Raw Dealers
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At the very least Kimler knows how to change galleries: since arriving in Chicago in 1982 he’s had formal business arrangements with Peter Miller, Bill Struve, Thomas McCormick, and Ingrid Fassbender. “There aren’t a lot of good options in Chicago when it comes to dealers,” he says. “Galleries work under the assumption they have an entitlement to your work, when it’s really a consignment situation.” McCormick, who handled Kimler’s work from 1995 to 1997, acknowledges that Kimler is a “handful” but points out that, unlike many local artists, Kimler supports himself with sales of his work. Whether that justifies his record of burning through dealers is a matter of opinion. “It’s not unusual for an artist to stay with one dealer for his career,” notes Paul Klein, whose Klein Art Works included Kimler in its recent survey of Chicago abstractionists.
McCormick has welcomed Kimler back, though he admits that Kimler’s large paintings are difficult to sell. At the Fassbender Gallery most of Kimler’s canvases were priced around $20,000, pretty high for the younger clientele that’s drawn to his work, and during his October show there, Kimler sold nothing. But his constant ax-grinding hasn’t helped either. The New Art Examiner–which Kimler describes as “a brochure for special interest groups in the Chicago art world”–took a pass on reviewing his last two shows. “Let’s just say I’m not on the A-list,” cracks Kimler. And don’t expect him to get all misty on his way out of town: two weeks ago, during another artist’s opening, Kimler marched into the Fassbender Gallery, demanded a painting of his that someone there had taken from the Klein exhibit, and left with the canvas under his arm.
Remember the final scene of The Producers?
