Works on Paper Show Postponed

The NY Times recently reported the Works on Paper Show scheduled for NYC in February has been postponed.  The long time promoter, Sanford Smith reported having trouble getting dealers with the proper quality level and in sufficient numbers to sustain the show.  Smith hopes by postponing the show for a year, the art market will have sufficiently recovered to help the fair again in 2011.

This is not good news, and it seems the for every positive story found, there is also a negative one that either precedes or follows. The reports also states the May International Fine Art Fair may be canceled or postponed as well.

The article also indicates many dealers are having cash flow problems, and have difficulties replenishing inventories.  For brick and mortar dealers and galleries, I know the overhead is a drain, and the lack of buyers makes planning all the more difficult.  A good show can certainly help many dealers, but also, having a bad show can also make things much worse.  It is a difficult choice for dealers to make during these complicated economic times.

For instance, Mr. Smith said, dealers are short of cash these days and unable to replenish their inventories. Another issue at the armory is the cost of space. The Park Avenue Conservancy formally took over management of the building, a crenelated red brick landmark between 66th and 67th Streets, from New York State in December 2007, and it has increased the rent. The cost is now $30,000 a day, three times what it once was.

Another armory show, the high-end International Fine Art Fair, which is timed to coincide with the May Impressionist and Modern art auctions in New York, may also be canceled. “We are currently in consultation with the exhibitors,” said Magda Grigorian, a spokeswoman for that event’s organizer, Haughton International Art and Antique Fairs, “and no final decision has yet been made.”

Still on the schedule, however, is the Art Dealers Association of America’s annual Art Show of postwar and contemporary art. But rather than taking place in February, the show will be held March 3 through 7, timed to the Armory Show (March 4-7), which despite its name is held at Piers 92 and 94, at 12th Avenue and 55th Street, in Clinton.

 To read the full NY Times article, click HERE.