Because you shouldn’t have to go look for the art. Art needs to be center stage in the middle of everything, just like advertising, in order to have an effect on people’s lives.
We are starting with small steps but we are part of a global vision to make art more accessible. When I lived in New York, I watched barren post-industrial cityscapes turn into vibrant outdoor galleries. Artists began coating the shops and warehouses in murals and empty streets suddenly bustled with coffee shops, restaurants and buses of foreign tourists following local guides and taking selfies. I could hear French, German, Mandarin among the groups. This in a neighborhood where just five years prior there was absolutely nothing.
The art was out there. It wasn’t tucked away in Galleries and Institutions, it was everywhere on the streets. You didn’t have to look for it. It was on the local restaurants, the apartment buildings, on all the local businesses. Everyone benefited except the very people who had caused the economic boom, the artists.
Art has always had an uneasy relationship with money. Today art features most prominently as a last unregulated bastion for pyramid schemes. The development of the artist as a brand is crucial to sales and to achieving record prices. When I read the latest news about an artist or a painting, it’s mostly about their auction prices and not about the merits of their work. There are merits, but they have become secondary. A lot of artists’ work and vision is sacrificed in the process. A real benefit to our society is lost.
There are fewer opportunities in the non-profit sector as well.
When I was finishing my arts degree (not too long ago) the vanity galleries hadn’t started yet. Gradually they gained momentum and introduced a predatory system of juried shows and submission fees which quickly went on to infect the non-profit sector. I understand that these organizations were struggling to survive in times of economic uncertainty, but it forced a pay-to-play system which seems to defeat their very mission. In the struggle to survive they forgot why they exist. It puts artists from certain socioeconomic backgrounds at a disadvantage. It effectively extinguishes their voices. I would like to see the juried shows go extinct and have these institutions move to a more inclusive financial model.
There is much more to be said on this subject, which is why I will continue this conversation in the curator’s corner in future posts.
Yours Truly,
Luiza Budea