Art dealer Larry Gagosian is doing all he can to bond with the Abu Dhabi power brokers. Last year he participated in a panel during the oil-rich country’s new Abu Dhabi Art Fair. (I attended the panel and blogged about it here.)

This year Gagosian is shipping his art collection to Abu Dhabi for a first-time public viewing. The show, RSTW (an acronym for its all male roster — Rauschenberg, Ruscha, Serra, Twombly, Warhol and Wool)  runs Sept. 22 to Jan. 24 and will be curated by Anne Baldassari, president of the Fondation Picasso. The show is being presented under the auspices of the country’s top honcho:  HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

The venue is a temporary exhibition space called the Manarat Al Saadiyat which last year displayed a group of Middle Eastern artwork. The building is located on Saadiyat Island, where new Louvre and Guggenheim museums are under construction,  along with thousands of luxury condos.

Works in the show include Rauschenberg’s 1963 Overdrive, Serra’s 1984 Malmo Roll, Warhol’s 1960 Brillo Soap Pads and 1972 Mao.

When he wasn’t busy buying, selling and hustling art, dealer Larry Salander loved to paint. Recently sentenced to six to 18 years in prison for fraud and larceny, he may now have time to indulge his hobby.

We wondered if his paintings were any good and phoned up David Cohen who runs Art Critical, a robust online art magazine.

Cohen was kind enough to glance at a few jpegs.

“Well, they don’t make my heart pound faster,” he said.

While not a fan of the work, Cohen believes they reflect someone with serious intentions. “If they give him a window with a view, he would be able to develop his landscape skills, but not with a palette knife,” said Cohen, who guessed those might be off limits behind bars.

The market for Salander’s paintings hasn’t proven to be much more enthusiastic.

A group of Salander’s paintings recently sold at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, to benefit the dealer’s creditors, who are on the hook for upwards of $120 million.

Suffice it to say, the art proceeds didn’t make much of a dent. Prices at the July 24 auction ranged from $75 for pairs of small canvases to around $800 for larger landscapes.

Salander indulged his artistic inclinations with studios on the Upper East Side and at his Millbrook compound where he  churned out paintings in a wide range of styles, including a batch of brushy landscapes  influenced by Hartley and Constable.

In 2001 Salander exhibited ten of his abstract landscapes at New York’s Interfaith Center, run by the Very Rev. James Parks Morton, who officiated at his second wedding.

The Gerald Peters Gallery produced a catalog, with a essay by Floyd Skloot who wrote “the ten paintings are like panels from a dream. Their imagery has both the truthfulness of fact and the grandeur, the visionary formulation of dreams.”

A second essay by Erin Fitzpatrick, a gallery employee,  considers the series inspired by Turner. “Salander has created what I believe is his freest style to date. It accommodates his frantic energy while giving him full space to explore the jobs of color.” The front of the catalog notes “these paintings are for Julie,” Salander’s wife from whom he has separated.

Larry Salander's 2000 "Top of the Mountain" sold for $800 (est. $800-$1200). © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Larry Salander's 2000 "Sky for Shirley Anne," sold for $600 (est. $800-$1200). © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Lawrence Salander's 1999 "Julie January Midnight" sold for $275 (est. $300-$400) © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Bin of Salander paintings at Stair Galleries auction preview. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Larry Salander's 1999 "Farm Fields," sold for $800 (est. $600-$800). © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Larry Salander's 2008 "Johnny Moscow Truth Defender" portrait of one of his lawyers sold at Stair for $500 (est. $800-$1200). © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Hudson's Stair Galleries where many of Lawrence Salander's possession were sold. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

In a radical twist on the art fair model, the new VIP Art Fair will exist only online, catering to busy collectors weary of the cost and hassle of traveling. It’s Second Life meets Gilt Groupe for the art biz.

Seasoned Chelsea dealer James Cohan has teamed up with Internet entrepreneur Jonas Almgren, to launch the fair, according to art market sources. The event is being billed as the “first ever” virtual art fair.

