**I had to bump this up to the top by changing the post date on it so that it doesn't go away too soon**
Yep, thats right. How do you determine if art is worthy of your attentions? Is it something that has to be enshrined in gilded frame and hung upon a wall in a fine arts museum before you will consider it of merit or seek the deeper meaning that might be embedded within it? Is it an artist's resume that leads you to believe you are making the PERFECT investment - or perhaps an educated gamble? Perhaps you think in the distant future you might get your name listed in the required reading of some MFA student as an influential contributor/collector of what defines 21st century art? Or to you, is art something that helps express a part of you that for whatever reason you may not feel capable of expressing yourself? Is it important enough to have the real deal hanging in your house...is it important to KNOW the artist and the context from which his art originates? Do you feel compelled to have a relationship with the art/artist? Is the art the type of consideration where you might ask the question "Does this go with my new motif?"
just wondering.
14 comments:
To me WHEN I create art it is about just that, the creation. I think nothing of what others may see when I am painting or done. What joy is there in that? Of course, if and when I give or sell my art, there is nothing more enjoyable than the recipient loving a work as much as I did creating it. There is always a smidgen of a thought in the back of my mind about what future generations may see in what I do. I just have never aspired to the degree of artist that we may study today, that I may see myself in that position in the future. I just love creating.
Good?
YOU on the other hand, may one day find yourself in the art history books!
L'art c'est la vie ;)
i think good art stands on its own (merit). it doesn't need a fancy frame nor lengthy CV. look at Van Gogh. took 100 yrs b/4 the public realized his value. as for choosing artworks, i just go w/ what "speaks to me." it has to be more than just technique. it has to create an emotional feeling, convey an original idea or commentary. it can't just be a pretty picture. i just wish i could afford my friends work (Mikie, Mercado, Cohens, etc) b/c i know they'll make it big someday!
Good art definitely needs no decorative frame. My favorite painting stands alone - I take it with me when I move and usually design a whole room around it. Other pieces, I buy because they match the furniture. Those need pretty frames.
Jane in my heart, i know you are right!
I think knowing the artist plays a role in collecting---in some way each piece whether to your liking or not, gives one a deeper insight into the artists heart. Kinda like a treasure hunt,if you will, in gathering different pieces of what defines them and their observations of this life---a definition or translation of the good,the bad and the ugly.. .It is appreciating their efforts/translation/version of what they have determined to be their visions of what they see and feel and how they interpret that to us is ultimately what makes us collect it...It is also what stirs similar feelings and knowing someone else out there may see things in a similar way gives a sense of comraderie as well... compostion,color, energy and mood and whether or not a piece can keep me wanting 'more' esp if I wasn't "looking" for it in the first place. . . . . .
I agree with you Carolyn! An example from a different perspective: I have a couple paintings that I purchased online without really knowing the artist and then found myself knowing the artist better AFTER getting the painting...what I learned about them later (not bad stuff, just not to my liking) seemed to take away from my feelings for the art that I had purchased.
Some of the art that I see hanging in MFAH I am convinced the reason it is held in such high regard has more to do with the artist than it did the art.
Other than the couple of works I mention above, all the rest I have collected, I love! I NEVER get tired of looking at them...Truly it is a three-way relationship of sorts with the artist, the collector, and the art. Sometimes I look at the painting for just itself, sometimes I marvel at the person who created it, sometimes I just smile because it makes me happy, sometimes I am whisked away on a journey of thoughts, and other times I am just pleased with myself for having such good taste in art! ;)
Right On! The pieces that you love, the ones you never tire of, are why you've collected them...And for all the reasons you mentioned: they evoke a smile, a thought,an appreciation, a sudden awareness that wasn't on a conscious level a split second ago....it is what makes it all so worthy of our time and thought...Cheers m'dear!
To all...INDEED! Ahem, I think I may have some paintings for sale. Comes with all my emotional baggage too, no extra charge! :D
I'm probably in the minority here as an art consumer (rather than producer). I've purchased items because of some very simple qualifications. It's something that I desire to look at at every day. Otherwise, it's a museum piece or something that somebody else will look at every day. Some of the galleries where I've visited in my travels insist on learning the story, analyzing the intentions, perhaps getting drunk with the artists (I've got some amusing stories to tell). But all of this means nothing to me unless it is something I desire to look at every day.
Mike, your reason should be the bottom-line for any art purchase. I guesse the only deviation from that basis would be the "Power Collector" who doesn't intend to ultimately keep the work anyway.
As for those stories about getting drunk with the artists, I had to smile when I read that as it seems getting drunk usually turns out to be my primary focus when I am showing... I get so incredibly nervous about being put in a spot light (mind you a very tiny spotlight as I am not tooting my own horn) and expected to elaborate on what the meaning of something is, or what I was thinking when I did it, that I find myself unable to breathe!
My husband swears that many collectors "jump on the art wagon" only because it seems the hip thing to do. ..of course it is based on his opinion that the art in question has no aesthetic value...or as he says "If it looks like I could do it, then it isn't art."
On another note...I just realized that Michelle posted...and all i can say in response is: Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE darling!
Cheers Ms. Carolyn! and Mitch... BAGGAGE?! I don't think so! :)
In fact - sometimes learning the true story of a painting could be a bit like watching sausage manufacture. Some things are best left as secrets. Take for instance one painting I've got - a girl pensively gazing away from a beach. I asked the artist which beach it was. Simple question.
She was posing in a studio. The beach was imaginary, painted on after the fact - when he was trying to decide what kind of background to use. It could've just as easily have been a bus stop, but ended up being a beach.
That kinda' ruined it for me.
*grin* "Sausage manufacter" indeed!
One of my pet peaves is I don't like hearing about how the artist is driven by "market analysis" to such a degree that there seems to be no inspired creative motivation in their work.
I am quick to look at a beautiful piece of art and ASSUME the artist must be a beautiful person, then I get disappointed when I discover that the person is just an ordinary human with ordinary human questionable characteristics, weaknesses, motivations...whatever :) I know that is mean of me, and it isn't to say that I don't ever share those qualities...but at least I can choose to not have the art that I love infused with that type of thing...right??? :)
I should also point out that an imaginary scene is not bad - if that's what is being portrayed. Many times we want to see what is in the artist's brain and wouldn't otherwise exist in the wild. In this case it was hyper-realist, so it was a bit of a letdown that the scene didn't ever actually exist.
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