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ARTICLES FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2009
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL
Though deeply touched by the magnanimous gesture of the president to ‘pardon’ the turkey destined for the White House Thanksgiving table, I have decided to not to spare the bird who will be part of our festivities this evening. I thank him for his personal sacrifice so that we can celebrate the holiday by stuffing ourselves with the stuffing in him. I hope the two ‘turkeys’ who gate crashed the Obama’s first State Dinner will also receive a royal pardon for their intrusion. The security people really ‘fowled’ up on this one…. Until the end of the month the art-LA-now team is flying from the coop to enjoy a vacation. We will resume our activities in December. In the meantime we wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.
The Prestigious UK Turnip Prize for Art
Since 1984 the Prestigious Turner Prize has been awarded to an outstanding British artist, under the age of 50, who has demonstrated artistic innovation or has had noticeable exhibition success during the preceding 12 months. The Prize, which includes a substantial cash award, was established to celebrate developments in Contemporary art and has been juried each year by movers and shakers in the UK art scene. This year 4 artists were nominated as finalists and an exhibition of their work is on show at Tate Britain in London until January 6 2010. Tate Britain attracts tens of thousands of visitors each day. Over the years the jurors’ choice of winners has caused consternation, derision and outrage among the public as contemporary art becomes ever more incomprehensible to the average person in the street.
As an alternative to the Turner Prize, and as a jab to the bizarre choices that expert art jurors have made, Wedmore, a village in Somerset, England has its own art award named the Turnip Prize. It is awarded to the worse piece of art entered into the event which, by the way, will be judged today Monday November 23. In contrast to the Turner Prize, the local village judges are looking for works that have “absolutely no significance to the development of contemporary art.” According to their rules there were no barriers to what could be entered provided that “it is rubbish.” Following today’s judging, a ceremony to present the award will be held on December 7 at the village pub. One of the entries submitted by artist Sue She, is a ‘sculpture’ of bare Barbie dolls in a net entitled “Bare Barbies in Knickerless Cage” which is shown below. Though a fine piece of rubbish it is not the leading contender for first prize: the smart money is on a ‘sculpture’ called “Wallace and Vomit” by an artist known as Sick Puke. One of the organizers of the event has called this particular entry “more than a piece of rubbish, it is load of regurgitation –literally.
Previous winners of the Turnip Prize ‘Gong’ have included a raw chicken stuffed with leaves and a large jar covered with sheep’s wool. I can’t wait to see who wins this year’s event!
The Naked, Knickerless Dolls –A Strong Contender
Some Optical Illusions for your Amusement
Quite a few artists have incorporated optical illusions into their work, most notably M.C Escher (who literally made an art of it), Salvador Dali, Victor Vasarely and Marcel Duchamp. If art is continually showing us that the world in ways we don’t always see, then artists could perhaps exploit the techniques of optical illusions to reinforce their message. Simple optical illusions can be sparked by geometric patterns, by juxtaposing angles, by contrasting colors or by the distortion of perspectives – the right combinations confuse the eye and consequentially the brain into seeing something that is not there. The brain can only interpret what the eye ‘sees’ and often the relay between the two transforms straight lines into curved or make objects at a great distance appear close. Even Mother Nature has her own ways of creating optical illusions for us. Mirages for example occur when a heated surface expands the air around it and causes light to distort and bend, creating a new image that ‘cheats’ the brain into seeing something different.
Black or white dots
See how they Move
Move your head in or out to see circles revolve
Distorted Perspective
Marketing your Art Locally
Sometimes we look at the big horizon and disregard what’s happening around us. Nowadays too many artists are putting all of their (marketing) eggs into one basket - the internet. While it is true that a personal web site or a blog are useful primary sales tools, artists should not neglect to ring the bells in a market that is closer to home and probably more likely to realize better results—their own community. There are many excellent reasons and methods for promoting yourself as an artist in your own backyard.
First and foremost, by focusing on the local art scene you’ll be competing with a smaller number of people. Try punching the keywords “Artists” or “Watercolor Artists” or similar words into a Google search and see how many sites come up! Then try “Los Angeles Artists” and see what happens. The number of swimmers in the pool is a lot less. At art-LA-now we are convinced that by focusing only on the greater L.A. area we are giving our members a higher profile to potential buyers than on larger world-wide sites where their work disappears into an ocean of names.
Art enthusiasts like to buy from someone they can actually meet and get to know –somebody they have a real connection with. Many also like to purchase art that relates to their locality be it landscapes, cityscapes or subject matter that is pertinent to their lives. They are not only purchasing the painting, they get to know the person and the story behind the work and, given the proximity and handy access to the artist, are more likely to make repeat buys thereafter.
Although the internet has proven itself to be a quick and powerful grapevine, don’t underestimate the traditional neighborhood, friends and family grapevine as a marketing tool. Getting involved in the community gets you in touch with the people-in-the-loop, people who know everybody in the neighborhood. Get to know them, get them to like you and your work and they can become some of your best advertisers. Look at how Facebook works, creating networks of connections worldwide. The same thing works in ‘real’ communities –you know somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody until the word about you gets up to the local arts commission, the municipal gallery, the library art space, the commercial gallery or the art walk program. Networking locally can bring in results. Make your own opportunities happen wherever and whenever you can. It is often just a matter of having a creative sales idea and contacting the right person about it.
The opportunities are there. For example, do not underestimate the marketing draw of local art societies and there are plenty of them in the Los Angeles area. Membership not only looks good on your resume, it gets you close to other artists (and their info and experiences), and usually gives the possibility of a couple of society group exhibitions every year. You can also use your new found connections to collaborate with other artists on projects outside the society. In addition, this might be source for sales - you’ll be surprised how many artists buy works from other artists.
