Arty Christmas Everybody!!!!

Merry christmas to everybody!! I hope you'will get the canvas, brushes... performances and exhibitions that you asked to Santa. Personnaly i asked for a job at the Blue Coat gallery in Liverpool... Who knows?! lol

Paul McCarthy Santa Claus, Tokyo, Japan, 1996

Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas!!!

Bearlin - Mark Wallinger, bears, war protest and a pince of Turner prize

Berlin, 5th of December 2006 Zoologischer Garten, calls attention to world media. Knut is born. Rejected by his mother at birth, this baby polar bear was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in over thirty years. Raised by zoo keepers, he became a major "touristic attraction".

Because Berlin loves Bears... You can find thousands of them, both in very official places and in some of the oddest corners of the city. Among many of them, reappropriated by artists, advertisers and therefore tourists, the black bear on Berlin's flag is the one that conclusively binds the animal with it's cultural identity.

Walk along Unter den Linden and try to define a taxonomy of the many "by-products" which shows the bear in countless funny situations... Mugs, T-shirts, pens, postcards... Bring something from Berlin? Bring a bear! So, what would be the ultimate tourist experience if not getting transformed into a bear?

And here comes the winner of the Turner Prize which, each year, awards a contemporary artist living or working in the U.K.:

In the framework of his performance called 'Sleeper' (double agent in the cold-war espionage context), Mark Wallinger dressed as a bear, walked on the huge ground floor space of the Neue National gallery for ten consecutive nights.

As written in the exhibition catalogue "The work develops the artist's interest in the idea of transmutation by exploring the mechanics that underpin Berlin's civic symbolism."

I think that Knut (who sleeps in a cage 15 minutes by walk away from the gallery), would tell you a lot about what it is to be a stranger adorning the local cultural attributes if he could talk.

The title also gives clue to the viewer to understand the artwork. Although divided for many years, the city is currently building an identity based upon both east and west cultures. Berlin shows to millions of tourists, its scars as a solid proof of it's notorious history (fragments of wall, differences in the architecture style of buildings on both sides...), but do not exhibits what is left to the city's consciousness as those things do not record on photographic film. I believe that the artwork comes here more than with everything else as a channel of communication, an interface that makes all this reflection... recordable.

The 'sleepers' were double agents forced to adopt plausible disguises, to adopt foreign customs in order to gain locals' trust.

I guess that this artwork will have a specific impact on those who lived and/or worked in a foreign country... Imagine what happened in people's mind when the wall felt down from this perspective; when you become a stranger in your own home... But people from Berlin would tell you this sad tale better than me.

In fact, and although sleeper's footage is currently exhibited at Tate Liverpool, this is not this artwork that the Turner Prize jury awarded. The winner project is called State Britain and recreates the peace campaigner Brian Haw's anti-war protest in Parliament Square. You probably saw it if you visited London and therefore Big-Ben, two steps away from Brian Haw's camp. Precise in every details, from the tea-making area to the numerous banners, flags, photographs and posters, Wallinger apparently hired 14 people for six months to source the materials and carefully weather and age them to a state of complete authenticity.

But at the end,... what makes all this so special? Look at the picture of the artwork below:

Can you see the black tape line drawn on the Tate gallery's floor, behind the artist? It appears that this line defines exactly the actual zone of exclusion drawn in May 23 2006 following the passing by parliament of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act that forbade unauthorised demonstrations within a kilometre of Parliament Square!

The artwork stands exactly on this line... How clever... Therefore, it becomes 'outlaw' but culturally approved by the government and therefore untouchable, which brings back to life the Brian Haw tools for protestation. Moreover, it attracts the attention of the media and demonstrates how art and language can be powerful!

Deliciously provoking! Please give an award to this guy!

