PooL Comes To Chicago
PooL, a perennial alternative hotel art fair in New York and Miami is coming to Chicago. It promises “…to create a meeting ground for artists, art dealers and curators with the pupose of advancing the career of the participating artists.” It “…also provides the public with access to art and encourage them to support emerging artists.” The show costs $1,650 to enter after you get juried in (the fair will jury in 25 -50 artists) and will be at the Hampton Inn & Suites, several blocks from the concurrent Art Chicago and NEXT shows this year.
The purpose of the show is very much like the mission of The Artist Project, which in its first year was largely ignored by the dealers, curators and serious collectors, while being reviled the second year as it descended into a street-type art fair. It’s an expensive undertaking for an independent artist and there isn’t much time to think about it as the deadline for entry is in a few days. I’ve gotten two emails and a follow-up phone call soliciting my entry. My experience with The Artist Project leaves me to believe this is a vanity show.
It’s kind of strange that this is a vanity venue, yet it seems to have credibility in the art world. However, I am interested in how this will be received and how it will work here. Will it be like the first TAP, sort of a premium Around The Coyote and largely ignored, or will it get some attention as an auxiliary fair like it does in NY and Miami?
I think NEXT or Art Chicago should still have a showcase for emerging artists in one form or another and it should be sponsored by the Merchandise Mart. There would be no entry fee (10-15 artists would be hand picked and the Mart would receive a commission if work sold). The show would be a way for prospective dealers, curators, collectors, etc to check out the work without a desperate artist in their face and the work would be in a professional setting—the TAP setting was not very inviting. The other professional galleries could benefit too by seeing new talent. The overall idea of TAP is still viable but the model never worked as was proven.
As a side note, I never did like the hotel idea. Stuff laid out on beds, leaning against walls and hanging in bathrooms looks funky.
Category: Articles, Essays 23 comments »
March 30th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Since The Artist Project was ignored and basically lambasted the last two years in Chicago, why would anyone think that PooL will be successful? It’s the same business model with the same outrageous fee.
And if these show models are working in other cities, then maybe Chicago (the Mart) is at fault.
So I ask the question: Are these type of shows successful in other cities? And by successful, I mean reviewed well by critics, championed by curators, visited by “real” collectors, etc – -
March 30th, 2009 at 11:25 am
$1600!!! Aaagh! Looked good until I got to that part.
Screw pay-to-play.
K
March 30th, 2009 at 11:35 am
It did get some attention (was written and talked about) in the other cities, but I’m not sure how successful it was. The mission is too much like that of the original TAP, which didn’t really work. If the idea is to get a worthy, but largely unknown artist’s work in front of dealers, critics, collectors, etc., the $1,650 price tag is a road block. It requires a snap decision to throw it down in the chance that a busy Art Chicago or NEXT attendee is going to find the time to wander over to the hotel. Based on my experience with TAP, that’s not going to happen. It therefore becomes an issue of trying to make that money back by selling to the casual consumer — more like Old Town or Gold Coast. It might work better for prints and small work, though.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:40 am
“Screw pay-to-play.”
Exactly!
I found this amusing in the Application Form under Promotion (and it was underlined):
“The most important and effective promotion is by the participating artist’s word of mouth.” – - Great! more friends and relatives showing up…that’s an impressive crowd.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:50 am
This type of exhibition model puts the artists behind the eight ball by promoting the fact that they are not represented and by having a play-to-pay fee.
Again, as Bill states, there should be a separate show which is part of NEXT or Art Chicago and sponsored by the Mart with no entry fee and it should be open to all artists as long as that artist is not represented by one of the galleries featured in NEXT or Art Chicago.
March 30th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I wish it could work, that exciting new work could be seen in an alternative venue, but it rarely happens in art fair circles. Even the Bridge show had it’s compliment of “well if they just knew how to hang art” crit. which was painful….. I think that is not what it was about anyway… it was about being ripped off. Time and money taken from everyone involved and pissing them all off….and after learning the hardway….screw pay to play.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
The fall of The Artist Project is kind of interesting. The first year should have shown promise but the biggest complaint was that there was really only about 10 good artists out of the 50. I think if there were 50 talented artists in that first show, the TAP would have turned into something differently today.
The second TAP was a jungle…over 300 artists. The Mart was only seeing dollar signs. Again, the show did not attract the most talented of artists either. It seemed to be a disaster.
The third TAP was held with the One of a Kind show which is more of a holiday craft show. Again, disaster.
And as far as I know the TAP is no longer.
Though the PooL Art Fair has more cred, I think it will be more of the same for Chicago.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:41 am
I just heard that the deadline has been extended…what a surprise!!!
