Scope Art Fair: The Last Day

 As much fun as art fairs are during ABMB week, unless you're one of those galleries who hire professional crews to unpack and hang, and then to pack at the end of the day on Sunday, then the last day of the fair is brutal.

For some odd reason, the people who run Scope thought that it was a good idea to end the fair at 8PM on Sunday - rather than the usual 5PM.

More on the end later...

Today artist Tony Porto was an instant social hit because of the snug T-shirt that he was wearing - a big hit! It was as if the T-shirt gave him superhuman powers among the social waves and waves of beautiful people and influencers.

Chicago-based artist Tony Porto as a social media superstar at SCOPE Miami Beach 2021

You can read his snuggly T-Shirt...

The crowds were once again present on Scope's last day and we were excited to make several good sales, with a few drawings and one painting finding new owners and new walls to hang at!

As the fair closed, the frenzied process of tired gallerists and dealers and their assistants (and the lucky ones with hired crews) begin the process of tearing down exhibits, bubble-wrapping work to be delivered to new owners or shipped back to galleries, or perhaps to the next fair, and figuring out their next step.

Point of order: every art fair, no matter how good, always has a number of dealers that do very well, some that break even, and many who lose money -- every fair.

This year I noticed that Scope had "opened" the fair to individual artists.  While I understand that the post-Covidian world and inflation woes often make economic decisions... but a fair which starts as a "galleries only" fair and then (as not enough gallery applications are received) opens the process to individual artists, so that in the end dealers and galleries are mixed with individual artists is an "issue".

With the notable exception of DC's only art fair a few years ago -- (e)merge, which was designed from the start to couple art dealers with unrepresented artists, the mixture of individual artists and art galleries at the same fair seldom succeeds. This is generally due to the spectacular lack of business acumen and selling experience that most artists have (not all), and the disastrous "discounting" orgies that happen on Sundays when artists realize that the fair is almost over and they haven't sold squat.

My heart broke when I noticed that the Turkish gallery across the hall (which had a professional crew do all the work), had unstretched all the huge canvasses that they had exhibited (none sold) and had put several thousand dollars of custom made and gorgeous stretcher bars on the side marked as THRASH.

I walked around the fair finding Miami galleries to see if they wanted them or knew of any artists who could use them... what a waste.

Meanwhile Mike Janis directed the complex re-packing of glass work, while Terry and Tony did the van dance of coming onto the grounds; then the carrying of the packed art and loading back onto the van for the long trek back home.

Another year done.