Who does what? A short reflection on the role of the actors of the contemporary art market

The contemporary art market gives key roles to intermediaries such as opinion leaders, promoters, but also distributors. These are the ones who belong to the network of social relationships within which art is produced and its use determined. Such people are critics, consultants, art collectors, auction house experts, sales persons, journalists, museum professionals, art teachers and professors:

Right at the heart of the art market are the buyers of artworks. Completing the offer and intermediaries in the market scheme, they finally decide on the success of a trend or an artist. The English reference magazine ART REVIEW draws a map depicting the geographical distribution of power within the contemporary art world every year. The French Collector François Pinault was classified being the first most influential art player in the world in 2006 by the above mentioned magazine (in the Power 100 Issue) whereas the first artists appearing in the ranking are Bruce Nauman and Jeff Koons occupying only the 9th and 10th position.
Consultants enable actors in the art world, gallerists in particular, to gain access to information concerning the market. They also are the ones who may give access to the “grey” market where artworks are sold privately by one collector to another without passing through a dealer or an auction house.

In his book "Collecting contemporary", Adam Lindermann argues that museum staffs facilitate the emergence of an artist’s reputation and the evolution of trends: “There is no doubt that the Paul McCarthy (one of the 24 artists represented in the ArtReview classification mentioned above) retrospective organised by Lisa Phillips and Dan Cameron (belonging to the museum staff) a few years ago at the New Museum of contemporary art in new-York confirms that this seminal but long under appreciated artist was going to develop a real commercial market”.

Art critics no longer have the power to make or break the reputation of an artist. As an example, the exhibitions of Damien Hirst or Jeff Koons had bad reviews in the Art press but were still sold out. Nevertheless art critics continue to have a significance on the art world as they give information on hypes and trends.

By classifying, promoting and explaining art to novices or simply by their choice to display one artist rather than another these intermediaries maintain this social network alive and powerful.
In this context, Carole Duncan in Aesthetic of Power highlights that an artwork would only be recognised as ‘high art’ on the international scene if one of its network members treats it as art. Therefore, “In order to become visible in this world, an artist must make work that in some way addresses the highest community or some segment of it”. In other words, the message and its form have to match the expectancies of the intermediaries in terms of communication.

Moreover, Carole Duncan, argue that “The modern world of high art is an international art market centered in NY city and emanating out to rival centers in Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo and the other great centers of capitalism. Like any market, it is organised around the production and the use of commodities, in this case luxury objects produced by small manufacturers”. Underlining this, figures on the art market show that this market is dominated by players from Europe, Hong-Kong and the US being western in its cultural orientation and business practice. This hegemony of western culture in the art market might form an obstacle for members of other cultures to act on the market.

Also, it may be difficult for an artist to escape the hegemonic power that western culture has on the whole art world.

Now that you know your people, there is no reason for your masterpieces, to stay hided forever in the little wood house at the back of the garden !!! ;-))

Artwork of the month: Lisa yuskavage

What to find in the "Artwork of the month" section? Something that I like... old or new... Well known or not... Something that I want to share... And this month, I would like to share with you my interest in Lisa Yuskavage paintings and an artwork in particular:

With True Blonde Draped (1999) she depicts a poignant portrait of a blond hair girl who seems crushed by something not directly painted on the canvas... But Lisa Yuskavage gives us clues about her situation:

Let’s first have a look on the background. The saturated red color, fills heavily every inches of the frame with sexual connotations.

Her ruffled hair and her naked body under the bedding indicates that the scene takes probably place after the sexual act. She significantly protects her crotch with both clasped hands. Beautiful, ...she is, she is an exact compromise between sexual icon (blond hair, pulpy with a huge breast) and ordinary (shadows on her face, blunt nose, unsteady breast). She is the victim of a voyeurism act that YOU, the viewer, perpetrate. Prisoner of the canvas, of the tainted surrounding air and prisoner of her own attributes... Her beauty is her burden, heavily symbolised by her breast. She is trapped!

This stereotype that shapes the cage of our True Drapped Blonde is central in Yuskavage paintings and I invite you to have a look on the flickr diaporama available on the right column of this blog to discover more of her amazing artworks.

