Karl Wirsum
Second Floor, 1999, mixed media on metal, 8 x 10 feet, ©Karl Wirsum.

The interview was conducted by Ilana Stanger of TheArtBiz.com.

Can you give me a brief sketch of your career?

I have two careers. I'm involved in the financial markets in Chicago. I've also been a collector of art, and a number of my friends are artists. We established a gallery built on the premise that using the Internet we could reach a larger audience with lower costs. A year ago I got involved with Pierwalk [International Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition]. I built a website for them, which has been very successful. People can acquire the work through it, and it's also a way to traffic to the artists on New Art Now.

What is the goal of New Art Now.com? Have you been pleased with its success so far?

Yeah, very pleased. The surprise has been with the sculpture. Pier Walk has been incredible. We placed over 75% of the work shown in sales or secondary exhibits. Obviously sale is the goal, but to continue the exposure of these works to the public in other shows builds exposure for the artist. I'm president now of 3-D Chicago, which is a not-for-profit foundation that puts together Pierwalk.

New Art Now has been successful because we're grassroots. We advertise ourselves just by having our artists in the public eye, and we are run like a cooperative. Some of our artists, like Tony Fitzpatrick, have their own collectors who come in and then see and get interested in other artists' work. It's a constantly ongoing show. The key is to keep it fresh. And that's the laborious part--constantly changing the images.

The artists on New Art Now are all Chicago artists. Was this a practical or personal choice? How does representing local artists intersect with being online, and thus presenting them to an international community?

We are pretty much all Chicago artists, although we represent some Michigan artists as well. They're just the artists that I know and I collect. It's really been because Chicago is where I am. Pierwalk shows sculpture from around the world, and I'm not opposed to representing artists outside this area. We just picked up an artist from Pittsburgh. It depends.

This year we're focusing on getting more sculptors on New Art Now. The success with showing sculpture online has just been incredible. In 1980 there were four artists in all Illinois who could do large-scale public sculpture. Today there are 150 in Chicago alone. The art world's attention is on Chicago for the growing movement in large-scale public sculpture. It's amazing.

The Internet is so incredible for sculpture, because to open a gallery where you could show large-scale works it would have to be monstrous. It would be so expensive to build, and then you would need a crane or a boom truck to install the work, and it would make no sense to take it down in two to three months. But Pier walk shows 90- plus sculptures for six months. It's such a great venue for showing sculpture.

Some artists feel that you must see art to appreciate it--certainly to be moved enough to buy it. As an online art dealer, how would you respond to that?

People don't buy it without seeing it. Typically, when people buy art they call a gallery and tell them that they saw a show and are interested, and the gallery sends out slides and images. Artists spend tons of money sending out slides and images, and that's what we do. Retail is built on a person-to- person basis. They'll get slides and an idea of where they can see the art or we'll invite them to come to a gallery or the artist's studio. If the buyer lives outside the area we send images, and sometimes we send the actual work. It's a bit of a leap of faith. But so far it's worked.

What advice would you give to artists who are just beginning to produce serious work?

Don't compromise on venues to show work, and don't get impatient because it takes time, but try to get your work shown by a gallery that will participate in the big art expos, so that your work gets exposed. I do think it's worth it to get on an Internet site with a good reputation as well. The art world and gallery system is very restrictive to artists. By establishing a fine art gallery on the Internet I'm trying to democratize that process. All artists trying to build their career and reputation should aggressively seek out Internet venues where they can show their work.

If an artist is interested in being represented by New Art Now, how should they submit work to you?

There's a juror process, which is described on our website. Pierwalk also has a juror process, and this year Andre Emmerich is the juror. For New Art Now, sign up and send in slides and artist information. We are looking to acquire new work.

Pierwalk solicits work from three categories of artists: emerging, mid-career, and selected invited artists. The minimum size for work is ten feet. Based on slides we'll invite the sculptor to send a maquette. Then in March we have a maquette show.

Any last comments?

The success of what I'm doing is the creative collective. It's amazing how technology allows access to people who aren't in close proximity. When you're building an Internet site people ask whom the angels there are, who's making it happen. It's the artists. The artists give support. There's a real energy right now in Chicago's sculpture movement and other visual arts and it's just amazing to be part of it.

This article was originally created for TheArtBiz.com. It appears on NYFA Interactive courtesy of the Abigail Rebecca Cohen Library.

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