In early December, Miami Beach played host to thousands of artists, collectors, dealers and lovers of art who descended upon the city to attend Art Basel, the most prestigious art show in the Americas, as well as over 15 other shows happening in and around the area. For the first time, Planar joined in on the week’s festivities, showcasing Planar products at three different venues. Planar’s team, led by VP of Marketing Jennifer Davis, hit the ground running with a jam-packed schedule of meetings and events.

Planar’s art show debut launched at Avant Gallery, in partnership with Avant Gallery and Surface Magazine, at the 3rd Annual Pictures + Furniture event on November 30th. The event marked the official launch of the new Planar Silhouette displays, featuring work from top industrial design and furniture artists Chad Jensen, Philip Michael Wolfson and Pryor Callaway on two Silhouettes placed in the gallery among the art work. Planar’s displays created a buzz with attendees, many who commented they were surprised at how displays could be transformed into works of art.

At the PULSE Contemporary Art Fair, multimedia artist Yorgo Alexopoulos’ work “No Feeling is Final” furthered Planar’s message that technology and art can work in harmony. Yorgo used an 8x14 Planar Clarity™ Matrix LX-46 media wall to display his video art at the Cristin Tierney Gallery exhibit.

Finally at the Miami SOLO show, Planar demonstrated thought leadership by showing two prototypes of the digital canvas with technology partner Samsung Semiconductor. The displays have been designed to go beyond traditional commercial and television products, and are customized for the display of fine art with optical enhancements, electronics, and architectural frames worthy of an institutional or individual art collector.

The week also provided Planar with a wonderful opportunity to engage in conversations with everyone from artists to collectors regarding the endless possibilities displays can offer in the art and design realm. On Saturday, the Planar team boarded their plane back to Portland exhausted, but exhilarated with the week’s success.

November 18, 2011

635 million in three days. No, that is not the number of votes from the last American Idol finale or even the amount of money raised by the winning candidate in the last election. 635 million is actually the amount of money raised in three evenings of art sales by Philips de Pury, Christie’s and Sotheby’s last week in New York. With well over a half a billion dollars pumping through the art world in only three days it is clear the art world has not heard that the economy hasn’t fully recovered.

This latest news might surprise many, but not Planar. Planar’s vision for the convergence of art and technology will make its debut at the end of this month with a showcase at several venues during the highly acclaimed Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach event. Planar will kick off the week at Design Miami with a by-invitation press and industry event titled, ‘Pictures + Furniture,’ which will take place on November 30th at Avant Gallery in creative partnership with Surface Magazine. The exhibit is in its third year at Avant Gallery, but will mark the first time Planar will be participating; providing several large digital displays for top industrial designers and furniture artists to display their video art presentations.

In addition to the Pictures + Furniture event, Planar is equally excited to be showcasing exhibits at the PULSE contemporary art show at the Cristin Tierney Gallery, featuring the digital artist Yorgo Alexpoulous’ work on Planar’s Clarity™ Matrix LX-46 media wall. Finally, Miami SOLO, presented by Artexpo, will include a showcase of two prototypes of Digital Canvas™ in partnership with Samsung Semiconductor.

Planar is eagerly anticipating all the events and is looking forward mingling with the art world to learn from and gather feedback regarding ongoing product development designed for this community. If you have plans to be in Miami Beach during the time of Design Miami and Art Basel please let us know as we would love to extend an personal invitation for you to join us at the Pictures + Furniture event.