Melissa Bent is a market-maker in contemporary art and a leading advisor of collectors in the field. As founder of Bent Contemporary, she brings over 15 years of experience in the New York art scene as a gallery owner, developer of artistic talent, and builder of private collections for clients worldwide.  She has been featured in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, ArtForum, Art in America, Elle, Art & Auction, Visionaire, Paper Magazine, Vanity Fair and others.

In 2002, Ms. Bent cofounded Rivington Arms, a top international gallery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, with business partner Mirabelle Marden.

Ms. Bent was first to exhibit such now-renowned artists as Dan Colen, Darren Bader, Shara Hughes, Pinar Yolacan, Dash Snow, Mathew Cerletty and numerous others.  Her artists’ work now commands prices in the six and seven figure range, and is featured in prominent public and private collections around the world -- including institutions such as The MoMa, The Guggenheim, The Whitney, The Getty, and The Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

In 2009 Ms. Bent closed Rivington Arms to focus on the needs of an ever-expanding collector base, founding Bent Contemporary in 2010.

Since then, she has helped to educate and guide her collectors via historical, cultural and contemporary insight, with a keen eye for developing trends and the ‘new’ and ardent sensibility.  Her invaluable personal relationships with many of today’s top dealers and collectors allow her to uniquely cater to her clients’ aesthetics, interests and budgets to best fulfill their objectives.