18th Annual SOFA CHICAGO 2011 and
The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art Wraps

Strong Sales, Sophisticated Crowds, New Collectors

The 18th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair: SOFA CHICAGO 2011 and its companion fair, The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art, enjoyed a very successful run Nov. 4 – 6 at Navy Pier. Produced by The Art Fair Company, more than 80 international SOFA and Intuit dealers from 13 countries wowed an estimated 30,000 fairgoers over the weekend. Over 2,600 persons attended Thursday’s Opening Night during the course of the evening, and SOFA sponsor Chubb Personal Insurance feted 350 guests at a private reception in the Chubb VIP Lounge. Decorated by noted architect/designer Suzanne Lovell, the Chubb Lounge was a welcome retreat from the busy show floor for over 500 VIP cardholders. 9 Special Exhibits greeted fairgoers and 1,500 persons attended 30 Lecture Series presentations featuring world-renowned curators, collectors, critics, artists, and dealers.

	Donna Davies, Mark Lyman, and Cleo Wilson

SOFA Show Director Donna Davies said the fair was a resounding success: “We’re very pleased. Dealers reported an energetic, buying crowd and high price-point sales. Some were ecstatic and said this was their best SOFA ever. They also reported more curators and young collectors on the show floor. It was a great fair!”

Chicago’s own Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art teamed up with The Art Fair Company to present The Intuit Show alongside SOFA CHICAGO for the second straight year. Cleo Wilson, Intuit’s Executive Director, said, “From visitors to SOFA and the Intuit Show, dealers and collectors, we have heard nothing but praise. This is an incredibly perfect marriage of two complementary art shows.”

Energetic, Buying Crowd

	James Baker, Lino Tagliapietra, Jim Schantz, and Kim Schantz

Schantz Galleries (Stockbridge, MA) showcased new works by famed Venetian maestro of intaglio glass sculpture, Lino Tagliapietra. Director Jim Schantz said, “This has been a very positive show. We have a $300,000 panel by Lino Tagliapietra out on approval at a major museum for their collection. All our clients at the fair have been from out of state, in Chicago for SOFA. Traffic on the show floor has been very busy and steady, with consistent high energy. In fact, it’s been so busy we have not been able to take a lunch break the whole show!” Schantz sold a number of Tagliapietra masterworks on Opening Night and throughout the weekend (all offered in the $70,000 range!)

Muly Litvak of Litvak Gallery (Tel Aviv) said “Optimism is back. Our clients are collecting again seriously, and we are seeing this at the fair as well at our gallery in Israel, where we hosted Chihuly’s first major exhibition since his Jerusalem project in 2000.” Among Litvak sales were two sculptures by Vaclav Cigler, Czech master of optical glass, as well as pieces by Lukas Mjartan and Bohimul Elias (all selling in the $35,000 – $50,000 range).

Carole Hochman, Director of New York’s Barry Friedman Ltd. said, “We sold a Laura de Santillana piece to the Museum of Art and Design in New York. The show went well; it was a good crowd with a lot of out of state collectors in town for SOFA.”  Hochman added, “I really enjoyed [participating in] the Designer Breakfast. Establishing relationships between artists, interior designers, and galleries is very important.” Julia Halperin, Assistant Editor at Art + Auction and ARTINFO moderated the well-attended 4th annual Friday morning Designer Breakfast panel on design furniture, featuring Hochman; architect/designer Suzanne Lovell, Owner, Suzanne Lovell Inc., Chicago and New York; and Lewis Wexler, Owner, Wexler Gallery. An estimated 75 invitees filled the SOFA café, enjoying the discussion and exclusive preview before the fair opened to the general public. Wexler Gallery reported major sales of design furniture including chairs by Philip Anduatz (offered at $18,000) and Vivian Beer ($6,000). Wexler also sold a classic Libensky/Brychtova glass sculpture and a Dan Dailey piece, both in the $70,000 range.

Pippa McArdle of first-time SOFA dealer Bespoke Global (New York) said, “The crowd here is really amazing—they are passionate, educated consumers, champions of the art world, and very open-minded. We've received several inquiries for commissioned pieces by furniture artists Michael Coffey and Brian Fireman, and Heather Palmer’s wall pieces, and sold several pieces of luminary art. It's very exciting to be a part of SOFA. We are thrilled to be included.”

