THE CHEAPER SHOW

WORDS BY DOUGLAS HADDOW
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUSTIN TYLER CLOSE

This time last year it was general knowledge that the art market had developed a bubble, and that bubble had burst. The decade that saw the greatest rise in the value of art in history was going out with a crash, last one to pilfer a bottle of Dom, please turn off the lights. But then in early May, Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” was auctioned for a record $106 million. A few weeks later, another Picasso, “Dove with Green Peas,” among other works, was stolen from the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. A brazen thief simply slipped in through a broken window and within minutes made off with half a billion dollars worth of canvas, and like that it was declared that the Art Marke was revived, and the sigh of a thousand hedge-fund managers was heard round the world. But in Vancouver, an alternative narrative was developing in contrast to these jagged spikes of red and black. It was the story of  The Cheaper Show, a phenomenon that started out as a party for the renegades of the East Van art scene, but has in nine years grown into Western Canada’s largest single-night art event.

The formula is simple: 200 artists with 400 pieces selling at 200 bucks a pop, one night only and a night to remember. Organized by twelve artists and designers from East Vancouver, the show has become something of a cultural institution in Vancouver, so much so that June 26th was recently declared “Cheaper Show Day” by Mayor Gregor Robertson. Attracting approximately 8,000 visitors, Cheaper Show No. 9 took place in a 30,000 square foot space, painted and prepped by the event’s crew and their army of volunteers – a mean feat considering the mere six hours that the space will be open. It’s especially impressive when one considers how viciously the BC government has slashed the wrists of its art programs. But the show carries on regardless, buoyed by the passion of its artists and organizers and the interest of those who come from all over the world to take it all in.

Damien Hirst, the most divisive figure of the phantom market crash of ’09 recently said “Anyone can be like Rembrandt… It’s about freedom and guts… That’s the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe.” While that may just be little more than a pugnacious sound bite, it rings true when you measure the amount of sweat it takes to pull off a production like The Cheaper Show. At these prices, 400 fresh servings of guts and freedom is perhaps even more of a steal than Picasso’s green peas.