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12/26/2005: "THE GAME OF ART FOR 2006" by Hyacinthe Baron
It is the Holiday Season again and "The times they are a changing", Bob Dylan said it quite appropriately. Art has become a game and the players are bigger than ever. An Art Elite definitely exists. Entrepreneurs and business men like the Rizzos of Barnes and Noble have inherited the boards of institutions from the old wealthy who played the art game for tax breaks and to become Art Patrons to those few artistes who knew how to play the game. New actions are required for an artist to make it today. The number of artists has grown by leaps and bounds. Artists who do not understand their craft find it difficult to discern what is good art and what is not because they are not being taught reverence for art and craft as the old masters did. They do not apprentice in the studios of master artists or seek the right teachers. They put raw pencil to paper and think that is enough. And why not? They are being told that a childlike drawing by a drugged out Basqiuat has great value. Talent is not a necessary to be a successful artist in the world today.
Cycles: Oil on canvas, 3'x4' Hyacinthe Kuller Baron
To me, self taught but educated by looking at and studying the works of early Medieval and Renaissance masters, the discernment came from instinct, intuition and being in touch with an inner aesthetic. I wonder then why so many individuals disregard these basic ingredients and actually wonder if a terribly rendered drawing or painting actually might have value?
In the game of art there are so many childlike scrawls being touted as great works of art and value we search for a hint that may show promise of talent or an ability to someday present a new vision and a new technique, only to fall back on our proverbial bottom at the recognition of the truth that so much art being put out there actually has a rank odor. It is like the Emperor’s New Clothes. Artists playing the game keep hoping maybe, just maybe, without their knowing it, some arbiter of taste with money to dispense will come upon their work and make a declaration. Then the artist will reap the true rewards for putting pencil to paper for declaring their ego like Kilroy, "I was here!" "I made this!" Isn't it not only wonderful but in the art game it has a value! Yippeee!
I look for evidence of a path traveled by the artist to arrive at a self determined level of excellence. There is enough history of the works of great artists so it is not a guessing game after all. It all makes me wonder; could a train run on non-existent tracks? Could a shooter hit a target every time without training? Could an untrained opera singer be catapulted to a stage and praised for a raw performance? Would that singer be acclaimed for a valid interpretation of a great composers work? I think not.
So who is in charge and by what aesthetic value judgments are marks made without refinement and technique being declared worthy of appreciation?
Life and Death: Oil on canvas, 2'x3' Hyacinthe Kuller Baron
These are things to be contemplated by the artist in serious pursuit of an artistic ideal and the subsequent rewards that accompany such strivings. The reality is that most fine artists do achieve a modicum of success through recognition and rewards in the arenas in which they choose to compete. There are always venues available for the accomplished artist to find acclaim.
Today the state of the arts and patronage are totally different from the way it used to be. A collector simply cannot donate a work or works of art without a matching purchase fund. This is because several years ago the government put an end to the "Tax Game" which had been going on for years between collector donors and Museums. I assisted one of the world's greatest designers and my mentor Charles James in locating his creations from among the collections of the intelligentsia of the world. They would donate their James original to a museum collection such as the Metropolitan Museum Costume Collection or the Alfred and Victoria Museum in London, and subsequently receive a huge tax write off and then give the designer a check as a stipend for him to live off his "laurels" as it were.
Many of the great designers such as Fortuny and Madame Vionnet and Matisse and Giacometti and other artists and even writers practiced this sort of patronage and made their living this way. This is not too different from the patronage Michelangelo and DaVinci and other great masters received. There are artists today who maintain the skill to play the artist and sponsor game, the mentor and protege relationship exists as we know.
Women of Fashion, Oil and metallics on canvas, 2'x3' by Hyacinthe Kuller Baron
I know a sculptor who practiced this art for many years, by charming noble women of wealth and movie stars, gracing their collections with his work, using their names to parlay others to obtain pieces, without payment, donating them to museums for certain values and he receiving his stipend from their windfall benefits. In return he wined and dined the wealthy and famous in his humble abode sans studio to which they flocked for the charm of it all and the "in" invitation to the Bohemian life style. The rest of the time he served as Artist in Residence at luxurious estates where he assumed the role of Culture Rep and was given a broad canvas on which to practice his wiles and find new benefactors.
