april2009

John Smith

Thoughts From My Studio
April 2009

RECESSION
EXHIBITING/GALLERIES

I had started writing in my ‘Thoughts’ letter something totally different to the one that follows, but then certain things kept on impacting on me, and my thoughts as I worked away at my easel turned to what effect the world recession would have on the arts both here and internationally. Also that I had attended a number of exhibitions recently, and the outcome of those got me thinking along the lines of the economic meltdown and the outcomes of the exhibitions I had attended…

Let me start at a point some time back when a friend asked me ‘Why art doesn’t sell that well in Durban?’
We were at a big exhibition on the Berea and very little had been sold. My friend commented that he had heard about sell-out exhibitions in other places and although he went to a fair number of exhibitions of all kinds and visited numerous galleries here in KZN, he had never witnessed such an event. My response was that “Perhaps the work in Durban just wasn’t good enough?”

No more was said about the matter but some time later I learned that he had enrolled at the local art school in spite of the fact that (although still young) he was a little beyond the normal art school entry age. He revealed all at his first exhibition after he’d gone back to study, and that was he wanted to find out all he could about art and its workings and why so few paintings sold at exhibition in Durban. He felt the best place to start was at the Academic Art School. I’m sure his search will not end there because this art thing is a big diamond with many facets, and after thirty seven years as a career artist I have not even scratched the surface and have few answers to a myriad of questions.

I recently heard from my friend again and this got me thinking about his original observation that paintings don’t seem to sell that well in Durban. That is also not entirely correct and I have witnessed exhibitions that are virtually sold out, some in hours, (but that this was rare) such as Scott Bredin’s exhibition at the Elizabeth Gordon Gallery some time back. One has to ask the question, and that is, was Scott’s work just what the doctor ordered or was it the gallery’s brilliance in marketing? The answer probably lies somewhere in between. That is great work and great marketing and the right atmosphere, and possibly even the right time of the year.

Conversely I have been to many exhibitions and some recently, where virtually nothing is sold. Why would that be?
I think the answer is probably that at the Bredin exhibition the gallery was under no illusions as to what the exhibition was all about. It was about selling every single painting on show, and then possibly selling even more by commission. At the exhibitions that didn’t sell I have a feeling the gallarist or exhibitions committee didn’t really have a clue as to what they wanted to accomplish other than hold an exhibition.

There is a choice, or there are choices, and that is to have an exhibition to merely show the work off, where a lot of artists and family members and hangers on will congregate to swill boxed wine and chat with nary a buyer in sight, or the whole thrust will be to bring prospective buyers/collectors and the artwork together with the full intention of selling the work. At the latter exhibitions there are no, or virtually no artists to be seen, and certainly no family members or mildly interested exhibition hoppers. They just get in the way of the business at hand.
There really is no middle course. It is either business or not business. Those are the choices.

Generally galleries that have successful exhibitions have a preview day to which only serious buyers and collectors are invited, and then the exhibition opening the next evening or a few days later is in essence a party for the artists, their families and all the rest. After the preview any painting sold at the party/opening is considered a bonus. Some galleries dispense with the party to a degree and try to invite interested buyers rather than the rent-a-crowd that we so often see at exhibitions. At these you sort of try and have the better of two worlds.
I think one of the main problems in getting Art and prospective collectors together is inertia, and here an example is where the gallery or society invitation or guest list is seldom revisited or updated, and little effort made to bring in new blood to the exhibition or gallery. The result is that the same tired faces appear at every single exhibition. This is great for a party, but little benefit if the intention is to sell the paintings on show and allow the artist/s or gallery to pay their bills…if of course selling the work is the intention?

At the other exhibitions I have been to, including a big national one recently, there was hardly a buyer to be seen. It was no more than a lot of people that knew the artists and the artists themselves kind of milling around pretending not to hear what was being said about their work but craning their necks anyway.
It seemed pretty obvious that no good business practice is/was employed at all.

This is not a problem if the intention is NOT to sell but just to show, but in just about every case there is a great wailing and gnashing of teeth when nothing does sell. An excuse is ALWAYS found such as the economy, or the wrong time of the year, or anything else but the truth.

At the beginning of my ‘thoughts’ I stated that when my friend asked me why so few paintings were bought in Durban I answered that perhaps ‘the work is not good enough.’ Reflecting on this now seems to be pretty much the way it is.

I must add here that there is more to it than just this, and we have to consider that things have changed enormously in South Africa during the last decade. A great many educated people who would support the Arts have left the country including Jewish people who are traditionally great supporters of, and investors in art. Big business in KZN pays only lip service to art, especially traditionally white art, but do not support any other art to any great extent either and haven’t done for many years. BASA (Business Art South Africa) at a meeting I attended some time back presented these statistics: Of all the businesses supporting art in South Africa on their lists, only 2% were from KZN. A sad indictment! I must add that there ARE a handful of companies who do really try, but the rest only remember art when they want a bit of publicity or a painting or sculpture for free. They certainly don’t support exhibitions or artists locally in any meaningful way.

