Some guys have all the pluck. Take Art Miami director Nick Korniloff. Most folks come to Miami Art Week to buy a painting. Korniloff instead ends up buying a whole art fair. Even nervier, he did this on the eve of a week that would see Art Miami both doubling in size and adding CONTEXT as its own in-house satellite, and after a 12-month span that saw him launch both Art Wynwood and Art Southampton. NBC6 got the art czar to tell us about acquiring Aqua -- and how he manages to pull off so many bold moves.
Why Aqua? It’ll give Art Miami a bigger footprint, and give us a presence across the causeway. It’ll also give us access to a whole new crop of young artists and gallerists, which will in turn help serve all of our other fairs.
Kinda like the art equivalent of fielding a farm team? Exactly.
Were you acquainted with the fair and its founders before the prospect of acquisition arose? Yes, I’d always admired what Jaq Chartier and Dirk Park created, and Aqua has always been sort of an annual reminder of how much vibrant and exciting talent there is to be found out there. That’s always been what’s driven the art world, and, as I think you’ll see with Art Wynwood and now CONTEXT, it’s what drives us as well. Besides, how can you not like a boutique hotel art fair?
Will Chartier and Park be staying on in any capacity? At the moment, we don’t think so. From what I gather they both have other endeavors they’d like to finally be able to pursue.
So how will you swing Aqua in addition to all the other action you’ve got goin’ on? We’ll definitely hire a director. Even I’d be hard-pressed to bounce back and forth across the causeways during Art Week.
It doesn’t seem you’d be hard-pressed for much of anything? Thanks, but like everyone, I’ve only got so many hours to do what needs to be done each day. That’s why I try to combine two or three of ‘em at a time!