Technically, Lisa's work is recognized as particularly impressive among connoisseurs: She apparently uses models to study lights and shadows; photos to frame the paintings, her work is so impressive technically (paint strokes, mastering of light effects...etc.) that specialised art press often compare her to Renaissance masters (No joking).

To replace her work in a more general art world background, she is often associated with artists such as John Currin (Google his name on Google image or click there to go on the BBC website or slate.com, you ll see the similarities by yourself), Luc Tuymans and Elizabeth Peyton in the 1990's, reaching superstar status after reinserting figuration in the art world.

Lisa Yuskavage is currently represented by David Zwirner, New York and greengrassi, London.

Call it kitsch, call it soft-porn, call it gorgeous, sexy, weird or embarrassing, appealing or repulsive, Lisa yuskavage paintings shake the art world... but what about you?

So...? Do you like it? Do not forget to vote on the right hand side column of this blog!!!!

;-)

happy first anniversary...

Hello reader!!

Today was the last day to vote for the artwork of the month and you were 15 to vote... Not that bad if you consider that in one month of existence, this blog attracted 163 Visitors (48 unique visitors from 12 different countries) for a rate of 5.26 Visits / Day!

I believe it is a success! Thanks to all of you who gave me the motivation after this month-test to continue this way! I am open to any suggestion to make it better, so do not hesitate to leave your comments!

As I said, I will start now to advertise it and to use the classical blog-marketing techniques to share this blog with more visitors. I wish to hit the 1000 visitors by the 12nd August!
But now, let's talk a bit about the artwork of the month... The results for the Murakami's 'Hommage to Francis Bacon' were:

• 50% Funky Soul Baby
• 42% Groovy for sure
• 7% Not the type of artwork I d hang on my living room wall
• 0% Rather listening to Enya

I am glad you like it!!! Something tells me that we will have to come back to Murakami quite regularly regarding to his actuality!!!

Thanks again for all!

Is art cool?!?

December, end of the year, time for assessments. Everybody in the art world seems to agree that Doris Salcedo's crack in the Tate gallery and Damien Hirst's diamond skull are the artworks of the year.

I say fair enough... Did you see this crack? Did you see this skull? amazing aren't they?!!

The first is a work commissioned by the Tate gallery and is only viewable in Tate modern because it's part of it. This 548ft crack called Shibboleth is here to show how the foundations of the contemporary art world are fragile. Cracking the ground floor of the HUGE turbine hall of the Tate modern was particularly clever in this sense: Tate modern is one of the biggest touristic attractions in London, one of the coolest brand (15th on the coolbrands classification... Do not believe me? Check yourself: http://www.superbrands.uk.com/pdfs/CB%20-%20Press%20Release%20-%20Announcement%20-%20Final.pdf) and a centre of gravity for the contemporary art. Cracking its foundation suggests that the contemporary art culture was built upon colonialist values and cultural imposition. "Shibboleth asks questions about the interaction of sculpture and space, about architecture and the values it enshrines, and about the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built" in Salcedo's own words.

Although the media criticize on the one hand that visitors keep on asking to the staff "how did the artist do that?!" and keep on falling in the crack... (A dozen of accidents reported!); on the other hand, to quote Jonathan Jones from the Guardian Art blog "it is a fissure that doesn't really threaten anything or anyone".

Moreover, he says "Modern art has now become the universal culture of Britain's middle class, of all ages. Yet when a really provocative and powerful contemporary work appears - I'm talking about Damien Hirst's diamond skull - the middle class runs for cover, disturbed by the impossibility of reducing this disturbing object to a liberal platitude".

Photograph: Getty

And here comes our second Artwork: Damien Hirst's Diamond Skull. For me there is nothing controversial about it. I can imagine that it may shake the common mood but honestly, having a look back in the 90's on Tracey Emin's bed, it may suffer the comparison. Remember, she brought her own bed covered of alcohol, germs and traces of her sexual activity... In Saatchi's gallery. Ok! Ok! Nothing to do with the skull, but that rocked! didn't it?

