Art Market Monitor

SOFA Chicago Has 30% Fewer Dealers But Stronger Attendance and Sales

Kurt Weiser, "Princess"

The 16th annual “SOFA Chicago 2009” show (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art), which ran from November 6-8 at the Chicago Navy Pier, reported strong attendance and sales. The event featured 68 galleries from 10 countries (from France to Australia, Israel and Nordic countries). The preview night dinner on November 5 benefited the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts. Maloof, the venerated studio artisan whose handcrafted wood furniture brings increasingly strong prices, died at 93 in May of this year.

Mark Lyman, founding director of SOFA and president of the Art Fair Company which produces the SOFA shows reports that though they had  30% fewer dealers than last year, they lost mostly smaller dealers who had taken smaller booths. The reduction in the size of the show’s footprint was only about 12-15%. Attendance was noticeably up from last year, with more than 30,000 people attending over the run of the show (3,000 attended the VIP opening night party). More important, the mood was buoyant and most of the dealers reported the best sales they’ve had in at least a year.

Doug Heller, of Heller Gallery, NY, reports, “This year’s SOFA was a great success for us…[works in our display] ranged from $1,500 to $4,500,000. Show attendance was strong with big crowds each day. Public reaction was very positive and our sales were excellent. It was in fact one of the best shows that we’ve had in our 17 years of exhibiting at SOFA. In my mind it remains THE major event of our year and I know that most collectors would say the same thing!

Libensky/Brychtova, "Cross Head"

On Friday and Saturday, the show offered “Salon SOFA,” 33 lectures on decorative arts and design – “Conversations with Curators, Critics, Collectors, Artists, Architects, Designers and Art Market Journalists.” Reportedly, the lecture series was packed, maybe because the topics were very focused yet covered a wide range (e.g., fiber art, the studio glass movement, Sam Maloof, glass sculpture, contemporary Persian carpets, art jewelry  and even the affect of university scholarships on emerging talent). Speakers included Bonham’s Frank Maraschiello who heads their 20th Century Decorative Arts departments; Dorit Straus, Worldwide Fine Arts Manager for Chubb Personal Insurance  (Chubb is a sponsor of the event); Roseanne Somerson, head of the Furniture Design department at the Rhode Island School of Design; David Whitehouse, Executive Director of the Corning Museum of Glass; and panels of exhibiting fiber artists, glass makers, and more. Under the rubric “VIP Programs” the show also featured some special exhibits including the Corning Museum of Glass’s Hot Glass Roadshow, a mobile glassblowing studio.