Alex Waterhouse-Hayward

Graeme Berglund (left, holding Tyler Lepore’s The India Shoot) and Steve Rio have made art accessible to young audiences.

One word to describe this Saturday’s (June 26) ninth annual Cheaper Show is big—too big for just Vancouver. The single-night event supports emerging artists and also makes art accessible for younger buyers through a flat fee for all artwork—this year $200.

Over the past nine years, it has grown to more than double its original size. The show now boasts 400 pieces of art by 200 artists and will be held in the expansive space of Gastown’s W2 Storyeum. And in 2011, to celebrate its 10th anniversary, creative director Graeme Berglund and executive director Steve Rio will expand it to Toronto.

“Ideally, we want to find the same crew in Toronto that want to do the same sort of thing and just pass it to them,” Rio says. He and Berglund are talking to the Straight at a coffee shop near Storyeum. “We’ll start the foundation for them and let them create their own thing. It would be really cool for us to take something that was born and raised in Vancouver and see it happen in Toronto.”

This year, here in Vancouver, the duo found it difficult to find a venue large enough to accommodate all the art and what they estimate will be close to 10,000 viewers.

“It’s one of our biggest challenges every year because our crowd is growing exponentially,” says Berglund, whose first show featured 60 pieces of art at the Sugar Refinery in 2001. “It’s incredibly difficult to find a 30,000-square-foot room in this city. It’s actually nonexistent, other than this.”

The Cheaper crew—composed of Berglund, Rio, and nine other artists from the East Vancouver community—and a dozen volunteers have been renovating the space since May.

Under the direction of environment designer Adam Fryatt and live-production manager Danny Vermette, the new floors are now prepared for the influx of people, and the freshly painted walls are set to be covered in paintings, photography, and drawings.

Rio explains that the renovations allowed them to expand the space to double the size that it was for last year’s show. About 100 volunteers will also be helping out Saturday night.

Seemingly unaffected by an economic recession and recent provincial arts-funding cuts, the show has reached an unprecedented size this year.

“I think it ignores the economy in that sense,” says Berglund.

“Generally, it’s younger people coming out to buy art,” adds Rio. “The economy didn’t really hit them that hard. We’ve gotten a lot of sponsorships, but we’ve really sort of figured out our own thing. We’re not looking for any money from the government at all.”

The Cheaper Show attempts to unify the visual-arts community, drawing from a smorgasbord of styles and experience.

“Vancouver is such a small, under-developed cultural city,” Rio says. “There are amazing things happening, but as far as institutionally and structurally, there’s not a lot of support. So it really needs these kinds of things that bring people together.”

“Few events happen that take a big survey of the community,” collage artist Jessica Bell, whose work will appear in the show, tells the Straight over the phone. “There should be more shows like it.”

It was that need that motivated Berglund to create the Cheaper Show nine years ago. Struggling for representation in local galleries and frustrated by their rejections, Berglund and two other emerging artists—Steve “Breadman” Cole and Syx Langeman—decided to start their own show.

It consciously contrasted other gallery shows in a number of ways: it was for one night only, it served beer, and it was never held in a traditional gallery setting. Art was presented as accessible and affordable to a young audience.

“We aren’t devaluing art, but trying to create community and support,” says Berglund. “It provides a nice entrance point for young people to realize that art isn’t as inaccessible as they thought.”

Now, the Cheaper Show’s name has spread to art communities around the world, prompting 950 artists to submit applications from 200 different cities. With so much talent and a mandate to have 75 percent local artists, choosing the artists was an arduous process.

“We just drew straws,” said Berglund, with a smile. “No, that is a bold-faced lie. The two things that we stand by are diversity and quality of work. This year I think we’ve gone above and beyond.”

Over the years, the price of the pieces has risen from $75 to $200, but both Berglund and Rio are set on maintaining the “cheap” part of the title, where it will stay relative to the economy.

“I think that a comparable price point is that it costs about as much as a pair of designer jeans,” said Berglund. “For a lot of people in their 20s, it’s like half a week’s pay kind of thing, so it becomes quite manageable for them to afford possibly their first piece of art.”

Although the artists make a sacrifice selling their work for less than its potential value, they agree that it’s a tradeoff for being part of the experience.

“It’s a give-and-take relationship,” says Nathalee Paolinelli, who will be exhibiting her paintings. “It’s nice to be promoted like this. When you realize what it’s about, to be part of such a unique experience, you don’t regret selling your work for less.”

This Saturday, big names such as Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and Paul Paper will appear alongside emerging artists. When asked what to expect, Berglund and Rio look at each other and lean in.

“Super high energy,” says Rio. “Everyone’s invited. You grab a beer; you see some incredible art that you can afford for maybe the first time in your life. It’s a one night event. It’s first come, first served.”

Berglund puts both hands on the table. “It’ll be pure, heart-breaking mayhem.”