tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post4022547344499277828..comments2023-06-13T08:29:39.914+00:00Comments on MAKING A MARK: 21st October: Who's made a mark this week?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-92160873469545330772007-10-21T16:02:00.000+00:002007-10-21T16:02:00.000+00:00On the one hand I can understand that getting a lo...On the one hand I can understand that getting a lot of galleries together in one place can make it very attractive as a place to go for the potential consumer. It's the gallery equivalent of a shopping mall!<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, it does seem to do something to individuality and idiosyncracy - a bit in the same way as it begins to get difficult to tell certain shops from others selling the same thing in shopping malls. <BR/><BR/>Worse still - the cult of the "fashionable" tends to take hold. <BR/><BR/>As somebody who has sworn off 'fashion', I always remind myself that 'fashionable' can often be a triumph of marketing over good sense. There's quite a few artists (and galleries) around who are astoundingly good at marketing themselves. That doesn't make them "good" - just "good at marketing".<BR/><BR/>I've never been very fashionable and have got less so with age - but I think one of the advantages might be that I tend to get less swayed by "the latest thing / artist /installation /whatever".<BR/><BR/>I find Art Fairs quite interesting as social phenomena but I think they serve to stoke 'groupthink' activity and crowd behaviour.<BR/><BR/>I tend to prefer artists who have stood the test of time rather than those who have achieved the 'fame' of being fasionable. But maybe I'm being very unfair to those artists whose work is shown at such Fairs?Making A Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509483023337008890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-92110631390473580502007-10-21T15:32:00.000+00:002007-10-21T15:32:00.000+00:00There is something troubling about an art fair tha...There is something troubling about an art fair that is known for it's money. Money is fine, and capitalism is too. But this business of art minus critical value - that's the trouble.<BR/><BR/>Some have fingered the loss of the art critic in modern discourse.<BR/><BR/>As an artist who exhibits in critically juried shows locally, I often wonder at the roll of gallery centric fairs. Of course, the Venice Biennial has it's long history, so I tend to give it credit for that. But the Art Basels and this Frieze one. What happened to the non-commercial aura of the gallery?<BR/><BR/>Just some thoughts.Casey Klahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08020906666248399435noreply@blogger.com