San Francisco Art Fair 2025 to Centre East Bay Artists

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San Francisco Art Fair, formerly known as ArtMRKT San Francisco, will count veteran dealer Jessica Silverman and newcomer Micki Meng among first-time exhibitors when it returns to Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion from 17 to 20 April 2025, welcoming 85 galleries.

Silverman, who reported strong sales at FOG Design+Art during San Francisco Art Week last month, will bring work by local artists Clare Rojas, whom The Art Newspaper declared a FOG highlight, and Chelsea Ryoko Wong, whose work is on view at Oakland Museum of California.

Returning galleries include San Francisco’s Catharine Clark Gallery, who have exhibited at the fair since its first edition in 2011, when it hosted around 65 participants. At the time, co-founders Max Fishko, son of Forum Gallery director Robert Fishko, and his partner Jeffrey Wainhause stated their intent to become a ‘higher-end’ version of San Francisco Fine Art Fair, which opened a year prior and where both had worked.

The fair will include a section dedicated to East Bay artists curated by gallerist Brock Brake, who founded pt.2 Gallery in Oakland, California. ‘We are excited to push dedicated attention towards the creativity coming from the East Bay, specifically,’ director Kelly Freeman told Ocula.

The continued patronage of San Francisco galleries like Altman Siegel, Andrea Schwartz Gallery, and Eleanor Harwood Gallery, among others, attests to the resilience of the city’s collector base.

There was reason to be pessimistic with Gagosian and Pace leaving for L.A. in recent years, which has long hosted the market’s higher end.

San Francisco Art Fair, conversely, does not target a particular profile, calling itself ‘a fair for everyone’. ‘We strive to be accessible, including a variety of price points, mediums and artist representation of the world—all with a Bay Area focus first,’ Freeman said.

The sentiment is supported by partnerships with regional institutions like Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, NIAD Art Center, and local non-profit Creativity Explored, who will present a public project.

Last year, the fair announced it was renewing its commitment to the Bay Area upon rebranding to its current name. ‘We are the community’s art fair, and future iterations will continue to amplify this messaging and commitment,’ Freeman explained. —[O]

Main image: Exterior view of San Francisco Art Fair building. Courtesy San Francisco Art Fair.