American Art as Main Feature of St. Moritz Art Masters

In just a few weeks the St. Moritz Art Masters will be launching in its ninth edition. Once more the biennial will be the highlight of the summer program in St. Moritz, as it does not only offer an extensive art program, but also creates the opportunity for extraordinary encounters.

Press Preview: August 26th, 2016, at 2 pm l Hotel Kempinski, St. Moritz
With Monty Shadow (Founder), Philipp Noller (Director), Andrea
Caratsch (Gallerist), Albert Watson (Artist) and Marlene Taschen (Publisher)
Walk of Art: August 26th, 2016, 2.30 – 4.00 pm | Start at Hotel Kempinski
Duration: August 27th – September 4th ,2016

The contemplative place in the Engadin was predestined for the project from the beginning:

Situated in the geographical center of the dynamic economical region between Zurich, Munich, and Milan, St. Moritz with its breathtaking landscape setting has always been a meeting point for artists, intellectuals, economic decision makers and athletes, entrepreneurs and creatives from all over the world. Drawn to its rustic and cozy charm, many different visionaries and characters would meet, which allowed for unexpected encounters as well as an informal exchange of ideas and visions.

The encounter – a key element

For these reasons, Monty Shadow, founder and spiritus rector of the St. Moritz Art Masters, found the renowned small town in the Oberengadin to be the one and only right setting for his goal to create a platform that encouraged such encounters – inspiring, rewarding and not at last, unexpected. „St. Moritz is a unique place – it is no surprise to me that many artists have been intrigued with it. They continuously enrich the Engadin with their artworks as well as their intellectual influence“. From the very beginning, the intention of the St. Moritz Art Masters has

been to make this abundance of inspiration, wide-reaching vision and artistic perspectives on global affairs the setting for encounters. This serves as an explanation for the very international program of the exhibits whose focus this year will be on the American art scene. www.stmoritzartmasters.com

Geographical focus: the USA

With a varied, cross-genre program the St. Moritz Art Masters puts its focus on the USA this year: The Paracelsus Forum will be showing drawings and sculptures by Robert Longo, while Laurie Anderson can be encountered even twice: with a video installation at the Paracelsus Forum as well as at Vito Schnabel Gallery. Another highlight is an exhibition of Robert Rauschenberg, whose work will be presented in the protestant church. Not far from there, in the gymnasium of the local school building, Montblanc will be showing a selection from its Cutting Edge Art Collection, including works by Tom Sachs, Kane Do and Nicholas Forker.

BIG FIVE and Cartier Award

Obviously, photography will be paid tribute to as well: Along with a solo exhibition at Suvretta

House by acclaimed artist Howard Bingham named „GOAT – Muhammad Ali“, which gives a unique insight into the life of the recently deceased champion, the BIG FIVE show at hotel Kempinski, supported by TASCHEN publishing house, will be dedicated to five legends of the genre (Albert Watson, Annie Leibovitz, Michael Muller, Peter Beard and Sebastião Salgado). The emphasis of the exhibit will be on American photographer Albert Watson whose lifetime work is to be honored with the Cartier Award on the opening weekend of St. Moritz Art Masters.

2017 Anniversary

Regarding the upcoming 10 year anniversary next year, the current outcome appears to be positive: every year the St. Moritz Art Masters manages to not only present a carefully curated art program which has already brought some of the biggest names in contemporary art to St. Moritz, such as Gerhard Richter, Ai Weiwei, Francesco Clemente, Mike Kelley, Julian Schnabel or Laurence Weiner, to name a few.

The event’s true radiant power can also to be noticed away from and around the exciting installations: every year the St. Moritz Art Masters invites a wide variety of guests – artists, collectors and opinion leaders, decision makers and creatives of major luxury companies, locals and visitors – to experience personal encounters, be it in the exhibitions, the Walk of Art or at lunch on top of the mountain, while having a drink at the hotel lobby, in private or at a gala dinner. Founder Monty Shadow purposely chooses to inspire a dialog of the arts with other worlds, such as branding and publishing, engineering andautomobile as well as fashion and film.

For next year’s tenth anniversary celebration he has big plans in mind: it is supposed to become the most extensive and elaborate edition of the St. Moritz Art Masters. More information about the content of the anniversary edition is to be expected in the following months.

Temporary list of artists: Josef Albers, Laurie Anderson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Howard Bingham, Pierrette Bloch, Louise Bourgeois, Lawrence Carroll, Francesco Clemente, George Condo, McDermott & McGough, Kane Do, Lucio Fontana, Nicholas Forker, FriendsWithYou, Robert Gratiot, Gotthard Graubner, Keith Haring, Mimmo Jodice, Sherrie Levine, Lucy Liu, Robert Longo, Jeff Lutonsky, Joan Miró, Claire Morgan, Jorge Pardo, Richard Phillips, Rene Ricard, Tom Sachs, David Salle, Kenny Scharf, Julian Schnabel, Vincent Szarek, Gideon Rubin, Georgia Russell, Joel Shapiro, David Smith, Pierre Soulages, Cy Twombly, Michael Vasquez, Albert Watson, Andy Warhol und Pat York.