Fair Trouble

Not only are some art fairs both in the US and abroad (Germany and UK) cancelling - like artDC did for DC area - but another sign of fair troubles is the fact that many US art fairs have and are extending their deadlines for gallery applications.

That possibly means that not enough galleries are applying. And when the fair organizers actually call you to talk you into applying, that's certainly a bleak sign of harsh times ahead.

This is where the market decides who floats and who sinks. It will be interesting to see what Armory week looks like this weekend in NYC.

Cuban Art is Caliente!

From the Wall Street Journal:

With art from Asia and Russia in demand, some in the art world are betting on Cuba to be the next hot corner of the market. Prices for Cuban art are climbing at galleries and auction houses, and major museums are adding to their Cuban collections. In May, Sotheby's broke the auction record for a Cuban work when it sold Mario Carreño's modernist painting "Danza Afro-Cubana" for $2.6 million, triple its high estimate.

Now, with a new Cuban president in power and some hope emerging for looser travel and trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba, American collectors and art investors are moving quickly to tap into the market. Some are getting into Cuba by setting up humanitarian missions and scouting art while they're there. Others are ordering works from Cuba based on email images and having them shipped.

The collectors are taking advantage of a little-known exception to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba: It is legal for Americans to buy Cuban art.

I will be curating two Cuban art shows this year: one in Norfolk opening next April 12 for Mayer Fine Art and another in Maryland later this year for H&F Fine Arts.

One thing to be careful about: there will be chaos when the Cuban dictators finally step aside, and I suspect that "government sanctioned artists" will not be at the top of their game - if anything, collecting dissident Cuban art is the key.

I've been telling all of you for years now: Buy Cuban art!

Will this ever end?

To the untutored eye, they are simply huge rectangular panels - reds, yellows, blues, greens - that have hung like oversized Post-it Notes on the walls of the cavernous federal courthouse since it opened a decade ago. Hundreds of people pass them daily; few seem to notice.

In fact, the fiberglass-and-aluminum panels are among the most valuable works of art in Boston by a living artist, commissioned at a cost of $800,000 in tax dollars, and probably worth millions today. The revelation usually leaves visitors to the John Joseph Moakley courthouse incredulous or bemused.

Read the Boston Globe story here.



Leads me to wonder: what's the most expensive piece of public art in New York, or Philadelphia, or Washington, DC, or Topeka, Kansas?

Most expensive doesn't mean most popular... For popular, in DC I would guess the Viet-Nam Memorial; in Philly the Rocky Statue; in NYC, maybe the Statue of Liberty?

Any ideas or suggestions?

Opportunity for Artists in McLean, VA

Deadline: April 11, 2008

The McLean Project for the Arts has announced a Call for Entries for Once Again, Again: Rhythm and Repetition. Artists notification: Late April. Exhibition Dates: June 19 - July 26, 2008. Juror: Annie Gawlak of G Fine Art.

Eligibility: All Mid-Atlantic artists (DC,VA,MD,DE,PA,NJ,WV) artists are invited to submit up to four digital images (jpegs) of 2 or 3 dimensional, installation or video works completed within the last two years and not previously exhibited at MPA.

Works that employ multiple images or repetition as concept and/or technique will be considered. Works that move beyond traditional forms and media are encouraged. Works must fit through 81" x 65" doorway. Awards: Cash prizes totaling $1500 will be awarded by the juror. Decisions are final. Entry Fee $25. Fee waived for current MPA members. Fee includes one-year artist membership to MPA. For more information and entry form, go to this website.

Opportunity for Artists in Philly

Deadline: April 27, 2008

Vox Populi, a member-run artist collective, founded in Philadelphia in 1988 to support the work of emerging artists with regular exhibitions, lectures, gallery talks and related programming, is currently accepting submissions for the gallery's annual juried exhibition.

Solid Gold will be on exhibition at Vox from June 6 through June 27 and is being juried by Adelina Vlas, Assistant Curator for Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Sarah McEneaney, visual artist. Artists of all media are invited to submit 3 or 5 examples of works. All work submitted for consideration must be available for exhibition.

Fee: $20 for 3 submissions, $30 for 5 submissions.

For more detailed information, requirements and submission form, please visit here.

Wanna go to a DC opening this Friday?


The artists featured in this month's Longview Gallery in DC were selected by Stephen Bennett Phillips (formerly of the Phillips Collection) for the New American Paintings publication, Volume No. 69. I've heard all kinds of great stories from artists whose selection to that publication has led to good gallery attention.

And here is a real life example!

Robert Sparrow Jones' works are loose and energetic, relying on a bright and forceful color scheme to evoke an emotional response.

Jamie Pocklington’s subjects come mostly from internet photos albums and image search engines. He is drawn and appropriates images that have universal qualities that he then collages into new scenarios, out of context of the original photos.

The opening reception is Friday, March 28, 5-8pm.

Congrats

To DC area artist Tim Tate, whose Chicago debut in a cool four person show opened in the middle of a Chicago snowstorm last weekend in Chicago's ubergallery Marx Saunders.

Five years ago or so, you could have acquired a piece by Tate for around $600 bucks - at this show, his work is going for as high as mid 20s.

Details of the Chicago show here.