My Bed by Tracey Emin, 1998. Photograph: courtesy Jay Jopling/White Cube.

Here lies the problem. Contemporary art became popular, fashionable, cool (look at this whole blog: I do not think I m the first writing a blog about contemporary art, believing that my view got the spark that will lead me to a Worldwide Web rapid success!) And my generation acknowledged the existence of contemporary art with artists like Emin, Chapman brothers and a pope crushed by a rock came from space. In fact my first memorable artwork was the empty room presented for the Turner Prize by Martin Creed (Work No. 227: The lights going on and off 2000 (installation at Tate Britain)5 seconds on/5 seconds off, Edition 2/electrical time). In fact I found it controversial enough to bring it on the top of my hobby list... Can you imagine now why a skull and diamonds are not controversial to me? Is it controversial to you?

Courtesy Cabinet, London © GBE (Modern) New York Photo: Tate Photography

-John! come here! Take a picture of us in front of this... hmm... Nazi's cross model representing hell, crafted by the Chapman brothers!!!

Yep! Chapman's are cool too nowadays!

ART should be challenging and provocative... But please do not provoke us for free... We are bored anyway, it's all done! ;-))

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/12/hirst.html
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/2007/10/salcedos-crack-.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/dorissalcedo/default.shtm

Quotation of the month - December 2007

The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.
Marcel Duchamp

Tony Stamolis Vs. Terry Richardson

Hello reader! Look what I found on the Internet today: A press-release from the website of the Guy Hepner gallery... A good occasion to compare those two influential photographers. Unfortunately it is a bit late (till 31/11... and a bit far away as well...). One raised on the east coast, the other in California, but so many similarities...

Terry Richardson- iconic, established, extrovert. Exuberant and erotic at the same time, he has carved a niche as the heavyweight champion of off the wall, spur of the moment, raw talent photography of the past 10 years. His "snapshot aesthetic" is unmistakable, often shot with nothing more than a mundane compact camera. Richardson is an icon, his photos every bit as much. Tony Stamolis- Tony Stamolis's new portfolio is the work of a classic cad: raw and sexy, with a winking sense of humor. The Brooklyn photographer shoots friends, lovers and ad-hoc still lives with a prankster's eye. Never happier than when provoking the masses and challenging the generally accepted, his signature look is captivating, as funny as it is sexy, all the while remaining what it should be: great photography
Work is available from $2500, for all inquiries please email info@guyhepner.com

Do you think they are typical products of the U.S. culture? Have a look at the following text: It comes from a study of Hofstede, well-known in the world of cultural studies who is famous for his work on cultural dimensions and available on his excellent website: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_united_states.shtml.

"The high Individualism (IDV) ranking for the United States indicates a society with a more individualistic attitude and relatively loose bonds with others. The populace is more self-reliant and looks out for themselves and their close family members.

The next highest Hofstede Dimension is Masculinity (MAS) with a ranking of 62, compared with a world average of 50. This indicates the country experiences a higher degree of gender differentiation of roles. The male dominates a significant portion of the society and power structure. This situation generates a female population that becomes more assertive and competitive, with women shifting toward the male role model and away from their female role.

World averages shown above are: 55 - 43 - 50 - 64 - 45

The next lowest ranking Dimension for the United States is Power Distance (PDI) at 40, compared to the world Average of 55. This is indicative of a greater equality between societal levels, including government, organizations, and even within families. This orientation reinforces a cooperative interaction across power levels and creates a more stable cultural environment.

The last Geert Hofstede Dimension for the US is Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), with a ranking of 46, compared to the world average of 64. A low ranking in the Uncertainty Avoidance Dimension is indicative of a society that has fewer rules and does not attempt to control all outcomes and results. It also has a greater level of tolerance for a variety of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs".

Now have a look on their portfolio displayed on the following websites and keep what you just read in mind:

http://www.terryrichardson.com/

http://www.tonystamolis.com/portfolio/01.html

Got it? ;-)

http://www.guyhepner.com/content/content.php?id=753