true victims -- artless houses

It isn’t the artists we care about, resourceful and independent, they’ll get by. When times are tight they can fall back on one of the many occupations they’ve sampled along the way, industrial production, waiting tables, such as that. Even without material success they get to be artists, and that’s a privilege in itself, especially around here at this moment. We’ll save our sympathy for the real victims, the vast majority in this culture who never have the opportunity to see original art, and understandably never entertain the notion of owning any.

Let’s start with businesses. Original art is jarring, it demands attention, and chances are employees won’t like it at first, but art in production areas and break rooms proffers tangible results. Better than motivational posters, it’s a gesture of respect from management that builds loyalty and cohesion, as well as providing an example of creativity and commitment with a long-term positive influence on job performance. In offices original art catches the eye of vendors, competitors, and the public, alike, projecting a progressive image and producing a lasting impression. Along with those practical considerations, original art in the office makes going to work more pleasant, just does. 

Art at home, guess we never thought about it. We’ve got department store prints, maybe a reproduction poster, a ship, a meadow, can’t remember, don’t really care. This isn’t surprising. Uptown in those austere, polar-white galleries, art is unreasonably expensive and visually unintelligible, so totally not us, and museums have become more interested in ‘things,‘ the big rock in LA for example, cutting-edge silliness. Locally, subsidized art agencies present the most time-bound, self-referencing academic conceits available. This is unfair. People ought to have the opportunity to see the art being made all around them, not just third-hand derivations of what’s trendy somewhere else. Would they pay attention -- it’s much more likely. 

The deriding of local art production by an academic elite given responsibility for choosing art exhibited in non-profit galleries, how art is covered in local media, and what artists are worthy of attention and support, is simply sad. Will interest and support for local art production ignite and become self-sustaining, now that more art is being seen in public? The question becomes when, with murals on blank walls, paintings for sale in restaurants and salons, does someone, somewhere, set an example by buying and owning some, perhaps with local media coverage? Some small gesture by any of several media outlets, interviewing the businessperson ahead of the curve buying art instead of new office furniture, finding someone of modest means who lives with art instead of driving a new car, would help to crystallize a movement long overdue.