Mary Louise Wormer, a silver smith artist from Kansas City, started the art fair in 1948 as an event where local artists could showcase their work to the community. The first 57th Street Art Fair showcased the work of 51 artists – many of whom were students at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Institute of Design. The art fair was a huge success, and by 1963 the demand from artists wishing to participate was so high that the 57th Street Art Fair Committee implemented a jury system to assign the limited available space.

Today, over 250 artists from all over North America take part in the long-running tradition, which always occurs during the first weekend of June and receives over 20,000 visitors annually!

The 63rd edition of the annual event is selling a plethora of items from glass, jewelry and leather to photography, prints, paintings, sculpture, wood pieces, ceramics and more. There are also hands-on activities and playgrounds for children, along with a selection of vendors selling delicious food.

Another unique aspect of the art fair – there’s an “Art buying Boot Camp” (which includes a guided tour through the art fair with art-buying experts).

Fresh Paint 2010 (May 5 – 8th) is the third annual edition of Tel Aviv‘s most successful contemporary art fair. This year’s show is an extraordinary opportunity for art-enthusiasts, collectors, gallerists and others to explore and support the lively Israeli art scene and see what some of the nation’s most talented artists have to offer.

Videoart.net presents the first annual Video Art and Experimental Film Festival 2010 (May 22) in New York City.  Videoart.net is the leading international network for video art and experimental film and hopes the festival will shed new light on the definition of the video art genre by showcasing the work of groundbreaking contemporary video artists and experimental filmmakers from around the world.

Austria’s ViennaFair 2010 (May 6 – 9) is Europe’s only international trade fair for contemporary art that focuses on Central and Eastern Europe. This year’s edition – the 6th annual ViennaFair – will include over 110 renowned galleries from more than 20 countries.

Hong Kong’s Art HK 10 (May 27 – 30) is in its 3rd year and boasts its strong exhibitor line-up, affirming its position as the leading art fair in Asia. Art HK 10 will feature dozens of international galleries along with diverse solo presentations from manyof the world’s most respected contemporary artists.

Click HERE to check out the other international art fairs going on throughout the month.

From May 13th – May 16th NYC’s Roger Smith Hotel will host TheGreatNude Invitational Figurative Arts Fair, which will display the work of established and emerging artists who are dedicated to the nude in their work. The art fair will present the growing figurative arts community to collectors and enthusiasts of figurative arts during this unique show.

In addition to it being the first and only art fair in the world exclusively dedicated to the nude in art exploring the human condition, the art fair has created a so-called “pool” of independent figurative artists from which independent curators have been invited to select and organize an exhibition. This allows figurative artists – many of whom cannot find representation or exhibition opportunities because galleries and curators from the contemporary art world do not consider them to be cutting edge or profitable – the opportunity to exhibit and promote themselves and their work to a broad audience, reaching the entire art world.

The GreatNudeInvitational’s exhibitors will show a wide range of figurative art – from academic paintings to contemporary works in all styles and media  – and include galleries from the US, Canada, France, Germany and Norway.

So celebrate the human body in its finest forms and check it out!

Click here to read more.

Every March about 70,000 art-enthusiasts flock to Maastricht, a quaint college town in the Netherlands, for the annual European Fine Art Fair. This year’s TEFAF MAastricht was bigger than ever – containing 263 exhibitors (24 more than last year) from 17 countries. The fair displayed about $3 billion worth of a varying array of art – ranging in creation date from ancient times to the 21st century.

While some drama occurred two hours into the fair’s opening, as caterers turned on their ovens and caused an electrical overload, leading to a venue-wide blackout, fair-goers seemed generally unfazed and the European Fine Art Fair was generally deemed successful. (FYI:  I’d be surprised if I ever heard about an art fair or any large event in general where something didn’t go wrong, and the blackout seems pretty minor compared to some previous horror stories I’ve heard).

Big-ticket paintings were noticeably absent this year, and dealers blamed this on low inventories.  However, there were – of course -  many interesting works on exhibition, including many objects that haven’t been seen in centuries. For example, Pelham’s London gallery displayed a fantastical neoclassical clock surrounded by dragons whose mouths’ spewed out pearls that once belonged to Prince Charles Alexander, governor general of the Austrian Netherlands (current day Belgium). The $2.5 million gilt metal, bronze and silver clock had not been on public display for 100 year before its Maastricht showing.

Apparently art fairs are keen on displaying Damien Hirst, as I’ve seldom been to (or heard of) a large art fair containing contemporary art that doesn’t show at least one Hirst piece – and TEFAF Maastricht 2010 fair was no different. London gallery Haunch of Venison (owned by Christie’s) featured Damien Hirst’s “This Little Piggy Went to Market, This Little Piggy Stayed Home,”  a 1996 installation depicting a pig sliced from nose to tail and submerged in formaldehyde. A recent article from the NY Times says there’s no word on whether the controversial $12 million piece sold.

In its entirety, the Armory Show 2010 was overwhelming. Although some reports are saying gallerists and exhibitors “played it safe” this year, I was personally blown away by the 150 + exhibitors and the thousands of artworks on display.

While I didn’t like all of the art I saw (obviously), I tended to stare in awe, aimlessly walking around the rows upon rows of booths. There was so much creative energy emanating from Piers 92 and 94 (right off the Hudson River). That, along with the refreshingly mild spring weather that typically doesn’t occur in NY until late March (if even then), made my first Armory Show experience one I will never forget.

