REVIEW OF THE SAN FRANCISCO TRIBAL & TEXTILE ARTS SHOW

Over the weekend of February 10^th, 11^th, & 12th, the tribal art faithful assembled at the West Coast’s sacred hall: the Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason in the city of San Francisco.  The San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts show, in its 26^th year, is without a doubt the best tribal art venue in America and arguably, the world. There are two other high-end shows in Europe, but the emphasis in on African art. The SF show has much more depth, with top sellers from the US, Europe, and Australia offering a much wider range of materials and cultures: wood and stone sculptures, ceramics, masks, textiles, beadwork, jewelry from Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas.

After a few slow years, this time attendance was up, as well as enthusiasm.  Not once, for the first time since 2009, did I hear potential buyers complain about the economy or put off purchases based on money woes.  Serious sales were made and at least one well-known Indonesia tribal art dealer had the best show, sales wise, ever!  Most of the dealers I talked to reported better sales this year, although as usual some sellers left disappointed.

In my area, Tribal Asia and the Western Pacific, including Indonesia, there were many rare and important objects on display.  There were two archaic Tau-Tau figures, several ancient Kayanic Dayak (Kayan, Bahau, Modang) wood sculptures, a crowned Nias Island figure, ancestral figures (Aitos) from Timor Island, a pair of Batak Pagars, a beautiful Kenyah Dayak dance mask, an old human figure style Toraja shrine door, painted Dayak shields, lots of weapons, Javanese batiks, and Iban ritual textiles.  Known sales of Indonesia tribal art included a rare Dayak cave guardian (one of four of this quality, type and condition known on the market), an amazing Dayak chief’s stool in the form of a dragon (Aso) with a super patina, a ladle from Timor Island with early provenance, one of the Tau-Tau figures, and a beautiful and unusual beaded vest/skirt set from Borneo Island.

As an added bonus to the festivities, Bay Area legend Tom Murray celebrated his 60^th birthday party on Saturday evening at the Fort Mason Gate House.  Well over 300 of Tom’s closest friends joined him for food, drink, and live music.

As usual, the super team put together by show organizers Bill Caskey and Liz Lees created the perfect venue for viewing great works of art: a large historic hall overlooking the beautiful San Francisco Bay.  Besides the regular well-received opening night Gala, there was a colorful display of contemporary Moroccan rag rugs in the lobby.  

TRIBAL ART MARKET IN LOS ANGELES

Where are the serious tribal art collectors in Los Angeles?  Or more to the point is there or will there again be a serious market for tribal art in Los Angeles? 

For the last couple of decades, local dealers and show promoters have pondered this question.  The assumption has been there is a market for tribal art, perhaps even a big one, we just have to create the proper set of circumstances to develop it: the right show venue, the right PR campaign, the right ad placement, the right opening night beneficiary, and so on. 

In part, to tackle this issue, I helped found LA TRIBAL, an association of dealers in the Los Angeles area, specializing in the tribal arts from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.  The primary goals were to promote cooperation within the existing tribal art community (other dealers, collectors, and museum specialists), as well as finding creative ways to cultivate new collectors. 

LA TRIBAL members have joined local collectors’ organizations, such as the Ethnic Arts Council (EAC) and other museum support councils, with some members becoming quite active within these groups.  We participated in the primary tribal art show produced by the Caskey Lees organization, produced our own “mini” shows, offered appraisal services, and ran ads in a variety of magazines.  We tried bringing in new faces by supporting their favorite charity as a beneficiary on opening night.  We made sure to invite museum staff, local collectors’ groups, and other individuals known to have a specific interest in tribal art.

