Spring in Chicago often gives us warm, sunny weather, spring sales, the renewal of skirts and sunglasses and, of course, the beginning of the spring art fair season.
Some annual exhibitions include Chicago Contemporary & Classic at Navy Pier and Art Chicago 2005 at Butler Field. Last year, Bridge magazine’s Art Boat exhibition was among them, but due to competing art fairs, has been put on hiatus for the year.
In its place is a new creation titled the NOVA Young Art Fair. Set to take place in the West Loop gallery district at 857 W. Fulton Market, the NOVA Young Art Fair is an independent exposition of young art that will showcase works from 30 artist-run spaces, artist collectives, apartment, storefront and traditional galleries from all over Chicago, the nation and the world.
“The NOVA art fair’s purview is to show off innovative art — no matter whether the galleries and artists exhibited are established or emerging,” says Chicago-based artist Sabrina Raaf, a member of the fair’s selection committee. “I think this will be very exciting and important for Chicago to have this fair — not just for the locals, but also to show the international community what a dynamic place this city is.”
Bridge magazine, the organizational force behind NOVA, is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago. Launched in November 2000, Bridge is a journal and magazine hybrid that covers art on a tri-annual basis.
NOVA planners have built a selection committee of individuals informed of and involved with young art — or art produced by new, emerging artists — in major cities around the world. The committee has screened applications, seeking pieces that represent alternative and new forms of artistic expression.
Paintings, sculptures and other traditional forms of art will be found among the exhibition’s ranks, but video and new media most likely will be the fair’s prominent mediums.
Chicago artist Stacie Johnson also serves on this year’s selection committee. When asked about the selection process, Johnson says there’s been more discussion than actual selecting.
“It’s more of an opportunity to see what we can pull together,” Johnson explains. “I’ve just been there to discuss possibilities, to suggest galleries, collectives and artists that I think are interesting and interested.”
Raaf says her time working with NOVA has included “soliciting proposals from interesting artists and non-profit organizations.”
“It’s been a real pleasure because even in the most ‘cutting edge’ art fairs, there is typically still a heavy under-representation of new media, performance and experimental art,” she says.
A portion of the exhibition space will be reserved for special productions and will include week-long showcases of performance art, live music and film screenings. A reading area also will be available for all patrons to sit, relax and sample copies of art magazines and titles from art publishers.
“NOVA incorporates much more than the visual arts,” Raaf says of the fair’s organization outside trditional exhibition spaces. “Hopefully this will become an annual event that Chicagoans will support with pride.”
A notable part of this exhibition’s description is the use of the word “young.” And the question remains: What exactly is young art?
The fair’s Web site describes it as an introduction to “new art, regardless of the artist’s age or market value, to the public.”
Both Johnson and Raaf agree that the art has little to do with age. Young art is “work that involves innovative, groundbreaking and fresh visions of what art can be,” Raaf says.
“(Young art) has more to do with its distance from commercial and established art,” Johnson says. “It’s not much different than calling it ‘alternative.'”
In light of this ambiguous ideal, what kind of “young art” will be found at the fair remains a mystery for the time being.
“I can’t say I’ve seen much of the actual art that will be in the fair,” Johnson admits. “The work installed over the next week is just as exciting for me to see as it will be for everybody else.”
Raaf, on the other hand, says the art she has seen so far has been “very exciting and smart. You’ll have to come and see for yourself.”
The NOVA Young Art Fair will run from April 28 through May 1. The fair will open with a professional preview from 1 to 4 p.m.; an opening night reception will be held from 5 to 10 p.m.; an after-party will take place from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Regular hours for April dates are from noon to 8 p.m. and noon to 6 p.m. on May 1. General admission tickets are $5.
Medill freshman Dani Garcia is a PLAY writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
