Michael Workman

If you live in Chicago, can you make a living selling art?

Definitely, especially this time in May every year, when Art Chicago throws opens the floodgates to the rest of the art world. As markets converge this weekend, the entire city seems to explode into one vast commercial space. The atmosphere is what one gallerist described in the Canadian magazine Art News as Christmas in Chicago for the art market. Yes, in a week when collectors and art dealers are descending on the city from all over the world, when Navy Pier feels vaguely like a stock-exchange trading floor, it's actually pretty clear: art is actively, successfully being bought and sold. But selling means competition, and competition can be cutthroat. Hard as it is not to get swept up in the art brio that's everywhere this week, there are also plenty of chances to observe firsthand the active algorithms of calculated preening, garrulous reserve and bustle as the art world comes out of the woodwork. A good way to gauge the mechanisms of this art machine is to focus the lens on a few of the town's premier commercial spaces.

Rhona Hoffman Gallery, located in the West Loop neighborhood, provides a strong contrast case to the "personal" spaces I wrote about last week. On offer at Rhona Hoffman is work by School of the Art Institute faculty member Richard Rezac. A close study of Rezac's abstract sculptures will lead to an egg hunt for the Baroque architectural elements that he cites as an influence, and which pop out under inspection from the aluminum, painted wood and nickel plating that are his materials. Couched in these carefully conceptually filtered objects are traces of gaunt spires, surfaces punctured like Swiss cheese and evidence of a reverently tempered, emotionalist technique. Rezac's architectural-engineering approach to sculpture is gleefully reminiscent of the mid-eighties British artist Julian Opie's satirically abstract sculptures. Rezac, however, is more sincerely self-conscious and provides the design worksheets for his pieces to prove how meticulous his process is. Viewing these diagrams forces the patron to consider the play between two and three dimensions, the relation of mass and volume to diagrammatic form.

A fun sampler is also on offer at "Really," a group show curated by Tim Lowly at gescheidle gallery in the River North district. On display is a collection of work that pokes fun at the mundanely narrow view of representational art while gesturing demurely back to its own participation. Conrad Bakker's cassette tape, made of oil on carved wood, sprawls over the gallery floor in a twist of coiled black ribbon. Molly Springfield's cute graphite drawings of receipts and oils of swizzle sticks serve as a perfect metaphor for the compulsion to purchase eye candy.

On and off the Pier

Such microcosmic views of the commercial world, of course, simply cannot match up to the sheer brute spectacle that fuels the commercial fever of Art Chicago. Now in its eleventh year, this fair remains the uncontested champion of art exhibition in Chicago. Buy your ticket for Art Chicago and you'll view work that enjoys the approbation of a wide range of art-world denizens. With more than 200 galleries on hand showing the work of more than 3,000 artists, both historic and contemporary, you're not likely to walk away without something having caught your eye.

If Art Chicago doesn't slake your thirst for contemporary art, or you instead prefer a little less of a convention-like atmosphere for your art viewing, check out The Stray Show. Though there is some overlap, more dicey work than at Art Chicago is the rule here, envisioned as a youth organ and nightspot destination of the main event. Indeed, the more incorrigible spaces in Chicago and, recently, from around the country have signed on in droves (full disclosure: with Tom Burtonwood, I'm also represented at the Stray Show as part of the art collective Coup de Foudre). Though recent installments of Stray have struggled to find their legs, planners Thomas Blackman and Associates hope that staging it concurrent for the first time with Art Chicago will tip the balance. If the Stray Show doesn't take off, it won't be from lack of effort: collectors from Art Chicago might have the option of a shuttle ride from Navy Pier to the Stray Show location on Kingsbury (as of press time, this was still undecided). If you're trying to make a living in art, that attention from collectors may just mean the difference in this economy between potentially fatal budget overruns and another year of smooth sailing.

Richard Rezac shows at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, 118 North Peoria, (312)455-1990, through June 14. "Really" shows at gescheidle, 300 West Superior, (312) 654-0600, through May 24. Art Chicago at Navy Pier runs May 9-10, noon-8pm, May 11-12, noon-6pm. $12. The Stray Show, at 1418 North Kingsbury, opens May 9 from 7pm-midnight and runs May 10, 1pm-9pm, May 11-12, noon-6pm. $10.

(2003-05-07)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
Is it really "us" versus "them"? Are our current art options as simple a choice as between "alternative" and commercial?
(2003-04-30)

Sex in Public
Three years ago, while working on a feature-length video, this graduate of the School of the Art Institute's master's program placed an ad in a local paper seeking production assistance for a work-in-progress. Local filmmaker and Z Film Fest director Usama Alshaibi offered her space at Heaven Gallery that he was using to stage the first installment of his annual program. Kristie accepted his offer, and ended up shooting a party scene in the space. The two became friends and eventually married.
(2002-12-12)

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