The sky was the limit for creatives and philanthropists at the renowned art fair
Words by CATHERINE BIGELOW
Photography by DREW ALTIZER
Like the tendrils of its atmospheric namesake, the 12th edition of FOG Design + Art enveloped the cultural ecosystem that is San Francisco, where international collectors, design gurus, museum leaders, artists, and philanthropists converged to celebrate the arts amid a gamut of gallery openings, swanky restaurant dinners, and too many soirées to count.
The beating heart of the four-day FOG fair — bracketed by the seven-day artistic revels of San Francisco Art Week — held forth at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture. On Wednesday, January 21, more than 2,700 fans alighted at two historic bayside piers for the star-studded FOG opening-night gala benefiting the exhibition and education programs of SFMOMA. That effort was boosted by first-night sales of more than $8 million.
This largest-ever iteration of FOG received a record 92 applications from interested dealers.
“It’s Art Week in San Francisco, and this ecosystem is so important: our creative class, our arts, our culture are what’s going to help drive the city’s economic recovery,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said. “And it’s happening: This is the largest FOG show in its history, and it brings the whole world to San Francisco, providing incredible momentum that supports our creatives.”
The glamorous fete welcomed guests — who shopped an array of price points — at the vibrant yellow FOG MRKT stalls, comprising six local standout makers (including Quince & Co., Hugomento, and CCA Wattis Institute) offering one-of-a-kind and editioned works. McCalls Catering and Events provided bao carts and bountiful buffets brimming with delectable dim sum, sushi, and lamb kebabs — all paired with craft Rye-on-the-Road cocktails or Donum Estate vino. Hospitality stalwarts Jane the Bakery and A16 satiated the more than 15,000 art-hungry visitors throughout the fair.
“FOG is so embedded within its community. The precise geography presents on a well-edited, intimate scale, so it doesn’t feel like a colonial experience where you happen to just drop into any city,” said Rodman Primack, a veteran attendee and FOG Talks participant, now in his third year as a participating gallerist, with his husband and AGO Projects design partner Rudy Weissenberg. “This is our best global art fair because that concept is perfectly expressed here.”
Expertly led by FOG director Sydney Blumenkranz and her steering committee (Douglas Durkin, Susan Swig, Sarah Wendell Sherrill, and Brittany Pattner) — with additional support from the fair’s honorary chairs, Apple design legend Sir Jony Ive and Lady Heather Ive, with best-selling author-spouses Tabitha Soren and Michael Lewis — big ticket holders (some of whom ponied up $20K for early access) were primed to shop among the blue-chip offerings and emerging works presented by 60 global gallerists. This largest-ever iteration of FOG received a record 92 applications from interested dealers.
“There’s an incredible level of enthusiasm for FOG, and the fair’s success has spawned an infectious energy that has inspired related events around the city,” Durkin said. “FOG is sort of the sun that these planets orbit around. But they’re planets in their own right, and we’ve evolved into a solar system of artful activations.”
Those activations swirling around the epicenter of FOG included three new mini fairs. GCS Agency, in partnership with the Fairmont Hotel, debuted art.fair.mont, a contemporary boutique art fair held at the storied Nob Hill hotel. Minnesota Street Project introduced Atrium, showcasing 15 emerging and underground galleries held at MSP’s Dogpatch neighborhood campus. Ali Gass, founder of the Institute of Contemporary Art, unveiled her new site-specific, “nomadic” exhibition model at the Transamerica Pyramid Center. Designer Ken Fulk, founder of Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, welcomed all revelers to Club Curiosity, a laser-light rave at the historic South-of-Market church he renovated and developed into a cultural hub.
Back at FOG HQ, a riot of red “sold” dots as brisk sales were transacted inside the main Festival Pavilion and nearby Pier 2, site of the emerging artists highlighted by FOG Focus. Among the terrific tallies were Hauser & Wirth (Solar Space (1971) by Jack Whitten sold for more than $1 million), New York gallery Charles Moffett (sold out its entire presentation of floral still-lifes by artist Hopie Hill) and Catharine Clark Gallery (a large-scale textile installation, Still Finding My Way Back Home (2025), by Hawaiian native artist Lehuauakea was sold to a major American museum for $225K).
Gallerist Jonathan Carver Moore sold a majority of dynamic large-scale, San Francisco–inspired paintings by emerging Cameroonian artist Sesse Elangwe, who created his works during a residency at the gallery.
Also in the mix: renowned site-specific installation artist Leo Villareal, who’s creating a revamp of his heart-stopping 2013 Bay Lights luminosity — conjoining the universal power of light with human connection — which will soon adorn both sides of the Bay Bridge in double LED illumination. “San Francisco is such a beautiful city,” he said. “I’m thrilled to be back, redesigning Bay Lights 360 for its debut in March.”
Within the buzzing booth of Jessica Silverman, the gallerist (a mainstay of the fair since its earliest incarnation as SF20, founded in 2008 by Stanlee Gatti) commissioned her artists (including Lava Thomas, Clare Rojas, and Trevor Paglen) to create new works within the theme “Out of the Blue,” expressing the water, sky, and beautiful bay landscapes of San Francisco.
“As dealers, we travel elsewhere all the time. So to have the art world come to us at FOG is great for the city, weaving the fabric of our arts scene together,” Silverman said. “Tonight benefits SFMOMA, but nonprofit arts organizations and museums are all here — from the deYoung, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and MoAD to Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center, Blunk Space in Point Reyes Station, and the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts. No one wants to miss FOG.”
January 30, 2026
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