The local press is another marketing tool to be exploited. Don’t forget to send your personal information and info about events in which you participate to the local press. Neighborhood newspapers like to print stuff about residents who do interesting things. Remember, the human interest angle makes for a better read than factual information so elaborate on the stories behind your art as much as you can and work in something ‘piquant’.
Get to know your nearby art galleries. Drop in regularly to the nearby commercial galleries who might be interested in showing your work. In general they are bombarded with portfolios so if you drop in from time to time and establish a personal rapport with owners or managers it might help to sway an exhibition later on. N.B. Warning: When doing this, do not be a pest and do not push yourself and your work to extremes –there is an art to being correct yet insistent that few are capable of mastering so make sure you are one of them before launching yourself into these tactics. Think local –not just global –and don’t go loco!
UC Berkeley cuts back on new Art Museum
This week students have been out on the campuses protesting proposed increases in tuitions fees at the Universities of California. The board members cite the lack of funding, the downturn in revenue due to the adverse effects of the recession, and increased costs as reasons for the hike in fees. It would seem that the (UC) Universities really do have serious financial problems attested to, in part, by UC Berkeley’s decision to abandon plans to build a new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The new building, estimated to cost $143 million, was to replace the museum's present quarters built in 1970 that is deemed seismically ‘under-safe.’ While the goal to build a new museum will still remain, lack of money has forced the administrators to rethink the scope of the project. With only $81 million in the kitty for construction costs etc. UC Berkeley will have to downsize the project - or up the tuition fees even more. (Get out the protest banners everybody.)
Fighting for the Arts Money in LA
The Eli Broad Family Foundation, which has given so generously to the LACMA and the MOCA over the years, has offered to fund a new museum to house its extensive contemporary art collection. Three local cities, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and an un-named third city are possible contenders for this coveted project. Santa Monica City Council has already put together a package of proposals including a deal offering city owned land near to the Civic Auditorium and some funding assistance for design and construction. Beverly Hills’ top guns are now assembling their own proposal in order to secure what is one of the world’s finest art collections for their city, while the third possible contender is presumably waiting to see what the opposition is offering before making its own moves.
Art by John Lennon –Up for Sale
This coming weekend November 20 -22, 2009 you’ll have a chance to see and buy some original drawings, lithographs and serigraphs by the late great musician and peace activist John Lennon. This exhibition at Westfield Century City on Santa Monica Blvd has been put together in collaboration with his wife Yoko Ono and is open free to the public. FYI I have seen some of his art work at an exhibition in Laguna Beach a few years ago –not bad at all.
Hang them up yourself in the museum
If you’ve always dreamed of having one of your paintings hanging in a prestigious museum but haven’t yet been offered the space, try doing what one enterprising artist did a couple of months ago (Sept 2009) in the Brooklyn Museum. He secretly put one of his paintings on the wall there, and it remained on view for two days before it was discovered –and of course removed. Mat Benote, who is a Brooklyn resident, managed to install his painting on the fourth floor contemporary art gallery in the museum undetected, even attaching a note beside the work with his name and a description of the painting. Mr. Benote has committed similar escapades elsewhere. This venture into the Brooklyn Museum concludes his month-long travels across the US to secretly install paintings at 11 other museums. In one case a Birmingham, Alabama museum left his artwork up for 4 whole days before it was detected. This forceful and determined artist has even gone international, successfully slipping one of his paintings in the past onto the walls of the Saatchi gallery in London. According to him, his intrusions onto the hallowed walls of the museums constitute “high end graffiti.” Armed with double sided tape and a lot of guile his purpose was to outsmart the on-site security measures and put one painting into each of the selected 12 US museums that, as a combined artwork make up a mural that says “I seek” in Chinese. Almost all the museum administrators were not amused by his generous gifts to their collections and the paintings have been set aside as evidence should they decide to take further action. However, perhaps the artist will get some success from all these audacious acts; the Josyln Art Museum in Omaha is “considering” adding Benote’s donation to their walls to its permanent collection. I guess there is some truth to the old saying: “do what you have to do to get to the top.”
The illicit painting (and the artist’s note beside) in the Brooklyn Museum
Another idea for self promotion-Set up your own Art Contest
If you don’t have the chutzpah to hang your own paintings in the local museum try this next trick to get some attention. An Australian artist, a certain Mr. Tom Polo created the 2009 B.E.S.T. Contemporary Art Prize for Painting contest, with some very special rules concerning eligibility. All entrants had to be artists born on 1st February 1985 and named Tommaso Polo on their birth certificates. The winning finalist was to be accorded an exhibition at a gallery in Sydney. As you may have guessed the winning work, called Continuous One Liners – Young People Today, was by Mr. Tom Polo. This rather ingenious idea for self promotion achieved its goal bringing Mr Polo quite a bit of media attention not only in Australia but also worldwide thanks to the internet.
Understanding Search Engine Optimization for your Website
Most artists, nowadays, have either set up their own personal websites online or have posted their work on collective websites like ours at artLAnow. The web has truly become the window to the world. We all use it especially to find out more information about things and people that interest us. There’s a saying: “if you’re not on the internet, you don’t exist” and that more or less sums up the important part the internet plays in our lives. If you have already set up your own website, how do you get visitors to it in order to see your work and learn about you?
