Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Inbreeding and Mediocrity
By Kurt von Behrmann
Phoenician
art is not unfamiliar with negative criticisms.
From the art to the people that show it, the fine art world of Phoenix
is littered with frustrations, failures and fruitless efforts to find patrons.
Fractious is the most appropriate adjective to describe a community ripped
apart by assorted self-interests and enough pretentiousness to cover all of the
west coast in one big dust storm of despair.
Affecting importance out of
proportion with the scant talent showcased, the egoism in some venues is
literally palpable. Insipid to the point
of toxicity, vapid work passes for achievement.
The audience has evaporated faster than the paint drying on the art
work. Artists’ creations are greeted by
one collective yawn.
Even when work rises above the fracas,
indifference shows up to scoff at imagination. Tragedy reaches no worse depths than when the
genuinely gifted receive the same greeting as the profoundly maladroit. The low
acceptable bar infects everything it encounters. Intellect is reduced a cacophony of lesser minds.
Well intended have tried to leave
an impression. Their efforts often met
with indifference by a public unsure of what to make of it all, they keep
trying. They put out work that falters. The venues for art struggle and they
are to be commended.
With good reason some art deserved to be
ignored.
The biggest offense to art are the
many camps populated by dilettantes who sincerely believe they have
talent. Minus training, discipline or a
vision that is not compromised by years of exposure to a pop culture drained of
any originality, they walk blinded by their own inability to see beyond the
sycophants that surrounded them.
Young people, the hope of art, for
the large part have just given up the challenge. When they should be challenging
the status quo, they have just embraced it. Rather than break ground, too many
are preferring to break wind. A.S.U.
apparently is not doing anyone any favors.
It could be affordable education that forces gifted artists to do other things for a living. What fills in the
void is inconsequential.
Sometimes idiots make art and frequently
the moronic buy it
The insular nature of the clans and
cliques that dominate the visual arts are an exclusive enclave that rejoices in
its own exclusivity. Seemingly existing
for no more reason than to exist, the incestuous nature of the art community
has produced a breed of art that is
incomprehensible to anyone except its members.
Obscurity of expression would not be so horrid if the journey to
comprehension had a payoff.
Instead of being treated to the
inner workings of working minds that are restless and inquisitive, we have work
with nothing to say. The inbreeding has
culminated in infertile ground incapable of sustaining any life at all.
Launched into this Robrt Pela, a well-known
arts writer and curator in the Valley, has taken a drastic, even dramatic,
move. He opened an art gallery. On the surface that may not appear to be
subversive. Here it is a radical act.
Rather than squat in the land of
the dazed, unfocused and confused, Pela has a distinct vision. It has served him well. It separates him from the herd. Unlike too many in the local arts community,
he is not consumed with wasted attempts to pacify plebian sensibilities. His presence has elevated the playing
field.
More outward looking than
reclusively removed, Pela has an open view of art. In a more international setting, his approach
is not far removed from the critical sensibilities of the East and West
Coasts. In a larger context, his
selection process would be full appreciated.
In different settings such views are erroneously perceived as
“elitist.” It is common place for
mediocre minds to label intellectual pursuits the domain of the
privileged. Reality tells a very
different story.
“As a
side note, I find it interesting that art is seen as elite. The enclave of a gifted few is how art is
often viewed. In a supposedly “class free” nation, or supposedly a
classless society, there are elites everywhere.
No one accuses the N.F.L. for being exclusive when it comes to selecting
players or MVPs. The members of the
military, even the far right media, are filled with elites. The Rushs and Ann Coulters of the world live in a rarefied
world of privilege. Even street gangs have hierarches. Somehow those things are overlooked. Look at any office and you will find a
pecking order.
It is the responsibility of
artists, curators and art pundits to elevate the bench mark of visual art. It is not their responsibility to appease
everyone. The ultimate duty of art is to
provide the world with vision, insight and wisdom. In all art there is an underlying morality to
art when it is working at full speed.
