Billionaire art collectors are a sad lot really, traversing the planet in search of ways to dispose of the loot. It’s their red wagon, their moral dilemma, their cross to bare and don’t we all sympathize? That extra large Rothko in the summer place is an impressive painting, takes up the entire wall, but mostly it just says, ‘I’m a Rothko and I cost an enormous amount of money.’ It can’t say much more than that, especially after having seen many, many just like it. If we’re being serious, no modern painting could really be worth millions of dollars, and no one should have that kind of money anyway, bad for the planet.
So what happens when polarity shifts, when gravitational fields realign and the planet’s axis tilts to a new angle? Suddenly everything looks different, and a value overlooked, really there all along, begins to become visible. It’s happening now. The body politic is undergoing a difficult and dangerous molting, and a new point of view will see things differently. Visual art can both express and even aid in this transition. All those high-end art auctions for the replicating relics of fame and notoriety will fall out of fashion, about the same time being ostentatiously wealthy becomes a social liability, in a more equitable world order. Visual art instead will provide a vehicle for the assertion of personal autonomy, and become a forum as well as for establishing community values and awareness.
Visual art has unique qualities not shared with other art forms. In this new technology musicians suffer from open access, self-published fan-fiction inundates literature, and on social media the photo-shopped president appears to be rescuing people in a rowboat. The only thing that can’t be faked or digitally simulated is a painting, each totally unique and irreplaceable, certifiably organic and made by a human. Will this simple fact imbue original art with intrinsic value, something desirable and worthy of ownership, and will the public, having seen examples of area produced art in alternative spaces, restaurants and salons, want to own some? Increasingly, yes.
So what happens when polarity shifts, when gravitational fields realign and the planet’s axis tilts to a new angle? Suddenly everything looks different, and a value overlooked, really there all along, begins to become visible. It’s happening now. The body politic is undergoing a difficult and dangerous molting, and a new point of view will see things differently. Visual art can both express and even aid in this transition. All those high-end art auctions for the replicating relics of fame and notoriety will fall out of fashion, about the same time being ostentatiously wealthy becomes a social liability, in a more equitable world order. Visual art instead will provide a vehicle for the assertion of personal autonomy, and become a forum as well as for establishing community values and awareness.
Visual art has unique qualities not shared with other art forms. In this new technology musicians suffer from open access, self-published fan-fiction inundates literature, and on social media the photo-shopped president appears to be rescuing people in a rowboat. The only thing that can’t be faked or digitally simulated is a painting, each totally unique and irreplaceable, certifiably organic and made by a human. Will this simple fact imbue original art with intrinsic value, something desirable and worthy of ownership, and will the public, having seen examples of area produced art in alternative spaces, restaurants and salons, want to own some? Increasingly, yes.
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