Selling Without Selling Out

Dave Hickey an art critic gave a speech about the art world today. Hickey says that today the art world in the past 3 or 4 years has no rules. There are people who like art better than money, but the only bad thing is that there are a lot of artists who like money better than art, and this is a problem. There has never been a better chance to gain attention by acting honorably because a lot of people aren't and you would stand out. All you do is lose money by doing the honorable thing, and perhaps your art could be around for hundreds of years.  People are fascinated with money and not being right. Art dealers pride themselves on creating real value, but with the money and inflation of prices of art there is no real value.
Listening to this podcast his speech spoke to me about morals and the world today not just in an art sense. Today I feel that people are focused on making money, and finding success. Everyone is just out for themselves and no one is concerned for their community anymore. Society is just about one-up'ing everyone else. In our country, everyone is focused on money- the government, the education system, families, communities, art, and pretty much every aspect of the US. He is saying that today's artists as a whole have no morals and most don't even like art- they are just in it for the fame and the money. Inflation seems to be a huge problem in contemporary time, money inflation is shown through art in that pricing of art is ten fold of what the art is actually worth, there is no more value in todays society. I enjoyed his speech. I felt it was well rounded and not solely focused on just art which gave it more context and easier to comprehend and digest to someone who isn't well educated in the art world.

Ultramodernism

In class we discussed a new term for art- ultramodernism. The term was coined by Nicolas Bourrioud who noticed a globalization of art and that today the reach of art is further and broader. Ultramodernism is harder to discuss, understand and categorize. Artists under the spectrum of this new term sometimes work as a social worker in that they represent movements and journeys of culture, time and space and aspects of technology and communication. An example of this kind of art and artist is Andrea Zittel who looks at furniture and their habitats and thinks of space and economy and the difference between freedom and property and human values and perception.
In my searches on the internet to learn more about this newly coined term, I came across a website Dream Designs: 10 Ultramodern Homes. This website demonstrate ultramodern art through the medium of architecture. Many artists know that when they imagine and construct these ultramodern homes that they may never be built in the real world. These homes represent a blast from the future, and this website demonstrates ten architects who have actually brought these incredible ultramodern houses to life.

AZ

Growing up in southern California shaped artist Andrea Zittel into a very unique person. Often her family would travel for long periods of time around the country weather it was in their Volkswagen van or sailing boat. Living in close quarters during these trips motivated some of her future work especially her island project, "Pocket Property". This 54-ton floating concrete island was sent out for Zittel to experiment living in. Living on the island she made was no ordinary task. Loneliness overcame here, but she said that it was more of a good feeling because she felt completely self-reliant and free from the outside world. I was interesting to see the artist actually test out the installation art she created. Watching the clip of her work really made me think if I would want to do what she was doing. I felt that it would be cool for the first couple of days, but then for me it would almost feel like i was letting time waste by. It would be hard for me to take myself out of society and I give Zettel a lot of credit for doing this for the sake of her art.

Turn of Terms

Throughout art history there have been many art movements, and terminology that has gone along with these changes in the art world. One of the most recent terms coined by Nicolas Bourriaud is relational art or relational aesthetics. Bourriaud noticed that artists were not approaching art differently and they approached it as a set of artistic practices that represent social themes. And this takes art out of the individual and private ideas. Art facilitator Ben Lewis noticed this turn in art and terms and the role of artwork in society and the real world and he reflects on the idea that anyone could be an artist and that this new idea in art has made artists believe that as he says "because we're artists we know better." All this talk about changes in art and the terms that come along with me made me question the importance of even giving art terminology. Does it matter what an artists type of work falls under? Does being called a certain kind of art make you more profitable or likable? Isn't art supposed to be about the practice not the production, about the sense of visual experience the public gets?

6 year old painter

Bourriaud

Nicolas Bourriaud is a French curator and art critic. In his publication Postproduction, Bourriaud relates djing to contemporary art. He lists the operations disc-jockeys apply to music and relates them to contemporary art practices. Throughout the eighties, the computer has given djs the opportunity to play with music by taking old pieces and creating new songs. Bourriaud claims that songs are no longer safe and often are being now used as building materials for new songs. We see the comparison to contemporary art because the art that is being produced is something new itself, but the pieces originated from other works. Any DJ today bases his or her work on the basis of older songs. My generation is used to hearing "remixed" music and reading this made me take a second look at the work. I defiantly can by Bourriauds argument and it helps me relate better to contemporary artwork after reading his work.

The Animal Inside

Just when you think art can not get any stranger Marcus Coates comes up with a new piece. His performance art stretches the word to the maximum as he parades around with animal skins on making noises as if he were the animal. Becoming an animal is in the thoughts of many people, but Coates is taking that to the next level. He truly believes that by taking the time to try and interact with species that he may be able to communicate with them. He feels if he had the power to communicate with animals the world could learn so much more them. Watching his performances is a odd experience, but the passion he shows while performing made me think more about animal relations. In his performances he even related the social issues such as the bad relations between Israel and Palestine to the relations between birds. Many may view his work as ridiculous, but when the viewer gives him a chance and tries to understand his message, his work is very interesting.