Douglas Heller of Heller Gallery (New York) said, “It’s a good crowd, and I have seen a lot of museum directors and curators on the floor. We have sold to both old and new clients, and have had a great response to our German artist Josepha Gasch-Muche (selling in the $35,000+ range).” Also selling well at Heller were sculptures in glass by Marc Petrovic, Tobias Mohl (four+, including a large format wall installation), and Nicole Chesney, all in the $15,000 – $30,000 range. 

New dealer Robert Thalen of Thalen & Thalen Sprl/iii Gallery (Francorchamps, Belgium) said, “We've received many, many fantastic, warm responses to our Windy City Mega Bowl—made especially for the fair, from 40 pounds of silver!—and its unveiling on Opening Night. The audience was surprised to see contemporary silver work at SOFA, and we are very pleased to be here.” Thalen & Thalen sold a number of its small and one large mega bowl on offer in the $100,000 range.

Intuit Show dealer George Viener, Owner of Outsider Folk Art Gallery (Reading, PA), said, “This is a great audience of people who have never seen outsider artwork before. Our buyers have been all new clients to self-taught art. And, the returning audience from last year has been more comfortable and confident with the work as well.” Emily Branch, Director, added, “We sold a large Jim Bloom painting to new buyers on Opening Night who spotted it from across the fair, rushed over and had to have it. They carried it off the wall!”

In addition to self-taught art, there were significant folk art sales at The Intuit Show. Aarne Anton, Director of American Primitive Gallery (New York) said, “It’s a good crowd. Our button suit [anonymous] sold the first day, a major item worn by queens and kings in parades in London in the 20s and 30s.”  Top outsider and visionary art selling included Martin Ramirez drawings at Ricco/Maresca Gallery (New York), and photographs by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein and paintings by Reverend Howard Finster at Russell Bowman Art Advisory (Chicago).

Donna Schneier of Donna Schneier Fine Arts (Palm Beach and New York), said, “We have seen many curators and young collectors in this year’s crowd. On Friday, we sold major pieces from many important artists: Jun Kaneko, Dale Chihuly, Beatrice Wood, William Morris, and our two ‘star’ pieces of the show— an important wall hanging [fiber work] by Olga de Amaral, and a large-scale ceramic sculpture by Michael Lucero [all selling in the $5,000 – $55,000 range].”

Ceramic sales at the fair were steady through the weekend. Lucy Lacoste of Lacoste Gallery (Concord, MA) said, “We are featuring Don Reitz, who is my inspiration for doing this whole show. We have sold a number or major new and historic works [all selling in the $10,000 - $30,000 range]. To be able to present and have viewers see such large-scale works of such intensity at this stage in an artist’s career is a really special experience. It’s really a high for me as a dealer to see the public respond to it so well. We are so very happy with the show this year. The turnout has been really great. This has been our best SOFA so far.” Mindy Solomon Gallery (St. Petersburg, FL) enjoyed numerous sales of ceramics by Gareth Mason and David Hicks. Mindy Solomon said, “Almost without exception the crowd here at SOFA is insightful, informed, and curious. Significant people have come through—museum directors, curators, collectors—major footfall.”

Scott Ashley, Assistant Director of Perimeter Gallery (Chicago) agreed: “We've noticed lots of ceramics collectors in the audience—actually almost all the collectors were here for Opening Night. We have sold some pieces, there is great energy, and we are very happy.” Perimeter sales included works by Richard DeVore, Beverly Mayeri and Patti Warashina. Warashina was one of four artists honored in the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts (Newcastle, ME) with a special exhibit at the fair. Other top ceramic art sales included a Sueharu Fukami sculpture at Floating World (Chicago) for $40,000; two+ Cristina Cordova works at Ann Nathan Gallery (Chicago) for $12,000 – $22,000; and Duane Reed Gallery (St. Louis, MO) sold new works by Michael Lucero in the high five-figures.

