An art fair of a different vibe opens in North Adams

Boston Globe

19 hours ago

So she and two like-minded colleagues from the Boston art world, gallery owner Yng-Ru Chen and artist
.
The biannual event is thought to be the first ambitious fair for commercial art galleries in New England.
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Arrival will be more intimate than most other fairs: Exhibiting galleries will set up in rooms at
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The Tourists hotel will be the site of the Arrival Art Fair.
(Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff)
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Admission is free, though
Arrival was conceived in 2023, when Chen, who owns
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Chen was looking for 'a more level playing field for exhibitors,' she said, 'because there are so many exorbitant costs associated with traveling and shipping and then accommodations for exhibitors, while you're also paying for a booth.'
Arrival is a seat-of-the-pants operation compared to behemoths like Art Basel and
The North Adams fair, with 36 exhibitors from around the U.S., offers a broad price range, with art books and limited edition prints starting in the hundreds.
Delaney Kennedy, "White," exhibited by Jessica Silverman Gallery at Arrival Art Fair. (Jessica Silverman Gallery)
Jessica Silverman Gallery
Lacouture, Chen, and Galender Meyer formed an LLC, which in this first iteration as an incubator project has accepted donations. One of those donors, the Cambridge-based
'We need opportunities for artists, and we really need an ecosystem to support them,' said Wagner. Arrival, she added, is 'an innovative model, and I think it's really invested in the region's cultural economy.'
Opting not to create a nonprofit left the three founders, who haven't been paying themselves, able
to pursue their own ideas without having to answer to a board.
'We really wanted to have our own agency,' Lacouture said. 'All three of us are mothers. All three of us have full time jobs. We wanted to have direct impact as we went.'
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North Adams seemed an ideal spot. Chen and Galender Meyer attended Williams College together, and Lacouture lives in North Adams part time. With
"Drum Major" by artist Cindy Elizabeth will be exhibited by Martha's at Arrival Art Fair. (Meredith Williams)
Meredith Williams
'There's so many well-known curators, art historians, and museum directors who graduated from Williams and are always happy to come back,' Chen said.
Historically, contemporary art has been slow to thrive in New England. In the last 20 years, Mass MoCa, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and other museums have turned that around.
'A lot of exhibitors intentionally wanted to come and do Arrival because they know so much about the strength of the museums in Massachusetts, and also the curators,' Chen said.
Commercial galleries have been another story. If Boston is known for its art schools and its museums, commercial galleries have struggled. Some say
Arrival may be an opportunity to give the New England gallery scene a shot in the arm.
A painting by Elizabeth King Stanton, "Ignoring The Weeds," will be exhibited by Abigail Ogilvy Gallery at Arrival Art Fair. (Abigail Ogilvy Gallery)
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery
Gallery owner
who ran a Boston gallery until last year but is now based in Los Angeles, lauded the contemporary art scene in Boston but said the city 'often acts in isolation of its peers. If you want something to happen in Boston you have to build it,' she said.
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She will be showing art at Arrival and said she sees the new fair 'bringing the best of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and more, together to Massachusetts where in collaboration, galleries are much stronger.'
Arrival's co-founders hope gallerists and art lovers alike will network, find community, and enjoy themselves.
'We want people to feel taken care of,' said Chen. 'Maybe that's the mothering in us.'
ARRIVAL ART FAIR
At Tourists, 915 State Rd., North Adams, June 13-15. Admission free, registration required.
Cate McQuaid can be reached at