Author: Arimeta Diop
Source: Vanity Fair
Summary: Bolstered by a local curatorial team, the inaugural Atlanta Art Fair turns its full attention to what Southern Art looks like for the city.
Art Market Productions director Kelly Freeman set the scene during a recent call with Vanity Fair: “There’s something about creating that blank canvas that then our gallery partners, our cultural partners, our artists get to come in and program,” she says. “There’s so much energy in the air, and of course that’s Atlanta for you.” The Atlanta Art Fair runs concurrently with Atlanta Art Week (held September 30 through October 6), which was founded by art adviser Kendra Walker. Now in its third year, Walker’s project not only landed her a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, but signaled Atlanta’s rise to the larger art community. While there isn’t overt collaboration between the two events, there isn’t competition either—instead an overarching desire to cultivate longevity prevails. The Atlanta Art Fair therefore is simultaneously a response to the city’s massed attention and a call for more interested parties to stick around. “Once people are engaged, I hope that they stay engaged with the offerings that Atlanta has outside of October, outside of that week,” Lauren Jackson Harris, guest curator and cofounder of Black Women in Visual Art, said.
“It’s just visibility and consistency that I’m hoping to see, because we’re not a New York or LA, but we can create our brand by people just being consistent and intentional about feeding the arts.” This is the refrain of those with a more optimistic outlook of the current market. As the scramble to readjust unfolds, those with robust commitments to community, art, and artists themselves, rather than to a game of assets and numbers, will stand the test. “Letting Atlanta be Atlanta—it’s what I think we do best as an organization,” Freeman said. “We have no ego in the project. I know I will have done my job correctly if an attendee learns about some exhibition happening at Spelman College in January and decides to go because of an interaction they had at the fair.” Here, a conversation with the curators of the Art Fair about the state of Southern art and Atlanta’s growing part in its continued presence.