A Painterly Gifting: days of distribution

In 2023, painter Patrick Chamberlain, after making work for several decades, approached us at The Arts Club of Chicago with an idea to divest of his life’s work in a gesture of generosity.

What resulted after much planning was an art action of gifting but also a strategic undermining of the art market, taking into account past precedent for an artist giving work away. Since the 1960s, artists have tried to outsmart the art market by making things that they thought weren’t salable (like Banksy), but the market always finds a way of making them valuable. What Chamberlain chose to do was reframe the commercial interaction.

Participants who came to The Arts Club that week made an active choice to take one of his works–so in this way, it was different from him just showing up with a painting as a gift. They had to decide to come here, sift through the various styles, and claim the work, placing them in a new relationship to art in which they made a choice but not a financial commitment. 

We consider the events of the past week a work of art themselves, not to be repeated in the same way that we wouldn’t repeat a Fluxus happening or a site-specific live performance. It was a special moment in time with a special community, and we’re so happy to have played a part.

-Janine Mileaf (Executive Director) & Jenna Lyle (Programs Director)