Filed under: Art Fairs, Art Market, Art World | Tags: Art Chicago, art fair, Expo Chicago, Josh Reams, NEXT ART CHICAGO, NEXT Art Fair, Robin Dluzen, Steven Zevitas
New American Paintings headed to the Windy City over the weekend to check out Expo Chicago, which was, in effect, an attempted reboot of Art Chicago in its glory days. Art Chicago was the first art fair that NAP publisher/editor, Steven Zevitas, ever attended. That was 17 years ago…
Art Chicago’s history has been a roller coaster ride. In its heyday, it was the preeminent art fair in the country, and it attracted gallerists and collectors from all over the world. By the late 1990s, though, things started to change. The emergence of The Armory Show in New York and then Miami Basel zapped the life out of the fair, and by the mid-2000s, Art Chicago was teetering on the edge of ruin. In 2006, the Merchandise Mart (MMPI) stepped in to save the fair at the last moment when it became clear that the fair’s tent would not be ready in time. From 2006 – 2011, Art Chicago (Artropolis) was held at the gargantuan Merchandise Mart Building. For many years our magazine had a booth, and it’s where Zevitas participated in four installments of the NEXT Art Fair with his own project, Steven Zevitas Gallery. The gallery was supposed to participate for the 5th year in a row, but MMPI pulled the plug on the fair earlier this year.
A greeting to website visitors on ArtChicago.com
Filed under: Art Fairs, Art Market, Art World | Tags: Art Chicago, Chicago, NEXT Art Fair
We just received word that the long-running Art Chicago fair, which was going to be combined this year with the NEXT Fair (with a rebranded name of Next Art Chicago), has been canceled. An email from organizers informs us that, “After a thorough analysis of the art fair landscape, Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. [MMPI] has determined not to move forward with the production of the 2012 edition of Next Art Chicago, and that Chicago will not remain a primary focus of its art fair business activities.”
The Merchandise Mart continues, stating that, “…While Chicago is home to a thriving arts community, including galleries, world-class museums, theaters, arts-related organizations, along with thousands of art enthusiasts, it is our conclusion that the great majority of the art fair market in the United States has gravitated toward the coasts. This is where MMPI will be reallocating its considerable resources.”
In addition to Next Art Chicago, the MMPI family of art fairs include: The Armory Show, Art Platform-Los Angeles, Art Toronto, VOLTA and VOLTA NY.
New American Paintings will continue to keep you updated as we learn more about the closing of the fair. Follow us on Twitter @newampaintings for the latest.
Merchandise Mart entrance, Chicago. Photo Courtesy Art Next Chicago
Filed under: Art World, Chicago | Tags: Art Chicago, Evan J. Garza, lucha libre, NEXT, SAIC, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Steven Frost, Swimming Pool Project Space
Steven Frost, An Audience & Lines to Speak, 2011 | Foam padding, pleather, straight pins, thread, 48 x 82 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist.
Last Friday in Chicago, once crowds had abandoned the aisles of endless booths at the Art Chicago and NEXT fairs, the biggest opening in the city was the annual Thesis Exhibition at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. (And as someone who was there last year, it’s safe to admit the crowd this year had reached unparalleled size, making the crowd at Merchandise Mart look like a knitting circle.) The scale of the 2011 SAIC Thesis Show, and the number of MFA grads itself, had grown so immensely this year that, for the first time, two sites were necessary to exhibit all the work.
With our new MFA Annual currently on newsstands, we’ve had our eye on young MFA candidates for a while, and I was excited to take in some new work. Standing out from the pack were a group of artists (including Jesse Butcher, David R. Harper, Ivan Lozano, and Soo Shin) whose sparse — and spacious — group installation, The World is Not a Calm Place, was, in fact, a much-needed calm from the storm. Featured in the center, Steven Frost‘s installation of sculptural, fiber-based objects revealed subtle painterly qualities through the use of black sequins, pleather, and everyday materials.
