Some have written about the downturn in art galleries or raised questions about what might come in 2015.
I'd like to recall the curious and offer a question: What are some of the lessons learned about the visual arts in San Diego as we close out 2014?
A caveat: Since this is a personal commentary and what I have seen and/or written about, I readily acknowledge there was much more in San Diego to enjoy and reflect upon. If you have a favorite with a lesson learned, send me a comment.
Even at the clearance sale
The San Diego Art Institute runs a C-Note fundraiser in the Spring and Winter. Artists get to sell art at the one to three hundred dollar level with a majority of the proceeds going to the Art Institute. I've sold a piece or two in the past, but I find it difficult to part with my objects despite the need to clear out space for newer work.
Looking beyond my own vanity to what others put on the walls, I am reminded that there is compelling work to be found created by San Diego artists. Since the standards for good or strong art have become confusing in the past century with so much pluralism in styles, techniques and media, the Institute's C-Note event becomes an adventure in finding a personal favorite (and let the experts express their favorites at a biennale or Sotheby's).
One of my favorites was Bonnie Woods' In thought for its choice and organization of color, a portrait that aptly reflects the title using not just the face but the alignment of the body as well as the juxtaposition of wild and geometric form. Also reminiscent of Frederic Leighton's Flaming June from another era and another approach to the portrayal of the languid female form.
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| Bonnie Woods / In thought |
Why does it matter if the artist is an amateur, an emerging or established artist, local or out-of-town? What does it matter if the exhibit is at a museum or an arts partnership?
Context is often important in understanding why an art object is picked for an exhibit. Curators generally provide some narrative, and jurors much less so. Frustration sets in when one has to ask, 'Really?' I recall one juror who was willing to share about the pick of a photograph for an international show - something about a Heinz 57 bottle being in the collection of objects in the photography, something from her childhood memory. Honest? Yes. Satisfying? Not for me. Many comfort me by saying, 'the juror's choice is more about the juror than about the selected art.'
Compare the two photographs, both of which I enjoyed viewing at local exhibits.
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| Robert Treat / Prague Wildlife / PhotoArtsGroup Urban Landscapes |
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| Millee Tibbs / Mountains + Valleys, Origami Yosemite #4 at MOPA After Ansel Adams |
Tibbs' use of origami connects me with my own musing about sculptural photography and adding texture to the 2D flat art experience. Tibbs also delights the reinterpretation and extension of Ansel Adams' landscape.
Is the goodness of each photograph affected by the context of venue (Escondido Arts Partnership vs. Museum of Photographic Arts) or the photographer's qualification (emerging, established, professional, amateur)?
The lesson learned is not that there are no art standards or that there is no way to discriminate among art objects; rather, the lesson is to remind oneself that there is a pecking order in our community, just as there is in most communities. The pecking order is reflected in the news media, in what collectors' learn to desire and assumptions that venue and the artist's history determine the goodness of the art object. I admit that this lesson is one that I repeat frequently: good or strong art is all over San Diego - in artist studios, in what might be called 'off Broadway' venues and other than the well-funded institutions. Be mindful of that dictum and you will enjoy far more art in the San Diego community than you might otherwise allow.
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| Jane Lazerow / In her home studio explaining her painting of the Abraham and Isaac Akeda story |
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| Elena Lomakin / In her home studio with her installation of musical birch trees |
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| Josue Castro / In his Little Italy studio with one of his imagined identity photographs |
While one notable La Jolla private art gallery closed, another publicly-funded one opened at San Diego City College. I don't know whether there is a trend in this recent up-and-down of venues that present art, but it is worth noting that places that show art evolves. The new art space at the downtown San Diego Public Library main branch adds to the spaces provided at many branch libraries, including what had been the major voice for the San Diego public library (Taylor Branch in Pacific Beach, but also the Riford Library in La Jolla).
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| Yoonchung Kim /J's Memory (detail) in Casting Plus exhibit |
One of the first exhibits at San Diego City College's Visual Arts Gallery featured a collection of ceramic pieces, in Casting Plus. Both the exhibit and the exhibit space were startling. I hadn't expected the quality of either and this will be a challenge for the visual arts department to meet in the coming years.
The lesson learned is obvious, though often forgotten. We need to pay attention to the evolution of San Diego, not only where people live, the highways and public transportation, where the foodies go as well as places for the homeless, but also where spaces for art emerge and decline.
Technology platforms: Youtube, editing software, movies, print services, smartphones, etc.
My, oh, my - do we need to pay attention to visual artistry that connects our locality to the world and the internet? The answer is a resounding yes and there are way too many lessons to be learned that I can discuss in this commentary. But consider the following.