Art holds up a mirror to the
world. It is a reflection of more than
one person’s vision. It is an articulation of what may be felt, but not
understood by society. The very best
artists mine deeply. What their excavations uncover becomes the raw material
for work that communicates an individual voice as well as a collective one. Art becomes a moral compass that points to a
brighter tomorrow. Even when art delves into the layers of unconscious thought,
or confronts the darker side of the human experience, it does so with the
notion of providing more, not less.
When art examines the bright, the
dark and the indifferent, what it witnesses fuels powerful expressions. Raw, sometimes difficult to digest, art is
most in tune when it speaks to universal truths. Work like this only comes with
maturity, training and a well-educated mind.
Idiots do not make great art. Sadly
it has not prevented morons from buying it.
Appeasing audiences or passing off
frauds as geniuses is nothing new. The
situation is more apparent, and more destructive, when the art community is in
an embryonic state. Posturing, posing and passing are common place. Here in the
Valley they have reached such a fevered pitch even the art audience looks like
a fraud of sorts.
People attend openings, drink wine
and give the art a passing glance. Everyone comes to be seen looking deep.
Being viewed with art elevates you by proximity. Stand around a painting, good or indifferent,
and it magically confers upon you intelligence, “hipness” and ultimately a
veneer of “class.” Money has become
class, class has become money, and all are elites. As long as everyone is honest, all of this is
easier tolerate. When it becomes fake, it just induces nausea.
Identity and integrity are
positives. Knowing who you are
helps. One of the huge hidden problems
with so many art venues in Phoenix is that they are not sure what they
are. As if uncertain what to do, many
galleries fall into the trap of art doesn’t sell so they become a little bit of
this and a little of that. Many just do not believe selling art can pay the
overhead. They believe the line of art not selling so much it undermines their
own efforts.
As a means to ensure there is no
failure, they back up efforts with nick nacks and peripheral art works. What emerges is not a gallery but a hodge
podge of this and that.
Most galleries in Phoenix are
trying. The problem is that there is a missing identity. There also seems to be
a lack of a business plan. Media budgets and cultivating patrons often is
missing from the gallery equation. Like
some form of naiveté, gallery owners open shop and hope for the best. Minus excellent networking, a sense of what a
gallery is and the inability to curate well, art spaces flop in the breeze.
The gallery business has never been
easy. They require vision, investors and an exhibition space able to showcase
the work effectively in order to work.
Having all the parts does not guarantee success. Having parts missing can certainly guarantee
failure.
The problems most new venues face
is legitimacy and decent wall space.
Throwing up a gallery in a dilapidated space and pricing the work at $
20,000 is not going to work. When your audience only makes $ 30,000 a year on
average, expect work in the $ 200 to $ 500 range to move. If you have a decent
space, some media savvy and solid work, expect more.
What Pela has done for Phoenix is
provide a space that addresses the need for serious venues for art. That is not
to denigrate those who have tried or struggling. They are doing the best they
can do.
It would certainly help some
artists and gallery owners to take a lesson from Pela. His template places a premium on white walls,
the art and nothing to distract from the work.
Free of this and that, there is no confusion that this is a fine arts
space.
Opening a gallery is a difficult
proposition. No one should take it
lightly. Often the failure of art to
sell rests on the shoulder of artists to some point. Gallery owners have to
take some of the responsibly as well. It
rarely occurs that just maybe presentation, lack of a comprehensive business
plan and a good presentation are the reason no one buys. Stability also counts. No one wants to buy
work from a space that is here today and gone tomorrow. When art spaces come
and go, the assumption is that art will go south as well.
The key ingredients are solid
curatorial skills, space, networking, advertising and knowing what you are
selling. Having a specific identity is critical. No one space can show everything made. It
just makes a mixture of disconnected parts. Viewers are left to pick up the
good from the bad.
Pela has started from the premise
that he is showing challenging contemporary art first and foremost. It is an
example worth emulating.
No comments:
Post a Comment