337 Project | Urban Gallery |

Ever since the 337 Project splashed down a year ago, Salt Lake City has been caught on a wave of contemporary art and expression.  The 337 Project hopes to continue adding to the wave with it's latest exhibition "Urban Gallery". 

Urban Gallery is a large outdoor exhibition focusing on the transformation of the urban landscape.  The show will be unveiled this Friday at 7pm at the Neighborhood House (1050 w. 500 s.) with live music, food and entertainment. 

Like all of the 337 Project events, this promises to be a big one.

Cheers,

S

Record Month for Iao Gallery Sites

We broke 1,000 unique visitors to our site this month!

Just so you understand the significance of this, we started the year with an average of only 150 visitors per month and over the spring and summer increased that to an average of 600 visitors. This month we smoked our previous record of 800 visitors. It's a sign that we're moving in the right direction and surely gaining ground as an online presence.

Thanks to all of our wonderful artists, followers, patrons, and supporters. We'd love to hear from you on how to improve our pages for a more pleasant online viewing experience. Email your comments to me at shadna@gmail.com.

Cheers,

S

Damien Hirst - Creating a New Art Market

This week is a historical week in the world of art as contemporary British artist Damien Hirst makes history by selling his art without a dealer!

The past two days Hirst has been selling his collection at Sotheby's.  The collection was 223 works that ranged from small drawings to animals preserved in tanks of formaldehyde.  The auction ended yesterday with a total of $200.7 million in sales greatly exceeding the auction house estimate of $177.6 million.  This is also historic as this is the largest sale for a single-artist auction which was made in 1993 by a collection of 88 pieces by Picasso which sold for $20 million.

It goes to show how strong the art market is and the value of art as an investment in these economically hard times (for the US at any rate) where large US financial institutions are being bailed out, sold off, or liquidated.  It seems that the art market once again triumphs and exceeds expectations.

I'd suggest that the most secure long term investment is Art.  Not only financially but, emotionally as well.  Nothing enriches your life like the ownership of fine works of art.  

For more information on the art market I suggest this interactive report from last year by MSN Money called "Art Goes Boom!".

Cheers,

Shadna

qi peng returning back to Iao Gallery

qi peng will be returning back to the roster at Iao Gallery from Iao PROJECTS. His work can be found at Ugallery in Scottsdale, AZ as well as his collaborative work with Michelle Kurtz (Circlegal) in the pair Kurtz + peng.

Thanks so much for supporting Iao PROJECTS and good luck!

take care, Albert

Bhutanese Spiritual Art Exhibition

An interesting article regarding a touring exhibition of Bhutanese Tantric Buddhist Art.  I'm especially drawn to the amazing culture and spiritual theology of the work and the area from which it comes.  Perhaps you are too?  It is currently being shown at the Rodin Gallery in NYC.

This article is featured on the New York Times website which you can visit by clicking here.

Namaste,

Shadna

SLC Weekly Article

Thought you might be interested to read what Salt Lake City Weekly had to say about IAO PROJECTS.  This is all due to the hard work of Albert Wang (Director of IAO PROJECTS).  It's a great story and I hope you get a chance to read it.  As we gain more media coverage I'll be posting those articles on our blog. 

Cheers,

Shadna

Click Here for the full story...

Shadna Design Live!

Grand news! I've finally finished construction on the latest addition to Iao-Gallery.com called Shadna Design!

This page is set up for our new web and graphic design wing. At this point it is representing my own work as a freelance designer however, as we grow I hope to make this a full department of the Iao Gallery family. We've already begun the process of finding additional artists/designers that will assist in this project. In fact it is my main vision to have sites that are created by or conceived by contemporary artists (both "known" and "un-known")

We are still in the early stages but, have come a long way since we began a month ago. The portfolio is growing rapidly and I'm hoping for the best as we move forward. The name may change and the field of specialty may grow however, the concept will remain the same. That concept is to create websites that are creative, asthetically appealing, and most importantly, affordable.

Visit the site today and refer the people you know that are looking for a website.

Cheers,

Shadna

Let's Swoon!

Let's celebrate the positive street art and sense of community through New York's street artist Swoon. Along with Banksy, her quiet commentary about the nature of life and city living thrusts us into a higher consciousness.

Do check her work out!