Despite these efforts, there are ongoing problems with the tribal art market in Los Angeles.  A case in point was our most recent show (held in early June); arguably the best show LA TRIBAL has ever produced.  It certainly was the show we worked the hardest on to promote.  We could not have a found a more perfect venue: a large empty space directly across from the LA County Museum of Art.  We hung a massive banner on the front of the building, easily seen from Wilshire Blvd. (one of LA’s most traveled streets) and the entrance to the museum.  We sent out nearly 18,000 mailers (five times more cards than any previous mailer), all to a well-targeted list of individuals with an interest in art.  We paid for PR and got several listing in local publications.  We sent out numerous email blasts.  We specifically invited individual collectors, museum specialists, and support council members.  We added an appraisal clinic and yet another beneficiary group, one known for its activism and support of fundraising events.  The show was beautifully set up with a full range of material: pieces priced for the beginning collector to those looking for only the highest quality items.  We had the opening night catered with a wonderful selection of Vietnamese food (a crowd favorite).  Our members made a considerable expenditure of money, labor, and time to make these preparations.

Almost no one came.  The beneficiary group promised 75 to 100 members of their group would make it to opening night, so we paid for food and drinks to make sure we accommodated their needs.  I’d be surprised if 10 people from that organization showed up.  We had about 30 others come by that evening, after expecting at least 150.  Over the next three days we had perhaps another 100 to 150 visitors.  Only four museum specialists came through: two from the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and two from the South Asian Art Department at LACMA (I would like to personally thank Peter Keller, director at the Bowers for his continued support of all of the tribal art events in California).  The Fowler Museum was missing in action, as well as all of the other local museums.  The EAC, Los Angeles’s premier tribal art collectors group with close to 200 members, once again barely showed (20 or so came through over the weekend).  Virtually no one came from the Bower’s Museum Collectors Council.  The few known collectors of tribal art in the Los Angeles area were mostly no-shows.

Despite my disappointment, it was easier to accept that our efforts were not dazzling enough to attract new people.  But, what really surprises and continually vexes me is that people who are actually collectors of tribal art, have even a remote interest in tribal art, as well as local museum staff that owe their jobs to the interest in tribal art, did not bother to come to the one tribal art sales venue left in Southern California.

I have two questions: why is there so little support or interest from the existing local tribal art community and why are we unable to attract new collectors?  I have my own theories and will address the two issues separately.

At one time, Los Angeles was an important location for collectors of tribal art.  This was especially true in the 1970s and 1980s when there were several active collectors of African art, most notably the Wallaces, the Baums, the Silvers, the Kuhns, the Dimondsteins, the Franklins, the Goldenbergs, and Jerome Joss, to name a few.  Pre-Columbian art has always had a strong following and at one time LA was the most important center for the emerging Indonesian tribal art market.  These collectors were also responsible for founding and growing the EAC, which in the past was actually dominated by a core group of serious collectors.

What happened?  To be fair, most of this original core base has aged, with many having passed away.   It is understandable why this generation is no longer as active, because their houses are full of art and today their primary concern is the disposition of their collections.  Unfortunately, with very few exceptions it does not appear this “old guard” spawned a new generation of tribal art fanatics to carry on their passion.

There has always been a mid-range collector base that still survives, but no longer thrives in Southern California.  This group consists of passionate collectors of more modest means (god bless them for hanging in there!), non-serious collectors who focus on bargains (which often means objects of lower quality and reproductions), and so-called “tribal art tourists”, non-collectors who like to view and talk about tribal art, but rarely if ever actually purchase anything.  We always keep hoping that the first group will win the lottery or inherit money from a rich relative, that the second group will suddenly realize the error of their ways and buy quality over quantity, and that the last group will finally fall in love with the art and step up to the plate.  Unfortunately, this rarely happens.

We keep imagining that fabulously wealthy contemporary art patrons, known to pay fortunes for squiggles of paint on canvas, a whirling mobile made of soup cans, or a metallic sculpture of a balancing bear with a bottle stuck in its behind (actually seen a recent contemporary art show in LA!), will finally see the light.  We are sure that, once exposed to our magnificent tribal artifacts, they will divert most of their expendable income in our direction.  Certainly, the scholars that have written numerous books on the links between so call primitive art and the roots of modern art are practically begging these collectors to pay attention to us!  Well, so far we have not significantly benefited from this potential metamorphosis. 

