gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

thoughts on "fine art"

One of the major projects I've got going on the side is selling the cartoon originals, as "art" and/or "collector's items" etc etc.

Frankly, I don't like selling them much. I especially don't like selling them to fellow bloggers. I much prefer just randomly giving them away for free, at blogging events, geek dinners and whatnot. Which probably explains why I rarely write about that side of the business on gapingvoid.

That being said, there is a small market for them. And it seems to be growing. Here are some initial thoughts:

1. Selling art is a long-term thing. Perceived value takes a while to gestate. Decades. Jackson Pollack never sold a painting for more than $900 when he was alive. They're worth millions now.

2. It doesn't matter what the art critics think. Look, they're "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards". I call them that for a reason. I don't call them "art" for a reason. They are what they are. People either get it or they don't. And if they don't, nobody cares.

3. Transparency? Ha. The upper end of the art market is very screwy. Anybody's who's in it has something to hide. "Awash with lunatic scumbags" is a phrase that most readily comes to mind.

That being said, I don't need the money, nor do I care if I sell them or not. So there's only so much power that scene can have over me.

4. I would recomendend reading Mark Kostabi. His column for Artnet, advice for artist trying to conquer the art world, is brutally honest, lucid and brilliant. Whether you like his work it not is irrelevant.

5. I like selling the originals for large amounts of money. Or like I said, giving them away for free. It's the in-between I find a complete waste of time.

6. Much of the art world is fuelled by the "Complicity of Desperation". I'll leave it to you to figure out what I mean by that.

7. "Romantic Artist Lifestyle Shit" can spur you on initially. But it becomes an impediment all-too-quickly.

8. The internet is a great place to sell art, but there other alternatives. Imagine a large network of high-end galleries, scattered around the globe like confetti, all doing my bidding. Yes, indeed.

9. Mixing art and commerce successfully is impossible. Unless commerce is an integral part of the art. Which is what made Warhol so wonderful.

10. Mixing art and real life successfully is impossible. People who think otherwise normally fail in both.

Posted by hugh macleod at November 14, 2005 8:50 AM | TrackBack