Rochester Art Collectors has suspended all in-person programs for the time being due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following programs that were scheduled have been canceled:

Crafting Democracy | Talk by Eboni Jones | RIT Bevier Gallery | March 14, 2020
Red Dot Challenge:2020 | Info Session #2 | Boulder Cafe & Lounge | March  16, 2020
Buying Art at Auction | The Ronald and Krista Reed Collection | Cottone Auction House | March 28, 2020
Red Dot Challenge:2020 | Game Launch | April 1, 2020
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• The Crafting Democracy program at RIT's Bevier Gallery featuring Eboni Jones will not be rescheduled because the exhibition has closed. 

 

• The Buying Art at Auction program at Cottone Auction House featuring Alice and Nick Zumbulyadis will be rescheduled.

 

• Red Dot Challenge:2020 Game launch will be rescheduled as soon as practical. Red Dot Challenge:2020 information sessions will be rescheduled based on the rescheduled game launch date.

Rochester Art Collectors is rolling out the super-fun FREE fantasy art collecting social media game Red Dot Challenge here in Rochester!

​You’ve heard of fantasy sports games like fantasy football, right? Well there’s also fantasy dating games, fantasy travel games, and fantasy role playing games. Fantasy art collecting is a recent entry into the growing social media fantasy gaming world.

Informational meetings about Red Dot Challenge:

• Wednesday March 4th, 2020 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM @ Boulder Cafe & Lounge - CLICK for more information and to register
• Monday March 16th, 2020 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM @ Boulder Cafe & Lounge - CLICK for more information and to register

    We are very pleased to announce Mark Harrington has become the 300th member of Rochester Art Collectors!

   It seems Mark was destined to appreciate and collect art. At the age of eight, without his parents knowledge, he rode his bike ten blocks to a local grocery store and bought a small oil painting of ducks in flight with his allowance. He gave that painting to his Mom. She kept it on her desk until she passed. It now hangs in his study in Pittsford. That was just the beginning..

   During his early school years Mark's interest in art intensified and his activities expanded to include collecting. ​In high school Mark became friends with the daughter of the curator at the McNay Art Institute. While attending a exhibition at the McNay Mark was introduced to Lita Albuquerque, whose work is in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. Lita and her work made a lasting impression on Mark. Their friendship blossomed. While attending college in Austin Mark began collecting art with some regularity. He made a practice of visiting student art exhibitions, purchasing work that spoke to him along the way.

​   After business school while living in New York City in 1979 Mark became acquainted with Dorothy and Herb Vogel through Tom Armstrong, then curator of the Whitney Museum. The Vogels were two of the most remarkable people Mark had the pleasure of knowing. They were a fixture on the NYC art scene. ​The Vogels introduced Mark to important art dealers and taught him the ropes. Thanks to the Vogels he met Gracie Mansion at the opening of the first gallery exhibit of “graffiti art” created by Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat.

   During their lifetimes the Dorothy and Herb Vogel amassed over 4,000 minimalist and conceptual works along with a fair number of abstract expressionist works. They built their massive collection on modest civil servants’ salaries. Herb worked in the Post Office and Dorothy worked as a librarian. They lived in a small two-bedroom walkup on 86th Street in Manhattan.  Ultimately their collection was bequeathed to 50 different museums: 50 works to each of 50 museums in 50 states.

    Harrington says, "The Vogels taught me the importance of getting to know the artist and seeing their work  progress over time. Most importantly, they stressed that if a work moved me, and it was the first thing I saw in my mind when I woke up, go buy it on the spot." As with the Vogels, I never have and never will sell any piece I buy. Investment value is unimportant to me. What matters is how my heart and soul respond. Herb said he never wanted to build a collection, it just happened. He taught me to think of each piece as a friend that lived with me.

   When Mandi Antinucci became a member of Rochester Art Collectors on May 22nd she helped the group reach it's goal of 200 members more than one month ahead of it's June 30th goal. Not only that since she joined before June 30th Mandi will forever be known as a "Founding Member" of Rochester Art Collectors.

   Mandi is not only an avid art collector, she is an accomplished artist in her own right. Plus there's a history of art lovers in her family. Her grandfather, Robert Heaviside, collected extensively and served on the board of directors of the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York.

   Mandi's collection includes both contemporary works as well as works from the 19th and 20th century. Her collection hangs throughout her home in Geneseo. 

​   Mandi teaches art in the Batavia City School District while her husband, Rob Antonucci, teaches art in the Geneseo Central School District. Both are practicing artists as well as collectors and teachers.

   On Friday, May 11th Rochester Contemporary Art Center and Rochester Art Collectors will co-present a community discussion that directly addresses the place of regional art, artists and audiences in the global marketplace of ideas.
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​  The program will be held at RoCo during the Federico Solmi – The Good Samaritans exhibition that runs from April 6th through May 12th.

   The Good Samaritans is a solo exhibition comprised of several video installations by Italian artist Federico Solmi. His installations include different media such as video, drawings, mechanical sculptures and paintings. Solmi employs bright colors and a satirical aesthetic to portray a dystopian vision of our present-day society. The exhibition includes a new text about Solmi’s work by Larry Ossei-Mensah, an independent curator and cultural critic.

   Think globally. Create, experience and collect locally ​will be open to the public. The program will begin at 6:00 pm with a social/mixer and will run until about 7:30pm. 

Tickets for this program are $2/each but free for members of Rochester Contemporary Art Center and Rochester Art Collectors. Reservations are requested. Click here to get the details and your reserve your seat(s).

   Look for more collaboration between Rochester Art Collectors and Rochester Contemporary Art Center leading up to the massive 6x6 exhibition in June.