Reading response 4

Roberta Smith’s article “Who Needs a White Cube,” begins with a statement I found very interesting. “…Reassert the process and mind set of art rather than the product.” I consistently thought of art in a gallery or museum as a finished product of the artist. With out this product there would be no use for galleries or museums. The art fills the white space, giving it life. Working in a gallery now, I am accustom to the repetitive process of finding artists to show, getting them installed, having an opening, and then uninstalling, week after week. Luckily, I’m constantly introduced to different art so the redundancy of the market it less daunting.  Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love it. But I am recognizing the pattern that is taking place in the system. Lately, it has been refreshing to see that artists are finding alternative ways to show their work without being confined to a white cube. Gallery owners are straying away from traditional, static, white walls, allowing artists to take control of the space or let the space speak of what it is or use to be.

In the article “Among the inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance is Bliss,” Erica Goode talks about the ego with in people and what it allows us to see and makes us blind to. I found it extremely interesting that highly conceited people do not realize that they are, causing lower egos to label them ignorant. I can think of many people like that. They are so confidant that they do not realize their own pitfalls. I find it tricky to be a cocky, ignorant artist. Sometimes I wish I were though. It is one thing to be confident in your work and be able to carry the message of it through to the viewers. It is another thing to think that you have the best work of all mankind and all your viewers find it to be complete bullshit. Granted, I know there will always be a combination of these people; maybe being overly ignorant saves from hurtfulness.  It has already been discussed that sometimes in the art world, we have to think we are the best artists out there so other people will believe we are.

The exclusive KUNSTMARKT 67 introduced in Christine Mehring’s “Emerging Market,” spawned an innovative way of seeing, buying and selling art. KUNSTMARKT 67 allowed the “who’s who” of artists and dealers to attend. This art fair created smaller fairs that coincided with it and spread like chicken pox. I can relate Miami Basel to this easily. Seeing that much art, from so many different places, by so many different artists, was mind blowing. Without fairs and festivals like this some people may not have the luxury to see what gets shown.