By: Margot Dragos
From Sept. 17-20, a small gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan, was transformed into the 24th edition of Clio Art Fair, highlighting the work of independent artists. It is the twelfth year of the biannual festival, running for two weekends in both May and September. Also known as “The Anti-Fair for Independent Artists,” Clio provides a platform for artists without gallery representation to show their work to New Yorkers at no cost.
The fair’s intimate setting allows these artists to get guests’ full attention. After walking through the gallery’s doors on 25th Street, guests are greeted with paintings adorned on every wall and sculptures standing among them, including a towering orange statue titled “1/4 wo/man. Love–ego=Lov Couple” by Pavel (Pasha) Radetzki.
“Clio Art Fair was born to be small,” stated Alessandro Berni, founder of Clio Art Fair. “It’s the right size for an art show, because when you go to a big show, at some point your eyes get tired, and you stop looking at the art around you.”
Berni wants guests to fully appreciate and digest the art they view.
“It’s like when you enter a library, you don’t pretend to read all the books in one day,” Berni said. “Here we are just one book, and you have your time to know, to appreciate all the artworks and to meet the many artists that are here.”
Many artists were present on Friday afternoon, interacting with guests and discussing their work as people walked among it.
“[The fair is] pretty hip,” says Patricia Dauer, 38, who stood among her displayed paintings. “It doesn’t have that intense commercial side compared to other art fairs. This is more organic. It’s more spontaneous, […] it’s well curated, too.”
This year’s special performance program is “I Don’t Want To Be Useful,” which highlights the sentiment that art doesn’t always need to serve a function, and that instead its freedom lies in refusing to.
“For artists, it’s different,” said Berni when discussing artists’ place in society compared to others. “You need free time, you need to do research, you need your moment of waiting and looking for inspiration. And [because of] that you also need to fight with this request from society to be useful, to have a role.”
From Sergei Kalsow’s glass sculptures to Dauer’s colorful paintings and intricate zentangles, the fair featured an array of art forms and themes.
Lori Montgomery’s collection featured paintings with close ties to her Japanese heritage, such as her works “Becoming” and “Emerald Dawn.”
“I feel [my collection] needed to be here because there was a story that needed to be told,” Montgomery told The Vanguard. “If it speaks to people, then that’s what I love.
“I don’t [always] sign my paintings on the bottom […] because I want people to be able to turn it into whatever their story is. If it goes home with them, now it’s their story.”
John Dessereau, 43, wanted his work in as many homes as possible. He gave out free postcards of his work “Embrace for Impact,” which portrays a balanced relationship between nature and technology through a robot hugging a bundle of leaves and flowers. He sold an array of art in both large canvases and small prints, which he priced on a sliding scale.
“I like to have a price point that’s accessible to everybody, because no matter what your income is, if someone wants to hang my art on their wall, they should be able to,” said Dessereau.
Montgomery, a California resident, appreciates the fair’s city-based location and the diverse, receptive audience it brings.
“New York, like California where I come from, has a mix of so many ethnicities, and I believe they understand that art doesn’t always have to be pretty. So every one of [my paintings displayed here] is definitely a story that I feel [resonates] in New York, with its mix of people coming from all walks of life and places.”
Clio Art Fair is a unique opportunity for artists new and old who want to sell and show their work in NYC.
“For people studying the arts at universities, they’re taught how to make the work, but they’re not taught the business side or how to navigate the art world after [graduation], so they come out trying to figure things out. This is a good first step,” Dauer stated.
“I highly encourage people to show at this fair because it has helped me a lot and opened doors,” said Dauer. “Just having your work out there adds value to your work.”
Clio Art Fair’s second weekend, featuring a different group of independent artists, runs from Sept. 24-27. You can get free tickets at www.clioartfair.com