Show and Tell

As interest in the Art Show, its annual fair at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, has increased, the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) has been grappling with a way to accommodate its diverse and expanding membership of 170 dealers.   

1988: The Art Show debuts. For most of its 20-year history, the fair was undersubscribed. But by 2003, with participation in art fairs becoming a priority for the ADAA’s steadily growing membership, applications to the Art Show had begun to exceed its 70 available spots. Several years ago, the current selection process was introduced. Unlike at other fairs, applicants determine, for the most part, their coexhibitors. According to the ADAA’s “two strikes and you’re in” rule, members who are excluded from two consecutive editions of the fair are automatically admitted to the following one. For the 2008 edition, this rule applied to 16 members. The names of “two strikes” galleries were flagged on a ballot listing all 115 applicants, each of whom received the form and was asked to vote for 44 applicants he or she believed should also participate in the show. From that roster of the most vote-getters and the 16 admitted by the “two strikes” rule, the Art Show Committee decided who got the final 10 spots to “balance the various disciplines and fields represented by the membership,” says Linda Blumberg, the ADAA’s executive director. Blumberg declined to disclose who is on the 13-member committee but says it includes dealers of “19th-century, modern, midcentury and contemporary” art. “When [the system] was adopted, we thought it was the most democratic process, because it gives everybody the chance to vote,” says ADAA chief counsel, Gil Edelson. “It isn’t just a committee who chooses. Everybody who wants to be in the show decides. They say, This is who I would like to see in the show with me.” But not all members have been pleased with this system.

Spring 2007: Shortly after the annual fair, Jane Kallir, the co-director of New York’s Galerie St. Etienne, resigns her post as chair of the ADAA’s public relations committee. Asked now, Kallir cites the selection process, saying that the fact that 40 member galleries are excluded from the fair every year was “a problem in an organization that is supposed to represent all of its members equally.” She added, “You need to come up with a formula to figure out who gets in and who doesn’t. Simple rotation is the only way to solve the problem without offending anyone.” There is, however, nothing in the ADAA’s bylaws stating that membership guarantees inclusion in the Art Show. During its annual meeting, some modern and contemporary dealers (what the ADAA’s president Roland Augustine characterizes as a “very small minority”) who feel disenfranchised spoke up about the selection process and pointed out that while certain galleries participate every year, others are excluded repeatedly and can only get in because of the “two strikes” provision. A vote was requested to determine whether compulsory rotation should be adopted for future editions.  

September 7, 2007: The ADAA sends out a referendum, via e-mail, asking members to vote on whether to institute compulsory rotation. The e-mail indicated that the opinion of the board was that “compulsory rotation could not serve the best interests of the Association” and voiced its support of the current selection process. Augustine still holds this view, recently telling Art+Auction: “Competition serves the industry well. I think that the fairest way to do it is to have vetting by members. That is really what it is, essentially. It’s not a popularity contest.”

November 20, 2007: A letter from Augustine to the membership states that a slim majority of the 140 members who responded voted to keep the present system. In his letter, Augustine said the board would retain the current system but concluded with an admission that ”the selection process is a divisive issue and that some solution satisfactory to the great majority of members must be found.” He invited responses to the decision. ADAA member David McKee, of the McKee Gallery, in New York, tells Art+Auction: “It’s such a complex issue that I think it’s better that they just leave it as it stands. I think that’s as fair as they can do it, given the limitations of the Armory. But it’s important to remember that attempts are being made to address this. No one is being ignored.”

January 22, 2008: ADAA member and New York dealer Renato Danese responds with an e-mail sent to the full membership. Danese suggested a second venue for the fair, such as the downtown Armory on 26th Street, and noted that the referendum’s results reflected a split in the membership: “Since a number of galleries... are virtually assured participation every year, it is reasonable to assume that these galleries would choose to maintain the status quo by voting for the existing system—one might wonder what the tally would be if the votes of those galleries that receive automatic acceptance were subtracted from the ballot total. While the referendum results may not ‘mandate’ change, it would appear that nearly half the membership disagrees with the current selection process. Such a narrow division . . . should inspire a rigorous examination of procedures that would ensure complete membership participation in the Art Show.” In fact, the ADAA leadership had been considering an alternative to accommodate more of the membership.

Spring 2008: On March 27, Augustine and Blumberg send a letter, via e-mail, to the members informing them of “the possibility” of a second ADAA fair. They noted that the organization had already secured the Park Avenue Armory for a trial run of such a fair, scheduled for September 2009. At press time, plans for a second fair had not been confirmed. For his part, Augustine emphasizes the ADAA’s other initiatives, telling Art+Auction: “This is an organization that should have much higher goals than simply organizing art fairs. I am committed to connoisseurship, ethical practice and scholarship.” Augustine adds that the ADAA remains “committed to benefiting the cultural community [and] the business community.”

"Show and Tell" originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's June 2008 Table of Contents.