Mixed media sales were also noteworthy. ten472 Contemporary Art (Grass Valley, CA) reported, “We have sold all three of the large format bronzes by Gino Miles, 12 metal sculptures by Theodore Gall, and many of our large walls pieces—all to new clients. There is a good energy; everyone is in a good spending mood.  We are shipping a number of pieces out of state as well as in the Chicago area.” Other mixed media selling in the $15,000 – $30,000 range were metal and glass sculptures by Sally Rogers at Thomas R. Riley Galleries (Cleveland, OH), Thomas Scoon at David Richard Contemporary (Santa Fe, NM), Marlene Rose at Adamar Fine Arts (Miami, FL) and Kathleen Muchaly at PISMO Gallery (Denver, CO). Also at PISMO, bronze heads by Scarlett Kanistanaux were going fast, including one on hold for $30,000 at press time. Ann Nathan Gallery (Chicago) sold two salvaged steel works by Gordon Chandler as well as multiple steel cabinets by Jim Rose. Jane Sauer Gallery (Santa Fe, NM) sold wood, cloth, metal and found objects sculptures by Geoffrey Gorman. Two Gugger Petter newspaper wall sculptures in the $15,000 range were snapped up at Jane Sauer Gallery, which also sold fiber art by Cindy Hickok, Carol Shinn, and Carol Eckert.

Riding the wave of the American Association of Wood Turners’ 25th anniversary and special exhibit at the fair by 25 international artists, del Mano Gallery (Los Angeles) reported numerous turned and sculptural wood art sales, including one by Ron Layport for $18,000. Owner Ray Leier said he was happy and had seen “many new faces.”

Intuit Show dealer, Harvey Pranian of Harvey Pranian Art and Antiques (Evanston, IL) said, “The crowd has been mix of a lot of SOFA people, as well as a lot specifically for Intuit. I’ve been very happy. We just sold a quilt to a museum in Peoria. We also sold a Friendship quilt, so our textiles have done well.”

TAI Gallery (Santa Fe,NM) had sold more than ten(!) bamboo basketry and sculpture for over $10,000 each—as of Saturday! David Halpern of TAI said, “We are seeing lots of new faces and Opening Night was very good.” Duane Reed Gallery sold a John McQueen assemblage of willow branches, bark, burrs and other natural materials in the high five-figures.

Other major sales included a Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova cast glass sculpture in the $100,000 range at Habatat Galleries (Royal Oak, MI). Habatat also sold Stephen Clements, Leah Wingfield, Debora Moore, Shelley Muzylowski Allen, Shayna Leib, Michael Taylor, Martin Blank, Davide Salvadore, and Michael Behrens pieces in the $35,000 – $50,000 range. Also selling in this range were David Huchthausen and Richard Jolley sculptures at Scott Jacobson Gallery (New York), Harvey Littleton at Maurine Littleton Gallery (Washington, DC) and Tom Patti at Wexler Gallery (Philadelphia). Sales in the $15,000 – $30,000 range included Toland Sand and Paul Stankard at Jane Sauer Gallery, David Reekie and Brent Koo Lee at Thomas R. Riley Galleries (Cleveland, OH) and April Surgent at Bullseye Gallery (Portland, OR). Ten(!) John Kiley sculptures sold at Traver Gallery (Seattle) in the $10,000+ range, as well as five pieces by Jeannet Iskandar. Sarah Traver was delighted with their return to SOFA CHICAGO after a brief hiatus. Notable Sales in the $5,000+ range included Richard Marquis and Mayme Krantz at Elliott Arts West (Santa Fe, NM). 

View More Selected Sold Artwork online   

The Next Generation

Leroy Garcia, Owner, Blue Rain Gallery (Santa Fe, NM) reported selling to a “nice mix” of established and new clients. “We’ve picked up a young couple in their thirties as new collectors who purchased one of Rik Allen’s sculptures on Opening Night. We had more Opening Night sales this show, mostly to out of state and East Coast clients here in Chicago specifically for SOFA.” Blue Rain’s Executive Director Peter Stoessel glowed, “As of Saturday, we had sold 17 of the 20 collaborative pieces by (glass masters) Preston Singletary and Dante Marioni [selling in the $15,000 – $30,000 range]; a number of Preston’s solo works; many of Tammy Garcia’s bronze wall panels [between $15,000 – $25,000], and several Allen works. We are very happy. It’s been a great show.” Tammy Garcia commented, “There is a growing crossover of contemporary collectors to contemporary Southwest style.”

Also citing a growing cross-collecting trend was Duane Reed of Duane Reed Gallery: “A new couple from out of state came into our booth that had never been to SOFA before. They were abstract painting collectors exclusively and had only one hour at the show, but they bought two Danny Perkins pieces—their first glass purchase. It makes sense because Perkins’s aesthetic fits in well with abstraction.” Reed had only one Perkins glass sculpture left after Friday (selling 4 out of 5 in the $15,000 - $35,000 range).