SEO is the answer. Search engine optimization (SEO) defines the process of increasing volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing via natural or organic or algorithmic search results. These types of results are not paid-for, in contrast to those generated by search engine marketing which deals with paid inclusions. If your website appears earlier (first, second third page etc.) in a search result it’ll have more chance of being viewed –more “presence.” SEO can also attract different kinds of search such as image search, local search and video search so when your website is designed accordingly it will create better web presence.
SEO is based on understanding how search engines work and what people use as keywords for search. For the website owner it is an internet marketing tool. Optimizing your website involves editing its content, the HTML code or whatever other coding it incorporates, to increase its relevance to specific keywords and to minimize barriers used by the indexing activities of the various search engines. Preparing your website for effective SEO means incorporating the right means into the initial website design and development, since otherwise you’ll find yourself with a nice looking website that no-one will ever find - unless you have given them the specific www.address.
Among the many techniques that web designers use are also link-farming, keyword stuffing and article spinning that tend to downgrade both the relevance of search results and the user-experience of search engines. These methods might temporarily bring up your site on a general search but the boys at Google, Yahoo and Bing etc., look out for sites that employ a lot of these techniques and remove them from their indices. Their robotic crawlers scan the billions of websites for their algorithmic search results; in doing so pages that are linked from indexed pages are also found automatically and this is the reason that link-farming has become so popular. Keyword stuffing your meta tags and content will also attract those crawlers for a while until they discover that the words have been used without meaning or relevance to the search request. Use your keywords wisely and do not over load your site with meaningless blabber.
Some search engines, notably Yahoo, operate a paid submission service that guarantees crawling for either a set fee or cost per click. Such programs guarantee inclusion in the database, but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. You can also submit your site to their Yahoo Directory and to Google’s Webmaster Tools for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted to ensure that all your pages are found. Search engine crawlers act on a number of factors when visiting a site. They visit only pages that are indexed (and not all pages are indexible – it depends sometimes on the type of script and code embedded in the site) and the ‘distance’ of the pages from the root directory also influences whether a page is crawled or not.
Setting up your website is essential if you want the chance to get your work to a wider audience. Optimizing your website is even more important otherwise your widow to the world will be lost among the billions of sites, competing for attention every time a keyword search for art or artists is punched in.
A quote that foretold the future
Pablo Picasso seems to have left us so many notable “quotes” that his reputation as an art philosopher is quite established. If the many words of wisdom attributed to him really are all from the horse’s mouth, he must have spent many a waking hour thinking on art. The following words were printed in 1952 and though Picasso lived for another 21 years after their publication, he never denied having said them: "Since art is no longer the food for the best, the artist can use his talent for all the changes and whims of his fantasy. This opens all the roads for his intellectual quackery. The general population does no longer find in art neither solace nor elation. But the snobs, the rich people, the good-for-nothings, and those that want to attract attention, find in art the strange, the original, the eccentric and the shocking. I have pleased my critics with countless jokes I devised, which they admired the more for the less they understood them. Nowadays I'm not just famous but also rich. But when I'm alone with myself, I can't consider myself to be an artist in the sublime sense of the term. Great painters were Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt and Goya. I am merely a clown that understood its time and knew how to take advantage of all the stupidity, lechery and vanity of his fellow citizens."
Was Picasso a clown as he suggests or was he rather sarcastically commentating about human stupidity in confusing times? Have we lost the notion of beauty and the sense of life, or is modern day art merely the creations of imposters and frauds of esthetics? It would appear that Picasso’s assessment of the changing face of art, made almost 60 years ago, foretold the directions that have lead to absurdities in art that defy understanding for almost all.
Examples abound of public galleries and museums, who make absurd purchases for millions of dollars of nonsensical ‘art’ with tax payers’ hard earned money. Every Tom, Dick and Harry who wields a brush, or knows how to pour or drip paint on canvasses, calls himself an artist and puts his art on the market to the detriment of those who merit the label.
Have modern pseudo-artists forgotten the words expressed by Oscar Wilde that "Art is beauty"? Today's art seems to reflect is the exact opposite. It regales in ugliness, the absurd, in hostility towards all positive human values. Reflecting the changes in the visual arts, avant-garde contemporary music has embraced the ‘atonal and cacophonic’, seemingly throwing aside the rules of harmony as an encumbrance of past traditions.
Fortunately, the visual arts entice many artists who, although not well known, haven't lost the sense of beauty and will not revoke it in exchange for commercial success. Their drawings, paintings and sculptures show the beauty of the world and present people filled with life and positive human character. These artists, knowing their responsibility to themselves and the society from which they get, by exchange, the required means of sustenance, visualize even in abstractions the positive characteristics of the human being.
If we argue that Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments then it means that whatever the philosophy, explicitly or implicitly underpinning the artist’s "sense of life", will be reflected in the works he produces and presents to the world. This will reflect not only how the artist views existence itself but also how he wants others to see it.
Picasso is an example of an artist who understood what certain people were ready to pay and to promote in art. While he, himself, was not willing to intellectually participate in this hotchpotch he nevertheless exploited the situation for financial benefit, gladly accepting the money paid with the stupidity of the high and mighty crowd who believed wrongly in their intellectual superiority. However, while Picasso gathered a fortune, his artistic integrity remained intact. He was no imposter of aesthetics - for he was truly an artist –he was an embezzler and an impostor of the human conscience.
