IN PICTURES: SOFA Chicago 2012
By Jessica Mlinaric in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 3, 2012 7:00PM
The international Sculpture Objects, Functional Art + Design Fair (SOFA) returns to Chicago this weekend for its 19th year. Held at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall through Sunday, November 4, SOFA is Chicago’s largest and longest running art fair.
Featuring works by more than 800 artists, SOFA presents contemporary and modern art and design, sculpture, functional art, non-traditional and visionary art. This roughly translates to “things to marvel at, use, impress your friends with, wear, or scratch your head at.” Among the fair’s special exhibits, "Eye of Mr. I: A Tribute" gives visitors a sample of the Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art which had received its own billing at the fair in recent years. Highlights of the lecture series include “Pioneers of American Studio Glass, Parts One & Two” (Saturday, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.), a celebration of the 50th anniversary of America’s Glass Studio Movement.
Helping you navigate SOFA’s gorgeous, curious, and provocative collection is SOFA FAIR, a free iPhone and iPad app that gives visitors more information about works on display by simply taking a picture of an artwork. Now we just need the app to figure out who dropped $75,000 on a glass monolith and how to give them our number.
SOFA Chicago continues November 3 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and November 4 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Navy Pier. Admission is $15 or $25 for a three-day pass.