separate departments for tribal art and prints and drawings, as part of his overall strategy to pursue a narrower and potentially more lucrative focus on the market’s highest strata.
met at the artist’s first show in Chicago in 1996. “We hit it off in two seconds,” Plensa recalls. “Since that day Paul and I have grown together, developing a beautiful friendly relationship. Richard and his wife, Mary, really embraced me as one more member of their family, and I consider Paul a brother, even though he insists on teaching me to swim in any ocean despite knowing that I can only swim in the Dead Sea.”
As part of that process, the younger Gray also represents fewer emerging or even mid-career artists than his father did. There are exceptions, such as Jan Tichy, a Czech-born new-media and video artist who moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute. “Jan is very busy, but he doesn’t have a large commercial market at this point, and he doesn’t have any commercial impact on our business,” Gray says. “But I took him on because I find his work compelling.” Still, Tichy is the exception that proves the rule.
Paul Gray has also proved adept at the delicate art of connecting some of the world’s richest art collectors with each other, acting as a gobetween in private transactions involving large egos and even larger sums. In his biggest such coup several years ago, Gray brokered a deal between Los Angeles mogul David Geffen and Chicago hedge-fund billionaires Anne and Kenneth Griffin. The Griffins, regular clients of “Of course Paul had his own notions, his own particular tastes, some Gray’s, were interested in acquiring a Jackson Pollock; Geffen, also a of which were different from mine,” Richard Gray says now. “But he’s client, was interested in selling one—for which purpose Gray introduced done extremely well, building a first-rate reputation, not just in Chicago the two sides. “Over lunch at Geffen’s home, Ken Griffin’s eyes kept but internationally. I was absolutely happy for him to do his own thing.” drifting toward a very, very important Jasper Johns painting on the wall nearby,” Gray recalls. “When we left the house, he said to me, ‘I think In at least one respect, Paul Gray is a chip off the old block. Just like his that painting is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.’” dad, he quickly showed a flair for cultivating professional and sometimes deeply personal relationships with clients and artists, despite—or perhaps The Griffins didn’t buy Geffen’s Pollock, but after a week of intense because of—the latter group’s reputation for eccentricity and prickliness. negotiations overseen by Gray, the Griffins purchased Johns’s False “Artists play a special role in culture, because they’re the bravest, most Start (1959) for $80 million, the highest price ever paid for the work of adventurous, the most willing to bare their souls in public,” he says. a living artist at the time. (The Griffins have since loaned the work for “They have a lot to teach us, and that’s why people are drawn to their exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art work. On the other hand, I think most artists would acknowledge that and the National Gallery of Art.) In the process, Gray’s reputation as they’re not the easiest people to be close to, because they’re pretty an experienced liaison between collectors buying and selling art to each uncompromising and pretty self-involved; they’re focused on making other was cemented. that next discovery in their work. They can be social, but they can be highly antisocial also, and that’s one of the things I respect about them.” “It used to be that any serious art collector in Chicago would come by the gallery at least once a month, but that rarely happens now,” says Gray, Gray has formed a particularly close relationship with the Spanish who recently moved the gallery to a larger space with higher ceilings on artist Jaume Plensa, best known in Chicago for his Crown Fountain in the Hancock Center’s 38th floor. “Now we largely go to the collectors Millennium Park, and to whose portfolio Gray now assigns two fullas advisors and curators. It’s part of the evolution of the business.” The time staff members. About the same age, Gray and Plensa initially Richard Gray Gallery keeps evolving right along with it.
EDITION: a new fair devoted to affordable works BY MARY DEYOE This fall the Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC) and gallery owner Andrew Rafacz are teaming up to present a new satellite art fair. EDITION, which will run concurrently with EXPO CHICAGO, will be an intimate and highly-curated complement to the city’s larger fair. “Our focus is on cultivating new collectors,” says Carolina O. Jayaram, CAC Executive Director, “and celebrating Chicago organizations and artists.” With EXPO drawing major collectors and spectators for the weekend, many in the city have talked about the natural emergence of other fairs, as has been the case in Miami each December during Art Basel. In fact, “Basel” is easily now a catchall for the myriad fairs happening in Miami each winter. Jayaram, who has attended Miami Basel since the beginning, says, “It was an impressive and organic explosion, but many of the local artists and arts organizations didn’t know how to keep up and as a result they became overshadowed.” EDITION is committed to keeping the events around EXPO focused on Chicago and Chicago arts. “Every city is unique, and
the type of fairs and shows you can do comes down to what the city can support,” continues Jayaram. Rafacz, principal of Andrew Rafacz Gallery and a CAC Collectors Circle Board Member, is leading the process of selecting the fair’s galleries. Having participated in many fairs with his own gallery, Rafacz is particularly sensitive to participants’ needs and desires. EDITION, outside of offering an excellent entry point for new collectors, also offers young dealers an affordable and accessible fair. “We may act as a stepping stone for many dealers,” adds Jayaram, “from our fair to a larger fair like EXPO.” EDITION dealers, having paid a fraction of what some larger fairs can charge for space, also have the luxury of showing much riskier work. EDITION, which will take place at CAC (217 N. Carpenter in the West Loop) will feature 15 galleries (including CAC) from cities across the country such as L.A., New York, Boston, as well as from Canada, including Toronto. Galleries will showcase work priced at $5,000 or less and will include limited editions as well as one-of-a-kind pieces. The $5,000 price cap 27
is important, “to keep the work affordable for new collectors,” says Jayaram. Another new addition the same weekend as EDITION is Brooklyn based Fountain Art Fair. Fountain, which has never before presented a show in Chicago, is dedicated to presenting “progressive programming,” and, similar to EDITION, to offering an accessible platform for dealers. Fountain coming to Chicago “is very telling,” admits Jayaram. “Chicago won’t become Miami—and it shouldn’t—but it will be very exciting to see what it does become.” EDITION runs September 20-22, 2013. Visit: editionchicago.com + fountainartfair.com