Chapter 3- The Fair

• Pg. 81, second paragraph. I found the description of the administration/counsel of the fair to be rather fascinating. It was interesting that all the power and decisions didn't just rest with the director, Samuel Keller, but instead was divided up amongst his counsel, "ambassadors". I thought that basically the director would make all the decisions about who gets what stand and who gets in, but instead there is a whole counsel of people who choose. This, I guess, makes it more fair to the galleries wanting admission, but it makes it harder because you will have to get everyone's approval.
• Pg. 81-2. the description of the building was interesting because they really thought of every aspect, or factor, of what was needed for a perfect exhibiting conditions. Such as the layout so everyone is crammed altogether, "...each[floor of gallery stands] arranged in two easy-to-navigate concentric squares." The fair was split to have the "blue chip", more expensive galleries, on one floor and the other galleries on another floor. This catetered to the interests of the collectors and dealers, but, also, gave the galleries the fair/proper competition. The structure of the exhibition space was considered with high ceilings so they don't interfere with the view of the art work. Even the lighting conditions were considered to enable the work to be shown at it's very best with "... the expensive, artificial lighting being clean and white." I just found it interesting that all of these conditions were considered because I just assumed they used a building that was presentable and able to hold the proper amount of people.
  
• Pg. 82-3. I found the "characters" the Rubells to be rather interesting because of their contradiction to the assumed stereotype given to art collectors. The Rubells are very wealthy, but you wouldn't guess that unless you were told, I guess. They even said, at one point, "Sometimes I'm embarrassed to identify myself as a collector. It's about being rich, privileged, and powerful." Whereas the stereotype is that art collectors are dress expensively, stuck up and act superior. You can also tell that the Rubells were wise, experience collectors because of the way they spoke about collecting art, what art they are interested in and how private of a process it was to purchase art.
  
• Pg. 85, second paragraph. "The trick is to find a space for everything, so each work has a chance to breathe. It means hanging less and thinking about thematic connections and the sight lines." I thought this was an important quote because it is something everyone should keep in mind while hanging work in a public space, studio or so forth. I also think it is something we should keep in mind when we get closer to arranging work for a thesis exhibition.
  
• Pg. 84-91. I found the descriptions of all the different gallery stands and owners to be an intriguing comparison. You had your very involved, enthusiastic gallery owner, such as Gladstone. Gladstone was present for the whole fair, wanted to be there, very confident and personable with somewhat commercial and graphic style art. But, I guess that suits the personality of a woman that use to be a stay at home mom. However, in contrast, you have Victoria Miro who doesn't like the fair and only shows up for the required time she needs to be there. What I found interesting about her, wasn't her lack of involvement, but was the fact that there wasn't prices or any kind of indicator on the works. I liked this idea and how it made the buyers start a conversation, clever idea. Thinking more about it, I guess the "not pricing the pieces" seems logical because most of the works were more of museum collecting than personal collecting. On the whole other end of the spectrum, you have the Lisson Gallery and Nicholas Logsdail. This gallery showed sculptures and minimalism work. The difference with Logsdail was the fact he actually went to art school and that he doesn't flaunt his wealth. So far there wasn't any mention of the gallery owners having a academic art background.
• Pg. 91, first paragraph. "Many successful gallerists see themselves as mavericks. Some are artist-oriented dealers-they generally go to art school and give up being an artist when they discover they have an aptitude for organizing exhibitions. Others are collector-focused dealers- they tend to apprentice at Sotheby's or Christie's and often start out as collectors themselves. A third set might be called curators' dealers- they study art history and excel at scholarly justifications of their artists' work. In any case, there is no set training or certification. Anyone can call himself or herself a dealer or gallerist."- Logdail. I just found this to be a very interesting insight and explanation to what one of the motif questions of this chapter, the definition of a dealer. It slightly gives me hope that you don't have to be wealthy to be a dealer and maybe I could achieve being one. (haha)
• Pg. 94, third paragraph. "Artists tend to view art fairs with mixture of horror, alienation, and amusement. They feel uneasy when all the hard work of the studio is reduced to supplying the voracious demand, and they wince at the sight of so much art accompanied by so little substantive conversation." This point is relivant because the whole time I read this chapter I was wondering why none of the artists were there. So my question was answered. I think this quote doesn't just apply to artists at fairs but just in general of artist being around when people are looking at their work. Ok, well at least for me. I go through a whole wave of emotions when I have to present my work for crit or have it in a show or show it to my friends. It's a vulnerable place to be for many reasons.