Chemistry to the rescue of art restoration
New substances for cleaning and restoring valuable works of art have been developed by a group of Italian chemists. Experiments using the new gentler cleaning system, a gel based on a new type of polymer have given excellent results. During the 1960’s and 1970’s art restorers treated many artworks with polymer coatings as a protective layer against damage. Unfortunately, over the years, those polymers have oxidized, becoming yellow or brown and consequently appear to darken the original colors of the work. This oxidization process was accelerated by the fact that many paints used in past centuries contained traces of metals. Since most of the paintings from the past are porous, they absorb solvents thus leading to some kind of deterioration to the original paint. The new substances, developed by a research team at the University of Florence, are micro-emulsions designed to dissolve only the organic molecules on the surface. They are prepared as a transparent gel composed of small amounts of a volatile solvent, dissolved in water and thickened into a gel that can be dabbed onto the surface of an artwork. Due to the micro nature of the composition results so far have been promising. Art restorers and art conservationists worldwide are interested in trying out the new product on the different types of materials and surfaces used by the great artists of the past. We wish them success.
The Los Angeles Getty is helping conserve King Tut’s tomb
The Conservation Institute of the Los Angeles based J. Paul Getty Trust has partnered with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt’s archaeological authority in a work project to conserve the tomb of King Tutankhamen whose golden mask and artifacts have awed the world since being discovered almost 90 years ago. Young King Tut’s burial chamber is one of the must-see sites for many the tourists who visit the Valley of Kings and Pyramids, and the heavy flow of visitor traffic has added to the deterioration of the wall paintings and reliefs that adorn his final resting place.
The two collaborating institutes will spend about two years assessing the tomb and then work together for the next three years implementing their plan for restoring, conserving and managing the site into the future. One of their concerns will be to analyze the dark brown spots that mar the mural paintings and decide on how to repair and treat them so that they do not re-appear. The Getty has already experience under its belt, working on other nearby tombs and designing airtight showcases for conserving and exhibiting mummies.
King Tut’s tomb is the smallest of the 26 royal tombs so far discovered in the Valley of Kings and has yielded some of the greatest treasures to come down from the golden age of the Egyptian pharaohs. Throughout the years, multiple theories have been proposed as to Tut’s early demise. Recent scientific scan of his mummy have ruled out murder by violent means but the answer to the mystery of his death at a young age still remains.
Los Angeles was one of 4 cities included in the last world wide tour of Tutankhamen artifacts and if the length of the waiting lines were similar elsewhere, the tour must have been a phenomenal success.
Planning The Pompidou Travelling Circus
When the Pompidou Center in Paris opened its doors in 1977, the audacity of the architectural design – a tube covered industrial-looking structure - caused a public furor. 30 years on, Parisians have fondly accepted the presence of the Pompidou on their cityscape and on weekends gather alongside the many visiting tourist in the outside plaza to sit, relax and enjoy the ambience. The Center, housing one of the best collections of Modern art in the world, has announced a project to take part of its collection on a road trip throughout the rural regions of France. The travelling art show is planned to be housed in a structure likely to cause as much comment as the Pompidou building itself –a circus tent! The Pompidou Mobile, as the project is called, is considering a design proposed by a French firm of architects that resembles a modern style circus tent made of multiple triangular shapes that can be fitted together and adapted to the different sites where the show will set up shop. Solid glass and plastic encasements inside the high tech structure will protect the valuable artworks from damage from transportation, theft, vandalism and also control temperature or humidity changes that might cause harm.
Sufficient funding for the project, which requires about $4.5 million has yet to be found and the final itinerary has still not been determined, though the idea is to bring the Pompidou to the “culturally deprived rural regions and rough suburbs of France.”
If everything goes as planned the Pompidou Mobile will hit the road sometime next year and the ‘seasonal circuit’ will last for 3 months. I can already imagine a guy in a top hat, red jacket and megaphone shouting “roll up, roll up, get your tickets to see the lions of art - Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne and Miro. Don’t miss the antics of the great performing clown Salvador Dali.”
And the Wall came tumbling down – 20 years ago
Just before midnight, Sunday evening Nov 8th, a symbolic recreation of the reinforced concrete 10 ft. wall that once separated East and West Berlin, will be temporarily erected across Wilshire Boulevard near the LACMA cutting off traffic and pedestrian circulation along the street. Those of you who have passed by recently have probably seen the 40-foot section of the original Berlin wall that has been set up along the sidewalk at 5900 Wilshire. The installation of this section, bearing the art of Berliners was sponsored by the Wende Museum in Los Angeles. Called “Wall Along Wilshire – Eastside Gallery” it will remain on view until Nov 14. Sections of the temporary wall that will divide Wilshire Blvd. on Sunday night will be painted by local artists and will be auctioned off at the end of the event.
The Wall Project commemorates the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. On Sunday night the event will begin at 11pm. accompanied by music and films with a midnight address, broadcasted live from Berlin by the mayor of that city onto a large screen. In conclusion the wall across Wilshire (like the wall in Berlin) will be toppled….And the wall came tumbling down.
