As an outsider, learning about the art world can be challenging. It seems as if there is a professional anxiety in the art industry that manifests itself as a deliberate ambiguity around the most basic concepts. I’m working on an art startup at the moment and, although it’s early days, I’m hoping to record my experiences as I explore the industry. First of all, I’m going to attempt to explain my understanding of the definition and meaning of art.
What is the meaning of art?
Nietzsche has the best explanation in my opinion, he thought that art had two complementary roles: Firstly, art should expose the tragic nature of existence, that is, that humanity is essentially meaningless. This is achieved by searching for the meaning and depth embodied in the physical objects that are categorised as art work.
Secondly, he believed that art should counter this afflication with aesthetic or conceptual beauty. In this way, we can attempt to distance ourselves from the trauma of reality and be comforted by the achievements of human creativity. After all, one of the benefits of nihilism is that we are ultimately free to create our own meaning, whether that be through human creativity, or some other form such as love or scientific endeavor.
What makes an object “Art”?
Traditionally, the skill of an artist was based purely on the technical aspect of the work, in other words, the craftsmanship. So you could measure a work of art by the time, effort and skill required to create the artifact.
Contemporary art has seen a shift to conceptual work, which often involves less craftsmanship and more focus on the thought process used in creating the art work. This can make defining conceptual art extremely hard, as it is essentially the act of an artist ”presenting” an object that creates the artistic value. Sometimes the artist does not even physically modify the object, as in the case of readymades.
The “rules” of conceptual art are at best subjective, an
d can raise questions on what exactly it is that a buyer is acquiring when they buy such work. For example, the spot paintings by Damien Hirst, of which there are around 300, were actually created by a team of painters that Hirst manages. The perceived value of the work was in it being Hirst’s idea (at it’s most fundamental level, an image of randomly coloured circles) - not his execution of it.
In answer to the question, ”how is art valued?” (where in this context, I mean that art for sale in the art industry – something that hangs on a West End gallery wall with a sale price of 5 to 7 figures), is something to do with a combination of three things:
- Craftsmanship
- The “intellectual process” of the artist in presenting the work as art
- The movement of the art from a studio or make-shift factory exhibition, to the white walls of a gallery, where the demand for the work far outweighs supply. This, combined with the general affluence of gallery visitors, pushes the price of the work up.
Those are my thoughts on the matter… hope that helps.
Posted in Art
Tags: Art, conceptual art, craft, definition of art, hirst, meaning, meaning of art, nietzche, readymades, spot paintings, traditional art
It feels as if I haven’t blogged in ages. I’ve been letting the evenings run away and all too often the prolog to sleep has been a regime of website development, reading and French practice.