	Iris Eichenberg and Davira Taragin

Iris Eichenberg (Ornamentum, Hudson, NY), who curated the SOFA special exhibit Monomater featuring her students and alumni from Cranbrook Academy of Art (Bloomfield Hills, MI), said, “I’ve noticed a younger, more educated collecting audience at SOFA this year. I like to create work that is a challenge to me, and a challenge to the audience. I cannot say where a better audience can be found than at SOFA.” Stefan Friedemann of Ornamentum added, “There was tremendous attention for Iris’s work after her lecture, and a purchase of a Gemma Draper piece, one of Eichenberg’s students, by a lecture attendee. We also sold a Eunmi Chun brooch of human hair, gold leaf and cow intestine(!) to New York’s Museum of Arts and Design.”

Artist Louis Mueller (Elliott Arts West), whose work was featured in the SOFA special exhibit Innovations in Glass and Metal: The Work of Richard Meitner, Jack Wax, and Louis Mueller, said “SOFA is the right place to expose people to new concepts and spur curiosity.” Richard Meitner agreed. “We’re an oddball group for SOFA and I am delighted for that reason. When the school groups came in, our exhibit was thronged. Younger audiences get it, and I mean that quite seriously—it’s refreshing.”

Intuit Show dealer Susan Baerwald, Owner of Just Folk (Summerland, CA), said, “We are so happy to see younger attendees. There is a real connection for attendees seeing this work for the first time.”  Top selling artists at Just Folk were self-taught artists James Castle and Jesse Aaron.

Master Woodworker Mike Johnson of the Sam Maloof Foundation represented by del Mano Gallery (Los Angeles), said, “The audience at SOFA has been very receptive and happy to see that we have continued working in the tradition of Sam (1916 – 2009). We have seen a variety of people who traveled to the show to see us, some who are familiar with Sam’s works, some old clients, and some who hadn’t yet been educated in his woodworking. SOFA is a great platform for us to showcase some exciting pieces that we have recently recreated, like the 1950s chair and table set on display here. We are very happy.” Nathalie Guen, furniture artist showing with William Zimmer Gallery (Mendocino, CA) said, “This is a beautiful, high quality show with a curious audience who are interacting with the objects, and interested in what they are seeing.” 

Intuit Show dealer Tim Hill, Director of Hill Gallery (Birmingham, MI), reported good sales and said, “There has been such great interaction between the art and the people. The audience members are very savvy–—and there have been a lot of them, a lot of people who are very curious, interested in the work and wanting to talk about it.”

Another standout special exhibit at the fair was Cartooning in Conflict, curated by Israel’s most famous political cartoonist, Michel Kichka. This thought-provoking exhibit was organized by the Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF), a grassroots organization of Israelis and Palestinians who have lost immediate family in the Middle East conflict. PCFF’s Robi Damelin said, “It’s been a wonderful gift to be [at SOFA]–—a catalyst for us to spread our word of reconciliation to a completely different audience. We are very grateful to be able to share our message with viewers who normally we would not reach.” Damelin and PCFF colleague Siham Abuawwad gave a very well-attended Lecture Series presentation.

One of the dozens of esteemed arts professionals speaking in the Lecture Series, Tim Burgard, Curator-in-Charge of American Art at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, said, “I loved seeing students with sketchbooks on the show floor, and hearing that younger collectors are buying this kind of work, studio and decorative art, at the fair is really encouraging and important. New collectors shouldn’t buy what they feel like they have to have, which is usually a painting by a certain painter. People should buy what they love.”

A New Perspective

Collector Dorothy Saxe, Founder of the Collection of Contemporary Craft at the de Young Museum, said, “It’s wonderful that Tim Burgard, someone from a fine arts museum, was invited to speak at SOFA.  People attending the lecture have gotten a new perspective, were engaged the whole time and stayed to ask lots of questions. I also think Intuit is a great combination and expansion for SOFA.”

John Maizels, editor/founder of the UK’s outsider magazine Raw Vision, who spoke in the Intuit Lounge on European trends in outsider art, agreed: “SOFA and Intuit is a great pairing, getting a lot of new people to see outsider art, and they are very accepting of the work. It’s reaching a new audience, and the domestic scale of pieces that fit in your home really works with the aesthetic of SOFA. The show is lovely, spacious and contemporary.”

