People running art organizations sit around most of the time wondering how to explain the divide between the art community and the American public. How do we get attendance up? How do we attract minorities? millenials? How to shake the money tree? And now - facing abolition of the National Endowment for Arts - how do we convince Washington to continue support?
Results of a recent marketing study conducted by the research firm of YouGov PLC have just been released. The study was conducted last November, 2016. 1,105 American adults took part and here are some statistics to consider.
82% of Americans don’t know who painted “The Girl With the Pearl Earring” (I guess they didn’t see the movie. Answer: Vermeer)
42% couldn’t name Grant Woods “American Gothic” (This is unclear to me. They couldn’t name the painter? or the painting?)
1 in 14 believe that art is too pretentious and they “don’t belong in/of/by the art world”
4% buy art regularly (WHAT?! Where? Walmart doesn’t count.)
85% of those who buy art say they will spend $500. (I think that means their ceiling limit.)
Chip and I spent the past several months working through years of art left behind in one of Rochester’s premier senior residencies. My job: separate the good from the bad, re-install the good and give a ballpark estimate of its value. This artwork was purchase by some of our cities leading citizens - doctors, lawyers, academics, judges.
We sorted through and donated over 400 pieces of art - pictures that were so bad that they shouldn’t be re-hung in the renovated facility. Over 200 abandoned pieces of art were kept and added to another 200 or so owned by current tenants and re-installed in public corridors. Of the 400, my guess is that perhaps fewer than twenty (20!) have any value at all. Mostly what is installed is the work of hobbyists, pieces purchased at local outdoor art shows or from sidewalk vendors during vacations.
I’ve always considered Rochester to be a sophisticated “art city.” This experience has proved exactly the opposite. Fit this together with the research results and the picture is one of continuing failure.
Winston Churchill, when told during WWII that arts funding should be cut, said “Then what are we fighting for?” But I think we’ve lost that war.
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John Byam was born in 1929 in Oneonta, New York. He spent his entire life in Oneonta except for a couple of years in Korea (he was in the U.S. Army).
John came back home to Oneonta after Korea, became a grave digger and in his spare time, whittled. These small carved wood pieces were autobiographical. One might wonder - with such limited world experience - what interesting biography John drew upon but on examination, there are various tools, machines, lots of army related equipment and a collection of space ships. (1950s movie-type space ships)
Like so many untrained naive artist, these carvings stayed in his house until 2012 when the State University of New York, Oneonta Campus, exhibited his sculptures in their art gallery. They were “discovered” and exhibited in a New York Gallery in 2013; John died shortly after.
The Andrew Edlin Gallery in Manhattan has a solo exhibit of John’s whittling now on view until February 26, 2017. Not bad for a grave digger.
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And speaking of graves…I wrote some time ago about ceramic artists who were designing for the morbid market but here’s a new slant on “everlasting life.”
For a mere $3500, Vinyly, a U.K. company owned by Jason Leach, will take the your ashes or those of a loved one, press them to produce a vinyl record. Their motto: “Live on from beyond the groove.” For another small sum, artist James Hague will mix whatever ash parts are left into paint for the portrait he will paint as your custom record cover.
I don’t know if you can actually play this on your record player (does anyone still have one of those?) and I wonder if you can choose the song - like picking your casket? - or if you take one from their Top 10 Hits? Good grief!
5 comments:
Dear S, In light of your discovery of the lack of interest in and knowledge of "The Arts" on behalf of the nonexistent collectors in our community, I wonder just who is the audience you are addressing with your blog ? Best regards, B
The thing about writing a blog is that it's totally self-motivated. I've been in the art business on every side - practicing artist, art critic, art journalist, art gallery owner - for 50 years. My perspective - I hope - is unique. I don't need to answer to anybody about anything I write. My own parameters: tell the truth always, encourage when I can and invite anybody who wishes to disagree either to leave comments with me or write your own GD blog!
The intent of my question was certainly not to ruffle your feathers and I would never question your credentials or motives for writing your blog. I meant it as a sincere question, who do you think or wish is in the audience that reads your words. It seems to me, if we are only preaching to the choir, we run the risk of being part of the problem. It would be my hope to find a way to inspire those who are not already on the same page to find some fulfillment through the arts.
BOB! THIS IS SO EXCITING! A REAL DIALOGUE WITH SOMEONE WHO READ MY BLOG!
I don't have an answer. Jarrett J. Krosoczka (he writes and illustrates children's books - a graduate of RISD) does a wonderful TED Talk. Considered himself a loser by 1st grade...a Disney cartoonist walked past his desk when he was in 3rd grade, looked down at his doodles and said "nice cat." It became the turning point of his life. Now, how to get the "nice cat" internalized for more people!
I agree that for some of us who have been at this a while, discouragement lives on one shoulder. And as an old person, I run the risk of being that "cranky old lady who only complains!" I write because I want to leave a record of my concerns, my thinking, the quirks that make my life more interesting. So...talk...write...sing...paint...you never know who may hear "nice cat."
Dear S, I love the Krosoczka "nice cat" story, thank you. It reflects so well the serendipity of a meaningful encounter with art and kindness. Perhaps the key to engaging more folks lies not in formal art education, but rather in creating an everyday environment that encourages one to discover how art might fit into their lives. Perhaps a start would be free admission to all art museums for folks who make less than $50,000. a year. I for one would vote for that.
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