Thursday, January 30, 2014

MONEY IN ART...Lost in the Gallery-Industrial Complex

Holland Cotter touches base on many aspects and changes the art industry and the art world are going through. I think of art as a way of expressing one's feelings, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs, but Cotter presents a piece that makes me doubt part of that belief. I think as artists, it is clear that to support that activity, one needs some financial support in order to execute and complete a piece of art, whether it be a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, or any other type of art. If we as artists wish to take part in the art industry, I think we in part do fall under the current market system, as explained by Cotter, which influences and shapes the art that we produce.

When I visit museums, I like to think that I am expanding the boundaries of my social, cultural and artistic knowledge, but Cotter brings up a very interesting point, in which most of the art I usually observe, has been European. Even though I think of art as a way to be liberal and break away from the "standards" that bound me to follow a certain conduct, I am still being controlled if I am exposed ONLY to the art that it is "selling", which is determined by museums, auction houses, and collectors, but rarely the artists.

In one my classes, a classmate brought up the topic of the crayon-melting art trend going on. And after reading Cotter's article, it made me thin about how crayon-melting pieces like the ones we see on the internet, might never make it to any museums. With the direction that museums take art, many artists are beginning to start a movement of displaying their art online, unfortunately, in my opinion, art on the internet does not reach as much prestige, nor monetary value. Society many times relies on the elites to determine prestige and value. And at the end of all, like Cotter explains, money is the winner.

1 comment:

  1. Terrific post here, Roman. Great assessment. Quick question here, is it your opinion that the "democratization" of art and the "democratized" forum to disseminate art-- for example, with digital technology and the internet--have contributed to the "powers that be" determining this work to be of less economic value and therefore of less "symbolic" and "cultural" value as well? How do you think it plays out?

    ReplyDelete