David, Lee Ann Lester buy into Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair in London

Founding owners of Art Palm Beach say pact will offer 'global platform' for ventures.

Published: July 15, 2009

by Jan Sjostrom

David and Lee Ann Lester have added the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair to their art-fair portfolio.

The Bonita Springs-based couple are the founders and owners of Art Palm Beach, a contemporary fair, and the American International Fine Art Fair, an art and antiques fair, held in January and February respectively at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach.

In a deal announced Tuesday, the couple's company, International Fine Art Expositions, acquired part ownership of Olympia from Clarion Events and assumed management of the 37-year-old fair, held in June at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London.

IFAE also operates the Miami International Art Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center and SeaFair, an art-fair ship.

The pact with Clarion "gives us a global platform" that could strengthen all of IFAE's ventures and offer seamless service to exhibitors, David Lester said. His Olympia contacts will help him attract more quality dealers to his fairs in West Palm Beach, he said.

The move comes at a time when art fairs around the globe are folding and the art business is in free fall. Among the casualties is the 75-year-old Grosvernor House Art and Antiques Fair, once London's finest, which disbanded in June, leaving room for the second-tier Olympia to move up.

"In today's environment, dealers are risk-averse," Lester said. "If business were good, all these fairs would not be going out of business. What dealers want is strong leadership."

The Lesters' plan for Olympia focuses on enhancing its presentation, attracting more international dealers and "marketing, marketing, marketing," Lester said. For starters, the fair will be renamed the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia.

Dealers' discontent with Olympia management echoed complaints exhibitors voiced about dmg world media's operation of the American International Fine Art Fair before the company, which bought the Lesters' art fair business in 2001, sold the fairs back to them last year. Management promised improvements, but "the investment, actions and commitment necessary to the vision were not realized," said Lucy Johnson, a British antique furniture and 20th century art dealer who has participated in Olympia for 15 years.

If the Lesters can attract top dealers to the American International Fine Art Fair, they should be able to do the same for Olympia, where transport costs and times are lower for European dealers, said Alan Rubin of Pelham Galleries, whose London and Paris-based galleries exhibit in both fairs. "I'm very pleased that David Lester got involved, because he is one of the most professional fair organizers in the world today," he said.