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02/19/2009: "Art Store Pencil Index"
I am convinced that the Modigliani exhibit at the Vittoriano Gallery in Rome was curated with one thing in mind: pencils.
The only way a stodgy museum gift shop could ever get more than 1 Euro for a pencil is by hosting a name brand artist's exhibition. At the Modigliani exhibit, they were asking 5 euros for one such item. The man was a tubercular caricaturist who did a great Cycladic Idol impersonation. Sure, he did paint a few interesting portraits, but the majority of the wallspace was submerged in wine stained sketches. Recipients of the sketches, which were scribbled in exchange for said wine, probably thought nothing of the indistinct little scraps of barroom genius. Decades later however, the would-be collectors soberly went back to their closets and dug out the sketches when it was established that they were drawn by a bona-fide genius.
I paid 7 euros, with a student discount, to see the exhibit. That means I paid close to 1 Euro per square meter of art - prime beachfront property in Vietnam costs about the same. How do they arrive at such sums? Is there an admission to art ratio I am unaware of? The Louvre costs twenty and is not nearly as scant.
As I said, the story far outweighed the productivity. Why is it that storyless art doesn't sell? Much like Gould on the piano, playing a lovely five minute piece and then talking about how lovely he played it for two hours afterwards. Modi, on the other hand, has others to speak for him. Probably dealers that want to up the value of their inventory. They talk the city into hosting the show, for free I might add, at the gallery commemorating Vittorio Emmanuele - you couldn't vote for a better location; the flow of tourists is constant!
The city gets the take from the door, while the organizers get the gift shop proceeds. After packaging Modi properly, they ask 5 Euros for a pencil with his name on it, and the posters cost about 20 Euros. The profit margin is enormous; we are talking about wood and paper! -And the city covers their overhead.
Does this mean that in the future I will be paying 40 euros to see a vomit stain on the wall of a subterranean abode where someone who was thought to have been artistic lived? They will put an M.R.I. scanner on my head to map the amount of neural stimulation my hippocampus received, whereupon I will be charged a second time based on my cerebral response to having seen the vomit stain.
Modi was starving most of his life and now, after his death, the money comes rolling in. He was a martyr who provided collectors with the means to profit by the poor and hungry artist's own demise. Hungry artists just work better I guess. Drawings must sell better.
These days non traditional art forms have to battle it out to get a brief showing in some obscure gallery on Via Dei Querceti, where the poor artists must then converse with wealthy provincials about their creations. This is a fate worse than Modigliani's. Living artists must die of exhaustion before they can reach a global audience, or at least a tour group.
My solution is this: a worldwide gift shop pencil price index. It is just like the Big Mac index from The Economist. Every reader who attends an art show from now on must record the price of the pencils in the gift shop, and we'll average it all out. We will then create a database which we can use to appraise our own work. The idea is this: you no longer have to worry about selling your art; you just sell pencils with your name on them while you give your art away for free. No more talking to nouveau riche art collectors or energy sapping dealers; you just hang out in the gift shop and count those pencils. The employees are more fun anyway!
Once we have an idea of what Picasso pencils get in Japan and Manet pencils get in Romania, it will be easier to give your work away on Craigslist and then have a show of your pencils in Guam. Auction them off at Sotheby's, sell them wholesale on eBay, or stockpile them for a rainy day. You could even let your dealer sell the pencils for they'll be otherwise unemployable. Start keeping track of those gift shop sales everyone, I want to have an Excel sheet done by next month...
Replies: 18 Comments
on Sunday, August 30th, dichroic jewelry said
The pencils remind me of buying popcorn at the theater - that's where they make the real money.
on Thursday, August 13th, dichroic jewelry said
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on Thursday, August 13th, dichroic jewelry said
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on Friday, March 27th, mario sughi said
Hi Jeffrey
since you did not say (unless I missed that piece of information) for those who want to know when exactly the Modigliani exhibition at the Vittoriano was hold, this was in February 2006. It was not a major exhibition, unfortunatly, one or two Modigliani's masterpieces however were on display (one of his best red recicling nude was there). I do not remember about the pencils..., it was long time ago.
on Thursday, March 26th, HotWomen said
I just want to let you know that I have benefited from the information here. Thanks a lot.
