I am woefully behind on just about everything I need to discuss from the Miami art fairs week. However I wanted to get this up before too much time was lost. I have a number of posts in the works – along with a few artists I had not seen before. Look for these posts to finish the week.
As far as commerce at the fairs goes, I’ll discuss that a little bit later, as far as the shows go clearly some shows are going to be better than others. This is clearly the case, not only between shows but also different venues of the same show. A great example of this is the Bridge fair. The Wynwood version could not have been more different than the South Beach version. At the end of the day the curatorial/selection of this fair was probably right by attendees but more than likely wrong by the galleries showing, Wynwood was the ugly stepchild to the far more interesting South Beach version.
While you had this, you also had two shows that were almost identical NADA and Pulse. I am probably in the minority here, but neither show was all that interesting. The selection (with very few exceptions) seemed like a formula – deadpan photography, Illustrative looking figurative work/messy figurative work, and maybe some ironic approach to abstraction. Yes you can nit pick this general criticism, but at the end of the day it is a dispassionate view of these two fairs. Was the curatorial/selection approach too similar? is the current zeitgeist just that simple? I don’t know. But I know that it made for an amazingly redundant viewing experience.
I’m sure you might say the same things about Scope, Aqua (both versions) and Art Miami, but I would not. In fact those fairs seemed like shining beacons compared to the others. One last negative thought; Why would a gallery pay to be in the containers (Art Positions) at ABMB? It has to be the worst viewing experience and I cant imagine much if any commerce happening.
However even after all my bitching about a few of the shows, I remain completely optimistic for the next 48 months of the art world.
I’ve seen more people discussing the ideas about the work before they even think to ask about price – and this is at a fair which really is closest in nature to a yard sale for the art world. This is going to be the time after the next couple of months where the standard rules start to change. Galleries will actually aggressively start to differentiate themselves from each other and real growth in approach – not growth in sales will help dictate the changes we see on gallery walls. I know this sounds a little bit like some senior year art school fantasy, and maybe it is. But this is the kind of thing we have always talked about wanting – will we be happy if we get it?
At the same time we have to be prepared for more competition between the spaces offered to artists, because some of them won’t be around for much longer. Jerry Saltz estimates that 50 – 75 galleries will close in New York in the next few months. I live in Washington DC how many will close here? Consider that there are probably 20 places really showing work you want to see, where does that leave you? Competing for 16 that already have full rosters and will try to cherry pick the best from what goes under. I think it means that artists will have to take control of there own practices like never before.
The reality is this.
Art will continue to be made, because for the people who make art – it’s what they do. Why would they stop?
Galleries will continue to sell art, maybe not as much, but it will continue.
We all know that being in the arts is not the easiest thing in the world, we knew that when we started. Let’s start moving forward.