California landscape painters need not worry

Occasionally a topic strain comes up from one of the groups I am a part that deserves repeating for one reason or another. This is one.


I wrote initially:

"Change is in the air. It feels as though we are in the midst of a tidal change, not necessarily a sea change, in the art world. More and more books are making their way to the shelves pronouncing the end of art and the end of the art world. With varying rhetoric, the message seems eerily similar. At first glance a panic sets in, but in further delving it becomes clear that the vibe is not that painting is dying, but that the art world has become so detached from art making that a crisis looms. In many ways I agree. It is a business and really always has been, but historically it was more a business built on Art rather than a business with a product it labeled with an art logo."


An interesting response:

"Hi Lance, welcome on board! Fortunately the writing you cite haven't crossed my easel, and I see no danger among my contacts. Luckily none of my work goes to market and I don't depend on income from it, although many artists in Northern California are selling works, in landscape mostly, though thoughtful work appears in galleries and public places for which artists are reimbursed. Painting shows no disease signs here, and room for all of us exists. The last book I read, Art and Fear, David Bayles, and before that The Art Spirit, by Robt Henry, as pertinent today as it was half a century ago, both offer insight and hope for all artists. Keep on painting!"


Optimistic yes and that always brings a smile, but rarely illuminates.


So I mentioned this:

"Some noteworthy literature deserving a look; the End of Art- Donald Kuspit, The End of the Art World- Robert C. Morgan, Post Modernism A Guide to Cutting edge Thinking- Richard Appignanesi & Chris Garratt, The Philosophy of Art- G.W.F. Hegel, The Artist's Reality Philosophies of Art- Mark Rothko, Ways of Seeing- John Berger, and This is Modern Art- Mathew Collins. I did not mean to suggest that anything was in danger of not selling; rather I meant to suggest that everything is in danger of selling. Of the art world: it may no longer be a trustworthy authority on talent or art for that matter. The disconnect between the spectacle that drives it and the lack of discourse that used to, is great enough to warrant looking about for the real authority, a new set of experts outside the art world buffet. I agree, landscape painters in California will never fear for lack of commercial attention in this 'market'. Plastic cup makers in China will never fear for a lack of demand either and the world will miss the irony of the little gold sticker on the bottom of the green plastic plate that says China on it. Not to say ALL California landscape painters are cheap plastic cups either, just that it is the skewed market that makes so many and currently it is the skewed market that determines ones success, not quality or innovation or dialogue.And no, this is not bitter. This is me kicking my feet over the edge of the bed and rubbing my eyes as if in the morning, about to see if the coffee is ready... metaphorically preaching. =) Understand though, it is not the artists or even the art I am taking to task, it is the system. And yes, I know how cliché' that sounds all, stand up to the man and all that, but in reality, the flaw is palpable and the discordance worthy of revolution, if even silent or slow. The art world performs taxation without representation and though I do not in the least think that art nears the analogy of democracy, I do believe it deserves recreating the system in order to better discover a real Ben Franklin or Whistler or a Greenberg."


Now, that may come off a bit harsh perhaps, but not if you know me. Also of importance, this person was an innocent responder on a mostly supportive art group forum. We go there to say how great each other's work is and to say, "you go, keep on keepin on," and the like. I do too I think. But it has to be pointed out that it can't be any more obvious the depth at which we are all buying into the industry. If you go the book store and pick up, oh I don't know; How to Get Hung A Practical Guide for Emerging Artists- Molly Barnes or Taking the Leap- Lang or any number of other vampiric tomes you really start to get the idea that artists or artiness in people is but a commodity. I challenge anyone to walk into a Michaels (if you know what that is, that says enough) and not think that art has not been assimilated into capitalism. It is no big leap to imagine that at higher prices and margins that this isn't the case in the art world.

Sure, it would be easy to see that a Michaels shines out of convenience and that they are doing no wrong...what the market will bear right? I say, sure, there really is no problem with that until we start buying art from Michaels and those market pressures determine what art is by what is selling. Wait, that's happening. I don't mean to say that Michaels is the art world either, I mean to say the art world is doing the same thing, they are the same animal.

Take that for what it is.


And yes, selling through galleries should be fine. As mentioned, it isn't the artists or the art I have a problem with, it is the galleries creating the illusion that they are the authority where I have the problem. The art world is not in galleries, disco show openings, or behind glass, it resides in studios, with artists.