on Saturday, March 21st, art jewelry said
I have more of an issue with the high entry fee to art quality ratio. I get frustrated with museums that have great hype, high entry fees and then 1/2 to hour later you're wondering what you just paid for. The 2 standouts (not in a good way) are the Tacoma Museum of Glass (the Chihuly bridge is free and awesome) and the SFMOMA. At least you have a choice of buying something in the gift store. They don't return your money if the museum is disappointing.
on Saturday, March 21st, Simonn said
I truly appreciate you taking the time to share this . Look forward to more posts from you
on Sunday, March 15th, amber said
to extend the discussion, i would rezommend to find and see works by artist Ruslan Korostenskij. He is a contemporary artist workin in a somewhat similar styl as Modigliani, but much more optimistic, full of light and stimulating passion.., exactly what the present-day world lacks and needs
on Sunday, March 15th, amber said
to extend the discussion, i would rezommend to find and see works by artist Ruslan Korostenskij. He is a contemporary artist workin in a somewhat similar styl as Modigliani, but much more optimistic, full of light and stimulating passion.., exactly what the present-day world lacks and needs
on Sunday, February 22nd, Mark said
Money is needed to keep things going. I need money to continue to paint (need paint don't I) but one word describes what motivates many to excess, to want more then they need.....GREED!
on Sunday, February 22nd, Bezdomny said
You are right, it was a bit mean to say Tubercular Caricaturist and I take it back. The reason I wrote that in the first place is because it sounded so good, I have never seen those two words words together before. The intention wasn't malicious, it was poetic. Far be it from me to speak ill of dead poets... unless it's Lord Byron and his syphilitic penile condition which he received previously from dipping his pen in some erroneous ink...
(couldn't resist that rhyme either, sorry)
on Sunday, February 22nd, olgadmytrenko said
Paul!!! How are you and where are you?! I was recently thinking of you. BTW, some of us re-joined
on facebook.
on Saturday, February 21st, paul said
Olga,good to see you are still posting,remember all the discussions we used to have on here,before they went and ruined it for us,where has everybody gone,and maybey you know of a better discussion site where theres a bit of freedom from this art group ruining site.paul
on Saturday, February 21st, Ellen said
Jeffrey- My supplier wants to know if my pencils are with or sans erasers. (Are we adding too many elements into the mix: wood, lead, AND rubber?) Working on my Excel sheet......
on Friday, February 20th, Jerry Ross said
I haven't seen the exhibit or the sketches in this particular show but Modigliani is, of course, a great poet of painting. His colors alone are masterful. His nudes are bold and sensual. Maybe not the only inventor of the long neck, but certainly one of its greatest exponents. Hmm.. "tubercular caricaturist "...that's just mean. The fact that he had TB (Van Gogh had syphillis, I guess that makes him a dauber?) is irrelevant. Anyway, lets have some respect for the "greatful" dead. Modigliani was also from Livorno and had connections to the I Macchiaioli. A true Italian-Jewish genius and nothing can detract from his accomplishments, specially a few pencils.
Jerry
on Thursday, February 19th, Olga said
People buy.. they sell. Simple as tea pot!
Also I do think, that in average, maybe with a small deviation (+/- 1 euro) gift shop pencils are priced the same. It depends more on location of museum.
on Thursday, February 19th, Andrew said
Museums are already sustained in large part by our paying taxes. It seems absurd that overpricing common goods in gift shops is also needed to keep them going.
Worst of all, the taste of the few decides what the many have to pay to see. We lose many local cultural gems as a worldwide homogenisation of culture sifts out anything that won't go through a screen established by people with a monetary interest in what does.
On Modigliani...there's a great film out on his life, released about 2005 and panned by the critics. The initial few lines of this blog made me remember a joke some art students pulled on the art world...they carved a head as they thought Modi would have, and then threw it in the Livorno canal near where he'd spent some time. Lo and behold, it was discovered, and declared original and authentic by some 'professional' art authorities.
on Thursday, February 19th, Adrian said
...or we could sell pencil skirts in Picasso print :)
The Tate is another touristic mouse-trap. I went to see the Bacon show, which was sponsored...I still would've had to pay six pounds to get in. I refused to pee in their toilet...so I went home.
