Art & Perception

I revisited one of the places I like to photograph and came back with, among others, the image shown above. No, it was not the scene of junkyard treasure, and this is not the side of a beat-up old car. It’s actually from my ghost town site, and it’s the side of a beat-up old outhouse. I guess I took it because I tend to like abstracts like this. Though that’s probably not the whole story, because this is the only abstract I made in hours of photographing in a place loaded with weathered wood, ancient mining equipment, etc. Perhaps I was drawn to it through mysterious workings of my unconscious. If so, I discovered why the next day — but maybe you can guess it now?

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Painting From Life vs. From Photos

Drawings, paintings and photographs all seem to be more or less static entities. With luck, they can last more or less unchanged for hundreds of years. It is therefore interesting, if disconcerting, when artworks appear to change drastically from day to day. more… »

I recently received an email from Jay Hoffman, which I may as well quote here.

Question: is there a category on A&P for the kind of comments that might be sparked by a topic, but which may have a broader informational potential? While scanning through posts and comments I remember coming across a question about preservation. It was only later that I recalled a local institution, The Intermuseum Conservation Association 216-658-8700, that deals with such issues and will discuss over the phone. By then I had forgotten within which post this matter belonged, and didn’t want to throw it out there wily nilly.

This brings up a point which has come up from time to time, but hasn’t been effectively addressed yet: how do we make the accumulating pool of useful stuff on A&P available without requiring that people wade through the ocean of, let’s say, less useful stuff. Not that I’m blaming anyone; in fact, the latest failure is mine (find it if you can). But Jay’s message sparked an idea that might be successful, mainly because it doesn’t depend on me or any other editor. Here it is:

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This is a resource post. Please add comments describing any useful information about conservation materials or techniques. Links to other online resources are welcome, especially if you say a word or two about what is available at that resource. Links can also be to Art and Perception posts with relevant information. If the information is in a comment rather than the main post, please link to the comment, which can be done by copying the link under the comment date (or the name of the commenter from the sidebar comment section).

This is a resource post. Please add comments describing any useful information about any art-related books you have enjoyed or found useful. Links to other online book resources are welcome, especially if you say a word or two about what is available at that resource. Links can also be to Art and Perception posts with relevant information. If the information is in a comment rather than the main post, please link to the comment, which can be done by copying the link under the comment date (or the name of the commenter from the sidebar comment section).

Farmland, 36 x 43, painted cotton

I have lived many places, and in each, I have always had a strong sense of the place itself — the trees and plants, the nature of the cultivated earth, the nature of the uncultivated earth, the sky, winds, air, light — I can describe all these with a fair amount of detail.

But I seldom had to try to recap in art what I know about a place where I no longer live. However, now I am doing so.

“Paint what’s around you,” seems to be a sound admonition, but what is around me is the opposite, environmentally speaking, of what I am painting. more… »

It was with much elation that I read an email sent out by a fairly prominent gallery (which will remain unnamed in this post) in Chelsea, NY last week announcing that they were happy to represent my work. I had entered an art competition sometime back hosted by the same gallery and I guess I must have caught someone’s eye to be ‘noticed’ by the gallery’s director. This was about the same time that we were having our second child (we had a baby boy and all are doing well) and I did not bother to read some of the fine print that the same email carried. Once things settled down a bit over the weekend, I decided to check the attached legalese and found out that the gallery representation came at a cost: 

• Basic One-Year Representation ~ $3K (10 feet of exhibition space)
• Standard One-Year Representation ~ $5K (20 feet of space) 
• Premium One-Year Representation ~ $10K (40 feet of space and review in some NY art publication) 

All of the above options include the following ‘perks’ 

• Allow use of words “represented by Un-named Gallery” on resume. 
• Director reserves right to establish prices for work. 
• Representation on the gallery’s online site (~ 8 images) 

I remember being a little confused. I was under the impression that galleries who decide to represent an individual’s work do it out of two things: 1) An understanding by the gallery that the work would attract buyers and it does make economic sense to exhibit 2) Genuine appreciation for the artwork submitted… 

Maybe I am being too idealistic, but other than the gallery looking out to pay exorbitant Chelsea based rents in this case, I fail to see how ‘fee based tiered representations’ like the one described above would really help artists like me… 

What are your thoughts, experiences and advice? Are all galleries like this? Is this the norm to break into Chelsea (especially in a superheated art environment like the one that we are living in)? For some reason, I do not think so (but I am just an amateur with little experience venturing out into the art exhibition space)…

Cartoon of an ‘Overheated art district’