http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2768233&trk=anet_ug_hm The Art Business group on LinkedIn…(ARTBIZ)

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=258587389&gid=2768233&commentID=151931967&trk=view_disc&fromEmail=&ut=1NqPCeQDJHzRQ1 Here’s the conversation about current art movements…

Here are my comments:

 Hello A—…I agree with you…

I see art history in the same way…As a pattern…Of discussion…Back & forth…

ie:Abstract Expressionist, then more realistic Pop Art as an answer…I also see it as a conversation…You really have to step far back to see this…Not everyone has that ability…

I am sorry your query has received such pushback…It would have been more interesting for those involved to merely go along & try to speak to what you were asking, which was, where are we at right now? You probably could have just asked it that way without the thesis preamble & gotten more useful answers… 

So, if I may, try to answer what I think you were asking…
I see art being consumed today via digital means…I think a high percentage of people are seeing works for the first time in a digital format that has been digitally photographed & uploaded for public viewing…

I also move with the Zeitgeist or Spirit of the Time, in my process & choices…
When deciding how to disseminate information for my book, I chose to learn 3d animation in order to turn the book into an easily consumed animated film that could be watched online…That particular audience right now is huge…

The program I am learning is a free shareware called Blender…It also has the ability to make a game…When I mention also making a game of the book, the audience for that becomes even more motivated…
Though I have worked in many different media, right now, it seems, digital is king…
The ebook, the jpeg, now 3d printing of sculpture…

But also, the ability to order things without having to leave your home…Having things shipped to your doorstep…Shipability…Which may imply lightness, smallness, durability…
The corporate thing also…Artist as a company rather than an individual…

That we must be a corporation that mass produces in order to have volume with low price…
I see a blurring of the lines between a corporate product & fine art…
I see the demise of bricks & mortar galleries…

I also see a plethora of Do it Yourselfers, who are emboldened by information on how to make things on the internet…
Even in the money, artists are being treated like wholesalers, like manufacturers…perhaps this is not bad? But when you give a 50% discount to a gallery, you are in the price point of a traditional wholesaler…(I don’t btw…For me 50% is a wholesale transaction which requires payment up front-for a consignment no pay up front situation I give 1/3)…)

Anyways…I see art as starting to fall under the umbrella of manufacturing…Artists who produce volume of similar work at similar price, churning away, seem to be selling still…
Which is why I am trying to take a little vacation now…I think my perspective has become negative & needs refreshing…The way I see it right now, we are stuck…

Well, we saw Men of Steel in 3d…If you watch the encyclopedic list of credits to the animators, you will see that is maybe where all the artists are hanging out now… Sari

On a more positive note, I do see a strong push into environmental art-like the massive concrete sculptures that grow grass, walls covered in lichens, a marriage between art & some sort of landscape architecture or gardening…Sari

• M—–…Artists, like so many others, stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors…

For many years, abstract expressionism was king, which then created a backlash current of Pop Art, which was highly commercial & realistic, the antithesis of its previous movement…Pop was embraced because people were tired of the highminded loftiness of Ab Ex…So the Pop artists like Warhol were not consciously abiding to a movement, but they were reacting organically as artists do when they sense a problem…

There are of course, follower types, who may just create within a movement due to the fact that they think it will sell…But the purity of the original thought which drives each scene, is real…Sari

I—-, I think when you step very far back, you start to see patterns…Waves…Back & forth…It makes art history look like a long conversation, or an interview…When you focus in close up, you lose that perspective of time…

Everything looks independent, created from scratch, truly original…I see Adam as looking at things from very far away, & you are looking very close up…

Which means that you both are right & true, just seeing it from a different distance…Like some people see God as creating the Heavens & the Earth, & then progressing on to plant & animals…

Others see that progression as evolution, survival of the fittest, a Darwinist conceit…Both are actually correct, it just depends on how they are choosing to look at the same phenomenon

(Edit: I should note here that one tends to give credit where the other tends to push for a more independent source-in the same way, artists who acknowledge their debt to history tend more to be giving credit, where those who don’t-hmmm I’ll stop here, not meaning to criticize with this point, sorry)……

Some artists choose to say that nothing is ever truly original, that they are always derivative of something…

Others feel that they are only original, that that is why their art is good…Either way, what is happening now is what we were looking at-not to be bogged down by semantics along the way…We are obviously at some sort of weird crux…

With art being so available to look at online, so much, the plethora, we are seeing huge supply, & of course commensurate loss of income…We are trying to figure out whether this is just another adjustment, a reshuffling, or is it the end? Of course the death of art is a long favorite trope, some of us actually just hope for… 🙂

 
Where are we now? Where are we going? Sure it’s like herding cats, but it helps if once in a while artists get together to re-evaluate the state of things…Later we can all go back to the cave & make more hair spaghetti sculptures…Sari

• Ok, I’m going to wander in…Into politics…But within the context of the discussion about art movements… 
There are 5 Communist countries still operating today on this planet…