It was quite a game.
However it all ended when the government revised the tax laws and declared only the value of the materials would apply to any donated work.
What was a poor investor collector to do?
Remand the artists back to their garrets to drown in the increasing sea of works they were producing under now false pretenses? The game was done. The monies dried up. The Galleries were aware the audience had too so why waste valuable space.
Dogs of War: Mixed Media on Canvas: Dedicated to 9/11, 3'x4' by Hyacinthe Kuller Baron
Enter a new player in the art market: the art print reproduction, unlimited, unsigned, unnumbered and affordable with a big profit margin in the framing, a cross between the decorative and the master art. A Picasso for every living room and the funds and the original go to museums to add to their purchase awards so they could build their collections and reward the donors with real money. It gets so complicated it is almost the stuff of myth.
Did we think Dali was nuts? Or was he aware of the market conditions and willing to put on a show for the end result of increasing the interest in and the value of his works? There was a reason he only accepted payment in gold from "dealers", he didn't trust them and their promises for all the tea in China. And think about it. Dali was a great draftsman, a marvelous painter who commanded his medium and look at what he had to resort to. In the end he sold out to Disney, trying desperately to make the leap into 3 dimensions with laser art which Disney would later perfect without Dali.
Talk about plagiarism. Thousands of full color large scale art books with pages torn out and phony signatures impressed and sold in fancy frames by unscrupulous art dealers cashing in on a growing market of collectors who like to follow the crowd and could be convinced that after all, if it is a Dali, it must have great worth. Dealers went to jail and right back to their old ways as soon as they were let out. Another glitzy gallery and plenty more prints where those came from.
That is the thing about art books that feature collections of works by artists. Books can be printed in the thousands. They can be circulated in so many varied venues and the work therein seen by so many varied individuals. It is a wonder to me why every artist wouldn't want to seize an opportunity to have their work appear in a book dedicated to showcasing selected art and the artist, and protecting the imagery by being published in black and white and then backed up to boot by a showcase on an internet web site in full color.
The art game is no longer the same as it was before Warhol and Basquiat. The ballrooms are closed in the great mansions. Mrs. William Randolph Hearst no longer poses in her Charles James Original ballgown for ads in Vogue Magazine, Mrs DeHeeron of the Wanamaker fortune no longer subsidizes starving artists and designers and somewhere she has the one size fits all original dress Charlie gave me and then borrowed back so he could give it to her and receive another check for her tax benefit donation.
So how does this apply to artists today? It is a new game. Artists who are ready to exhibit, who honestly feel they have reached a level on which their talent describes the artistic journey and arrival should now take advantage of the opportunities that do exist. Post works in a portfolio site on the internet which is a personal space and an opportunity for the artist to display and set the stage for the presentation of their art.
Enter competitions and then list them in biographies whether won or not, effort does count. Constantly build credits to impress potential collectors and benefactors that the artist has a history of exhibiting.
Publish art for archival purposes in books like the Art and Human Nature Collection Literary and Art Book which benefits the many projects of the Baron Conservancy. Publication is March 2006. Check it out on www.barongallery.com. Potential buyers are always impressed when they see the artist’s work published and can have a book in hand.
These things will add to the artist's curriculum vitae when approaching galleries and future collectors and benefactors and museums.
We look forward to the most successful art new year ever. It is 80 degrees in Palm Springs, CA and 70 at the Baron Conservancy in Wonder Valley. We will drink a toast to all and would like to invite all artists to contribute to our book and attend our book signing
We have decided, at this late stage in our art game, to develop our own venue and to create a master work that will belong to the land. The Baron Conservancy is conceived as an earthscape, an original work in progress that will grow through the contributions of many artistic spirits who participate in the events we have planned and who partake in the planned art activities, and share the AWE during our Art Workshop Experiences. And everyone is invited. Visit us at www.barongallery.com. Happy New Year.
