Comments on: PooL Comes To Chicago

By: Bill Dolan

Bill Dolan — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:02:04 +0000

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.

By: Norbert Marszalek

Norbert Marszalek — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:27:14 +0000

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.

By: Madonna Phillips

Madonna Phillips — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:14:01 +0000

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.

By: Norbert Marszalek

Norbert Marszalek — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:58:09 +0000

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 – -

By: Bill Dolan

Bill Dolan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:00:01 +0000

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.

By: Norbert Marszalek

Norbert Marszalek — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:23:32 +0000

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…

By: Mark Staff Brandl

Mark Staff Brandl — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:24:17 +0000

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.

By: Norbert Marszalek

Norbert Marszalek — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:04:55 +0000

PooL Art Fair – Chicago has been officially canceled – -

By: bill Dolan

bill Dolan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:11:41 +0000

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.

By: bill Dolan

bill Dolan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:08:51 +0000

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.