The Insider’s View
10 September 2020
A fair through the eyes of the dealers.
Jan-Peter Westad
Jan-Peter is a freelance journalist and researcher based in London.
When I was young at university I had a friend whose father ran a horse show. Every year we’d swap our charity shop garb for ill-fitting suits and cocktail dresses and spend a week soaking up the glamour at Olympia. I even remember watching the occasional bit of dressage. We almost never saw our generous host, but when we did catch him one time in a corridor, we thanked him and remarked on how marvellous his job must be. Always polite, he smiled, said the pleasure was all his, and then dashed off to whatever errand he had to attend to next. I remember thinking that he was probably also having a very good time but looking back now, I suspect it was actually the most stressful part of his year.
Karen Taylor’s stand at The Open Art Fair 2020 with ‘Portrait of a young boy holding a book’ by Sir William Beechey R.A. (1753-1839) in the centre.
Visiting art fairs I sometimes think back on those memories. In part, it’s the dressing up and making merry, but it’s also the efforts of organisers and dealers, much of it behind the scenes, that comes to mind. It’s a question few visitors might think to ask, but how exactly do dealers experience fairs?
“It’s certainly hard work,” says Karen Taylor, an agent, adviser and dealer in British art, “but I still get that frisson when entering an exhibition hall for the first time.” After entering, Karen rarely leaves until the fair is over. “I like to be there all the time. It’s tiring – comfortable shoes are a must – but the adrenaline kicks in.” For Karen, it’s the people who make the occasion, be they clients, other dealers, friends or artists. “I only exhibit in London at present as it is my home and everything is much simpler,” she explains, “But it's a world marketplace. Totally cosmopolitan. You never know who might come around the corner.”
One meeting at Grosvenor House in the 1990s stands out. “Rather last minute I was asked to show a member of the Royal Family round the stand”, Karen remembers. She directed her guest to a portrait of a parliamentarian from the time of the English Civil War. “I was halfway through talking about the picture when I realised this was perhaps not the most sensitive choice,” says Karen, laughing. Such moments of glamour are certainly part of the appeal of working in the industry. To use Karen’s words, “fairs are the icing on the cake.”
Fairs are also a time for dealers to come together. “In London, especially, there’s a core group who know each other well”, says Tom Rooth. With so many colleagues in one place, you might expect fairs to be highly competitive, but Tom certainly doesn’t think so. He paints a picture of camaraderie: “If someone has a good day or a good fair, I'm pleased because it shows the market is healthy”.
Tom Rooth’s stand at The Open Art Fair 2020 with works by Elie Lambert.
For Tom, the set-up is particularly hard work but rewarding. He hires a van and transports the works personally before joining the fray of dealers preparing their stands. “It's like being in a harbour where everyone is captaining their own ships. We’re all docked together. There are some crashes. But it's all very good natured and sociable.” How sociable? I ask, hoping for some tales of wild parties. “It’s always good to have a few drinks at the Chelsea Arts Club or whatever. That being said, the fairs are an important part of the business, so coming in with a steaming hangover isn't sensible.” However, I’m told it's not entirely unheard of.
While their stands might vary wildly, dealers seem to agree on a few things. Appearance has to be clean and tidy. It’s best to stay somewhere close to the exhibition space. Most spend as much time as possible inside each exhibition on their stand. The takedown at the end of the fair is a particularly efficient affair. “Everyone’s knackered by that point and keen to get home”, explains Jamie Rountree, director of Rountree Tryon Gallery. Jamie is an experienced exhibitor. He showed at 11 fairs in 2016 alone, travelling from New York, to Texas, to the Middle East, to the Game Fair in the UK, where he stays especially close to the exhibition stand, camping on site to secure the stock. How do the fairs vary? “The British dealers stick together more abroad, but otherwise it’s mainly the clients who change,” says Jamie.
Despite running a slick operation, fairs are not easy to predict. “Because our works are often quite niche, it’s always 50:50 whether we will sell. It’s definitely a risky venture,” he says. On the other hand, one chance meeting with the right buyer can justify years of hard graft. “If I pick up two clients who could buy a million pound painting from me by George Stubbs or an equivalent, then I would consider that to be a huge success” says Jamie, before concluding thoughtfully that fairs are like “fishing in a big ocean, but when you catch a Marlin, it’s worth it.”
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