For the past decade, the first Friday night in any month has meant art-gallery open houses in River North. But the first Friday night in September stands apart: the first Friday following Labor Day–when nearly every gallery in the gallery district holds a reception to herald a new exhibition–has evolved into the art world’s equivalent of New Year’s Eve. Like so many eagerly anticipated events (New Year’s Eve, for example), last week’s Big Friday was a bit of a letdown.
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But even he was a few years behind the times. The art crowd to which he referred was displaced long ago by swarms of ashen-faced, vaguely unhealthy-looking wraiths dressed entirely in black. But now even the funerary-drag clique appears to have abandoned the gallery scene. This year’s crowd was attractive and well-groomed, fresh-faced and prosperous, the sort of people you’d expect to see passing through the lobby of the East Bank Club or Water Tower Place.
We did see a few sullen-looking women with slicked-back hair wearing tight black mini dresses, clocked stockings, and stiletto heels, but not nearly enough of them for his taste. “I come to these events expecting them to be a kind of live-action Robert Palmer video,” he said, “but this might as well be a Wash U. alumni event.” We also noted an absence of hats, something you typically see a lot of at this event.
I was not a bit surprised when Frieda Dean reached into her portfolio and handed me a press release. “This is an art gallery that is worn on the head,” it said. Its fundamental purpose is “to challenge the elitism of established art spaces, namely museums and galleries.”
