Philadelphia is rich with art, being home to numerous museums, from the encyclopedic Philadelphia Museum of Art to the collector-specific taste of the Barnes Foundation, from the historical Rodin Museum to those dedicated to the art of the now, like the Institute of Contemporary Art. It’s got longstanding art galleries, too, like Fleisher/Ollman, Locks, and Tiger Strikes Asteroid.
But is the City of Brotherly Love ready for an art fair? One dealer, Megan Galardi, who in 2023 founded the city’s Blah Blah Gallery, thinks so. She’s the founder of Elsewhere, which is launching its maiden voyage from June 4–6 at the buzzy, boutique Yowie Hotel, on South Street.
Galardi has seen art fairs, albeit small-scale ones, from the dealer’s perspective, showing at Spring/Break, Future Fair, and Split Level, all in New York. With that experience in mind, she told ARTnews in an interview, “I’ve created a fair I would want to participate in.”
Elsewhere’s 27 exhibitors come from as far as London, whose Season 4 Episode 6 and Harlesden High Street are participating, and they include seven hometown dealers. In addition to Blah Blah and Fleisher/Ollman, Philadelphians such as 5U Space and Fjord are on the roster, as are New York outfits like Uffner/Liu, Osmos, and 5-50. Other dealers come from locales farther away from art market centers, like Cleo the Project Space (Savannah, Georgia), Dream Clinic (Columbus, Ohio), and Inland (Walpole, Maine).
Philadelphia gallerist Megan Galardi founded Elsewhere to be “a fair I would want to participate in,” she said.
Natalie Morano
In a moment when larger fairs are rumored by market insiders to be having trouble filling up their booths, some dealers are betting on small fairs, often in stylish hotels, some of them away from art-market hubs, as a way to offer a different kind of experience. There’s the invite-only Arrival, in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts (a direct inspiration for Galardi); the High Desert Art Fair in California, which hosted its fifth edition last month; and Neighbors, which had its inaugural edition earlier this month in a luxe apartment in Chicago. (Neighbors was cofounded by Jonny Tanna, of Harlesden High Street, an Elsewhere exhibitor.)
In an uncertain market, dealers may be loath to lay out the funds, like accommodations, for unknown returns at art fairs, but in Elsewhere’s case, if need be, they can lay their heads in their rooms at night rather than pay for separate lodgings.
Philadelphia has had one art fair before, Galardi noted, organized by the company behind the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, but as a Philadelphian, she thinks she can offer something different, partly by getting buy-in from the boards and supporters of the city’s museums, who may be looking for ways to get involved in art more deeply. Visitors routinely tap their credit cards to buy works at her gallery for prices up to a few thousand dollars, she says, so she believes there’s an audience for what she’s offering.
Charles Hickey, IDLING (2025).
Feia, Los Angeles
The city already got an unexpected moment in the spotlight, when New York artist Josh Kline mentioned it prominently as a welcoming place for artists in “New York Real Estate and the Ruin of American Art,” a widely discussed recent essay in October, and Galardi thinks it’s ready for another close-up. High-profile artists like Alex Da Corte and Didier William have confirmed studio visits as part of the VIP program, and Galardi points out that Darla Migan of New York will be showing the prominent artist Qualeasha Wood, another Philadelphia resident (and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in 2025).
Asked by phone whether Philadelphia is ready for an art fair, Fleisher/Ollman director Alex Baker said, “I think it is. This is a small-scale fair so it won’t be overwhelming. The emerging art gallery’s price point makes it just the right entry point for young, emerging collectors.”
Baker continued, “This is the question we Philadelphia galleries are always pondering. There’s a lot of new money coming in to the city and a lot of condo development. How do we convert these folks to become art lovers and supporters? This might be just the way, and this its just the kind of fair that fits Philadelphia.”
