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.