Lots to do this coming weekend Nov 7-8
The 12th Annual Silver Lake Art Crawl takes place this coming weekend and includes locations in Los Feliz, Echo Park, Atwater Village and, of course, Silver Lake. From 11am to the evening, you can visit and enjoy art at 27 different venues including galleries, retail and alternative art spaces and studios. The event also includes live painting sessions, discussions with some of the participating artists and the possibility to purchase art at some very good prices. One stop on the itinerary is Barnsdall Art Park where kids can take part in art classes from 1pm -4pm on Sunday.For more details visit http://www.silverlakeartcrawl.com
Another event worth visiting
The “Monster Drawing Rally” at the Eagle Rock Center for Arts, 2225 Colorado Blvd., is happening this weekend on Sunday from 2pm. In this event sponsored by Outpost for Contemporary Art, more than 100 Artists from around Los Angeles will demonstrate their respective talents before the viewing public until 6pm. Live music entertainment will take you on into the evening. A lot of the drawings will be on sale fresh from the easel for $75 a piece. A donation of $10 is requested at the door. Telephone 323 982 9461. You can get the details at http://www.centerartseaglerock.org
Things turned out fine for the latest auctions
This is written as a follow up to a blog we posted a couple of days ago about the start of the fall auction season by the top auction houses. Both Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s events at Christie’s and Sotheby’s New York brought in successful results. Despite the devastating effects of this recession on the economy, the people with the money are still investing their hard earned big bucks in art. Perhaps current tastes are changing, but art is still high on the list of worthwhile investments. More than $180 million of Impressionist and Modern art was sold in the Sotheby’s sale, exceeding even the most optimistic expectations. The sale at Christie’s, the night before was on a smaller scale but the results were also “very satisfactory.” During the past few years, Impressionist paintings have lost a bit of their lure as buyers bid more on contemporary works. This week indicates a return to previous preferences. The highlight at Sotheby’s was the sale of a bronze sculpture by Giacometti that went for $19.3 million –about 50% more than its estimated price.
Future Art Movements
Art is a reflection of the times; art is even a precursor of times to come. Given that more recent art movements have changed as rapidly as fashion, the new next art movement shouldn’t be too far from coming…should it? Or maybe not. Given that 21st century contemporary artists are driven by the desire to be uniquely and wholly individualistic, to remain total outsiders, to shun the idea of groups or movements, the next new art movement might well be - no movement at all. Instead there will be a gathering of art, an understanding and an appreciation for all arts since art is now whatever the individual decides it is. Until the present, the art industry and art community has denoted art by genre: classical, neo-classical, renaissance, romantic, salon, contemporary, post modern, fauve, abstract, expressionism, conceptual, minimal, street and performance - the definitions go on and on. But now we have outside-of-definition art; cutting edge galleries flit from one individual artist to the next with no discernable connections between the art promoted in one exhibition to the next. Or galleries will mix totally un-connected media into the same show as if the only theme acceptable is commitment to absolute self expression.
Art movements loosely incorporate, tolerant and appreciate individual styles into a collective art thought. They gather together art and artists by their commitment to the type of expression which connects them. What happens then, when artists purposely set out to avoid any commitment to an idea? If there is no clear message, no collective statement, no rallying point except an individual desire to be seen and heard, how is the public supposed to respond? Art has taken so many incomprehensible turns in recent years, that the public needs time to absorb and catch up with what is already out there. Perhaps it is time for a “time out.” Before the forces of the art market move on to a future of non movements, give us time to evaluate what is already there. History shows that the general public needs about 30-50 years to familiarize itself and accept ‘new’ art movements that come into the art world. How much of the present day work will be packaged and labeled and be around long enough to make it to general acceptance, I wonder? And if we go from here to a phase of non-movements how will art, which cannot be packaged and labeled at all, ever stand the tests of time?
Lehman Brothers Art on the auction block
Although it won’t help the many creditors owed $250 billion after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings, the $1.35 million received from the auction sale yesterday (Nov2) of 283 art works that adorned Lehman’s corporate offices will help buy some headache pills for all the poor investors who lost their money. In a sale lasting 6 hours, Freeman’s Auctioneer’s in Philadelphia sold off the lots which included a Roy Lichtenstein print, sold for $49,000. Throughout the auction, bidding progressed at a brisk pace with attendees looking for bargain prices and perhaps hoping that in time the “provenance” of Lehman’s will add future value. The auctioneer, wielding the hammer, commented after the sale that some of the buyers were ‘trophy hunting’ and noted that among the attendees were former Lehman employees and staffers from rival financial companies. 250 bidders registered for the sale on the internet alone while the saleroom drew a packed audience of voyeurs curious to see the ‘action.’
The majority of the works were put on the block without minimum reserve prices and the given estimates were low. All the 283 lots sold many at surprisingly high prices. Other sales of Lehman property are to be held later on this year so if you interested in acquiring a piece of financial history get your check books ready. The guys and girls who lost all their money with Lehman’s will be pleased with every dollar they can get back.
The Changing Face of the Downtown Art Walks
The next downtown Los Angeles Art walk will be on Thursday November 12. This second-Thursday-of-the month event began five years ago when a small group art gallery owners located in the Historic Core, decided to open their doors at the same time to generate more public awareness of their activities. By uniting in a bit of marketing, they hoped to build some buzz, entice people to downtown in the evenings, look at art and of course buy some.
The very first downtown Art Walk in September 2004 drew about 75 people to the eight participating galleries. Last month’s event attracted approximately 10,000 merry revelers, who filled the bars and restaurants in the Historic Core and produced ample cash flow for the street vendors who mingle with the crowds. Unfortunately amid the merriment, revelry and party atmosphere the initial purpose of the downtown Art Walk seems to have been cast aside. What was supposed to be an event built around artistic creativity has turned into a night-out-on-the-town event where drinking and eating have supplanted art as the main attractions. Everybody seems to be cashing in on the Art Walk except the art galleries and in consequence the artists who show their work.
Some of the gallery owners are despairing and wondering if the downtown Art Walk is really helping them get the results they set out to achieve 5 years ago. Though many visitors do actually visit the participating galleries during the Art Walks, most use the event as an excuse to meet up and ‘party’ elsewhere. Although the continuing recession is definitely a contributing factor, some gallery owners are wondering whether the Art Walks, as they are nowadays, are commercially viable at all. Some of the original founding organizers have already decided not to open their galleries on Art Walk evenings since they esteem that the focus is no longer on the galleries themselves and selling art.
