Hier ist mein persönliches Bericht über die Chicago Kunstmesse (dem Chicago Art Fair, 27. – 30. April 2007), worin ich mit einer „Statements“-ähnlicher Einzelausstellung vertreten war. Damit war ich einer von 40 einjurierten, namhaften Künstlern, der an dieser prestigeträchtigen Messe am so genannten Artist Project an einem eigenen Stand ausgestellt sein wurde.
Leider ist mein Artikel nur in Englisch, denn ich habe zur Zeit zu wenig Zeit, ihn zu übersetzen. Bitte schau das Post sowieso an, ich bin sicher du kannst den meisten davon verstehen und die Bilder sind nicht so schlecht!
Chicago Art Fair by Brandl
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4 comments:
Mark, Great article on the show and thank you for the mention and kind words. It’s the first time I have been accused of being The Anti Calvinist and rather like it. The highlight of the show was in meeting you and the other artists, realizing while standing in the hallway after hanging my work, what an amazing community of artists now exists in Chicago. There are fully three generations of artists working in Chicago, interacting, and sharing with each other, thanks to some of the battles waged through the years by artists like Tony Fitzpatrick and Wesley. This has become a community dedicated to work as Paul Kline has said…one that comes to the studio with a lunch bucket and the legacy of what it means to go to work in Chicago. There really seems to be less BS than in the days when Artner was the last word about everything art. This was very clear in every conversation I had during The Artist Project. We would have done much better in terms of the trade show idea, on the main floor of the Mart. I only had a handful of people from artchicago07 visit my booth, and they were starving, pleasantly drunk and bleary eyed. Certainly sales and gallery contacts would have been better next door. Then in my best Mr. Magoo fashion, I had no idea why they called it The Bridge Show…. then I saw that bridge outside that I hung off of as an art student years ago after a party, and I said aha! We were however also very close to the tracks and being across the tracks definitely came to mind as I thought about how much the galleries would have hated having us in the main show. I have been reading your things for some time but seeing your work in person… I am floored by the edge you approach with your drawing, somehow dancing up to abstraction and leaving behind a portrait, then using the armature of personal experience in a way that drives a political point of view. It made my own experiences important somehow and critical. A viewer can't hope for more than to be included. I hope you can get an opportunity to do the large installation in Chicago sometime so I can see it in person. Hurry back and thanks again Ted Stanuga
Mark,
thanks for sending this. The Shark's party was the best, it reminded me of my day's in NYC. More of that please! Hope I don't have to wait till next year.
Thanks for the mention and the general note to all artists, boot kicking. You are entirely right, it's about building. I think you were a little too generous with the show quality. I too, can think of any number of artists who would bring this show quality up. If all artists reserved their spot for next year then, the Mart can only improve on the quality through making the show much larger, which then would mean a larger venue. I'm under the impression, that the Mart was happy with our lobby venue, rolling suitcases and all (should be part of someone's performance piece). Still though, I'd rather have been there than on 12.
I thought your description of Bridge was dead on as compared with the Trib article which mentioned the work there, as raw or unfinished for the sake of being unfinished. Quite the contrary, the writer did not have a clue, especially in light of what it was previously and how it has changed.
Thanks again!
Elizabeth
And for those who haven't yet done so, don't forget to go read Paul Klein's article on the Fair here: http://www.artletter.com/html/artletter_04_26_07.html
Mark, we enjoyed your work as well. I especially liked the semi-hidden guy with his head up his ass. Man I laughed at that one! I am with you on most observations as well as suggestions. The "quality" issue of the work for the Artist Project is a bit delicate. I blogged in a while back when Shark was trying to get the attention of Art in America. What I MEANT was basically a salon, or a real juried show to flush out where our critics and curators stand. How can we create a situation where anyone pushing a personal agenda over true quality or merit will be exposed? Maybe the selection of the group for the Artist Project is it. More directly, we get a wide variety and number or critics or educators/curators to pen down who is and who is not successful in the Artist Project show. We make them review and critique a number of the works and see if they are simply promoting their own people. Make them prove it to us. Who, What and Why. A good amount of the measure of success for the AP (Artist Project) should be sales. Had they put us in the basement and said, "Aww how cute" we could bitch and moan. But they put us in a high traffic area and did their best to create visitors. The onus was on us to make the sales, sans dealers. I'm happy to hear many of you found buyers. I want to be honest, sure I can blow off galleries around here. Help me sell to a Chicago market? Fine, for 20%. Loads of the galleries won't get in out of town art fairs and don't have any out of town museum/blue chip collector connections. So combined with the attitude - who needs 'em. Back to the honesty, much of my excitement for the AP was to try and attract attention from the Big Boys over on 7. I am OK as an independent, but I'd be real happy to get some work with Mark Moore, for example. Actually, I want this. It didn't happen. I don't think any of them came down to the AP. Let me know if I'm wrong. So it turns out I made the same comment to Kathleen in our post-mortem: maybe the AP can be on the same floor as Art Chicago. I'm not sure the galleries would like this at all, but it would fulfill what I really wanted to get out of the whole weekend - out of town, blue chip contacts. We would have an even better crowd closer to that show. Sales? I don't know but awareness and networking for sure. We got to show out of town. And suddenly I'm in favor of huge amounts of nepotism. Is the AP a venue to promote an indy and undiscovered art world in CHICAGO? Because if so, the AP (from Chicago) should represent at the Armory show. Why not? The NYC version of the AP is called the Meat Packing area and already exists, and has a steady stream of support and buzz. The AP on the main floor of the Armory mixed in with all the important galleries that show up there could do wonders for Chicago as an art city/destination. And why not Volta too? Maybe one year under the guise of "sharing" what has been overlooked here with the rest of the world. It's motivating to hear all the positive reflections on the weekend for us down at the AP. It would have been nice to have some more critical reviews on paper. Anyhow, the Mart people are winners, and I'm sticking with them. Is it too early to start planning next year?
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