Art and the Internet and Public

There are so many different forms of art, that Andy Warhol once said "When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums." One thing that has entered society that has changed the art world is the internet. Artists use the internet as a public domain to sell art, get their art out there, get to be well known, advertise, get idea's, make statements and even make an audition call for a piece of art that includes the public. There are electronic artists who see a piece of music or a dance and view it on a grander scale, and they work with people and have specific intentions of taking it outside of the recital halls and into an exterior place to use the public and let the public see it. "Ice Cream Bands" by Chris Vates used a bunch of ice cream trucks and used ipods to play music on a grand scale at different times to create music and involve the public. There are artists who on their website have pictures of all the public events that they have put out there such as the no pants subway ride, or having everyone stop at a certain time and day, or having everyone scream at one time. The internet is expanding ideas of what you can use and how you can express your art. It borders on performance art in that many times it includes the public, and it can be very experimental.

Illegal Artist

Major cities are often flooded with graffiti all over the sides of building, bridges, and etc. One particular artist Banksy makes a career out of graffiti art that he is not permitted to do. His work is seen over a vast portion of the world and every work he does has some sort of representation behind it. When viewing this artist's work for the first time i was very impressed with his work. Not one work was the same as the other and each had an underlying message about what he felt was wrong in society. One such work included a vulture on a wall by water whose head was replaced with a gasoline pump. I found this very interesting and it was obvious that the artist was attempting to make a point that oil has polluted a lot of water and beaches. His message which lies within his works really speaks to its viewers. Instead of actually saying what he feels out loud he instead chooses to graffiti his thoughts. The illegality of the work makes this artist very interesting because he is willing to break the law in order to get his message out.

The Idea of What it Means to be Public

"Man is least himself when he is asked to speak about himself, give him a mask and he will tell the truth"- Oscar Wilde. Gillian Wearing is a conceptual artist who represents the idea of what it means to be public. She takes personal feelings and emotions, and makes them public through her photographs of people in the street with a sign of what they are feeling at the time. She said the signs represents what you want them to say not what other people want them to say. She doesn't give the people time to think about what they want to write because making it literal makes it lose its meaning. Wearing wants her work to speak the truth, and some of her photographs are a little shocking and ironic. There is a young well dressed business man who is holding up a sign that says "I'm desperate", and there is a police officer who is holding up a sign that says "Help." The reality of these photographs represent how the spotlight is now on the public with the art world today and that the intimacy of art is expansive. Personally I feel like her artwork really brings out human emotions when looking at it, because with the irony of having a police officer ask for help, and a business man saying he is desperate, it shows that it is hard to know yourself when you are inside of yourself.

Society in Art

Many art works that are produced contain no physical skill to create but the creativity to bring the piece together makes the art into something fantastic. Damien Hurst is a well known artist in which many of his pieces involve more of his creativity then art skill. His identical twins piece that was featured in Tate Modern expressed how two people could look the same, but have completely different thoughts and ways to express themselves. I was ironic that two people who are exactly the same could be so different. His piece allowed viewers to see the same, but think at the same time how different they really are from one another.
We also looked at a group of installations in class by artist Spencer Tunick. Tunick also had a unique way of creating his art by taking naked people and inserting them into his landscapes. One landscape he did in Switzerland was on top of a snow caped mountain. He tried to show the comparison of the vulnerable naked people to vulnerable melting mountain due to global warming. The piece allowed me to feel a little what the mountain was feeling when its "cloths" were being stripped of him due to the warmer climate.

Value- What does it Mean?

The definition of value is an amount, as of goods, services, or money, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return. When I look at that definition and consider how someone can pay 104.3 million dollars for "The Running Man I" it perplexes me where the value is in art work that is sold for that much. The piece was sold for over 5 times more than its estimated price, and people viewed this as a positive thing because the economy especially in the art world was not doing great and companies such as Lehman Brothers were selling whatever art they could for whatever amount of money to pay off their creditors. Did this anonymous buyer of the Alberto Giacometti piece think that this sculpture actually meant 104 million dollars to him or was this all an investment? The art world itself is confusing enough to me, but when money has now changed the definition of art- it becomes even more confusing. 

Is the Art Really Worth the Money

Some pieces of art when i view them do not exactly strike me at an amazing piece of art. The effort and beauty that is seen in other works makes me like those works more. When it comes to the money although, it seems to me that the more fame an artist has the more his work will be cost. Andy Warhol saw how the market was progressing with a large increase in investors. He felt it was necessary in order to keep up with the amount of demand that his current production process would have to be accelerated. Soon enough prints of Warhol's work were selling at large sums and large prices. This irritates me that these investors worry more about the future profits they will make rather then the true value of the art. Private collectors who purchase a lot of pieces from a specific artist are in reality making artist more recognizable and contributing to the increase of price for the specific work. Record prices are being recorded for pieces that are being sold here in 2010 and this is all a result of the Mona Lisa arriving in New York. The paintings presence started a leak in the art market that has evolved into a flood parallel to the one that took over Florence which led Robert Hughes to get into the art industry. Since the 1960's the art market has significantly changed and it is hard to tell if it will ever go back to the days when art was purchased for beauty and not for potential profits.

