Observingarts: art as a commodity

Public vs. valuable. Art is rapidly being sold, resold and made available around the globe. A local audience might lose art in the trade, others gain. The market determines distribution of art, sorted by availability of wealth. Art has always accompanied wealth. This way art is truly getting global, and at the same time getting local. Globalization makes audiences mobile. Art attracts tourist and revenue. Still, art is becoming local for those who live within bubbles of wealth. Like for those living in Oslo, Copenhagen, London or Los Angeles. Top art objects are put into museums around the wealthiest parts of the world, thus becoming of less relevance to the global audience. Digitalization could change some of this. The Internet has become the new gallery making art available to everybody here and now. How could this influence art? The low status of street-art visualizes the cost of a noncommercial perspective: availability to everybody, anywhere. By depicting decaying art, Damien Hirst (!!) is really challenging appreciation of art, also economically. Hard sell! The iconic pieces of art gain value from exposure while the “average” piece of art risk becoming a digital commodity. Thereby it might lose some of its financial attraction? The other argument is that the digital art consumer is also a potential buyer of art and availability increases demand.  

Observingart: Das Ding an Dich.

Das Ding an mich.  Does exposure of art for an audience improve art in general? How well does expensive art perform without a well curated context? How does expensive art in exclusive, monumental museums contribute positively to our perception of art in general? Or just limit our focus to some iconic works? Is the importance of context a problem – or does it benefit the general perception and consumption of art? Should love still be in the eye of the beholder, or do we need professional googles to enjoy art? The passion is not in one piece embedded in an institution. It is even more in the variation of the object and how it is expressed and given exposure: at a wall, in a video, on the web - or simply right in front of me. What is lost when art and how it is wrapped up becomes one object? 
Art is - for me - “das Ding an Sich” and definitively still “das Ding an Mich”.    

Observing arts: take a closer look at Lawren Stewart Harris Canada

Lawren Stewart Harris ~ Mountain and Glacier

Source: http://www.heffel.com/

"Lawren Stewart Harris (October 23, 1885 – January 29, 1970) was a Canadian painter born in Brantford, Ontario, who was one of the best known landscape painters of the Group of Seven, a group of artists who set out to create a distinctly Canadian art. He pioneered a distinctly Canadian painting style in the early twentieth century". 
They turned out to be under influence of contemporary, Scandinavian artists. More bio here. 

Scandinavian influence: "Around 1915, he and his colleagues found resolve in the example of Scandinavian artists such as Gustav Fjestad, who combined an awareness of issues of verisimilitude with a strong sense of design". Examples of Fjestad paintings.

Source:http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/

The arctic nature is unike. It has been a rich source of inspiration - and still is. Light and colors different from anything else.
The link to Norwegian painter Nicolay Astrup falls into mind when observing Harris paintings. 

Observingarts: is art the new religion?

Is Art the new religion? Monumental buildings housing museums and galleries are reaching for the sky in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Astrup Fearnley Museum, the new Munch Museum and Lousiana - yet others to follow.  Corporate headquarters are strutting with expensive art. Some, seldom seen. Art wrapping, monetary and cultural exchanges alongside cultural cathedrals. The show is getting more and more spectacular, including huge tabs and donations. Whith so much at stake, is art becomming more sacred than it really deserves?  Silence penetrates the exhibition halls. Silent worshipping, art is the new religion. Distance to the  "non believers" increases. Private collectors are playing in, combining monumental buildings, private art collections and a well- developed sense for business.  Public and private wealth management is the core of the equation. It cloaks art in a kind of religious mysticism. Is art in itself becoming just an variable? 

Recommended weekend reading. Damien Hirst: from  artist to curator. 

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