RH (Restoration Hardware) Announces the Launch of RH Contemporary Art: A Curated Multichannel Platform That Will Bring International Artists and Their Work to a Global Audience
Platform Will Encompass Immersive and Innovative Online Gallery Featuring Original Artist Documentaries, an Art Journal Including Critical Writing and an Art Gallery in New York City’s Chelsea Art District
CORTE MADERA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- RH Contemporary Art, a dynamic and immersive multichannel platform by RH (Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. - NYSE:RH), will unveil the elements of its comprehensive program on November 9, which together will offer a new way to view, learn about, and acquire artwork, and announces the opening of its first art gallery, located within a six-floor, 28,000-square-foot building at 437 West 16th Street in New York City’s Chelsea art district. The gallery encompasses recently renovated spaces devoted to exhibitions and programming.
Dedicated to bringing international artists and their work to a global audience, RH Contemporary Art enlists a worldwide team of recognized curators and commissions full bodies of work, enabling artists to explore new directions with their practice. Along with the premiere gallery space opening in Chelsea, RH Contemporary Art will include an online gallery featuring original content and a series of artist documentaries produced by RH Contemporary Art, as well as an art journal, which will be written by a roster of acclaimed curators, critics and artists. RH Contemporary Art plans to open a second RH Contemporary Art gallery space in Los Angeles in 2014. RH Contemporary Art will also include an ongoing artist-in-residence program, an integral component of the platform’s goal to support international artists and new directions for their practice.
Gary Friedman, RH Chairman, Creator, Curator and Co-CEO commented, "We are thrilled to be unveiling RH Contemporary Art, which includes our first free standing art gallery in New York City, a comprehensive art journal, and innovative online experience featuring the works of artists from around the world." Mr. Friedman continued, "We would like to thank our team and inaugural artists, especially the team from Random International, creators of the Rain Room who have contributed to bringing this new platform to life."
RH Contemporary Art is informed by the expertise of its global curatorial team, a select group of 15 diverse art world leaders. Recommended artists are then vetted by RH Contemporary Art through a selection process that includes research, review and studio visits. RH Contemporary Art is currently working with international artists, including Öystein Aasan, Nathan Baker, Brice Bischoff, Toby Christian, Peter Demos, Jason Gringler, Barney Kulok, Tom Owen, Random International, Jonathan Runcio, Chris Succo, Shaan Syed, Samantha Thomas and Natasha Wheat.
Online Gallery
Designed by the multinational design agency HUGE, RH Contemporary Art’s online gallery will offer an inspired and experiential way to learn about and acquire artwork. The site will feature high-resolution imagery, navigation capabilities to search by medium or artist and extensive original content, including a series of artist documentaries produced by RH Contemporary Art. Additionally, dedicated Artist Specialists will be available to assist viewers with building their private collections, as well as with acquiring, delivering, framing and installing artworks. This comprehensive offering will be seamlessly supported by art logistics experts.
Art Journal
RH Contemporary Art has engaged a roster of acclaimed curators, critics and artists to develop and write an Art Journal, which will address various aspects of art and art-making from diverse literary and visual perspectives. The journal will include informative profiles that reveal entry points into the artists’ practices, as well as in-depth essays by noted art historians. Designed to inspire a greater appreciation for the artists and their practice, the journal will be richly illustrated with examples of their artwork, as well as in-studio photography capturing the artists, their environments and working methods. Printed in limited editions, the journal will also be accessible online at www.rhcontemporaryart.com.
Art Gallery
RH Contemporary Art’s first large-scale commercial gallery in New York City’s Chelsea art district is intended to be the first of a series of galleries to open in select U.S. cities. Designed to complement the online experience, RH Contemporary Art galleries will provide viewers with the opportunity to experience curated exhibitions in person across a variety of formats, including building-wide solo features, a series of separate exhibitions and multi-floor, multi-themed group shows.
The exhibition space will open with concurrent solo shows of newly commissioned works by five emerging artists: Nathan Baker, Toby Christian, Peter Demos, Samantha Thomas and Natasha Wheat. The five inaugural exhibitions highlight their diverse artist practices, which incorporate elements of painting, assemblage, digital arts, sculpture and performance. RH Contemporary Art’s first artist-in-residence, Toby Christian, will create his works in Brooklyn prior to the show. Accompanying the exhibitions, RH Contemporary Art-produced original documentaries will be screened in the building’s lower level video room, providing engaging insights into the practice of the featured artists and RH Contemporary Art’s broader roster of collaborators.
The New York City gallery is located at 437 West 16th Street in a six-story industrial building constructed in 1920. The space also features a dedicated video room in the building’s lower level. The gallery will be open six days a week, Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
About RH Contemporary Art
RH Contemporary Art, a division of RH (Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. NYSE:RH), is a dynamic and immersive multichannel platform dedicated to bringing international artists and their work to a global audience. The program encompasses a distinctive online gallery featuring a series of artist documentaries, an art journal written by a roster of acclaimed curators, critics, and artists and a gallery in New York City exhibiting works for sale. RH Contemporary Art offers a new way to view, learn about and acquire artwork. www.rhcontemporaryart.com
About Restoration Hardware
RH (Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. - NYSE:RH) is a curator of design, taste and style in the luxury lifestyle market. The Company offers collections through its retail galleries, source books and online at RH.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements relating to RH Contemporary Art’s plans to open a second gallery in Los Angeles in 2014 and RH Contemporary Art’s intention to open other galleries in select U.S. cities. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future events. We cannot assure you that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. Important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include, among others, recent changes in general economic conditions and the impact on consumer confidence and consumer spending, changes in customer demand for our products, our ability to anticipate consumer preferences and buying trends, risks related to the number of new business initiatives we are undertaking, risks in the implementation or our real estate portfolio transformation, delays in store openings, as well as those risks and uncertainties disclosed under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Restoration Hardware Holdings’ Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 16, 2013, and similar disclosures in reports filed with the SEC, which are available on our investor relations website at ir.restorationhardware.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release speaks only as of the date on which we make it. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable securities laws.
FITZ & CO
Katrina Weber Ashour, 212-627-1455 ext. 232
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or
RH
Katya
Sorokko, 415-945-3598
ksorokko@restorationhardware.com
Source: Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc.
Released November 8, 2013