We know the feeling … last year our gallery participated in 10 shows and plans on attending at least that many this year: Winnetka, New York, Palm Beach, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Naples, Chicago, Newport, Nantucket and Baltimore … and you never know what will pop-up along the way.
Between the packing, shipping set-up, breakdown, flights, etc. it is a great deal of work. Worst part is that the shows seem to come in groups of three … Winnetka and New York take place in the span of 10 days. In fact, Winnetka closes on a Sunday and set-up in New York is that Tuesday. Two weeks later we are in Palm Beach. Then in January and February we have Los Angeles, Palm Beach and Naples. During July and August it is Newport, Nantucket and Baltimore.
We are getting back to the point where there are far too many shows and an over-saturation of the market. According to Katya’s article there are 269 art fairs now … but if you include all of the art & antique shows, the number will be much higher. We have been here before and the results are always the same … the show bubble bursts and many of the weaker ones close.
Source: Even Art Lovers Are Exhausted Trying to Keep Up With the Fairs
