Thunder Bay, like many other small cities, are
more likely to have artists who are in tune with their community. Artists here
are getting more support as a trend for buying original art from walls
in galleries, coffee shops, and other spaces, is increasing. Despite the
progress, the variety of opportunities that could be offered to artists in a
town like Thunder Bay, is slowed by some old ideas that die hard.
The greatest misnomer that artists bear is that
their art may be more valuable after they are dead. It’s a belief that someone,
somewhere, at some future date, will come to appreciate an artist’s life’s
work, because the chance of it being so in the present seems slim.
According to economists who study art, such as
William D. Grampp (Pricing the Priceless), it’s 95 percent, or more, likely
that any artist’s work will be thrown on the trash heap within fifty years
after the artists’ death, whether or not they are famous during their lifetime.
So much for being celebrated after death or the art being more valuable.
However, we live in the here and now, and if
artists and collectors focus on the present, not some fantasy future of
appreciation, then they can get a lot out of their art, they can appreciate it
for what it does, and for the enjoyment it offers in the present. If you have a
couch, you sit in it, and enjoy the comfort. You don’t stand around waiting for
your couch to become history, a more valuable seat after you’re dead that other
people will appreciate for its aesthetics, but not sit in, because they can’t
touch it when it’s in a museum space. It’s crazy.
But this is what many artists do. This is what
many are taught. And that the word “modern” is still the catch-all total aim
for gallery artists, it presumes that the future is always better than the past
or present. The game becomes one of constant catch-up. So many artists don’t
follow their instincts, or try to figure out what artists have done
traditionally for thousands of years that might have kept them gainfully
employed. They follow the higher authorities of today, usually originating from
critics and art professionals of New York City, who are backed up by
millionaires and billionaires who can afford to invest in the high end stuff
that the rest of us can’t afford or don’t have much interest in.
By following what is considered to be modern or
“contemporary” as it is now called, what many fine artists (gallery artists)
are trying to do is get into intellectual byzantium - the place where artist go
after death - heaven for artists, something similar to making it into the
history books. And it has nothing to do with status obtained from earning money
either. It’s a battle for status and acceptance, hopefully by the right people,
which money isn’t supposed to buy. It’s similar to the way a rock guitarist
would like to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But for many visual
artists, public appeal or basic functions is not what they’re looking for.
Validation comes from erudite art professionals, not you, the public. So the
aim for many artists, either taught or self-imposed, is not to service the
public, the community, other’s beliefs, but to aim for this bizarre heaven.
If you want to help artists get a grip on
reality, keep them rooted to the ground and community, there are methods;
namely, buy the art you like. Or commission artists.
You may not realize it, but you already are.
Every time your purchase a comic book, graphic novel, book of political
cartoons, a children’s picture book or chapter book, a movie, video game, or
even watch TV, you are investing in visual art. Thousands and thousands of
artists are gainfully employed doing what artists have done for thousands of
years, but now they have even more avenues other than hanging work in a
gallery. Many are told or taught that popular art isn’t worthy, that the focus
for artists should be on intellectual byzantium - heaven for artists. But why
support this “death instinct” that we Westerners seem to have. Why not live for
the day.
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