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:08 am
I think that $1,650 could be better spent than quickly put into a show in a desperate attempt to get your work in front of people that for the most part are going to be a couple of miles away.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:57 am
Yes, Bill I agree. I don’t think most people are going to make the trek from Art Chicago and NEXT (The Mart) to the Hampton.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
If they had proposed holding it at the Ohio House, in between bachelor parties with strippers and God knows what else goes on there, I’d have been almost intrigued enough to participate. The Hampton Inn’s for vacationing families on a budget and thrifty business types; we’d be lucky to get a stale roll constituting a Continental Breakfast outa them as far as amenities…
April 14th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I participated in Pool Miami and New York and thought it a very worthwhile show. New York was very well attended and I know Robert Ayers
Art Critic from Art News came to our show. He very much liked Joanna Johnson’s work . I felt I made some great connections and my sales were good. Artists such as Don Porcella, Leah Oates, and Debra Drexler have done Pool fairs in the past.Thierry Alet our director has his heart in the right place, promoting independent artists. As for the fee,
hotels want to be paid and this is much less than say the 7000. Bridge wants for a similar hotel room. My work appeared in the art Basel Miami calender for ART+AUCTION with the Pool fair listing. I wish Pool Art Fair
Success in Chicago.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Pool Art Fair as the scent of a typical “street art fair” like the Old Town and Gold Coast here in Chicago. Maybe I am wrong and I do wish it success too.
The Artist Project had high hopes too but then ended up catering to the “street art fair” artists and quickly spiralled into crap – -
April 15th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Except for the venue, PooL seems to have the same purpose as The Artist Project, which was to give exposure (to dealers, curators, collectors) to artists who had been “underrepresented.” During the first year of TAP, there were a handful of dealers from Bridge that wandered through and perhaps a few serious collectors and curators, but it was mostly the casual art observer. The second year expanded on this and focused on the street art fair crowd, served mainly by itinerate artists. It’s a completely different market than that of Art Chicago and NEXT.
This gave the Merchandise Mart a show for almost all tastes. For the serious art collector, etc., there was Art Chicago and NEXT. For the lover of outsider art, there was Intuit. If you are serious about collecting antiques, there was a fair for that and if you just like having nice things on the wall, there was The Artist Project.
I guess a musical comparison would be if SXSW would have a showcase series for wedding bands.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I don’t want to bash the street fairs. One could have a very good career as an itinerate artist and produce good work. There is absolutely nothing wrong with someone wanting to own a nice, inspiring, (add your own adjective here) piece of art and there is nothing wrong with being involved in this scene. It’s just not a place where curators, dealers, museum folks, etc. are going to spend much time or give much attention to. So if an artist is looking to have that Important Show, or have work in that Important Collection, selling work out of a booth isn’t going to cut it. However, if all an artist wants to do is show his or her work and share it with the world, a street fair or street fair-like show is fine.
April 20th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
PooL Art Fair – Chicago has been officially canceled – -
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 am
the first TAP, in which I showed, was great for me for sales and contacts. It could have become great if tehy had listened to Tony Fitzpatrick and others who tried to give advice (like Paul Klein and me). That said, however, I think the “mood” in the artworld at large is such that anything emphasizing artists, without “preapproval by some power that be” will simply be ignored. That is the power system and the method of censorship currently in use. NEXT is not much more than such, yet with curators appropriately bowed-down-to, thus it gets attention. (It had high quality, but at a high price: the necessity to kowtow.) Unless you would make a major quasi-curated event of the thing, there is I belive no allowance for artist-oriented sub-fairs —YET. Even artists spend a lot of time dissing these things in order to beg their way into the club, so to speak. A radically different model is needed.
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:23 am
Hello Mark, I think your experience at TAP was atypical. You already have a good track record and many contacts in place. The average TAP artist does not have this. Many of the TAP artists (both years) did not sell a thing and did not make any contacts. TAP did not cater to the “real” collectors.
I agree that the Mart should have listened to advice from you, Tony, Wesley, Paul, etc. TAP juried in a lot of “street fair artist” types….it just wasn’t good stuff. And you can’t blame the jurors because the applications were not all that good but the Mart wanted to fill the house the second time around. They made $300,000 off those artists the second year.
I think some artists are dissing these types of events because of the quality of the show not really to get “into the club”. I’ve seen some of the artists in both the TAP and POOL and some of the talent is just not very good. That needs to change…
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 am
If the Artropolis fairs were to seriously give an opportunity for artists that are worthy of broader attention by the Art World, then they need to be included in the main fairs, somehow. Unfortunately, a separate fair where artists man booths ghettoizes them. The first TAP was better, but for the second year the Mart pulled out the stops and let the fair descend into a street fair. Indeed, a radically different model is needed.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Bill, you are correct but I think Artropolis Fairs and the like will always be intimidated by events/fairs in which the artists are selling their own work directly. Why, I don’t know. I think it is actually or at least should be a good place for gallerist to pick up on exciting new artists who are not represented at the time – -
April 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
You are all so high and mighty how could the art world possible contain you. Isn’t the point… just having the opportunity to make art in your life, a very special experience. My neighbor at Pool New York, Norm Hinsey just opened Creon gallery at 238 East 24th street ,New York. You never know who you will meet, or what will happen… Oh, so little imagination.
April 26th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I don’t know if painting is a “very special experience” or if I’m lucky to “have the opportunity”. — For me, I work hard and make sacrifices to be a painter. It was my decision in life. Painting is a vocation as any other a person chooses.
“little imagination” ……it’s more important how one uses their imagination.
April 26th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Making art, for me, is a “very special experience.” In many ways, it is the center of my being. However, participating in another street fair would not be very special.