Though the overall fair was a bit of a disappointment as far as quality was concerned, I did manage to find some good works. I am hoping that now that they have found the right number of galleries to show they work on bringing the quality back to its original glory of the days of the Navy Pier.

Recommended works:

Brandon Anschultz, Drop (Give the Thunder Up), print, unframed $500

Robert Rauschenberg, Airport Series: Switchboard, 1974, Color relief and intaglio on fabric with collage, 34 1/2” x 36 1/2” x 7 1/2” Edition: 40, $35,000

A stunning early work by Robert Rauschenberg is special due to the fact that even though it is an editioned work, it is a three-dimensional work with fabric and collage elements. The colors leap out at the viewer and for its size it is a bargain at  $35,000.

Chuck Webster, Untitled, 10x8 inches, acrylic, watercolor, color pencil. $1200

Chuck Webster, Untitled, 10 x 8 inches, acrylic, watercolor, color pencil, $1200

Chuck Webster was mentioned in my Dieu Donne blog. I really like his work and these small pieces are affordable and quite spectacular in person.

Chris Ballantyne, 24x32 inches, acrylic on panel, $5000

Chris Ballantyne’s landscape paintings and prints often take a bird’s eye view of man-made forms set in expansive planes of grass or ocean. The familiar geometries of rooftops and parking lines are thus rendered abstract. Ballantyne’s aesthetic was influenced by his family’s many moves during his childhood across the southern coast of the United States for his father’s work with the U.S. Coast Guard. His experience living in various suburban areas gave him a sense of the homogeneity of residential development across the country as well as an awareness of expanding urban areas gradually encroaching on the natural landscape and ways that suburban development is primarily determined by emphatic borders around private property. Since earning his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2002, the artist has been interested in creating an “uneasy sense of quiet” through paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and murals in which an uninhabited architecture is arranged to interrogate the balance between nature and culture.

Danica Phelps, Chart, 2006, Pencil and watercolor on paper, 29 7/8 x 22, inches, $1900

Danica Phelps, an emerging conceptual artist who recently had a solo show at internationally renowned gallery Zach Feuer, had a work at the fair entitled, “Chart,” a pencil and watercolor on paper. It is simple yet refined in its monochromatic palette. Her work is autobiographical in that the subject matter is based on events from her everyday existence. It is personal but somehow manages to avoid becoming too intimate. The work is an affordable $1900.

Joshua Jensen-Nagle, A Delicate Elegance Lost, 2008 Pigment print diasec mounted 20 x 20 in. $1600

Joshua Jensen-Nagle, Looking Over Endless Crowds, 2009 Pigment print on aluminum 58 x 58 in. $7800

Joshua Jensen-Nagle, Quiet Hours and Lonely Days, Pigment print diasec mounted 43 x 43 in. $4200

The photographs by Joshua Jensen-Nagle are hauntingly beautiful. Placing the viewer in gorgeous foreign environments, the works evoke the romanticism of the Grand Tours of Europe. Created in an edition of 4, the works sell for $7800.

Stephen Inggs, Horns III, 2004, Hand painted silver gelatin emulsion on 100% rag paper, Art size: 106 x 108 cm / 41.7 x 42.5 inches, $3875

Stephen Inggs black and white photograph, Horns III, literally stopped viewers in their tracks. Reminiscent of Georgia O’Keeffe’s skulls, Horns III captures a classic aesthetic.

Nadav Kander, Chongqing IV (Sunday Picnic), 2008/2009, chromogenic print

This Nadav Kander work is available in two sizes: 30 x 40 in. (actual size 30.3 x 38.6 in.) image on 38 x 46 in. mount, Edition of 5 + 2 AP, $5,900 50 x 60 in. (actual size 46 x 58.7 in) image + 1-2” borders, Edition of 3 + 2 APs, $12,650

Nadav Kander captures the irony of experiences that occur on a daily basis in China. People picnic under an overpass in an industrialized area as a fisherman passes on the river. China’s desire for progress is at odds with its love for all things historical. Not only does the subject matter pack a punch, but compositionally, this work is stunning, especially in its larger size.