SOFA CHICAGO Partners With Intuit Show

For the second year in a row, The Art Fair Company will produce The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art on the same show floor as SOFA CHICAGO, due to the resounding success of 2010’s combined fairs. The Intuit Show runs concurrently with, and alongside SOFA CHICAGO 2011 in Festival Hall at Navy Pier, and will again be produced in conjunction with Chicago’s seminal non-profit organization, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. The Intuit Show will bring together leading dealers and galleries from around the country of self-taught art, outsider art, art brut, ethnographic art, non-traditional folk art and visionary art. All artwork is for sale. Lecture series presentations and special exhibits are also planned for The Intuit Show and, like SOFA CHICAGO’s educational programming, are included with paid admission.

	SOFA Founder/Director and President of The Art Fair Company Mark Lyman, Intuit Center Executive Director, Cleo Wilson and Intuit Center Board Member Ralph Concepcion.

“SOFA CHICAGO’s addition of The Intuit Show last year widened the horizon of art offered and expanded the audience of collectors,” says Mark Lyman. “We’re pleased to partner again with The Intuit Center and are delighted The Intuit Show will again share center stage with this year’s SOFA CHICAGO.”

Cleo Wilson, executive director of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, says “SOFA CHICAGO 2010 provided momentum to The Intuit Show that helped pique the interest of new buyers, who may not have previously been familiar with outsider art. Intuit enthusiastically looks forward to continuing our partnership with The Art Fair Company this November.”

Intuit Show exhibitors confirmed to date include: American Primitive Gallery (New York), The Electric Pencil (New York), Galerie Bonheur (St. Louis, Mo.), Just Folk (Summerland, Calif.), Lindsay Gallery (Columbus, Ohio), Outsider Folk Art Gallery (Reading, Pa.), The Pardee Collection (Iowa City, Iowa), Ricco / Maresca Gallery (New York) and Russell Bowman Art Advisory (Chicago). Admission to The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art is included with purchase of SOFA CHICAGO 2011 general admission; no separate ticket purchase is required. For more information, visit outsiderfolkartfair.com.

SOFA CHICAGO 2011 + The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art Calendar Listing

The Art Fair Company presents the 18th Annual SOFA CHICAGO 2011 + The Intuit Show of Folk & Outsider Art at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall (600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 60611) Nov. 4 – 6. This two-fair, three-day art event features contemporary art and design presented by more than 60 international art galleries and dealers at SOFA CHICAGO; and outsider art, ethnographic art, non-traditional folk art and visionary art at The Intuit Show. Joint lecture series and special exhibits are free with paid admission.  All artwork is for sale. Tickets are on sale now. One general admission ticket of $15 admits visitors to both fairs, related lecture series, special exhibits and events. $25 three-day passes and discounted student, senior and group tickets are also available. Catalogs are $15. Hours are Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 6, noon to 6 p.m. For tickets or more information visit sofaexpo.com and outsiderfolkartfair.com.

The public is also invited to SOFA CHICAGO and The Intuit Show’s joint Opening Night Public Preview on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. Preview tickets are $50 and may be purchased in advance at sofaexpo.com or at the door beginning at 5 p.m. The opening night preview is much anticipated by collectors, museum curators, art advisers, interior designers and architects, artists and cognoscenti, because it offers first viewing and the best selection of works on offer, as well as the opportunity to meet and mingle with leading members of the art and design communities. Wine and hors d’oeuvres are included in the price of public preview admission.