About a month ago, I went to a workshop entitled, “The Business Side of Art” at the Art Gallery of Regina. The facilitator was Karen Schoonover, the gallery curator/director, who said that, rather than the nuts and bolts of paperwork, etc. associated with the business side of art, her workshop would focus on the “game” of fine art and the role of both artists and public galleries in that game.
She went on to lay out the main points of the game:
- The gallery/art establishment views fine art as an academic/professional pursuit; asking the question: What art created today will be of future art historical significance?
- The value of a work of art is based almost entirely on the artist’s professional credentials: academic training, exhibition record, and has almost nothing to do with the actual work itself.
- Fine art is not a commodity, it is an intellectual property.
- The role of the public gallery is to collect, store and interpet these art historical artefacts for the public.
- The role of the artist is to tackle the “big ideas.”
The object of the fine art game then, is to be an artist of academic and professional note who creates works which stimulate/challenge the fine art community with the eventual goal of increasing the professional recognition of the artist and his/her work in the eyes of that community.
Our job as emerging artists is to decide whether our work was “craft” or “art.” And if you’re thinking, “well, that’s easy, craft is anything made out of popsicle sticks and construction paper and fine art is oil paint and charcoal drawings” then I refer you to point two above. In the fine art world: craft is mainly commercial, it’s creator is largely concerned with the final product and finding a buyer for the work; whereas art is mainly intellectual, it’s creator is largely concerned with the idea behind the piece and with finding an audience for the work. Therefore, if the art you make is made in the hopes someone will like it enough to buy it, it’s not “art” at all, but craft. However, if the art you make is an intellectual pursuit made in the hopes someone will notice it, it’s art.
Within an hour I felt as though I’d been shuttled back in time to my university days where the emphasis was not on the “what” or sometimes even the “how” but the “why.” And I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the trip.
Here’s the only way I can think of explaining how I feel about the subject of “fine art.” In addition to my Bachelor of Fine Arts, I also have a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and when I was in university, the National Gallery of Canada purchased Barnett Newman’s “Voice of Fire” for its permanent collection. To say that the Canadian public was upset by the $1.8 million price tag is something of an understatement. I quickly found myself in the strange position of defending the purchase to family and friends who decided that because I was studying art I must understand the purchase (I was in my second year). But defend it I did. When faced with the statement, “I could have done it with a paint roller and some masking tape.” My response was always the same: the average person, the average artist even, given the same paint and canvas would never have painted that painting. Only Barnett Newman, who was considering both the physical nature of paint on canvas and the metaphysical nature of humanity, could have painted that painting.
Having said that, I’m not fond of the painting. I understand and recognise it’s importance in art history. I admire the intellect who created it. But visually, it does nothing for me. And I think that’s crucial. I think that if visual art doesn’t stimulate me visually, then what’s the point? There’s no single subject (or idea for that matter) that’s going to appeal to every individual viewer. And if art is only about the idea, then what’s the point of an art gallery at all – why not simply publish the show catalogue, sans images, of course, and call yourself done? (And yes, I realise I could probably get a Canada Council Grant for that idea…) The people who come to me, don’t do it for a short story about their favourite animal, even though I could write one. They come to me for art, for a visual experience. And that’s the object of my game.
