The Art Fair Sucks! Let’s Make More!

“The problem: An art trade fair that for 25 years has strip-mined the Midwestern collecting community, resulting in high-ticket dealers and big-spending buyers who no longer come. The solution: Next year hold three. How much does it take to see that this is not an answer?” Chicago actually tried the multiple-fair idea a decade ago, says Alan Artner, and the results were underwhelming. Yes, Art Chicago needs to reexamine itself, but the new push to become “the art fair of the people” seems doomed to failure, since the whole point of an art fair is to pander to the moneyed crowd that wants nothing to do with popular culture.