China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea & Laos… 
I see the present art movement as being heavily influenced & dependent, either passively or actively, on the computer…Whether making art is on or offline, artists are still using computers in some way… 
This tool is largely made in a Communist country, China…(without making a judgement on politics here)… 
What I see today is artists sharing their art, online, via computer, for free… 
In the old days, artists were wary of this type of sharing, & would get money for the use of one image…One could not see an artist’s works unless one went to a bricks & mortar gallery, during that artist’s show…

Or maybe one could buy a catalogue…Purchasing work was really the only way to get a good look…Photographing work in galleries was not permitted usually… 
So now we are here…We can see anything we want online…Backwards & forwards throughout history…With no direct payment to the artist… 
But we love this free sharing, because of course, artists, are the biggest viewers of art…We are learning so much… 
But we are all making less money than we ever have as artists…

(I am sure someone will plead the opposite, but go with me here…) 
Essentially most of our money is going into Communism…Much of our time is spent using a Communist product, the computer…Is it any wonder that we are sharing art for free & not earning anything from that? I think we are in a Communist era in art…Free sharing for all…Everybody gets a look…(Again, no negative judgement here on Communism)… 
Though, of course one wonders, what will happen next? If our democracy-leaning money is going into China, will that eventually cause their economy to rift into democracy as well? 
Will they burst out & start demanding profits? perhaps… 
I think the next step will be a response to all this free love…I can see already the internet is becoming more monetized…Medical articles require money to be read in full…Artists pulling out of Facebook & Pinterest…A new skepticism of all this sharing for free… 
Will the computer age end too? Sari

Recently, Merrick changed their dry & wet cat foods…

The new recipes now include carrots & chicken liver…

Our bengal cats hated it & wanted me to call the manufacturer in Amarillo, TX to find out why they had changed a perfectly good recipe…

The lady at customer service explained that they had had a “Revolution”…

That there was a Revolution in the dog food & then the cat people got mad & wanted a revolution too…

I said, what is a revolution?…

She said, oh, it means they go in & examine all the ingredients, & make the recipe better or healthier or more nutritious…

(Or in this case, worse tasting)…

That was my first hear of the word revolution used in this manner…

I think that all new things can be found to be a rebellion…

It makes sense…I do agree with your thesis…But I think others may get stuck on the semantics of the word rebellion…

Sorry I’m going back to religion for a moment…

Do people view Jesus’ teachings as a rebellion? Probably many do & did…But others might see it as a revolution, an innovation, something else-just semantically…

What I really like about what you are saying is that it points out a path…If you are pushing, rebelling, contradicting, standing alone, that you are maybe on a good & true path…

This gives strength philosophically to doing something different, to feeling different, to pushing the envelope…So much fresher than encouraging sameness…

Thanks for your troubles…Sari

If anyone wants to use VASE, Visual Artist Self-Employed, I’ll just be tickled if you do…You can give me credit if you’d like, but I’d be thrilled if it just got around…So no credit needed if you don’t feel like it…

There is a joke…(my mother likes to tell jokes, sometimes teaching jokes, sometimes just raunchy ones…) I’m going to share the vase joke here…Please forgive me…(the joke has nothing to do with the acronym btw-but it does make me laugh a little)…

Maria sees Tony coming around the block with a giant bouquet of flowers…She says to her neighbour: “Oh no, Tony brought me flowers again! Now I’m going to be flat on my back with my legs in the air for two weeks!”…

Her neighbour says: “Couldn’t you just use a vase???”

 • C———-…LowBrow is an art movement…Not a comment…It is actually a known art movement…You should really look things up before you start insulting people…Sari

Here read this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement )

In reference to the 2d animated clips from my movie on my book “Grove Body Part Chart”, those were made in Pencil, a 2d animation software…They are clips about body parts, so if they look like MRI scans, that is an accomplishment…I actually hand drew all of those images over & over again to make the animation which can be seen on Vimeohttp://vimeo.com/62508827 …The book can be read still for free athttp://www.grovecanada.ca as a pdf (though it is on Amazon in print & kindle now)…

 Sidetracked by C———-‘s ill placed insult, I meant to write this first…Sorry…

Arcimboldo is known as a 16th-century Mannerist…

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world’s most famous graphic artists…(Dutch)

Hieronymus Bosch
[Netherlandish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1450-1516]-would fall into a very early surrealist genre…

Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter…

Sari

 

 So you don’t like labels…I do…So what? We were trying to see what is happening today…Take its temperature…You don’t like labels? Ok fine…Then don’t take its temperature…That is your prerogative…Then you have no comment as to what is happening today because you don’t like to label things…It is all just quirk…Fine…I think we all understand that labels are a generalization…In close-up everything is different & unique…Labels can be helpful…I don’t think your point is different…We were speaking from a distance, you are speaking to close up…It’s just a different way of looking…I agree with you…Sari

 

 You’re right of course…Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, these labels have no meaning…Trucks are butterflies…Dadaism…What was I thinking? Please forgive my impertinence…We are going to the Metro Toronto Zoo to see the new pandas today…I think I’ve gone far enough with this topic anyways…It seems to be descending into ad hominem attacks…Cheers everybody & have a good day! Bye, Sari