According to a recent report in a local newspaper, a new group of gallery owners has spun off from the main organization and has formed under ‘the Downtown Los Angeles Galleries Association’ with the intention of focusing their efforts on boosting art sales and increasing traffic to their galleries during the rest of the month.
A group of art galleries on Chung King Road in Chinatown also organizes simultaneous Saturday night openings of their shows attracting thousands of people, many of whom wander through the art spaces and then hit neighboring bars and restaurants. Nowadays some of the galleries there are no longer in business and others close their doors on art walk nights.
All this goes to show that selling art is never easy. Maybe if they offered a free beer with every purchase of a canvas………
Out with the new and back in with the old
During the past year the worldwide art market has been devastated by the global recession –collectors are holding on to their money and the big auction houses, such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Philips de Pury have had to instigate layoffs and cut backs in spending. Tomorrow night (Tues Nov 3) begins a two week period of their fall auctions with some changes made to the way these giants operate their finances. The lucrative incentives, like minimum guarantees to sellers that were regularly offered during the good times from 2004-2007 have disappeared, so too, have the lavish expenditures on promotional extravaganzas and glossy catalogs, that were works of art in themselves. Even the artworks coming onto the block are more conservative –traditional modern paintings, sculptures and drawings are back in vogue which the super avant-garde contemporary “is it art or is it not art?” works have been sidelined until better economic times come back.
For the upcoming sessions even price estimates are lower. Last season, as the recession plunged even deeper, many high end works priced above $10 million failed to find buyers, so the line up this week will feature works up to $12 million tops. Still a lot of money but the days of the $100 million paintings will not be back for some time. Many of those blockbuster works would certainly lose a lot of value if they came back on to today’s market.
As often happens, the big auctions include the work of an artist who has recently been the subject of a museum exhibition. Therefore, it is no coincidence that a Kandinsky is being offered following a summer Exhibition Retrospective at the Pompidou Center in Paris and another on-going at the Guggenheim in New York. The Kandinsky is expected to bring $6 million to $8 million at Sotheby’s on Wednesday. A number of Warhol’s coming on the block is generating buzz following a show featuring his work and other Pop Artists at the Tate Modern in London last month. Some of his works are expected to go for between $8 million to $12 million. Among the traditional Impressionist works at Christie’s is an 1896 Degas pastel of a dancer rubbing her feet estimated $7 million to $9 million and a panoramic landscape by Pissarro estimated at $3.5 million to $4.5 million.
Sotheby’s sale on Wednesday night is bigger but the top estimates remain more or less the same as in the Christie’s event. They’ll be offering works by Modigliani, Degas, Corot, Giacometti and a Kees van Dongen estimated at $10 million.
The general approach by the big auction firms seems to be, to steer away from young contemporary artists whose works generated explosive prices during the past few years when there was an overflowing supply of money and to return to time-tested Impressionists and Moderns.
Art Attacks
There have been many Art Attacks carried out by individuals and organizations ranging from acts of lunacy to criminality. The guy who attacked Michelangelo’s Pieta while shouting “I am Jesus” is perceived as being crazy, while the blowing up ancient stone carvings of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban in 2001 is seen as blatant crime. Social or political protests have also played part in Art Attacks; example, the man who sprayed a huge $$$$ sign on a pure white canvas by Malevich claimed he was protesting against the commercialism of Art. He was charged for a criminal act -the destruction of property. The various eggs, paint and other materials thrown at the Mona Lisa might have had the same destructive goal but the perpetrators had different motives for wishing to deface or destroy the beloved Joconde.
One passionate woman who kissed a canvas to "warm it up" can probably be considered as being “unstable” but, at least her Art Attack was not as dangerous as that by the man who deliberately ingested different food coloring so that he could vomit on canvases of his choice. His appetite was for Mondrian's Composition in Red, White and Blue. In 1964 somebody made a political protest by sawing off the head of Copenhagen's Little Mermaid though when he was sentenced for his stupid act of vandalism the Danish judge had no time for his political statements of justification. The poor little creature has since suffered several other attacks but has survived them all.
Throughout history Art Attacks have been occurring. In Europe, a lot of Catholic art in churches and cathedrals was mutilated and destroyed as the Reformation spread across the Northern Countries in the late 1400’s and into the 1500’s. Revolutions worldwide have often been succeeded by attacks on works of Art that glorified or identified with the previous regime.
Iconoclasm is a complicated psychological thing. The ‘reformers’, the ‘revolutionaries’ and the ‘nut-cases’ often direct their acts against Artistic images by targeting the eyes, the mouths and the ears, as a way of silencing and blinding what are perceived as empty idols.
Sometimes the reason can be as incomprehensible as the act. In 1914, a suffragette named Mary Richardson swung an axe at Velasquez’s Rokeby Venus in London’s National Gallery. After her arrest she announced that she had attacked “the most beautiful woman in ancient history” as a protest against the British government for trying to destroy the “most beautiful woman in modern history” - Mrs. Pankhurst, the leader of the suffragette movement in England, who was certainly not known for her physical beauty in any way.
Who need vandals when artists can come up with their own forms and variations of auto-destruction? German born artist Gustav Metzger, who as a young boy witnessed the horrors of Nazism and the terrible effects of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, has made it part and parcel of his life’s work. As an artist he has transformed destruction, decay and loss into an art form. In 1966 Metzger organized the Destruction in Art Symposium where artists created works that auto destructed as they were being created. (One of his examples involved Metzger spraying colored acids onto a nylon sheet that slowly disintegrated as the acid ate into the ‘canvas.’)