Intuit Show dealer Harvey Pranian, of Harvey Pranian Art and Antiques, said, “The crowd has been mix of a lot of SOFA people, as well as a lot specifically for Intuit. Overall it’s a significant collection of work at this show, and there are nice overlaps. For example, I have a Mark Chatterly piece here, and there is one showing as well in a SOFA gallery; there is a nice conversation between the two shows.”

A record 1,500 fairgoers enjoyed 30 SOFA and Intuit lectures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, free with paid admission. Organized by nonprofit arts organizations and national museum and collecting groups, the Lecture Series featured 63 internationally recognized artists, dealers, curators, collectors, critics and art scholars from 10 countries. Anne Meszko, Director of Educational Programming for SOFA, reported that lectures by glass artist Bertil Vallien (Hawk Galleries, Columbus, OH); artist/jeweler/scholar Bruce Metcalf (Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia); and a panel discussion sponsored by Friends of Fiber Art International boasted over 100 attendees each. Citing their artists’ lectures as catalysts, Hawk Galleries sold 12 Vallien sculptures, and Snyderman-Works reported numerous sales of Bruce Metcalf’s works.

Furniture artist and sculptor Vivian Beer (Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia) said, "I was really honored to be asked to speak at the SOFA Lecture Series. My work has come to Chicago for years now, but it is striking as an artist to be here to chat and interact with people.”  Artist/jeweler Julie Blyfield (Charon Kransen Arts, New York) agreed: "Because I sell in galleries, I never see the buyers, so a show like SOFA is really a pleasure. Plus, the lectures are very engaging and personal. The crowds have been wonderful—Australia doesn’t even have as many people as those who come to a show like SOFA, so of course that speaks volumes towards exposure for my work and my field!”  Charon Kransen said there was a “very good response to Julie's lecture, very good.” 

Another positive outcome resulted from a lecture by emerging artist/jeweler Doug Bucci (Snyderman-Works Galleries), who incorporates numeric data about his battle with diabetes into his artwork.  After his presentation, Bucci was asked by two prominent medical institutions with representatives in attendance to do site visits and create works based on data from their facilities. Snyderman-Works reported numerous sales of Bucci pieces by attendees following his lecture.

Over 500 VIP’s participated in the VIP program, which targeted high-profile gallery clients and over 200 museum groups and 150 individual curators. Highlights included exclusive tours of private collections in the Chicago area, the photography collection at the Bank of America and an intimate discussion with Lino Tagliapietra and the Italian Cultural Institute.

At a lecture by New Zealand’s writer/scholar Dr. Damian Skinner, Anne Meszko announced that Friends of Fiber Art International would be the second recipient of The Art Fair Company’s annual New Voices arts research grant. Skinner was selected by the first year awardee, Art Jewelry Forum, to attend the 2011 COLLECT art fair in London and report on the state of contemporary jewelry in Europe. The New Voices grant annually awards $5,000 to a non-profit arts organization with the purpose of broadening the American perspective on international contemporary arts and design. Application is by invitation only.

The Intuit Show and SOFA CHICAGO: “A Perfect Marriage”

The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art added self-taught, outsider, ethnographic, non-traditional folk and visionary art to SOFA’s contemporary art and design mix, and Intuit dealer Pamela Hill of Hill Gallery summed up the positive synergy: “Art is art; the condition of the artists' background is not that different. Boundaries are breaking down and the separation of different art fields is becoming less important for the viewer. Having these two shows work together is a really good thing. Mixing art is a good thing.”

Donna Davies agreed: “The Art Fair Company (TAFC) has always championed the blending of sophisticated art forms in a variety of media under one roof, so we are delighted with the mutual success of SOFA CHICAGO and The Intuit Show. In keeping with our mission, we have added several new fairs to our production roster, which now includes historical arts, design, and antiques fairs.”

Next Up for The Art Fair Company: The Metro Show: Four Centuries of Arts & Design at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street, January 18 – 22, 2012; SOFA NEW YORK, Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue at 67th, April 20 – 23, 2012; and The Art and Antique Dealers League of America (AADLA) Spring Show NYC, Art and Antiques Dealers League of America (AADLA), Park Avenue Armory, May 2 – 6, 2012