We also have banked on getting in that big celebrity client, who will fall in love with tribal art and go around Hollywood promoting how cool it is, thus bringing in yet more celebrity buyers.  LA TRIBAL, the Caskey-Lees shows, and nearly every private dealer or gallery has tried to open that door. Some of the public art galleries in the Beverly Hills area will get celebs in for a while, but with few exceptions they rarely become long-term clients and when they do, it is nearly always for contemporary art. 

So we are left finding new collectors from a different pool of potential art enthusiasts in Los Angeles.  I am sure we all assume that under the right circumstances, by exposing this new, presumably younger crowd to the wonders of tribal art, we will finally find our market.  Following are my hypotheses for believing otherwise.

Los Angeles is a relatively new city that barely came into itself until the 1940s.  Most people here seem uninterested in history or tradition.  There is barely an awareness of the Spanish mission period let alone anything before that time.  Nostalgia for an earlier era in their own lives is about as far back as they will go.  Second-generation immigrants quickly shed their ethnic identities to blend in and have little interest in their own cultures.  People came here to break free from the past, to make their own future, to reinvent themselves.  Angelenos tend to look forward, more concerned about what will happen next, not what happened before. 

Because of this lack of interest, they have no connection to the past, including old world cultures or so-called primitive societies.  And art buying, even for decoration, is not high on their must-do list.  This is especially true with younger people, who disdain “antiques” as useless old dusty things their grandparents owned. 

Additionally, wealthy Angelenos do not appear to be very sophisticated when it comes to art.  There is a lot of new money that often comes without a background in the trappings of wealth.  They know they have to buy a big house and an expensive car (or two). They are aware they need to fill their house with some stuff, but art and antiques are not something they know much about and perhaps find a bit intimidating, so they tend to follow commercial trends or the recommendations of their friends or decorators.

In my experience, collectors in Los Angeles buy contemporary art, classic cars, photography, retro furniture, and pop cultural artifacts because it is modern, hip, accessible, and comfortable.  Everyone knows that paintings are real art, that a movie poster is cool, and so are those chairs that look like 1950s rocket ships!  ;-)

The few exceptions are those people who have traveled abroad, say to Bali on vacation or to India to visit their guru.  But, even that group tends to be satisfied with the collection of souvenirs, purchased on their trip.

Lastly, people in Los Angeles tend to be outdoor oriented.  Their homes are larger and so are their yards.  It is warm, sunny and bright, forcing you outside.  We have beaches, mountains, and deserts to visit and lots of cars to get us there.  Angelenos just don’t worry about getting stuck indoors and therefore think less about what is in their house to entertain them.

In contrast, those living in older cities, like NYC or Paris, even an office worker or mid-level bureaucrat will own art.  Most urban residents on the East Coast and in Europe are focused indoors because of colder weather, closer neighbors, and louder street noise.  An indoor lifestyle encourages you to think about what you have in your house. You need art to dress up that dark and dreary apartment!  

There may be some hope from the growth of the local museum scene in Southern California.  The LA County Museum of Art purchased a major collection of Oceanic art a couple of years ago and have expressed interest in building an African art collection.  The Fowler Museum at UCLA is more active under the direction of Marla Berns.  Outside of LA, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, the Museum of Art in San Diego, and the Mingei Museum of International Art, also in San Diego, have good collections of tribal art.  Important, regular exhibitions, especially at LACMA may encourage existing art patrons to take tribal art more seriously.

Otherwise, in my opinion the above factors make Los Angeles an unlikely place to find new, serious collectors for traditional antiques of any kind, let alone tribal art.  Is it time to throw in the towel and re-focus our efforts elsewhere?  Perhaps, but I am still hopeful there may be a few more angles to try before we completely give up on my favorite city.