Changes in the Art World- Lead to Changes in Art

We learned in class by lectures and the movie "Curse of the Mona Lisa" that there have been many changes in the art world which have led to changes in art itself. Artists themselves are now becoming popular instead of the works themselves becoming popular. Museums over time have changed and have become a brand and have branched outwards into different parts of the world, they have changed in physical appearance and the purpose of museums have now changed.
Before taking this course I honestly knew very little about everything that we have learned thus far- but I have been to my fair share of museums. Robert Hues the art director of the movie commented saying how now when going into a museum at this day in age, everyone can't help but ask how much is this piece of artwork worth. I disagree as much as Hues has great points about the art world and art itself changing and how museums are now in motion, I think that there are still a great portion of people who appreciate art for what its worth. For myself, my close friends, and my family, when we travel the first things we're interested in seeing are the great museums and the great pieces of artwork. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but being a history lover it interests me so much that there are pieces of art that go back so far. I think what the artists paint, sculpt, or whatever form of art they are doing show so much of what was going on in that time and place in history. I think it is sad that museums and artwork are becoming so commercialized that there are now cafes and computer rooms in  museums, but personally I never go there, so who cares if they put that in there? If you are the type of person to want to go to the cafe's and the computer rooms then thats great for you, but not everyone is like that. One great addition to museums that I thoroughly enjoy is how they have gift shops. I like the gift shops  not for the iconic t-shirts with paintings put on it, but because they usually have great books and literature on the artists, and paintings themselves which can add to your knowledge of the museum, artist, and artwork itself.
All in all there have been some changes to the art world and art itself, and yes people can view this as positive or negative, but the world is an ever changing place. If everything stayed the same and everyone and every art piece was the same the world would be a boring place. So I say we just accept the changes for what they are and deal with it according to whatever you find fitting for you. For me I don't care about the price of art, or who owns the piece, I care about the artist and the background behind the art work and the history behind it and the meaning it holds.

The Change in Art Culture

When the Mona Lisa first arrived in America many critics had no way of foreseeing the type of impact it would have on the future art industry. Soon after he arrival art was seen as beautiful if the price tag listed it at an amount that put the viewer in aw. Focused turned to the price tag of art for significance rather then the natural beauty which previously was enough to move viewers. Critic Robert Hughes explains that "art has a new job which is to sit in museums so i can gain recognition and ultimately become more expensive." Price tags on well known art are way out of the league of museum capabilities and wall street investors are buying these pieces up. Rise in prices has led to museums to not showcase certain works which is unfair to viewers who are unable to see these artworks. The culture has shifted from one of viewings in museums to one were on wealthy investors have the opportunity to enjoy the large ticket items they are purchasing. These changes in art have made freedom of access come to a loss and there is no foresight of this ever turning around to what viewing art used to be before the Mona Lisa made its visit to America.

The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is one of the most popular and well known paintings of all time. Robert Hues an art critic has also realized that the piece of work done by Leonardo Da vinci, has been deprived of meaning and has been turned into celebrity artwork. In 1962 the Mona Lisa left France ( it is currently owned by the French Government and is held in The Louvre in Paris), when it reached The United States it was greeted by a large press and current president of the time John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie. The movement of the Mona Lisa to the US created new expectations for act and moved the idea of art from appreciation of artwork to consumerism. Thousands of people came to see the Mona Lisa while it was in the US, but not to look at the artwork, but just to have said they have seen it.

For my 16th birthday instead of having a sweet sixteen I decided I would rather go to Paris for a week. When deciding what I wanted to do during the week, of course I wanted to experience Parisian cuisine and culture and see the Moulan Rouge, but what i wanted to do the most was go to museums and see the history of art and view the famous "Mona Lisa." When thinking about Paris the first two things that comes to my mind are the Eiffel Tower, and the Mona Lisa, so i was ecstatic to see both. When stepping into The Louvre my anticipation was building and the first piece of art I wanted to see was this painting I have heard so much about. There was a crowd of people around the painting and as I made my way to the front there was a barrier to prevent you from getting too close to the painting as well as shatter proof glass in front of the painting, and two guards standing side by side the painting. I was disappointed. I didn't realize in the past until seeing the painting how small it was, and since we couldn't get very close to it, it was hard to get a good look at the painting. Instead of being marveled by this Renaissance painting I was let down and looked at the painting no more than 30 seconds before moving on. I was saddened about how before even getting the look at the painting there was so much protection keeping me from actually seeing the painting (I know it has to be done).