The first edition is slated for January, usually a quiet time in the gallery sale cycle. The fair is comprised of virtual stands priced $4,000 to $20,000, according to sources. The fair will be timed, and we believe, last for one week, like timed sales mounted by online retailers on member-only sites such as Gilt Groupe and Ru La La. (A VIP Art Fair web page, with a snazzy black and white logo, has been set up, but the site is not yet live. The fair also has a Facebook page with 22 fans).

Cohan already has signed aboard an impressive group of international dealers, despite a hefty booth price, the concept’s novelty and the dreary economy.

Participating dealers are thought to include Barbara Gladstone, Luhring Augustine, Yancey Richardson, David Zwirner, Marianne Boesky and Hauser & Wirth.

The venture will test collectors willingness to spend serious money on art acquisitions initiated online. While details have been difficult to pin down, here is what we surmise about how the fair will work: a select group of collectors will be permitted to browse the web-based fair anonymously, so that even dealers won’t know when a potential buyer has cruised a stand, according to sources. A collector may contact the dealer with queries and make an appointment to see the artwork in person if so desired. Exhibiting dealers are also permitted to have backroom spaces, like usual art fairs.

James Cohan, proprietor of the James Cohan Gallery, operates branches on West 26th Street in New York and Shanghai. The gallery is known for a strong roster of contemporary artists including Bill Viola, Beatriz Milhazes and Yinka Shonibare.

Jonas Almgren is founder and CEO of One Art World, a website combining gallery listings, online art sales and auction information.

The latest dealer to announce a change up is Chelsea’s Sara Meltzer who sent out an email last week headed “New directions…” Meltzer, who ran her own gallery for over a decade,  said she plans to continue working with artists, but “more as a producer and agent,” according to her email.

The gallery’s co-directors, Rachel Gugelberger and Jeffrey Walkowiak are departing and Meltzer is moving into a new space at 525-531 West 26th Street, the same building where she had previously operated her gallery. Her artists included Jason Middlebrook, Nina Katchadourian and Peter Rostovsky.

A video of Meltzer discussing her work  found here. Her new venture is called Sara Meltzer Gallery/Projects.

“As times have changed for me both personally and in the marketplace, I am eager to embark on a new, more free-form model that will open up new kinds of opportunities,” Meltzer wrote in her email. She will collaborate with  “curators, collectors, writers and investors to promote artists in a more gratifying and productive way,” she wrote.

She launches Oct. 1 with a site-specific installation by Sarah Cain in conjunction with curator Miki Garcia, of the Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum and Shamim Momin of L.A.N.D.

Dealer John Connelly is closing his gallery this Friday after nearly a decade at the helm of a cutting edge emporium associated with artists such as Assume Astrid Vivid Focus, Scott Hug and Mungo Thomson. He will become director of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation.

John Connelly Presents, located at 625 West 27th Street, closes on Friday with a reception from 6-8 pm. The final exhibit features the somber, historicizing paintings of Jeronimo Elespe. Connelly’s program was known for artists favoring political and social themes. “He was drawn to themes that were not necessarily things built to sell, but emerged outside of the commercial arena,” said art adviser Sheri Pasquarella.

Connelly launched his nomadic curatorial project in 2000, while working as a director at Andrea Rosen Gallery. Rosen represents the Gonzalez-Torres estate.

In 2002, Connelly, a founding member of NADA, opened a small 10th floor space on West 26th Street. In 2006 he teamed up with Pasquarella and others to transform a desolate strip along West 27th Street into an art dealing hub.

In 2003, Roberta Smith tagged Connelly as among the three best young galleries in town. (The other two were Daniel Reich and LFL, which has since disbanded). Connelly was featured among New York Magazine 2006’s art world “Influencers.”

A pair of burly court officers escorted a tearful, handcuffed Lawrence Salander from a courtroom this afternoon, shortly after a judge doled out his sentence. Salander, the former dealer and Sunday painter who had plead guilty to a $120 million art fraud in March, received six to 18 years in prison.  Judge Michael J. Obus termed the saga “deplorable.”

The hearing, which commenced around 9:30 a.m. this morning, concluded nearly four hours later. Ten victims stood before a podium and described tales of emotional and financial pain.

Salander’s lawyer Charles Ross asked the court for leniency, citing  Salander’s family–seven children– and poor health, noting the dealer had been an alcoholic for over forty years.