Along with about 50 other dealers, I recently exhibited at the Los Angeles Asian & Tribal Arts Show, held annually in November at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The show is produced by the Caskey Lees organization, based in Los Angeles. The show is a mix of classic Asian art and tribal art from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. My report will focus on tribal art.

A short list of the dealers that exhibited: LA Tribal members: John Strusinski of Primary Source, Ron Normandeau of Anthropos Gallery, Philip Garaway, Joshua Dimondstein, Fily Keita and of course, myself, along with Michael Hamson (CA), John Ruddy (NM), Georgia Chrischilles (Belgium), Joe Loux (SF), Craig DeLora (NJ), Neil Becker (NY), Kip McKesson (Tanzania), Casey Waller of Caravanserai (TX), and first time exhibitor Bill Sutterfield (CA). A complete list of the exhibitors can be found on the Caskey Lees website.

There seemed to be more exhibitors displaying tribal art this year, which in my opinion is a good thing. Tribal art is so much more exciting than boring displays of old Ming vases! Ha! In fact nearly all of the extra public display areas showed tribal art, including a collection of rare wood sculptures from the Central Highlands of Vietnam (in the central garden) and an unusual grouping of Nepali farmer’s rakes fashioned from tree branches (in the lobby). Full disclosure: I contributed these items.

Other notable objects were a collection of Dayak shields and Indonesian weapons brought by Bill Sutterfield, a beautiful female Tau-Tau offered by Primary Source, incredible gold jewelry from Georgia Chrischilles, and a massive log drum in Michael Hamson’s booth. As usual Ron Normandeau had a fantastic array of pre-Columbian and Northwest Coast objects and Phil Garaway offered a very rare and subtle Navajo blanket picturing an unfinished Navajo rug on a loom. In my booth I offered a heavy, weathered Dayak statue of a sitting nobleman and an animated Dayak sculpture of a hunting dog, as well as collection of Naga shields and spears. My apologies to the African tribal art dealers for not paying more attention to their material. Unfortunately I can’t report on any specific special object. My bad.

As expected during this economic downturn, most of the dealers were apprehensive about attendance and sales. Even in the best of times, the LA market is tepid and it seems we rarely have serious clients from out of town paying even a courtesy visit, so expectations have never been high at this venue for big sales.

However, this year attendance in general was solid, especially on Friday and Saturday and I had the pleasure of meeting with at least a few important buyers that made their way from the Bay Area and Europe to check out the goods. I also met with several enthusiastic new visitors to this show.

Although my own sales were modest, as I’m sure it was for most of the dealers, some did experience big sales, especially on opening night. Michael Hamson sold his log drum, Primary Source sold the Tau-Tau, Bill Sutterfield sold very well, as did Jeff Appleby (CA), to name a few. These sales certainly indicate that serious buyers do attend which gives me hope that this show will survive and perhaps flourish.

It is always hard to gauge the success of a show by the amount of direct sales. For example, my sales rarely amount to much during the show, but in each of the last few years, I met at least one very interesting new client that came through with one or more serious purchases within a few months. Regardless, these shows are really the only way for large groups of potential collectors to view and enjoy high quality authentic examples of tribal art, that they can actually own. It also gives dealers a better opportunity to educate potential collectors and to directly discuss the merits of each piece.

I don’t want to forget to thank the show producers and their team: Bill, Liz, Netanya, Filomena, Steven, Clare, Bob, Agnes, and Treanne for all of their hard work putting this together.

REVIEW OF LOS ANGELES ASIAN & TRIBAL ART SHOW

I recently participated in the 18th annual Los Angeles Asian & Tribal Art Show. It is produced by the Caskey Lees organization and held in mid November at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. There were approximately 60 dealers present, offering classic Asian material from Japan, China, Korea, and India, as well of tribal, textile, and pre-Columbian art.

