Art Addict

Herb & Dorothy

I am very excited to see Herb & Dorothy, opening this Friday 6/5 in New York. I am looking forward to getting a close up view of an art collecting couple I have been admiring from afar for years. Check out the trailer on the link, and you, too, will be excited to see this film.

Q&A with Herb and Dorothy Vogel and director Megumi Sasaki

Friday/Saturday 5pm, Sunday 2:50pm at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street)

All upcoming show times - in NY and beyond - here. 

We're at it Again

We have opened the application process for the 2009 West Prize. Free to apply for anyone over the age of 18 and with works priced below $10,000. We've improved the application process so that applicants can go back into their online applications to make changes and updates. The application process closes on November 1, 2009. Acquisition prize funds total $100,000 for ten artists with a $25,000 grand prize awarded to one of the ten. 

Even if you aren't applying check out who is here. 

Good art. Good cause.

Jenny Laden, Trying Fancy On, 2008, oil and gold leaf on wood, 12x19 inches

Buying at a non-profit auction can be a great way to pick up good art at under market prices. A nice selection of art is up for bid at the 5th annual BAMart Silent Auction running until this Monday, May 11. Bid online for works by 150+ artists. Some of my favorites: Carlo Ferraris, Eric Fertman, J. Fiber (Jane Fine and James Esber), Adia Millett, David Opdyke, Chris Piazza, John Rappleye, Fidel Sclavo, and Mary Temple.

Art App

A new app for your iPhone. ArtNear (HopNear Inc) is an application connecting you to galleries and museums in your area. It searches for nearby venues based on your location and you can type in an artist's name to find out where they are showing. Cool.

The State of the Art Market

This should be an interesting evening:

A discussion (FREE and open to the public) on the current state of the art market at FIT:

Moderator: 

Sheri Pasquarella - cofounder New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA); Art Consultant; Faculty, Fashion Institute of Technology

Panelists:

Yvonne Garcia - Director of Development, Bronx Museum

Florence Lynch - Curator; Director, Florence Lynch Gallery

Paul Morris - VP of Art Properties, Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.

Lowell Pettie - Lowell Pettit art advisory; Independent Curator

Walter Robinson - Editor, artnet Magazine; Critic; Artist

Wednesday, April 22

7-8:30PM

Fashion Institute of Technology

Katie Murphy Amphitheater, Pomerantz Center for Art and Design

Seventh Avenue at 27th Street (D building)

More info here.

Art on a Bus

If the kids can't/won't come to the art, take the art to the kids! Love this! 

Laura Knowles / New Era Correspondent

A nice article on the Susquehanna Art Museum's VanGo!: Art Museum on Wheels program. The current VanGo! exhibition (Earth, Wind, Fire & Water: Science in Art) includes a piece by one of the loveliest people I know (and a favorite artist) Julianne Swartz. Every school district should be so lucky to have a program like this one.

Julianne Swartz, Bubble Portrait (earth), 2005, c-print, 23.5" x 32"

On the Radio

I'm on the radio! NPR in Louisville, Kentucky (WFPL, 82.3FM). It sounds so weird to hear my voice. Two small quotes in the middle of the interview.

Listen here

Sorry for the shameless self plug. 

Boom or Bust, Buy

 

In a boom, it’s cool to love art, see art, buy art. Art is taken seriously. A bust dismisses it as a luxury.

- Alexandra Peers, New York Magazine, March 1, 2009

I'm not so sure that art is taken seriously in a boom. Prices and collectors and dealers seem to be taken seriously. Art tends to be a byproduct - a means to an end in our fascination with the market during a boom. Who bought that? And they paid what?

That being said, the recent boom was good for art, I think. We read about art and artists and the art market in almost every newspaper and magazine in this country - Time, The Economist, and even the glossiest of glossies, Elle Decor, Vogue, Metropolitan Home, etc. The more eyes on "the biggies" (those making news at auction) helped draw eyes to the "up and coming" (artists in mid-career). More people wanted to play in the art sandbox so there were opportunities for more sandboxes to be built. More collectors, more galleries, more art available. 

A bust means that less will be spent on art, for sure. But perhaps it also means that more people will be focused on the art rather than on the market of art? 

We all know it is just plain tough impossible for an artist to support themselves by making art. I know that in a bust it is even harder for artists to be artists. Many say this (fewer artists) is good for the art world. I don't agree. Rather I think a few less collectors would be good for this art world. Smarter dollars being spent to ensure smarter careers (longer shelf life) for artists. But it is all connected, isn't it? With fewer collectors (less $) in the market, fewer artists will be able to live on art. Many will give up making art all together. But some will survive and thrive in a new market creating new art for new reasons and new audiences. Art because it has to be made. Hopefully leading to inspiring collecting. More collecting to support artists (primary market) rather than supporting auction houses and other collectors. 

I post this on the day before the opening of art fair weekend in New York. I am out of town this weekend. Part of our collection is being shown in Dallas. I'm here for the opening. Bad timing on my part because now more than ever I hope to support the market by continuing to collect. Boom or bust, I'm a collector. It's in my blood. I'm hooked. There's no recovery for this addiction. I hope others will join me, whether this weekend or next month, in continuing to be inspired by art and supporting artist by buying their work. 

In a future post I hope to share some great places to continue to collect some great art at great prices. Join me if and when you can...

Uber Zoom

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (uber-detail)

Check out the Prado Museum's masterpieces in ultra high resolution. Now available on Google Earth, you can zoom into a number of paintings from the Prado's collection to see incredible details - cracks and blemishes you might not be able to notice even if you were standing in front of the painting. One new painting added each day. 

Google Earth also has incredible detail of ocean floors. Who knew what was down there? Now we all do...

(Thank you VSL for the heads up!)

Olafur Eliasson at TED

I recently returned from TED. (Those in the know, know. Those that don't, should.) TED always includes artists in their presenter line up. This year included Olafur Eliasson. I'll state right up front that I am a fan of Eliasson's work. I wasn't so sure I'd be a fan of his presentation, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did enjoy listening to him and learning from him. 

One of the things I like best about Eliasson's work (as well as Turrell's and Christo's) is that "even a child" can get a lot out of it. I like experiential work that can't be brought home and is meant to be a shared experience. I am lucky to live in New York and was able to see Eliasson's Waterfalls (pictured) through the eyes of my three year old son. Listening to Eliasson speak about his work I realized that my three year old "got it". He may not have been able to tell anyone what he "got", but he was experiencing exactly what Eliasson hoped people "got" from his work.

Eliasson considers his studio a laboratory. He is part artist part scientist. (This is a win-win at TED as science is a main topic of discussion.) He talked about experience as responsibility - when you are having an experience you are taking part in the world. When you are taking part you are taking responsibility. This responsibility can be individual, as in a museum setting - one on one with a work of art, or collectively as a group, as in a public installation. He hoped his Waterfall installations in New York gave the city a sense of dimension...making the city accessible and tangible, not so big and hairy. My three year old definitely got that aspect of them. His relationship with the Brooklyn Bridge changed dynamically when the waterfall was installed. Bridges, and that bridge in particular, took form in his little brain simply because someone had added a waterfall to the structure. What was not noticed before became a beacon of curiosity and learning.

TED will have Eliasson's talk up on the website in the next few weeks. I will post a link when it is live. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite talks from this year and past years:

Vik Muniz

Ken Robinson (Are Schools Killing Creativity?)

Rives

Ben Zander

Barry Schwartz (The Real Crisis? We Stopped Being Wise)

Nellie McKay

Elizabeth Gilbert (A Different Way to Think About Creative Genius)

There are so many more.... Thank you TED!