In the last few weeks, competition has heated up between the two large art expositions that occur every spring in Chicago.
If next year`s events were held today, we might well see a role reversal, with the older Chicago International Art Exposition (Art Expo) having lost pride of place to the smaller Art Chicago Gallery Invitational.
This could not have been predicted even last May, for while recent installments of both fairs were disappointing, Art Expo retained the advantage of prestige and power.
Now, apparently, that is changing. And if the rate of change seems remarkably fast, the conditions that prompted it have been apparent over several of the event`s 13 years.
”Art Expo has been losing fine dealers all along,” said Carl Hammer, president of the Chicago Art Dealers Association, ”and the word at the Basel art fair this year was that Chicago was dead, it had no better fair than the one in Los Angeles and there was no point in coming here.
”Well, if Art Expo suffers, our galleries suffer. So we wanted to enter into a partnership (with the organizer, the Lakeside Group) to bring back the galleries of high quality the fair had lost. But that went right by John
(Wilson, president of the Lakeside Group). He rejected it, and on July 1 our discussions came to a halt.”
Until two years ago, that would have been it; when you were out, you were out. But in 1990 the Los Angeles-based International Fine Art Expositions, run by David and Lee Ann Lester, started a second fair in Chicago, which for some dealers provided an alternative.
Wilson was quick to say that those who exhibited in Art Chicago were his rejects. Yet that was not entirely true. In its first year, the fair focused on earlier work, being complementary to Art Expo; its representation of contemporary galleries was low and, clearly, not a strong point.
The Lesters made a slight shift toward contemporary art in 1991, with new participants, not defectors. And this year the change continued, Art Chicago growing closer to Art Expo in emphasis if not in quality.
Tom Blackman, executive director of Art Expo, said that David Lester
”had always been poking around,” trying to wean dealers away from the start. Only now, after slow sales at the `92 Expo and the second year of a bad economy, has he achieved success, though it is too early to say how much.
”Basically, the good galleries are finished with the Lakeside Group,”
Lester said. ”We provided an alternative. They took it. They wanted more aesthetic control, and I was willing to accept their concept of a broad-based show. I want a `dealers` fair` with, hopefully, one dealer leaning on another to get back the ones that stopped coming to Chicago. If we can get them back, collectors again will come.”
On July 27, Lester announced the formation of a 14-dealer advisory committee, including several that used to participate in Art Expo. Two of them, Paul Gray and Rhona Hoffman, were from Chicago. However, the initial announcement soon was followed by a disclaimer: Membership on the advisory committee did not mean participation in the exposition.
”The chief resource of a fair is its exhibitors,” said dealer Richard Gray, who long chaired an informal advisory committee for Art Expo. ”But John (Wilson) has been driving them away, little by little. I don`t want to suggest his fair is dead. Somebody can keep it alive, though it is no longer a viable venue for me and my colleagues.
”This year a group of dealers from New York and Europe said they couldn`t continue with Expo, and Lester came in to take advantage of the situation, approaching myself and others. He seems perfectly willing to treat exhibitors as the resources they are. So we were encouraged to give him a chance and will participate on the committee but did not commit to the exposition. I was not willing to risk my reputation and standing by being the bait for others.”
Hoffman was not available for comment, but Ilana Vardy, director of the
`92 Expo, said she has spoken to her, and Hoffman, too, has adopted a wait-and-see attitude. The 37-member Chicago Art Dealers Association, previously exclusive supporters of Expo, now has no such alignment. And officials of the Museum of Contemporary Art, which has paid Lakeside up to $60,000 each year for the use of the opening as a benefit, recently began discussions with representatives of Art Chicago.
These blows would seem to be telling, especially as they came soon after members of the Antiquarian Society of the Art Institute of Chicago pulled out of Lakeside`s antiques fair, refusing to pay $30,000 for the opening benefit when they suspected there would not be enough dealers for a first-rate show. Wilson has now postponed the event until 1994.
Perhaps worse is Lester`s scheduling of the next Art Chicago one week ahead of Expo, making it more convenient for dealers who will attend the spring auctions of contemporary art in New York. It seems unlikely they-or, for that matter, collectors-would want to spend another week in Chicago for yet another exposition.
Blackman admits that all this has made his work cut out for him. However, Wilson remains steadfast, holding by earlier decisions.
”If I create bad vibes, I guess it`s in my character,” he said. ”But I feel we do a good job. The dealers wanted me to cut the number of galleries in half, to have a small, intimate show. If I took it down to what they wanted, it would be impossible.
”Everybody wants to run it, and I always listen to what they have to say. But I have been here 14 years. I feel very strongly about what I do. Now I have a large number of countries paying to exhibit. So we will continue to have a major show. (Lester) doesn`t have signed contracts. He`s got dealers on an advisory board with others they don`t like and they`re going to kick out all of his people. (The operation) just isn`t in the same league as ours.”
Last month, Wilson decided his operation needed streamlining, and Vardy, who directed the fair for only one year, was the first to go. She says it was a financial decision and the parting was amicable.
She suspects Wilson will make last-minute concessions in an attempt to win back dealers, acknowledging that for many they will come too late.
They will be ignored because of a degree of animosity rare among art dealers. Several of them claim Wilson has antagonized them beyond all reason. So whatever happens to Expo and the Lakeside Group is not purely a matter of business. Much of what the dealers say is strong enough to indicate they are waiting-waiting for Wilson to get his comeuppance.
It will be interesting to see how things develop.