Also featured at Swimming Pool Project Space in the GOFFO section at NEXT that weekend, Frost and I spoke this week about his practice, Lucha Libre, sequins, and BDSM (oh, and painting). More after the jump!
—Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large
Filed under: Art Fairs, Art World, Chicago, On the Road | Tags: Andrew Katz, Art Chicago, Elisa Johns, Fred Stonehouse, Marcus Jansen, Matthew Woodward, Nathan Vernau, NEXT, Roland Kulla, Taravat Talepasand, Ted Larsen
TOP: Nathan Vernau (edition #89 cover) at Robert Bills Contemporary. BOTTOM: Matthew Woodward (forthcoming, edition #95) at Linda Warren Gallery. (via Flickr)
With Art Chicago | NEXT‘s new combined layout on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart this weekend, crowds were in full force, as were the numbers of New American Paintings alums. It was fantastic to see so many previously featured artists from countless regional editions, booth after booth. Our Publisher, Steven Zevitas, and Associate Publisher, Drew Katz, caught a few snapshots of NAP artists on view in both fairs, and here are a few highlights.
For a more extensive collection of work by artists previously included in New American Paintings, check out our Flickr photostream! More pics after the jump!
Filed under: Art Fairs, Art World, Chicago, On the Road | Tags: Art Chicago, Chicago, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, CONVERGE, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Dina Deitsch, Dominic Molon, Evan J. Garza, NEXT, Talk Shop, William Cordova
From left: William Cordova, Dominic Molon, Dina Deitsch, Evan J. Garza at the Art Chicago | NEXT Talk Shop
We were thrilled to participate yesterday in CONVERGE Chicago: Contemporary Curators Forum at the Art Chicago | NEXT Talk Shop. New American Paintings Editor-at-Large, Evan J. Garza was the moderator for “Beyond the Stretcher: Breaking Down Spatial Limitations in Contemporary Painting,“ a panel discussion featuring Dina Deitsch, Associate Curator at the deCordova Sculpture Park + Museum, Dominic Molon, Chief Curator for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (and the juror for NAP edition #85), and New York, Miami, and Lima-based artist and curator, William Cordova.
A packed crowd gathered to take in the discussion as throngs of collectors and fair-goers passed up and down the aisles of booths at NEXT. The curators discussed issues of material specificity and spatial concerns in contemporary painting practices, and examined the work of cutting edge artists whose work ignites a dialogue about sculptural and installation forms of painting. The event and conversation were great, and the company we were in was even better. Check out our pics after the jump!
Filed under: Art Fairs, Art World, Chicago, On the Road | Tags: Antonia Gurkovksa, Art Chicago, Katie Bell, NEXT, Susanne Ghez, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago
Antonia Gurkovska, Untitled (Europa), 2010 | Oil, acrylic, wax, latex paint, fabric, and enamel, 92 x 72 inches. Courtesy the artist and The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago.
As part of the Special Projects on view at Art Chicago | NEXT this weekend (opening today!), New Insight is an exhibition featuring 18 of the top MFA candidates from some of the strongest graduate studio programs in the country. Curated by Susanne Ghez, director of The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, an institution with a vast history of exhibiting cutting edge work, this year’s New Insight show, now in its fifth year, is right in line with NEXT‘s mission of being a platform for new ideas and young, newly emerging artists.
With MFA students freshly on our brains at New American Paintings, with the recent release of #93, our new MFA Annual book on newsstands, the presence of national, high-profile MFA talent is tantamount to the idea behind the fair itself. And with works not available for sale by the students, the show drives home the point that the attitude at NEXT seems to put content over commerce. —Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large
Filed under: Art Fairs, Chicago, On the Road | Tags: Andrew Katz, Art Chicago, Chicago, NEXT, NEXT Art Fair, Obey Giant, Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey poses with New American Paintings #93 and posse, Dan, Nick, and Z
Being a student at RISD, it’s impossible to not know the name Shepard Fairey. Even back in 2001, when I was studying there, he was already a legend and referenced often by the students and faculty. Some stories true, some total myths. His stickers were passed around like nudie mags in an elementary school boys’ bathroom. They seemed to appear out of no where, like magic. He must have still had someone on the “inside,” dishing them out to students.
