The program which was being celebrated with beer and wine on the airy Bronx Museum's outdoor terrace, AIM (Artist in the Marketplace), was developed three decades ago to help artists at the beginning of their careers to learn about the professional practices of the art world as well as to teach them how to introduce their work to the public.
Sergio Bessa, Director of Curatorial and Education Programs, who has been working at the Museum for more than seven years, says that they usually get 600 to 800 applications a year from multi-media artists, and from those they choose 72 AIM participants.
"This is not an art school," says Bessa. "It's all about managing yourself, knowing about legal issues...In the past, AIM was an annual show, and this year, we decided to do a biennial to split up the work," says Bessa.
This year the artists were divided into two arbitrary groups of 36 each.
One of the two guest curators of the exhibit, Wayne Northcross, says he enjoys the liberation he feels at not having an over-arching theme for this large-scale exhibit.
Bessa appreciates the diversity and unpredictability of the art.
"This year there was a lot of painting," he says. "You can feel the pulse of the current art movement."
Check out Target Free Days: Target sponsors free Tuesday and Saturday morning admission to Wave Hill.
For more information, please visit: www.bronxmuseum.org.
