HOUSTON – artMRKT Productions co-founders Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause had been working together four years when they saw an opportunity: Bring a high-touch level of service to the underserved art fair landscape. Forming the Brooklyn-based artMRKT Productions in 2011, Fishko and Wainhause provide the art viewing public, artists, collectors and dealers with a comprehensive vision and the highest level of service – and people are noticing. The duo are taking the art market by storm, producing with three successful contemporary fairs in 2012-- in San Francisco, CA, the Hamptons, NY, and Houston, TX – and launching Miami later this year.
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Max Fishko, Co-Founder
Max Fishko was weaned on the art world, having spent many childhood hours attending art fairs alongside his family -- owners of New York's Forum Gallery for over three generations. Those early experiences sparked a life-long interest in the fair format, learning all facets of that world. Starting at age 14 —his very first job— he worked as the assistant to the sign-maker at Art Miami. Since then, he's worked on dozens of fairs in production and sales capacities.
While still in college, Fishko began working with renowned New York fair organizer Sanford Smith. Post graduation, he cut his teeth as sales director at DFN gallery in Chelsea, then shifting into sales for various galleries at art fairs across the United States. He worked as international sales representative at International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) one of the largest art fair organizations in the U.S., before serving as Director at Hamptons Expo Group (HEG) where he met his future colleague and business partner, Jeffrey Wainhause.
Mr. Fishko received a Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College and a Masters in media and communications at CEU in Budapest.
Jeffrey Wainhause, Co-Founder
For the past 15 years, Jeffrey Wainhause has been integrally involved in the successful production of more than 200 technology, medical, art and business conferences and fairs in Germany, France, England and the U.S. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Wainhause's expertise includes the management and development of Web 2.0 applications, social networking and online marketing. Leveraging his strong operations and technology skills, he ran his own production company which worked with clients including Google and the Discovery Channel. Jeffrey then shifted his significant management and organizational skills to the art industry when he began working with Hamptons Expo Group (HEG). It was there that he met Max Fishko and the two ultimately decided to launch artMRKT Productions in 2011.