Sabrina Buell, the 29 year old art dealer and west coast director for the Matthew Marks Gallery, was recently featured in 7×7 magazine’s “Hot 20″ issue (you know — where they write about the hot 20 people in San Francisco who are prettier, smarter, richer and more successful than you. What fun!)

Anyhow, when you’re put on such a pedestal there’s always the risk that someone’s gonna look up your skirt and make nasty comments about your panties. And so they did in the comments section of 7×7’s new website…

From someone going by “Broadway Bulletin”:

Just in case you were all looking for the real reason Sabrina Buell got hired and how she has such a good publicist, is the fact that she’s part of San Francisco’s old money. She is part of the Mondavi family, her father Mark Buell, celebrated in his own right, is married to Esprit’s Susie Tompkins…..In case you all forgot money talks, and Sabrina Buell hope’s your listening. She’s just as materialistic and judgemental as her naive comments suggest. “

Scott Richards of Scott Richards Contemporary Art adds:

I have a particular problem with your chosen highlight for the “Art Curator”. Miss Buell, although a San Francisco native and most likely a fantastic professional, should perhaps be better regarded for her efforts with Mathew Marks Gallery in New York. Since we have yet to see a gallery with her name on it in San Francisco, this mention of her accolades may be a bit premature and perhaps better revisited during the next 10 years after she has invested her abilities more locally. What is particularly disheartening about your feature is the fact that several “actual” Bay Area art dealers under 40 have tirelessly represented the best aspects of Contemporary Art here for years. Some of these dealers have been highlighted in your magazine in the past such as Heather Marx. Heather and her husband happen to be 5th generation San Francisco natives and their program is held in high regard by both local and international art critics. Catherine Clark has been at this perhaps the longest while remaining under 40! Unarguably one of the finest and well-respected dealers in San Francisco due to her fearless eye for cutting edge talent is certainly worth a nod. Or how about Charles Linder of Linc Inc., or newcomer Lisa Dent? All of these people work incredibly hard to promote contemporary art by nurturing emerging artists, placing their works in noteworthy museum collections and participating in high profile international art fairs in New York, Miami, London, Brussels and Berlin. Most of all, they have started their businesses with their own resources, a point that stands at the root reasoning to mention a level of excellence before the ripe age of 40! As another San Francisco art dealer under 40 and previous advertiser with your magazine, I shall remember this lack of support toward the local art community. Please advise me of what publicist Ms. Buell is currently employing, as I am a fan of the results.

And A. Sandhu remarks:

Who is Sabrina Buell? Is she a curator or an art dealer? And how exactly has she managed to promote the San Francisco Art community into the International art market? She has not curated any public exhibitions in San Francisco, nor has she opened the Mathew Marks West Coast Gallery to the general public. Your article mentions her as representative of such famous artists as Jasper Johns and Ellsworth Kelly, when it fact it is the Mathew Marks Gallery in New York that should take the credit. Is that a typo? Certainly Miss Buell, who seems very quick to judge the personalities of her clients at the young age of 29, has a lot more work to do other than decorating her apartment in order to make herself known in San Francisco’s Art Market. How about putting her money where her mouth is and opening up a gallery of her own? In the meantime, it would be appreciated if your editorial staff would check their facts and really promote hot, young, San Francisco’s art dealers such as Catherine Clark, Heather Marx or Lisa Dent, and curators like Yerba Buena’s Berin Golonu who work really hard to put San Francisco on the map in the international art scene.

One person did come to her defense, writing under the name “The Welcome Wagon”:

Wow, talk about lack of support for the local art community! I guess I am unclear about what the requirements were for being selected for a “local, hot and under 40” list. Is there something I’m missing about being “local”? Didn’t the article say that Ms. Buell has just returned to her “native” SF? She does live here, right? Why does not owning her own gallery (yet) make her any less deserved of a little recognition? Where did A. get the idea that the person chosen for this article has to bring recognition of S.F. to the “international art market”, and how is she so sure Ms. Buell hasn’t? I would think that being a representative one of the most famed galleries in the East is no small accomplishment and can only bring positive attention and to our fair city’s art scene. Matthew Marks is a well respected figure in the art world and if he thinks Ms. Buell has substance, enough to start his West Coast operations, than who are we to argue. BTW, isn’t it logical to assume that Ms Buell would have attended several, if not all, of the international art fairs (mentioned by Mr. Scott) during her tenure in NYC. As an artist representative, doesn’t her job description include, “nurturing emerging artists, placing their works in noteworthy museum collections”? Hot. Yes, Hot. The designation of this article is not “most established”, not “most successful”, not “most recognized”. If people like Heather Marx have already been mentioned in this magazine, as Scott pointed out, then isn’t the idea to find someone new, someone promising who is just getting started? All the people that A. and Scott mentioned are deserved of much attention and praise but only one person could be the subject of this article. I’m guessing that Heather Marx, Lisa Dent, or Catherine Clark are not wasting a single second thinking that it should have been their name on this list. I’m sure they will welcome Ms. Buell into the local art community and be glad to have another ally in the quest to promote art in the Bay Area and beyond. The under 40 thing, well, I guess we can all agree on that point. I think it is a shame that A. and Scott have chosen such a public and venomous manner to express their thoughts about 7X7’s choice to use Sabrina Buell for this article. A more kind, appropriate, and professional venue would have been a private letter to the editor. By the way Scott, I believe the magazine approached these all-stars to be featured in this article, not the other way around.

If this is just the beginning of Ms. Buell’s career in the SF art scene, things are gonna get mighty interesting!

• Article: “The Curator” [7x7]
• Photo: 7×7