Salander, wearing wrinkled khakis,  was accompanied by his three adult children–Ivana, Isaac and Jonah. Salander’s wife Julie, who has split with her husband, also attended.

“Salander is a pathologically self-absorbed con man,” said assistant district attorney Kenn Kern, who pressed for the maximum sentence. Salander “lived the dream,” said Kern, citing a birthday party at the Frick, private jet rides and a 60 acres estate in Millbrook, “financed by a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernard Madoff proud.”

Read Bloomberg’s coverage of the day’s events here.

Here are my notes from the remarks made by some of his victims:

Neelon Crawford, son of painter Ralston Crawford:

“It has been clear that Larry Salander engaged in criminal business activities for many years and that these activities were habitual. I would prefer that Larry Salander return my property or pay me but this option does not appear likely.” Further, “I’ve never seen anything like this legal mess. I’ve wasted a lot of my time and energy on this matter and the financial loss was very significant. The deception and arrogance were beyond frustrating.”

Dr. Ellyn Shander, daughter of gallery client Dr. Alexander Pearlman whose $2 million art collection Larry Salander sold and without paying proceeds to Shander and her sister.

“This man broke our hearts. Larry Salander is a thief. He viciously stole my Dad’s art collection but this is more than a simple theft. This man manipulated my Father for years.”

She continued “Larry Salander is consumed by greed and lived a gluttonous lifestyle beyond his means. Larry Salander is a criminal. The only just outcome is to sentence him to the maximum sentence under the law.”

Earl Davis, son of modernist painter Stuart Davis, from whom Salander stole 90 paintings worth $18 million

“Larry Salander’s betrayal has been emotionally traumatic for me on many levels. Being robbed at gunpoint or a thief in the night would have been preferable.”

“He has fundamentally crippled my ability to present my father’s work. I can say my optimism for future projects…is darkly overshadowed with feelings of bitterness and regret.”

“This is a terrible thing for me to have to say, but Mr. Salander remains an unrepentant and dangerous con man who deserves no special mercy from the court.”

Kinney Frelinghuysen, director of the Frelinghuysen Morris House (George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen) defrauded of 41 works worth in excess of $2 million

“I feel battered and reluctant to engage in a trusting relationship in the art world in the future. We have all been trampled on.”

Acquavella Galleries director Michael Findlay says the “art world is no more or less cloistered than the entertainment world, the landscape-gardening world, or the real-estate world,” in a New Yorker letter to the editor published in the Aug. 2 issue.

Findlay responds to David Grann’s otherwise illuminating article in last week’s issue (The Mark of a Masterpiece July 12 & 19) questioning the fingerprinting tactics of Peter Paul Biro. (That story, which I recommend, is here).

Grann wrote that the matter of authentication is complicated by “the public’s distrust of the cloistered art world.”

Findlay begs to differ. He points out that art galleries are free and open to the public, as are pubic auctions. Further, museums endeavor to attract and educate visitors.

The dealer blames any “cloistered” sensibility  on “outlandish claims of authenticity by people motivated by avarice.”

Dealer David Zwirner has purchased a three-story commercial building at 537 West 20th Street for $8 million, according to the real estate website Property Shark. “We can confirm the purchase of a great piece of real estate on 20th Street,” said gallery spokeswoman Julia Joern. “We are especially excited since it is so close to our existing location on 19th Street.”

The building, which was leased to the Bermuda Limousine Int’l Inc. since 1988, was originally priced at $14 million. The deed transferred last week.

The 27,000 square foot building was constructed in 1933.

Zwirner runs three galleries on 19th Street at nos. 519, 525 and 533. The new space is likely to house Zwirner’s secondary market business, formerly operated as Zwirner and Wirth and run from a townhouse on East 69th Street. That partnership ceased in June 2009. Hauser  and Wirth now occupies that space.

David Zwirner, via Mediabistro

Zwirner made news earlier this week over a lawsuit filed by Miami developer Craig Robins. The New York Post story here. The gallery opened in 1993 in SoHo. Artists include James Welling, Marlene Dumas and Luc Tuymans.

The New York Times reports that Pace and Wildenstein are splitting up after a 17 year partnership. Wildenstein had owned 49 percent of the Pace, according to the article.