Mumfandc
TPF Noob!
Who exactly decides who is an artist? I could be an artist to one person and not to another.Hertz van Rental said:You also need to realise that galleries and such are not in the least interested in Art. They just want to find something that they can sell for wad's of cash and are just in to novelty (I could tell you stories...)
Art buyers are similarly obsessed with money. They only want to buy things that will gain in value and they have their methods.
The name of the game now is novelty and gimmick and lot's of young 'artists' jump on whichever bandwagon is passing - not to make art but to make money.
It will sort itself out in time. Probably.
I disagree with you about galleries and their quest for money. I do AGREE that there are those who purchase artwork merely for the increasing value of it. But I don't agree that you can generalize the entire art buyer populace with that statement.
I don't know if you seen the galleries here in NYC, but there are dozens of galleries here that do not "sell" any type of material work to the public. For example, those who routinely host performance art like the Sean Kelly gallery who represents Marina Abramovic...I'd suggest you look up her work. One interesting piece "Rhythm 0", she invited her audience to do whatever they wanted to her body using any of the 72 items she provided: pen, scissors, chains, axe, loaded pistol, and others.
If not performance art, then installation art which can't be "bought", as they are only temporary, later to be dismantled and "discarded". I believe it was the Matthew Marks (or Gladstone?) gallery which hosted the installation artist Gregor Schneider last year. He's work often deals with the alteration of interior spaces which confuse the viewers sensory experiences.
For this particular "exhibition", if you went into the actual gallery space itself, there was LITERALLY NOTHING there...rather you had to walk outside to an adjacent halfway-closed metal "garage door" (which you had to CRAWL under), to find a constructed alley-like claustrophobic space which was very unnerving. It was open 24-hours, it could only be found by word of mouth.
I'm just trying show you that these galleries are not always interested in "something they can sell for wad's of cash" like you said. Of course there are galleries which sell art for the sole purpose of decorating ones home...I guess that's another "type".