Concentrated Formula
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An investment counselor who also sells art on the Internet, Tabet got sucked in two years ago when sculptor Terrence Karpowicz asked him to build a Web site for the show and then put him on the board. Karpowicz and sculptor Michael Dunbar (head of Illinois’ Art in Architecture program) had cofounded Pier Walk in 1995, initially as a way to exhibit their own work. They created a nonprofit organization called 3-D Chicago to run it and decided to make it as inclusive as possible. The show mushroomed from 3 pieces the first year to 42 the next, then 125, and the record 178 before dropping back to 100 or less in the last few years. It established the pier as a venue for sculpture, but also became a monster to manage: “It started to eat up both our lives,” Karpowicz says. In 2000, feeling like he “had to get back to the studio,” he resigned. Dunbar soon followed.
One hundred and fifty maquettes were submitted this year for consideration. Hickey chose 22, to be accompanied by another dozen or so pieces from artists he’s inviting to participate. All works are built at the artists’ expense and are available for sale. Artists who compete for entrance pay their own shipping charges; invited artists, assumed to raise the overall quality of the show, are reimbursed for shipping. The full list of exhibitors, planned for release in February, was not available at press time (Tabet said he was still working on transportation and insurance issues), but rumors in some quarters that no locals would be included were wrong. According to Tabet, John Adduci, Ted Garner, Michael Brown, Victoria Fuller, John Wenner, Aaron Baker, and Dunbar will be showing.
