Brian Hieggelke

2 months ago | art.newcity.com | Brian Hieggelke

We asked some of the top collectors, curators and art advisors of the Midwest and the world for their experiences and insights into the art-fair experience. But if that’s not you, there is still a great Expo Chicago experience available. To get to it, don’t do what I too often do, that is meander the aisles, hoping to see old friends, new acquaintances or artistic inspiration and end up seeing nothing. Make a plan. 1 It’s OK not to visit every booth.

2 months ago | art.newcity.com | Brian Hieggelke

One of the most compelling things Expo Chicago did in recent years to set itself apart from the crowded and often generic art-fair market has been to expand its special programming, most notably in creating its curator’s forum.

2 months ago | art.newcity.com | Brian Hieggelke

1 Edra Soto at Engage Projects The Puerto Rico-born Chicago artist has been on a roll, and this solo at Engage offers a chance to see where she’s been and where she’s going, with “the place of dwelling,” a wall sculpture that connects her heritage to memories of her mother and themes of migration. 2 Politically Engaged Artists at Rhona Hoffman The legendary Chicago gallerist is closing her physical space next month, and this may be her last art fair.

2 months ago | art.newcity.com | Brian Hieggelke

I’ve been going to art fairs, mostly in Chicago, my entire adult life. In the 1980s, when I was a young art obsessive, I’d visit the fair at Navy Pier with palpable enthusiasm, albeit little knowledge about the dealers whose booths I was passing by. I’d leave, physically exhausted and so mentally fatigued that I felt I’d fallen out of love with art.

2 months ago | art.newcity.com | Brian Hieggelke

While the masses might be wandering around Navy Pier in search of cool art to gaze at, a good glass of wine to guzzle and famous people like fair regular Chance the Rapper to peep, at the end of the day, art fairs exist to sell art. So we asked a cross-section of Chicago and the Midwest’s leading buyers of art—curators, collectors and art advisers—to offer input derived from their experiences at Expo Chicago and other fairs. What art fairs do you regularly attend and what’s your routine?