Art Business
Auction Of Rothko Painting At Christies
G. Boersma
acrylics on masonite
35.6" in x 27.6" or 90,3 x 70 cm
2010
SOLD
What Good Is Art
I feel silly for doing this, but with all the fussing and fighting going on in the Netherlands about the dramatic cutbacks on funds for the arts and a ridiculous tax-raise from 6% to 19% I feel the need to speak up and give you my answer to: ‘What good is art? What purpose does it serve?’
I always thought everybody knew at least some part of the answer, but nowadays it seems like a lot of people in my country don’t got the slightest clue.
Popular Opinion
These days popular opinion says that when art doesn’t sell, it isn’t any good at all. It says that if there’s isn’t somebody willing to purchase your work, you shouldn’t be making the work in the first place and you sure as hell shouldn’t get any funds creating it.
It’s now mandatory for Dutch museums by government policy to curate only shows that attract the most visitors. It doesn’t matter if the show has any cultural meaning or not. It’s all about visitors, visitors, visitors. In other words, if it doesn’t make any money, it doesn’t serve any purpose.
This means that the cultural meaning of art shifted from aesthetics and the gratification it provides over to the money side. Good art can only be expressed in terms of money.
It also means that the artists who are promoted the most are the best ones we have right now. That of course is just plain silly.
There are a lot of good artists out there we haven’t heard of before, because they somehow aren’t in the spotlights yet. Does that mean their work is bad, because nobody bought anything yet? Of course not, at least not by definition.
Why Do People Buy And Love Art?
Then what good is art to begin with? Why do some people buy and love art? Well, let me give you a couple of reasons how to appreciate art other than in terms of money.
Good art answers the big questions in life. It answers questions such as: ‘Why are we here and where are we from? What does it all mean?’ Or at least tries to answer those and many other questions.
It shows that there’s more to life than just average concerns and needs of everyday life. Art should make you feel more clear-headed and intelligent, it should inspire and motivate you to make the best out of your life. It should make you think. Think about yourself and the world we live in.
Art connects people, it has the power to turn total strangers into friends. It gives us coherence and sensations we otherwise would not have experienced. It even has the power to transmute sadness into a thing of beauty.
All art is personal, it expresses something of significance and value to you right now. It expresses your individuality and represents deply held beliefs, feelings and thoughts. It can help you get through rough periods in your life and enhances your self-concept and self-perception.
Owning a painting can be a perfect symbol of your own achievements in life and you feel good anytime you look at it. You are filled with pride if you own an exclusive, one of kind and 100% handmade work that took much skill and effort to produce. Nobody else in the world owns one exactly like it.
Good art influences anybody who steps into your home or office positively. It beautifies your place and enhances the quality of your life. Just think about the impact a room with bare walls has or one that’s filled with art.
Art breathes life into your interior and transforms your home into an unique, personal and engaging environment. It makes you proud to live and work where you do.
People from all over the world come to our national museums to see the great works of past and present. Art doesn’t pollute the air or causes global warming, nor does it need much service. Perhaps not the strongest of reasons, but good art is built to last so one day future generations will enjoy it too.
What Makes Art Good?
Just a bunch of random reasons what good art is and why people appreciate and buy art other than high prices and investment.
Of course we could go into great depth of what style or movement best portrays these reasons and benefits. About what qualifies as good art or bad art.
One might like abstract art, the other saying it’s just worthless crap and realism is the best for some reason. But I hope you realise that we’re not talking about what good art is anymore if we do, but what makes art good.
In other words, we’re not talking about function anymore, but content and form. We’re talking about tastes and that of course is very personal.
Of course artists anywhere should be concerned about making money if they want to do this professionally. You have to sell your work in order to make a living full time. There’s no other way.
You can’t totally rely on government aid to do so. You have to get out there and take full responsibility of your life. You should see it as the valid profession it really is and you have to develop good working habits in order to make it.
But art should never be solely expressed in terms of money. It deprives the work of art of meaning. I for one don’t want to stand in a museum only to be impressed by how much a work of art is worth.
I want to be impressed by it’s meaning and beauty. About what the artist thinks it takes to be human and I for one thank them for it. I sure hope you do too.
kind regards, Gerard
Great documentary by art critic Robert Hughes about the shift from aesthetics and the gratification art provides over to the money side. A must watch!
