What does this mean for the contemporary art galleries? That depends entirely upon what direction the socially elite decide to go in, for that is predominantly the driving force behind art sales in art galleries. If the social elite maintain the status quo and continue to buy art through schmoozing at art shows, then contemporary art galleries will continue to maintain their own status quo. If the social elites (being people who are most likely to own a home that needs artworks to decorate it) decide to begin investing their money by purchasing artworks online from the vast plethora of artists available it could create a radical shift in the value of maintaining actual sale-oriented art galleries.
Walter Benjamin’s writings within "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" foretold this shift, but at the same time stressed the value of the ‘aura’ of the original piece. This ‘aura’ was the feeling of tradition, the feeling of the artist’s hand, and the uniqueness of the piece. He argued that it was this unique ‘aura’ that drove people to ownership of specific pieces of original art.
I will argue the opposite, although at the same time I will state that it is not absolute, much like his theory is not absolute. I agree that pieces do have auras that we attach to them, a sense of karma if you will, but I do not believe this is what drives us to possess these objects. Rather it is our greed and capitalist pleasure that we get from acquiring objects, especially rare objects, that drives people to spend enormous amounts in the effort to purchase rare art objects. This greed then translates into a form of elitist bragging. “I have something that you don’t. I am elite because I have this art. I own the original, therefore it is superior.” True, many people buy for aesthetics, but they do not brag about buying an aesthetically pleasing art piece from a no-name artist.
This elitist narcissism is the driving force behind the sale of elitist art. Without the pride and arrogance of the rich trying to prove their dominance, many artists would have starved to death long ago. Capitalism in many ways has been the savior of talented artists, provided they actually managed to sell their works.
Popular art by definition therefore is not elitist art. It is essentially a two-tier system of art worlds, one for the elites, and one for the general populace. The public art galleries contain the canonized works of artists that became popular during their time within the institutions of art galleries, but it is the private art galleries and private collections within the homes of the wealthy and super-wealthy that are the true elitist art pieces.
In order for the elitist painting to maintain its popularity on the wall of the super-rich it has to also maintain a sense of what is new and unique. If the feeling of the piece changes for the people who own it, it loses its unique aura to them and it is more beneficial to sell off the piece, make a profit of several million if possible, and buy a new piece that they can brag about.
Peggy Guggenheim’s acquisition of Jackson Pollack’s paintings every year for numerous years gave her incredible self-esteem and pride in her collection, but at the same time she auctioned off the individual pieces on a regular basis so that many major art galleries now have one or two Jackson Pollack paintings that they too can brag about.
The media focuses first and foremost on the supposed value of the painting, a little about the history of the artist and the piece, and if we’re lucky, actually shows a picture of the painting on TV or in the newspaper.
The idea of artists promoting themselves online is essentially a return to the grassroots of art dealing. By applying amateur and untrained efforts with 21st Century technology it is a return to a simplistic method of “I show you my portfolio, you tell me if you see something you like”. The more modern ideas of dealers doing the promotional work for the artists, of studio visits and gallery shows are ignored.
Since full-time artists are a rarity, an artist who works a part-time or full-time job has scant time and resources to be doing their own promotional work, arranging studio visits and applying to gallery shows on such a regular basis. The Internet therefore provides an easier and cheaper source of advertising that can reach a broader audience, and requires less time and effort on the part of the artist.
The problem however lies in the over-saturation of “part-time” artists online. There is simply too many of them. Ingenuity, investment (of time and/or money), a good domain name (location is always important) and quality and quantity of work is what separates the more popular and/or successful artists from the rest of the artists hoping for recognition. Theme is also important, as sites of female nudes tend to garner the most attention as it overlaps with the booming Internet pornographic marketplace. While Fine Art has always tried to distance itself from porn, the overlap of viewers seeking erotic visual stimulation remains. This market is certainly not limited to heterosexual men either, as the market of male pin-up art is also strong.
How an artist situates himself or herself within the Internet marketplace is also a factor. Because they are free to fictionalize part of their identity (a concept I will return to later) they have the option of placing themselves in many different areas of the art market. Whether they situate themselves under a national identity, a particular style, or a particular theme is dependent upon the type of work they do.
A Scottish landscape artist living in Chicago who uses a Stipling/Impressionistic method of applying the paint would have their options open. They have to decide whether they want to classify themselves as Scottish, promote their work as purely impressionism, focus themselves locally within Chicago Illinois, or try to promote their work on an international scale with translations of their website in multiple languages, including Scottish Gaelic. The different options represent different niche marketplaces and would draw in different crowds looking for different things. Attempting to cover all of the bases is a difficult enterprise and could appear to lack cohesion to visitors to their websites.
The majority of artists online are untrained, and have only basic understanding of what makes their work look more professional. Content and writing is the key however, and sadly most artists do not even know what a curriculum vitae is. An artist statement can also be a rarity. Some artists leave their art pieces unnamed, with not even an “Untitled” listed beside their artwork and that within itself is a lack of professionalism. The Internet is very much a language-based forum. A person seeking paintings of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet has to type in “ophelia painting” to a search engine if they hope to find anything. An untitled painting of Ophelia with scant few words (or none) on the website is not going to get many visitors. In contrast however, a painting with Ophelia with the artist’s bio and an entire copy of Hamlet in text will certainly find itself getting visitors who are either researching Shakespeare or specifically looking for art of Ophelia.
In many ways this is simply a matter of playing to the audience, and giving the audience what they are looking for in both a language and visual sense. It is more contrived of course, but much of the art world is filled with levels of truth and contrived concepts, and so that is nothing new.
All this shows however is that Bowser has managed to gain a stranglehold over a specific Internet niche market and then let the quality of his artwork do the rest. In this way he does not have to compete with the saturated marketplace and can focus more on the paintings that he does, allowing his already good “net-reputation” do the rest. This is provided that the Saddam Hussein incident does not become an Achilles heel to Bowser’s work and tarnish his ability to promote his work.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário