HOME ABOUT US ADD AN EVENT POSTING A JOB LISTING A RENTAL MEMBER SIGNUP Asian in NYRSS
METRO Show Recasts Nomenclature for the “A” Word
Back to Category Print this page

January 24 -27, 2013
The Metro Show
The Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea
125 West 18th Street Donna Sharrett Fire and Rain Pavel Zoubok Gallery NEW YORK

In today’s world of art and collecting, the word antiques has come to be regarded as more than just a little . . . antiquated. Now the term Historical Design has arisen to embrace the encyclopedic range of decorative arts from the 16th through 20th centuries. Calling this rich mixture by the term “antiques” is outmoded and outworn, and no one is more aware of that than the participants in this year’s METRO Show, which opens for its five-day run on January 23, 2013, at New York’s Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea.

Says Caroline Kerrigan Lerch, director of the METRO Show: “In all my experience with art fairs over the years, never before have I seen so many dealers steering clear of using the word antiques.”

Among the participants at the METRO Show is Fred Giampietro, proprietor of the Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut. Says Giampietro: “For years I’ve resisted being categorized as an antiques dealer, especially since I have always focused on the buying and selling an item based on its artistic value rather than whether it fit into a category as a so-called antique. So it’s natural that I completely endorse the term Historical Design to describe what I’ll be exhibiting at the METRO Show, where I’ll be dividing the focus between emerging contemporary art mixed with 19th- and 20th-century folk art.”

Another METRO Show dealer who champions the notion of Historical Design over the designation of antiques is Pat Garthoeffner of the Garthoeffner Gallery Antiques in Lititz, Pennsylvania. “When we dealt totally in early-American toys, we couldn’t get into a good show for many years because show promoters felt that toys weren’t consistent with their list of ‘acceptable merchandise’ in other words, ‘antiques.’ And when we dealt in vintage advertising we were only able to do ‘advertising shows’ for the same reason,” recalls Garthoeffner. “Thank goodness that the METRO Show doesn’t cling to the old idea of ‘antiques’ and has recognized that calling the show one of Historical Design doesn’t buttonhole the show into one category.”

Adds Garthoeffner: “There have been many articles written about how to get young people to collect and attend shows. By stressing Historical Design over ‘antiques,’ the METRO Show leads the way in attracting now only the seasoned collector but the collector who is just starting out and gives both of them reason to start, expand and redo a collection. The METRO Show also highlights how multiple categories merge together and are complementary. Limiting those categories to ‘antiques’ is completely passé.”

Says Susan Baerwald, co-owner of Just Folk, Summerland, California: “We are trying to attract younger collectors and the way METRO Show is promoting Historical Design over the old-fashioned term ‘antiques’ is the astute way to go. My partner, Marcy Casey, and I come from the television business, and we know that people like to be entertained. Why use the word antique when there are buyers, especially younger ones, interested in contemporary self-taught and outsider art mixed with traditional quilts, weather vanes and trade signs?”

An example of an offering in Historical Design that Just Folk will have at the METRO Show is an extraordinary group of four African American heads made of concrete, gravel, and cement. Entitled the Roxbury Heads, they were found in Connecticut in the late 19th century and are believed to have been displayed as fence posts to indicate a “safe house” at the time of the Underground Railroad.

Jeff R. Bridgman, owner of Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques, York County, Pennsylvania, is impressed with the pick-up in the economy from both designers and new collectors. “Mid-range things are selling again in great numbers,” says Bridgman, who is expecting to sell well at the METRO Show, “from masterpiece-level objects to those for beginning collectors, which the METRO Show does such a good job attracting in part, I feel, because it does not dwell on the word ‘antique, which rightly or wrongly, young people and even older people are more scared of than they should be.” One of the highlights Bridgman will feature is an Bridgman will feature an extremely rare 36-star American flag, with a six-color overprint, dated 1876.

Bonnie Grossman, owner and director of The Ames Gallery, Berkeley, California, admits that “in these difficult economic times, winning over new younger buyers has been difficult. The strategy of stressing Historical Design over ‘antiques’ promises to be effective. We have definitely seen a downward shift in age,” she says. Among the eclectic offerings Grossman will feature are a wool-hooked rug, entitled “Fowls,”circa 1900 and a pair of articulated figures with a paddle stick and original carrying case, circa 1920.

The second edition of The METRO Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion opens to the public for its five-day run on January 23, 2013. Fair-goers will have a sweeping array of material from which to choose. The new dealer line-up includes 35 pre-eminent specialists in the field of outsider and self-taught art; outstanding contemporary dealers; and the foremost dealers specializing in ethnographic works, Americana, paintings and prints, furniture, Native American, historical design, textiles, and American folk art.

***

Metro Show Welcomes Editions | Artists’ Books
The METRO Show has formed an alliance with Editions | Artists’ Book Fair, which will run concurrently in the Altman Building adjacent to the Metropolitan Pavilion. Founded in 1998 by Susan Inglett of I.C. Editions and Brooke Alexander Editions, the Editions | Artists’ Book Fair has grown in size and stature to become the premier showcase for contemporary publishers and dealers, presenting the latest and greatest in prints, multiples and artists’ books. The Editions | Artists’ Book Fair is well known for its vibrant energy and innovation, thanks to over sixty exhibitors, presenting hundreds of artists representing New York, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, London, Paris and points in between.

About The Art Fair Company
In 2009 Michael Franks, Chief Operating Officer, dmg world media, along with Mark Lyman, former Vice-President, dmg world media’s Art & Antiques Fairs and SOFA Founding Director purchased the internationally renowned Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fairs – SOFA CHICAGO and SOFA NEW YORK – from dmg world media, creating a new jointly owned firm, The Art Fair Company, Inc. (TAFC). In addition to SOFA fairs in New York and Chicago, TAFC produces The METRO Show and the Arts and Antique Dealers League of America Spring Show NYC. The Art Fair Company, Inc. is based in Chicago, IL.

For more info, please visit www.metroshownyc.com.

For more events, please follow www.facebook.com/AsianInNYFans.

No user commented in " METRO Show Recasts Nomenclature for the “A” Word "

Leave A Reply

 Username (*required)

 Email Address (*private)

Events Calendar

Agenda
January 2021

  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • March 2008
M T W T F S S
« Jun    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
GOING GREEN PRIVACY POLICY TERMS & CONDITIONS ADVERTISING WITH US FAQ CONTACT US
© 2008 ASIANinNY.com All rights reserved