How did most of the things in museums get in there? The High, Low, Buffalo for this month’s newsletter talks about the place of the audience to the exhibition of Art from its birth to the Art of now. Art is and has certainly become the most significant way that human beings communicate about themselves. Art is about us ALL! It is now the Objects of Us.
The above photo is of me at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami, Florida. Here I am looking truly worried. It cracks me up that my friend Alexis captured this moment to take my picture. I am not really concerned about the Art in this gallery, but I do love that the picture shows some intense consideration for all there is to see, like a giant car piñata. It makes perfect sense to consider our High: Art is collectively determined.
All the stakeholders of Art hold an important place in the declaration of Art for a community
When we visit art, like a long lost Friend, we acknowledge the importance of it to our identity.
Art in the 21st Century has become about Us, rather than the me, me, me. Art is chosen by an authority to live in an abode to be shared with an audience. It is collectively determined to be Art.
When Art became a “thing” to be collected in the 1700’s it was about the wealthy and powerful. Collecting it identified the family, religious leader or king as a person of intellect, social class and richness. Though Art began as a form of classicizing and cultural education, it has become the thing that most honestly and powerfully communicates our collective identity. Yes! We have objects that characterize the way we think as a people.
Art as a visual representation of “the people” was born during the Enlightenment in Paris with the opening of the Louvre or as it was called in 1803, The Musée Napoléon. Dominique-Vivant Denon was the director general responsible for creating a museum for the French public, even the lowest of the low. Many in the artworld were scandalized by the disregard for people of means and class as those who deserved to be entertained by the Art of the greats such as Raphael and Michelangelo. This history leads us to the Low of the month.
With the aforementioned egalitarianism, Art grew in significance as an identifier of worth; all those who had a stake in what Art became were esteemed to be worthy of viewing the Art, even the poorest of viewers. Therefore, as Art grew in its position of importance as a cultural face, the people who made it, bought it, exhibited it, and visited it also gained validity as a collective entity.
This idea leads us to the Low or challenge for this month: Objects must have all 3 components to be Art! Every piece must have a substantial place to live, an Abode, a house for Art, a museum, a gallery or a collection. The greater the house, the greater the Art. Also, paintings, sculptures or things must have an Authority to determine its context within culture. Or it must have a person or persons who purchases the Art so that the third component, and I think the most important stakeholder can get at it: The Audience. People going to see the Art is the reason for its existence. The works do not exist in a vacuum! In order for things to be Art, cultural pieces of this and that which communicate ideas, emotions and expressions, all stakeholders must be in play: The Artist, The Authority, The Abode AND The Audience.
You! You! You!
are the reason all Art is made, purchased, and shown. It is all about YOU!
OR Us!
As the audience you determine what is bought. No, not by your preferences, but through what the authorities within a museum, gallery or collection think is important for us to share in. Whatever work is made that holds and carries meaning for the collective of Us, is what is chosen to show. These pieces become Art as soon as they begin to be purchased, exhibited and visited.
Art is shared. It is the most valuable, powerful, exciting way in which we tell and are told about what has happened and is NOW happening in our world. Art is always honest. It cannot lie, even when it wants to. More about this idea in next month’s newsletter.
For you curious Art lovers, here is an article from CNN about the 10 most famous paintings or The Art people go to see the MOST. Even though I bet you can guess which pieces they are, go here to see.
Next newsletter will cover the place that beauty has in determining what we see in museums, galleries and collections.
Beauty… eye of the beholder ya know… blah blah blah.
Mind over things that matter 