About the same time, Swiss artist Jean Tinguely was also into auto-destructive art in a completely different way. He would take scraps of junk and put them together into works that were structurally unstable and poorly held together, designed so that they would ‘self- destruct’ during public viewing. Let the spectators witness the sculpture’s extinction was his way of saying that art cannot be a possession. The artist claimed that while the vandal smashes art for the stupid pleasure of smashing, his act of destruction was an act of creation. The auto-destruction-of-art thing was, of course, already well known by the sixties because of Robert Rauschenberg’s erasing of a William de Kooning drawing in 1953. After three weeks of painstaking erasing and dozens of used erasers Rauschenberg finally exhibited a lumpy piece of paper he called “Erased de Kooning Drawing.”
In another case of regular Art Attacks, a Frenchman was arrested and put on trial for smashing a urinal at the Pompidou Center in Paris. The urinal under attack was not in the Gents restroom but in the art gallery; it was a copy of the original 1917 “Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp who put the piece in an exhibition to make the point that anything can be art. The Frenchman who attacked the urinal wanted to make the point that, what was once radical art was now part of institutionalized art. Breaking it into pieces transformed it into something fresh and new according to his defense statement. Since the attack was perpetrated on a copy, the loony Frenchman, who it turns out is a performance artist himself, narrowly avoided three months in jail and a fine of 400,000 Euros that he prosecution sought. The light punishment he actually received was more for causing a scandal than for being a vandal.
Juried Competition & Events – Deadlines November, 2009
"Yosemite Renaissance XXV" announces a call to artists for an exhibition to be held from February 26 - May 2, 2010 at the Yosemite Museum Gallery, Yosemite National Park in Yosemite, California. There is $4,000 in awards. This is an all media juried fine art competition and exhibition on the theme of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. Open to all living artists. Entry is by digital file only. $15 per entry with a maximum of 8 entries per artist. Get the details and information by going to http://yosemsiterenaissance.org/yr25.html. Any questions? Contact Robert Woolard at info@yosemiterenaissance.org Deadline: November 14, 2009
"Arte Laguna Prize" is open to all artists worldwide. There is 5.000 euro in cash awards for each section as well as the chance of personal and collective exhibitions in Venice art galleries and art spaces in March 2010. The 5 Italian Jurors are: Viviana Siviero, Alessandro Trabucco, Igor Zanti, Stefano Coletto, Rossella Bertolazzi and Lorenzo Respi. There is an entry fee of 40 euros for 1 work. Visit www.premioartelaguna.it for more information or contact Linda Beltrame at linda@premioartelaguna.it Deadline: November 15, 2009 |
"The 4 Bridges Arts Festival" has a call out to participate in an event celebrating its 10th year, featuring fine art and crafts from over 150 local and national artists. Housed in Chattanooga's open air First Tennessee Pavilion this show will take place on April 17th & 18th, 2010. Artist Merit Awards totaling $10,000 will be available. In addition, the 4 Bridges Patron Program provides funds for the purchase of artworks by collectors and art enthusiasts who commit to a particular level of spending before the Festival. 10' x 12' booth spaces are available for rent for artists wishing to take part in the weekend festival. All applications for the competition are digital. To submit your work, log on at www.zapplication.org. $40 entry fee. Questions? Contact Jerry Dale McFadden at jdmcfadden@avarts.org or call 423-265-4282. Deadline November 15, 2009 |
Six by Six Gallery in New York, NY announces an open call for a un-juried show featuring only six inch square works of art, December 1-31, 2009. Works must be completed on gallery-supplied six inch square canvas. We accept (and encourage!) all artistic styles and mediums. Multiple entries accepted. Artists retain all rights to their original work, and enjoy an 80% commission on all pieces that sell. The $40 Gallery Submission Package guarantees a one month exhibition in our NYC gallery: http://store.6x6gallery.com/gallerysubmissionpackage.aspx. Contact Katie McClenahan at katie@6x6gallery.com or call 212-777-2355. Deadline: November 15, 2009 |
“The Coastal Arts League 25th Annual Juried Show" has a call out to artists for a juried show to be held December 9 - 30, 2009 at 300 Main Street in Half Moon Bay, California. They are offering $50-500 in awards. Juror: Alys-Anne McGaffey. The show is open to all living artists. 2D, 3D, photos accepted. Works are subject to all guidelines in the Prospectus that you can see at http://www.coastalartsleague.com/cal juried/index.html There is an entry fee of $10 for Members and $15 for Non-Members for the first entry with $5/7.50 for each subsequent. Questions? Contact Patricia at patriciadailey@gmail.com or call 650-906-9855. Deadline: November 15, 2009 |
Artwork Network announces a call to artists for an online exhibition, February 17 - March 19. Open to artists who are 18 years of age or older living in the US or abroad. The jury/voting process will take place online. The theme of the exhibition is "Anything but Green". All media is accepted but the judging will be based on the digital representation of the work. The public will cast their votes online during the public voting period. One vote per person. Participating artists are ineligible to vote, but are encouraged to tell all their friends! All entries will be considered in two categories. One category will be decided by the Jury and one category will be decided by public vote. 3 winners will be chosen in both categories. $15 per entry. Maximum of 3 entries per artist. (Members pay $10 per entry.) Take a look at the Prospectus online at: http://www.artworknetwork.com/juriedshow/ Questions? Please contact Jessica Bradley: jessica@artworktwork.com Tel: 303-388-7420. Deadline: November 15, 2009 |
