on EXPO, reflections on the *art world*
holding onto the pt. 2 from last week's series to share my reflections from an art filled week and the 'art world' writ large!
Right now, writing this newsletter, I’m laying outdoors on my favorite picnic blanket, having done nothing but watch the clouds for the past three hours. And for the first time this week, I feel calm, quiet, and grounded enough to think! It’s been an art-filled week, and with that, a very stimulating week: looking deeply (or trying to), thinking deeply (or trying to), and connecting with people (or trying to).
I’m still recovering from being in NYC briefly on Wednesday, and then flying back to Chicago on Thursday morning for the start of EXPO Chicago, or Chicago’s international modern & contemporary art fair. The fair hosts 170 international exhibitors with programming (mostly in the form of ‘dialogues’), and gallery activations all over the city. I’ve been trying to explore Chicago’s art scene this Spring, and coming from Evanston, I definitely underestimated the physical toll of travel back and forth to the actual *city* after class. Travel (compared to NYC at the very least) is excruciatingly long, expensive, and if you couple that with motion sickness (only alleviated by saje peppermint halo) - it is not a fun time 😭
Last year, when I went to EXPO for the first time, I was more there to be guided by the crowd, and soak in the general experience. This year, I went in with a mission: to see as much work as possible, try to meet some new people, and find artists and galleries that resonated with me. With this in mind, I knew I had to employ what I call the ‘efficient deep look,’ aka I try to quickly and thoroughly assess a work of art as fast as possible, and if it’s not calling me, I move on ASAP. There’s pros and cons to this method, but I wanted to preserve my already depleted energy and attention (my most valuable resource) to see as much as possible in the massive (!!) space.
If you’re unfamiliar, art fairs serve the main purpose of networking with clients and selling art (though many things may already be sold), but because I definitely wasn’t client-presenting (new adjective?), no one paid me any attention especially on Thursday, which was only open for the VIP/Collector/Professional preview. Armed with a VIP ticket I had been gifted serendipitously, I felt elated at my good fortune to flit in-between the gallery booths and spend time with the works I liked, jotting notes, repeating artist names like reciting an unfamiliar language. The brief feeling of being in proximity to art, culture, and dialogue (or the idea of it) was enjoyable for the bit, and I’d gotten what I’d sought out of my visit research-wise.
I think some overall trends were lots of ‘craft’ (ex. beading, embroidery, or cutting) interventions with the canvas, surrealist symmetries in the vein of Hilma af Klint, mini conversations between works, inquiries on/with/and through nature.
My EXPO highlights:
the conversation between Audra Skuodas and Michelle Grabner at Abbatoir Gallery; Skuodas’ work struck me as Agnes Pelton + Leonora Carrington-esque, transcendent, sensitive; I really loved these paintings!
the ARTADIA booth with the embroidered tapestries of Azadeh Gholizadeh and works of Selva Aparicio with nature’s ephemera
Stacey Gillian Abe at Unit London; thinking about how these figures invite us to view them in moments of privacy and rest, the otherworldly quality of their blue skin…
Esmaa Mohamoud’s Ebony in Ivory, II (2022) sculpture carved out of shea butter and Miya Ando roundels at Kavi Gupta
the cut canvases of Cristina Camacho; so engaging, precise, and best seen in person
Stelios Karamanolis at Dio Horia Gallery, I loved the flow of these paintings, subtle gradations of color and textures
Walking around in the space (but not being of it) felt somewhat overwhelming and clarifying, as everyone around me was chatting, welcoming, dealing, networking, buying, introducing. I felt pretty anonymous. It made me reflect on my ‘value’ right now to this specific part of the art world. And to qualify ‘the art world,’ I guess I mean the loudest and most visible parts of it with the movers and shakers of curators, dealers, artists, and gallerists at the top of it, and the problematic, alluring, unwieldy, stagnant, speedy, hypocritical, vibrance of it - on both the for-profit and non-profit side of it. It made me remember that I don’t have any ‘value’ (related to my profession or capital) right now to offer to it, or to anyone, which was strangely quite liberating? I only have my eye, and my love of art right now. That’s it. And with that absence of ‘value’ (and all the value in that) and the not having to know where I’ll end up in it, I remembered my purpose: to just learn and absorb as much of it as possible :)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa2d38fea-08fd-4a1b-ba6c-dfb9eae57234_1172x1470.png)
An ambivalent reflection, I know, but that’s my brain always. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday night. I’ll see you next week!
Also, if your feet hurt from EXPO, check out the BARELY FAIR - full of miniatures on a 1:12 scale - a lot less walking!