I’ve also had the pleasure of working with Shepard at my own gallery, back in 2004, moments before he went from famous to mega-famous. Though our working relationship was brief, he is always gracious and extremely friendly whenever I see him. He’s that way to total strangers too, which is ultimately why he’s liked so much by his fans.
I was thrilled to learn Shepard would be around for the NEXT art fair opening, DJing the opening party. It’s always great to see him and his posse (shout out to Dan, Nick, and Z), as I’ve gotten to know them well over the past few years as well. Glad to pop off these shots while he was in action. Hope you enjoy, it was a great night at NEXT.
Were you there? Any favorite artworks to speak of? Let us know. More pics after the jump!
—Andrew Katz, Associate Publisher
Shepard Fairey spins at the 2011 NEXT opening
Filed under: Art Fairs, Art World, Chicago | Tags: Art Chicago, CONVERGE Contemporary Curators Forum, Dina Deitsch, Dominic Molon, Evan J. Garza, NEXT, William Cordova
(flickr via Renaissance Society & Art Chicago)
In the dead center of NEXT‘s layout at Merchandise Mart this weekend, in what would otherwise be prime real estate for galleries willing to shell out big bucks for sprawling, centrally-located booths, is instead the Art Chicago | NEXT Talk Shop, the site of CONVERGE Chicago: Contemporary Curators Forum, a 4-day series of public panels and talks with major national and international figures from the art world.
Curator, critic, and New American Paintings Editor-at-Large, Evan J. Garza, will serve as the moderator for “Beyond the Stretcher: Breaking Down Spatial Limitations in Contemporary Painting,” a CONVERGE panel discussion with three prestigious curators, this Friday, April 29 at 6pm at the Talk Shop. (Click to attend and share the event on Facebook!)
As the practice of painting moves ever further from the confines of the canvas, it continues to pour over into sculptural forms, installation, and new media. Curators will discuss issues of materiality, multidisciplinary influence, and the spatial and material undertakings in recent contemporary painting practices. Panelists include: Dominic Molon, Chief Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (and the juror for edition #85 of NAP), Dina Deitsch, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; and William Cordova, (featured in 2003 MFA Annual, Spotlight #86) artist and curator, New York, Miami, and Lima, Peru.
Filed under: Art Fairs, Art World, Chicago, Features, Q&A | Tags: Art Basel, Art Chicago, DCKT, Evan J. Garza, Kavi Gupta, Ken Tyburski, NEXT, Paul Morris, The Armory Show
Photo credit: Timothy Tompkins, Explosion_v3, 2010.
It seemed as if the entirety of the American art world descended upon Chicago at the end of April last year, and with good reason. Now heading into its fourth edition, 2011 will mark the first year that NEXT, the Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art, will sit side-by-side with the stalwart Art Chicago on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart, April 29 – May 2. Growing larger and to more and more critical acclaim in the last few years, the Spring fairs in Chicago received a staggering 50,000 visitors in 2010, and that figure is almost certain to get blown out of the water this year.
NEXT really seemed to be the hot ticket last year, featuring young, hot (even unheard of) galleries, exciting new work, and panels at Talk Shop + CONVERGE Contemporary Curators Forum, right smack in the center of the fair. However, with both NEXT and Art Chicago exhibiting alongside one another this weekend, the opportunity exists for each fair to stand out more than ever before.
So, what does the new layout mean for viewers? To find out, we spoke with NEXT‘s Curatorial Director, Ken Tyburski, who puts the “KT” in DCKT when he’s not designing art fairs with Curatorial Advisor and NEXT co-founder, Kavi Gupta. Our conversation after the jump.
—Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large