There is a tendency with KZN artists (I do not know too much about what artists elsewhere believe) that something must be good merely because they did it? Any criticism is considered an intrusion and a personal attack on them. This of course is not so, but an analytical assessment of what is presented is really important and very necessary.
We really need a few good old fashioned newspaper critics to return. In addition Artists, Gallerists and Societies as well as Art Groups really do need to take a long unbiased look at what they are producing and hanging. Also at the way they present the work on show. I certainly think it would not be a waste of money, if only even once, to employ a professional curator to set up a show and teach the group or Society how to put together an exhibition professionally.
I am no doubt touching a nerve with many, but honestly so many displays look as if they are really chance things with paintings being stuck in any available space regardless of how they work together. Hanging an exhibition is as much of an art form as painting the pictures. If artists have to LEARN their craft there is no reason why gallerists and exhibition committees should not learn what to hang, where to hang and how to hang an exhibition professionally, or do we not see ourselves as professionals? If not, then why the preoccupation with selling? Why equate the success of an exhibition with sales?
The exhibitions I have seen these last few years often look like the same exhibition that was put up the previous time, then packed away and trotted out again and dusted off for the current exhibition or gallery showing. There is a great sameness and little to titivate the audiences. (So they do not come to see the paintings, that is if they come at all) WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS? (Great or even good works of art tend to cling to one and you cannot shake them off. How often have you seen paintings that you cannot forget, but in truth at many of these exhibitions the paintings are hard to remember by the time you get home? It shouldn’t be that way)

WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT? A good question and a difficult one. I think we need to start with Gallerists keeping abreast of what work is available in a proactive way, and having a closer relationship with their artists. (Often Artists get stale and need motivation and interest shown by their representatives)
For groups and societies’ exhibitions the greatest killer of any exhibition is having judges drawn from their own ranks. How can a judge mark their own work? (I am told they ‘turn away’ when their own work is marked. Rubbish!) When you have a number of judges that know each other well can you possibly believe they are going to hoof out the work of their fellow judges, or are they going to tell them that their work just doesn’t have what it takes to be on the show? Never! It is like asking Schabir Shaik to preside over the case of Jacob Zuma. Can he be neutral? Of course not. I don’t see any difference. Then there is the case of students and friends. Can a judge be expected to mark down their friends and students? Can you fail your own students and then have to admit to them that you their teacher didn’t teach them well enough to qualify? I don’t think so. So much easier to just pass them. How about your friends? “You are a dear friend but I had to fail all your submissions!” Goodbye friend!
I am not insinuating that judges are not honest, but just too much is being asked of them, and they like us are mere mortals.

Galleries and groups and societies really need to be clear as to what their intentions are. If it is to showcase work - that is fine, but even there you want maximum exposure. Why not employ a publicist? Even once and learn how they do things. If it is to SELL, then business practises need to be employed and a committee needs to do the work that a Board of Directors would normally do. That is to first and foremost create a winning plan and prep everyone involved.

I would suggest that no more than one judge should be from the group/society and the rest all outside judges who are changed with every exhibition. This can be done on a rotational basis. There are numbers of capable, qualified people who can be employed as judges e.g. Art teachers and lecturers, Art journalists, gallery owners (Who have a pretty good idea of what the public will be looking for if you want to sell) Independent curators, recognised collectors and independent professional artists can all judge and only need to be properly briefed. There is no excuse for drawing judges from your own ranks and I believe if you are serious this practice is self defeating.

The other thing we need to look at is the current economic situation. Just about everyone that has phoned me and discussed this see it as a potential disaster, and so it may be!
On the other hand it may be a blessing in disguise?
The Arts Industry at large has not been a happy place for some time. When there are large amounts of funding handed out indiscriminately all sorts of things happen (The academics will crucify me for this) and although artists should be free to create, a large amount of money finds its way into the pockets of a few. This money is not always spent in the best interests of advancing the standard and quality of our art. Good times for Galleries have meant that almost anything goes, and work is often accepted for all the wrong reasons. Standards are not what they should be and it sends out the wrong message to wannabe artists and collectors.
The group and society exhibitions results speak for themselves.

It will be a good thing if we now start using our brains and creativity and have a huge spring clean and then rethink where we want to go and how we can ride out the recession.
When good times start returning, we can come back better than before with an industry that we can be proud of, and that can take us through the next decade at least?
I have said what I think, but the important thing is what do you think?

Till next month....