Michael Workman

For the past six months, not as art editor for this paper, but wearing my other hat as the director of a small not-for-profit, I've been planning and organizing an art fair. It's called Nova (www.novayoungartfair.com), a name that started out as a word that bred an acronym: the Network of Visual Art. I'd like to share my experience staging this kind of event in Chicago, where it's at, where it's headed. But this entails a few hops and skips: there are two other art fairs happening at the same time, and to avoid any conflicts, I'll not write about either of them.

Usually art fairs are a commercial staging ground where galleries from all over the world make the work of their artists available to buyers and collectors. If galleries want to come to Chicago, it's a sign that the city is in good standing with the rest of the world's art makers, sellers and collectors. It's an important barometer. And are we in good standing today? Not really. Why? That's the million-dollar question, actually. For our part, we're concerned that not-for-profits traditionally aren't given exhibition space on par with for-profit galleries who often show the same handful of artists. A lot of wonderful work comes from not-for-profits, yet you'll never see the Contemporary Art Workshop or the Hyde Park Art Center in a full-scale exhibition booth at a commercial fair. It's pure economics: neither buyer nor seller can afford the space. We decided to operate like small publishers who pay for esoteric titles with books picked for their chances at becoming best sellers. But this is all just context.

First we needed a space. We spent a few days scouting the West Loop, writing down addresses and telephone numbers. A few people called us back, and we found a building owner on Fulton Market who seemed enthusiastic about supporting art. He'd hosted a few events for respected institutions and at 8,000 square feet, his space was certainly big enough. We drew up paperwork and he offered it to us free if we could get the permits. We thought, "Wow, we're lucky." Then we took a tour of another building we'd had our eye on for "project" spaces at 840 West Washington, above the Transmission auto shop, an abandoned office space previously rented out to a cadre of punk-rock kids always smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk. They'd had a lease-breaker party and trashed the place, even lodging skateboards and the remains of a shattered electric guitar in the drywall. They'd also left heart-wrenching goodbye letters to each other glued on the walls; paint had been thrown and dripped in thick streaks everywhere; ceiling tiles were torn down and electrical wiring left dangling; a shower had been installed on a sewage line, and walking in through the front door meant navigating a 6-foot high mountain of drained beer cans. A glowing green sludge pooled in the corner threatened to come alive at any moment and devour us in its horror-movie tendrils.

We hired a salvage company to clean the place, six rat-like men with grime-streaked clothes who smelled of ancient garbage. They did the job in a single day, in a building with no elevator, even removing the refrigerator with a 2-year-old steak in the freezer and a couch with a steel bed frame that felt like it weighed a ton. We kept the guitar, of course. Next, we started painting and patching and calling galleries for booths, individual artists and all those not-for-profits for project spaces. We worked out a deal to rent walls and lights from a local group who has a show in the fall at Navy Pier and drew up floor plans on AutoCAD.

We started signing up spaces from as far away as London, whole groups of local artists, the project picked up steam--and we leapt headfirst into the work of acquiring permits from the City of Chicago. Most things went swimmingly, except for some weird bruits about bad feelings between the Fulton Market building owner and city inspectors--then, two months ago, a little worried, a nice woman in the Department of Cultural Affairs who was helping us navigate the permit process through the Department of Buildings and Revenue (two separate departments) suggested we file a Freedom of Information Act request. When we did, we found out that there were over $200,000 in repairs pending on the Fulton Market building and that a lot of work had been done without permission. Gloom fell. It dawned on us: there's no way around this; we need to find a new building. Going back to our list, we called a parking-garage owner right next to our office space on Washington and set up a meeting. It was even better than Fulton Market: connected to the project spaces by way of a back staircase, and bigger. After some hurried negotiations, we drafted a new contract and brought in the inspectors, who said it was too expensive to fix up and we'd probably have agreed with them if it wasn't for one thing: the space was perfect. We hired the electricians and plumbers we needed, made a few visits to Home Depot, rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

Next week: the dramatic conclusion.

(2005-04-19)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
This past weekend I took my own advice and drove down to Pilsen for its monthly Second Fridays opening night
(2005-04-12)

Tip of the Week
A few years back, the R. Crumb section opened on an upper floor of Musée de l'Érotisme in the Montmartre section of Paris, capital city of a country the artist had recently immigrated to in protest of what he saw as a hopelessly corrupt American way of life
(2005-04-12)

Tip of the Week
As we approach the date of the annual Navy Pier Walk, Terrence Karpowicz, a co-founder of that annual outdoor sculpture exhibition, opens a survey of his own sculptural work
(2005-04-05)

Eye Exam
The late Ed Paschke was so ubiquitous in Chicago, so prolific and managed to so deeply stamp the wake of his presence on this city that you can't help but wonder why aren't there droves of memorial tributes and exhibitions?
(2005-04-05)

Eye Exam
(2005-03-29)

Eye Exam
(2005-03-15)

Games People Play
(2005-03-08)

Eye Exam
(2005-03-08)

Eye Exam
(2005-03-01)

Tip of the Week
(2005-02-22)

Eye Exam
(2005-02-22)

Tip of the Week
(2005-02-15)

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