Sometimes it’s good to step back and reflect. This is one of those times. I’m truly enjoying the challenge of reading Kandinsky’s short but dense book (or, maybe I’m the one who’s dense). In either case, it’s time for reflection. Our good friend Casey Klahn commented on my last post about the future. He wrote: “For Kandinsky, the representation of the same objects again and again was the past, and pure abstraction the future. What is the future, now?”
Great question: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF ART, NOW?
Personally, I think the future is controlled by whoever is steering the ship.
Do visionary artists, art critics, or marketing geniuses control the future of art?
Will artists of the future, who now directly exhibit and market their work through the internet and self-publishing, control the future direction of art?
Will grass roots level artists, like me, ever have any opportunity to steer this ship, or will we remain passengers in the cargo hold?
What do you think?
I’ll be away for the week to make the last preparations to move into our winter wonderland home in Maine (image) and will check in now and then if I’m lucky.
13 comments:
Maybe David Hockney and his IPad/IPhone art is a glimpse of the future.
Interesting to see the trends in art - figurative, realist, expressive, abstraction. I think whatever goes around comes back around. Right now I'm enjoying learning about those figurative artists who pushed the envelope - no pretty people for them but grotesque warping of the body to comment on - what? Sometimes it's about the place of women in the world, with their bodies, aging, etc. That is what makes me look and look again. I can enjoy pure abstraction (sometimes) but it doesn't move me because I can't relate to it.
What a great place! I wish you a safe trip, and feel happy that you have such a great, remote and special place for your studio. I know you've had it for a while, but there is a new adventure coming.
I hold onto a funny quote from a little known movie named The Moderns, about artists and avant-garde types in the twenties. Anyway, as the movie is trying to resolve, the everyman character ups with, "That's the trouble with the future, it keeps moving."
(Expletive deleted) the gatekeepers. I have discovered, I think, that Kandinsky sees art as creation, which is never about the past. We can use the past and refer to it, but the act of creation is about the new.
Can you tell I'm having a great time in the studio? New things are being made.
As my interest is psychology I'm aware that things that don't change feel like the norm, like when a constant bread smell in a bakery soon seems to vanish until you leave the room and come back, scents become relative.
Therefore; things need to change to be interesting and appear new and exciting, so art, ideas, philosophy, tastes and trendds NEED to change. It's why there can be no right answer to some questions, once accepted they seem boring and a newer answer seems better. Thus; the future of art is to change, and cycle. The older an idea is the more enticing it becomes. The future is the past.
I have gone to Art Basel for the last several years. I have yet to see anything that indicates a new direction beyond what has come before. It might be my inability to recognize it, or maybe that venue - a gathering of galleries from all over the world - is not the place where a new movement would emerge. It seems to me like it would be, though - galleries are always looking for the Next Big Thing. But they also want to sell.
Periodically I will search the web and books for new trends in art. I see nothing that strikes me as groundbreaking.
Am I missing something? Is nothing happening yet? Or is it happening in a quiet studio somewhere without notice? Are there any artists proclaiming new movements?
Good luck with the remainder of the move. I hope your husband is well soon.
In the future, I hope we have artists pushing the envelope and asking the tough questions like "what is art"? I hope we have artists who continue to mine the rich culture of our artistic past and continue to come up with meaningful art. I hope there are artists who continue to surprise, delight, annoy, anger and confound us.
My Mom used to say "everything old is new again". A great example for that saying showed itself during the 1960's. The sailor collar was "in"... my Mom showed me a picture of a 1920's "middy collar" ....and it was identical. That pretty much sums up everything...every new batch of people rediscovers the same things over and over (in pretty much the same way). There's room in the world for it all.
I agree with Mark and Celeste mostly, and everyone else too. Art is a reflection of our society and history repeats itself so our future as artists can be found in the past. Whether it will sell or not... that is a whole different story!
(I hope the snow doesn't cause moving to be a bigger headache for you than it already is.)
Better bring your shovel!
Future of art? Hum... I'm not really concerned with that really. Art comes from within and sometimes we must do what we must do. For most artists, art is not a trend. I think the real question should be what is the future of art sales? Now there's something I'm concerned about.
What ship? There isn't any ship for artists. Art's been blown wide open by the ISMS. Gallery owners have influence. Public demand has influence--only if artists want to be in business-- belong to a stable or operate on their own. As for style, anything goes. Everything's been done. All have value. Artists are free. --Kandinsky is great to to read before bed--zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Best of luck Kathy with your move! You will need a shovel for sure.
I read this a few days ago and thought I'd wait to see if any answers came to me. Nope, nada, nothing.
For myself I think I will be in the cargo hold :-)... but you certainly bring up interesting stuff to ponder.
Kathy, what a winter wonderland at your new home. I hope by now you have made the move and are progressing on setting up your new life.
I can't add anything meaningful that hasn't been said by others who made some very interesting comments here. Thought-provoking, indeed.
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