While these digital platforms have been with us for awhile - sometimes extending analog platforms, but others emerging newborn on the internet (Facebook anyone?) - it is important to recognize how they compete for our attention, dollars and value when compared to the more 'traditional' venues for art presentation. Sometimes interacting, sometimes as alternatives.
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| Joe Nalven / documenting a viewer at ArtFair San Diego 2014 / Samsung camera painting app |
As I wandered through ArtFair San Diego this past November, I documented what I viewed with a point-and-shoot camera. Nothing unusual about that. What was different was that I relied more on the camera's painting app. I could literally 'take a painting' instead of shooting a photorealistic image.
Here I combined a digital camera with a dreaded app ('dreaded' because it confused the artist's compositional skills with the algorithmic stylization) in picturing the Contemporary Art of a Miami-based artist (Darian Rodriguez Mederos) as viewed by a passerby.
The challenge with many of the digital platforms is that many translate the world in novel ways, ways that have yet to be valued as 'legitimate' art - partly because of the algorithms that make the artistry appear too easy, partly because they can be distributed to millions by going viral (and with pixel transmissions that have yet to be taxed), and partly because anyone and everyone can do it. The challenge is here to stay and one that has yet to be incorporated into 21st century discussions of 'what is art.' One can view the wide variety of art using digital media in Filters & Masks at the Pacific Beach Taylor Library.
Movies are part of the discussion, but I will simply note that I wait til the end of the movie to watch the credits unfold. Are the artists listed as CG (computer graphic) artists, digital painters, FX (special effects) artists) or digital artists? Many labels for those frequently doing the 'same' art in digital media.
Consider, though, the use of YouTube with a bricks-and-mortar exhibit. The LFJCC's Gotthelf Art Gallery presented the expressionist-styled art of Hanan Harchol. But the art is not silent. The graphic novel style of several of the artist's narratives speak to what makes the art at Comic Con so popular. More so, the heart of the 2D flat art is on YouTube. There is a conversation about ethical issues (envy, gratitude, faith) between the artist and his father and between the artist and both parents.
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| Hanan Harchol / from Forgiveness |
The interests here are several: discussing ethical issues as problem-solving rather than the moralism found in religious art of socialist realism or environmental heart-rending; the connecting of video, internet and art gallery in art presentation (this goes beyond marketing concerns); exploration of art styles more suitable to the graphic novel format.
And, now, your thoughts about 2014?
Joe, you seem to complain about the personal viewpoint as in the following quote: "Frustration sets in when one has to ask, 'Really?' I recall one juror who was willing to share about the pick of a photograph for an international show - something about a Heinz 57 bottle being in the collection of objects in the photography, something from her childhood memory. Honest? Yes. Satisfying? Not for me. Many comfort me by saying, 'the juror's choice is more about the juror than about the selected art.'Treat's Prague scene reminds me of my own early morning wanderings in that city" --- and then Joe - you went on to say: "Treat's Prague scene reminds me of my own early morning wanderings in that city."
ReplyDeleteI see no difference in these two comments - they are both very personal observations that hinge on some personal experience that no one (other than the judge/viewer) has access to.
another topic---
You said,"Is the goodness of each photograph affected by the context of venue (Escondido Arts Partnership vs. Museum of Photographic Arts) or the photographer's qualification (emerging, established, professional, amateur)?"
To answer these questions, one has to define what "goodness of each photograph" means. If goodness is a emotional response to some very personal past experience that no one (other than the reviewer) has access to then any judgement made will be esoteric and trivial.
So lets create some criteria to make our judgements - I beg everyone's forgiveness for being so bold to offer my opinion but I am going to let you suffer with it anyway.
First of all "Goodness" is directly proportional to "need" for if you don't have a need for a particular work of art then it has no "goodness" for you. So one would first approach this problem by defining what one needs from a work of art. Now, of course from the viewpoint of a particular judge, this would present the the criteria for the judge's personal needs - but generally we are more interested in a bigger picture. The bigger picture is the needs of a culture -- so when it comes to a culture, we would need to define the "needs" of that particular culture. Museums are the storehouse of cultural needs for a particular culture and this points to the meaning of art as well -- for the purpose of the arts is to "Connect Cultures" by providing common solutions for the aesthetic needs of that particular culture. The problem now, of course, is how does one define "a culture" for there happens to be cultures, within cultures, within cultures. So I propose that you first define what your culture is then you define what the culture needs and then you define how a particular work of art delivers what is needed. Now you have a formula that you can use to judge art - (or any aesthetic expression)
Let me expound a bit on that last parenthetical statement; --- what most people don't realize is that this criteria that I just set out for you to peruse is also relevant for every aesthetic expression from mathematics to music to science to pornography to the ponzi scheme --- it's all the same -- all aesthetic expressions operate this way and not just art.
Cheers Joe - Happy Holidays
K