Tribal Art dealers present were LA Tribal members: John Strusinski, Ron Normandeau, Joshua Dimondstein, Philip Garaway, Fily Keita, Jerry Solomon, myself of course, as well as Michael Hamson, Georgia Chrischilles, Aarin Richard, Tom Murray, Zena Kurzick, Craig De Lora, Peter Boyd, and M B Abram. Carpets and textiles were well-represented by John Ruddy, Casey Waller, Ron Hort, Noel Glenn, and Jeff Appleby. My apologies to any others I may have missed.

Once again, UCLA’s Fowler Museum was the beneficiary of the opening night proceeds. They also had a silent auction to raise funds for their Textile support group.

As usual, the show produced mixed results. First, the bad news:

Most of the dealers I spoke with were reasonably nervous about the poor economic news and how it might affect sales at the show. Frankly, regardless of how well the economy is doing, dealers tend to mope about this subject and rarely find any reasons to be optimistic about big sales at any of these shows! It’s just part of the pre-show drama.

However, the slow economy was clearly a factor and sales were down for the majority of dealers, including myself. Most of the buyers did seem hesitant to make any serious purchases under this economic cloud. There isn’t much we can do about this right now, except hang in there until things get back on track.

Also, it has been my view for some time, that the high end market for tribal art in LA is anemic, so it can be difficult to just blame the economy on poor sales. Most of my important sales are made outside of the LA area. I am still not sure why this is the case. LA is one of the wealthiest communities in the world. Most of these people collect art, yet very few seriously collect tribal art or appear to have any interest in doing so. The older collectors in LA are not very active and few younger collectors have stepped up. There are plenty of reliable resources for high quality tribal art in the LA area, but the local collectors rarely take advantage of this situation.

I was disappointed (again) with the Fowler Museum’s participation. This is premier tribal arts institution in Los Angeles and I would expect a more enthusiastic relationship with our local tribal art show. I have been to openings at the Fowler and many hundreds of people attend, yet I rarely see any of those people at our event. Sure, some of the staff comes through and perhaps a few others that may have heard about the show via the Fowler, but virtually no one I talked to on opening night had any connection to that museum. I don’t understand why the Fowler would not take advantage of this relationship and beat the drum to get their troops to the opening. They get a big chunk of the money that comes in that night and it gives their people a rare opportunity to view and purchase authentic tribal artifacts, that likely will be donated or loaned to that museum!

The last point is the venue, which I have mentioned before. The Santa Monica Civic is a tired old building and was not designed to hold quality art shows. I am surprised that the City of Santa Monica has no plans to tear that building down and replace it with a modern and more interesting architectural structure that would draw larger crowds. They have literally improved or re-built every single other building in the nearby Civic Center complex, but for some reason have ignored this out-dated blight right next door. There doesn’t seem to be any viable alternative for now, but it is my hope that the City will eventually address this issue.

The good news:

The current PR firm (AGK Media Group) and Art & Living Magazine (which was one of the co-sponsors of the show) made a huge effort to bring in new people to the opening and over the weekend. I believe we had 400 to 500 people on opening night, the largest attendance I can recall. There were considerably more people on Saturday, as well. I had so many new people, as well as the regulars, come into my booth that I couldn’t take a break all Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday. And more importantly, most of the sales I did make were to new buyers.

As a positive side note, the opening was catered for the first time by a local restaurant, Mercedes Grill, which just happens to be my one of my regular hangs. Great food and drinks were provided, but unfortunately they had not anticipated the larger crowd so there wasn’t much to go around after the first hour or so.

I like the overall mix and look of this show and it really seems to be hitting its stride. There is a nice variety (and price ranges) of material for sale and I am always happy to see more tribal art at this venue. The displays and material are not on the level of the San Francisco Tribal show, but it seems to be improving each year. The show has potential and I look forward to doing it again next year, especially if the economy is in better shape and the PR people can continue to bring in new faces.

Lastly, I want to put in a good word for the show producers and their team who work tirelessly to organize these events. Not everyone appreciates the amount of hard work and months of prep it takes to make this all happen. It is a thankless job trying to please everyone and get all of the details worked out before opening.