Take a look at some of my personal photos. (Note: my amateur photography does not do justice to the beautiful art they display)!

Here’s a photograph of the mysterious Painted Woman. (I’m not sure what gallery she was promoting – but she definitely nabbed a lot of attention!)

The mystically iridescent (and perfectly titled) “Visual Vortex” by H.C. Berg was on exhibit at Helsinki’s Galerie Forsblom

A view of the yellow-themed booth of Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery

I loved the pop-art feel of Marjorie Strider‘s creations (at Mark Borghi Fine Art / The Armory Show – Modern)

Angel Otero‘s quirky Untitled piece At Lehmann Maupin

ARCO’s increase in sales over last year’s fair mirrors general art fair trends of the past several months, as most large fairs have been doing better this year than previously. This is a positive sign for the international art market, which, like the rest of the world, is recovering from the economic crisis of the past two years.

Previously, ARCO has chosen to invite a special country, but this year, the fair spotlighted the city of Los Angeles, as seventeen galleries from LA were included at the art fair.

ARCO Madrid did see some controversy this year. Spanish artist Eugenio Merino sold a piece depicting three men dressed in black – a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew praying on top of each other for 50,000 euros, while another one of his pieces, which depicts an upright Uzi sub-machine gun supporting a menorah, sold for 6,600 euros. The Israeli embassy in Madrid blasted Merino’s works, stating they were offensive to “Jews, Israelis and perhaps others.”

I guess problems like this can’t be avoided, as thousands of pieces of art are on display (at least a few are bound to be offensive and / or spark outrage).

Read more about how the economy has affected the art world and how stats have changed since the peek of the international art market in 2007.

This past weekend the second annual Dallas Art Fair invaded the city’s Fashion Industry Gallery, with attendance numbers running well above last year’s 5,500 + visitors. The successful fair opened with a sold out 800 + guest gala, whose proceeds will benefit the Booker T. Washington School. Several accounts claim art sales were “through the roof,” a good sign for Dallas gallery owners.

Dallas art collectors, who are apparently known for having deep pockets (according to one anonymous gallery owner), are also considered to have surprisingly sophisticated and contemporary taste when it comes to buying art. Important to the average art lover (but non-collector), these deep-pocketed collectors are the people who donate art to local museums, sponsor artist shows and dictate the type of art projects which will be brought to Dallas (and thus, seen by the general public).

It’s refreshing to know that wealthy collectors are once again shelling out small fortunes to purchase art, a positive sign for the US and International art worlds and the hundreds of art fairs occurring annually.

Numerous satellite projects also took place over the weekend, including the Arts in the District Fair, over 20 gallery show openings, and a new alternative space.

Click here to see which galleries exhibited at the fair

Click here to read the entire event review associated with this post.

CIRCA Puerto Rico 2010 will take on a new challenging curatorial component utilizing Circa Labs, a company that helps organize and curate art fairs who propose non-traditional ideas. Under the direction of Pablo Leon de la Barra, Circa Labs will provide a more experimental element to the fair and aims to appeal to younger audiences by offering a less intimidating approach to contemporary art and culture.

The organization promises a cross-cultural experience, as urban art, live music, performance, styling, skating, tattooing and product customization seek to add flare, originality and modernity to the art fair.

Click HERE to read more about CIRCA Puerto Rico ’10.

Click HERE to visit CIRCA Puerto Rico’s Website

If you’re going to be in Puerto Rico for CIRCA PR ’10, make sure to check out San Juan’s innovative ”Latitude Art Projects,” a gallery that focuses on representing and promoting international emerging and mid-career artists

London’s Royal College of Art will host the 20/21 International Art Fair from February 18th until February 21st. Now in its fourth year, the art fair features modern and contemporary art from around the world. Represented countries include China, Japan, Vietnam, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Italy, the Ukraine, Poland, the USA, and of course, Great Britain.

The 50 exhibitors (mostly based in the UK) will offer oils, original prints, watercolors, drawings, photographs and ceramics by both 20th and 21st Century artists.

Internationally acclaimed British singer, Patti Boulaye, will kick off the fair. Boulaye, who has a passion for the arts, is a writer and artist herself. A gallery at the fair is even displaying some of her work.

To read more about the art fair, including artists whose work will be on display, click here

While the annual art fairs of Miami have come to an end, another tourist-friendly Florida city, Naples, has announced its newest fair.  David and Lee Ann Lester (who founded the West Palm Beach International Fine Art Fair in 1995) are in the midst of planning the Naples International Art & Antique Fair. The fair will be housed in an unidentified 55,000 square-foot venue in Northern Naples.

The Lester’s company, International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE), operates art and antique shows that specialize in items from high-end dealers. IFAE envisions its Naples art fair will include 60 dealers (many of whom will exhibit at IFAE’s Art Palm Beach in January). The Art Fair Power Couple claims that while the Naples Art Fair will probably attract many of the same attendees as Palm Beach, the Naples art market contains demographics that don’t fully overlap those of Palm Beach. (Naples houses more winter residents from the Midwest, plus German and British tourists, where as Palm Beach is known as a winter haven for North Easterners).

The Lesters are known for strong communication and power sharing as well as for enticing customers with glitz and glamour.  Additionally, the International Fine Art Fair in Palm Beach is the only fair in the country that received a five-star rating from the Art Newspaper. Thus, the Naples International Art & Antique Fair is likely to contain items of pure luxury – with an equally upscale clientele.

To read the entire article associated with this story, click here.