Art Exhaustion, Part 3: Fair-thee-well


Time to take the sign off the bus.

After lugging around twenty pounds of handouts, magazines, postcards, catalogs, cameras, notebooks, water bottle, and a lunch in my old give-away canvas Saks bag that's at least as old as the late Art Chicago fair, I realize I have no idea how to start talking about the weekend.

Oddly enough, I liked more at this year's Art Chicago than I have in other years, and the shared chaos seemed to breed a less stick-up-the-bum attitude than seemed the case in the fair's heyday. I disliked the "Korean Pavilion" concept a great deal. I wondered why the old "Stray Show" newcomer galleries were still isolated and apparently not yet considered "real" galleries. This is something I'm sure we could debate endlessly. I sincerely hope the fair doesn't get folded into the Antique Fair, since the crowds seemed distinctly different (tho one of the antique dealers had some great Burchfields and a few other modernists -- Art Chicago used to have a number of dealers who showed non-contemporary art. Wonder what happened to them?)

It's one in the morning and all this stuff is still in my head and I can't sleep but am not making much sense either.

Spent today at the NOVA fair, which I liked. Not as odd and funky as last year -- and some of last year's NOVA-ites promoted themselves to Art Chicago. Ashley Gallery (from Philadelphia) told me that's exactly what they did, since they applied and were accepted this year, but hadn't been in other years.

So am sensing a delicious little topic for discussion at art parties. Are you supposed to side with one group rather than another? Is it all art politics or cost or "didn't get in" or what?

Something to talk about when we're not talking about Paul Klein's dream of a Chicago Artist's Museum, that is....

But more on all this later.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:54 AM | | | Link |