled the building of the Berlin wall and its fall, and covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Benson has had more than forty solo gallery exhibitions and has had sixteen books of his photography published. Contessa Gallery’s exhibition, Lens of a Legend: Harry Benson Photographs, is in conjunction with the release of Benson’s newest book, The Beatles: On the Road 1964-1966. 

Contessa Gallery is pleased to share that Harry Benson is featured in the May 2013 issue of Art & Culture Magazine in John Loring's article, "The Canny and Eloquent Mr. Benson."

Contessa Gallery is proud to announce that its exhibition, The Image Within: Alex G. Cao (November 16 - December 31, 2012), was well-received by Steven Litt in his "Review: Alex G. Cao" for the March 2013 edition of ARTnews.

The fair will take place at the following location:

The Art Miami Pavilion
Midtown Miami | Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue (between 31st and 32nd)
Miami, FL 33137

Please visit us at Booth B17.

The fair will take place at the following location:

Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401

Please visit us at Booth 210.

David Drebin Photographs is an exhibition celebrating the artist's newest series, the exclusive U.S. release of Drebin's newest book, Beautiful Disasters, and the premiere of his newest work, Dreams of Rome. This is Drebin's third exhibition at Contessa Gallery. Drebin has earned an international reputation, with admirers including Sir Elton John and Diane Von Furstenberg, and his photography has been published in magazines such as Vanity Fair, GQ, ESPN Magazine, Elle, and The New York Times Magazine.

Drebin's scenes of captivating landscapes and glamorous women staged against architectural and natural backdrops capture the beauty and romance of everyday life. The scenes in David Drebin Photographs are all-at-once mysterious, lovely, humorous, melancholy, and exciting. Drebin explains his approach to "directing" the scenes which he captures: "If I were not a photographer I would have probably attempted to become a psychologist, or a ring master at the circus... I like pictures that are often dupilicitous, the ones with hidden meanings, that are ultimately gripping and stay in my mind far beyond the moment of looking at them for the first time... the pictures within the pictures... within the pictures... Coming from a perspective based on how I see the world with my eyes, heart, ears, and brain; I like to think of myself not only as a photographer... but as a psychographer."

The opening reception will be an opportunity for collectors to acquire Drebin's newest photography and meet the artist. Beautiful Disasters and a special edition of the book which includes a limited edition Drebin print will be available for purchase during the reception.

The fair will take place at the following location:

Delamar Greenwich Harbor
500 Steamboat Road
Greenwich, CT 06830

Please visit us in Booths 102 and 104.

Contessa Gallery is looking forward to participating in the inaugural Art Southampton, an international contemporary and modern art fair, taking place July 26 - 30, 2012 with a VIP opening preview on July 26.

The fair will take place at the following location:
Art Southampton Pavilion, Southampton Elks Lodge 
605 County Road 39
Southampton, NY 11968

Please visit us at BOOTH AS17.

Our fantasies can be alluring but also bittersweet. It is this tension that makes David Drebin's sensuous imagery so spellbinding. In his latest collection, this acclaimed contemporary photographer creates bout visual narratives around each of his luschious heroine's voyages of seducton. Aloof, yet irresistible, the women remain tantalizingly anonymous even though there are a few mega stars among them. Set against a global backdrop of sophistication, the locales range from New York to Jerusalem, Miami to Istanbul. Whom will they seduce? Whom will they reject? Follow this spellbinding photographic master of intrigue as he takes us on a journey that could shock but might also lead to bliss in his new book "Beautiful Disasters."