Still Point Art Gallery announces a call to artists for "The Serious and Playful Sides of Light," an online exhibition December 2, 2009 - February 9, 2010. Three ‘Artists of Distinction’ will be selected to show their art as Gallery Artists in 2010. The Juror is Christine Brooks Cote, Director of Still Point Art Gallery. This is open to artists 18 years of age or older living in the United States who submit original artwork in any medium except video and wearable art. There is an entry fee of $25 for up to 3 images with another fee of $5 for each additional image. More info - Christine Cote at info@stillpointartgallery.com call 207 837-5760. Deadline: November 16, 2009 |
The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado seeks entries from photographers world-wide, both amateur and professional for an exhibition of fine art photography entitled “Elements of Water” to be held February 19 - March 13, 2010. There is $720 in awards. This is an invitation to photographers working in all mediums, styles and schools of thought. Experimental and mixed techniques are welcome. Entry fee -$35 ($20 for members) for the first 3 images, $10 for each image after that. Juror: John Paul Caponigro. Questions? Email cfe@c4fap.org or call 970-224-1010. Deadline: November 17, 2009 |
"The Annual Juried Contemporary Drawing Exhibition" call for entries from the UNCA at Tucker Cooke Gallery in Asheville, North Carolina to be held from January 12, 2009 - February 2, 2010. $500 cash will be awarded by the juror Deborah Rockman. This is open to all artists living in the United States who are 18 years of age or older. All work must be original and completed in the past two years. Work cannot have previously been exhibited in any UNCA gallery. The fees are $30 for up to 3 images or $60 for up to 6 images. Visit http://www.unca.edu/art/ for a prospectus or send a SASE to: Tamie Beldue, Department of Art, 117 Owen Hall, CPO #1840, UNCA One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804. Any questions? Please contact Tamie Beldue at tbeldue@unca.edu Deadline November 20, 2009 |
"Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century" is the title of an exhibition to be held at Clatsop Community College Art Center in Astoria, Oregon from February 25 – April 8, 2010. See: www.aunaturelastoria.com There is $1000 in cash prizes. Up to $2000 in purchase awards. One artist will be chosen to be featured in a solo show. Juror: Laura Russo. This is open to all artists working in any two dimensional drawing, painting, and printmaking media. As the title suggests the focus is on the nude human figure as the subject matter in any form from representational to abstract. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Student work is ineligible. $30 for up to three entries and $5 for each additional entry. Get the details on their website above or send a SASE to: Clatsop Community College Art Center Gallery, 1653 Jerome Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103, USA. Inquiries? Contact Kristin Shauck at kshauk@clatsopcc.edu or call 503-338-2472. Deadline: November 23, 2009 |
The Southeast Gallery of Photographic Art located in Vero Beach, Florida announces a call to artists for their themed juried exhibition called “Old Florida –A Fine Art Photographic Exhibit” to be held from January 2 to February 27, 2010. Old Florida is disappearing fast and this competition will feature pictures of architecture, old homes, buildings and landmarks that are part of the past. Preservation is not easy and too often economics wins over conserving old buildings. There is an entry fee of $30 ($20 members) for the first three images. Questions? Contact Boris Robinson at southeastgallery@gmail.com Tel: 772-643-6994 or 772-834-5828. Deadline November 8, 2009 |
"2010 International Juried Show" sponsored by the Rogue Studios –Chelsea Gallery Space seeks artists for a group show to be held January 14-30, 2010 in New York, NY. The top prize is a promotional film and an art opening/reception-NYC. Juror: David Cohen. Open to all artists 18 years or older. Work entered must have been completed within the last two years. All 2-dimensional media measuring less than 36 X 36 inches are eligible. All 3-dimensional work must no larger than a 36” X 36" X36”. No films or installations. The entry fees are $40 for the 1st piece with $10 for each additional up to max of five. Online submission only. Visit https://www.chelseagalleryspace.com/INTL/JuriedShow.html for prospectus. Questions to groupshow@chelseagalleryspace.com Deadline: November 30, 2009 |
SlowArt Productions announces a call to artists for "Emerging Artists 2010", March 5 - 27, 2010 at the Limner Gallery in Hudson, New York. $1000 cash, $2400 in publication awards. Open to all artists 18 or older. $35 entry fee. Prospectus available online at http://www.slowart.com/prospectus/ea2010.htm or artists can send a SASE to: SlowArt Productions, 123 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534. Questions? Contact Tim Slowinski at slowart@aol.com or call 518-828-2343. Deadline: November 30, 2009 |
Artliaison seeks artists for participation in a juried group show for 2 weeks (dates to be decided). There is a $99 entry fee. All media. Work must be presented in a professional manner and ready to be exhibited. Visit http://artliason.com/ or send SASE to: Artliaison c/o A Jain Marunouchi Gallery, Suite 605, 24 W 57th Street, New York NY 10019. Questions? Contact David Jain at artliason@aol.com or 212-969-9660. Deadline: December 1, 2009 |
Infinity Art Gallery seeks entries for an online exhibit, January 1, 2010 at www.InfinityArtGallery.com called Winter Expo 2010. Awards: $4,550 total value. Submitted artwork must be abstract, figurative, landscape or still life. An unlimited variety of medium and discipline accepted. A wide range of subjects and styles are eligible including - but not limited to - traditional, contemporary, and conceptual art. Artists are encouraged to submit early and participate in the pre-exhibit show which opens November 15, 2009. Entry fee: $25 USD; 1 or 2 works of art per submission. charly@infinityartgallery.com Deadline December1, 2009 |