Hello, my self-reflection, haven’t been paying attention to this blog for a while. My life is so chaotic – consisting of two jobs, uni work, household, there is just never enough time for me to write something here as well.
As I am approaching deadline fast there is so much to do, and I can feel the pressure rising, but in the meantime, I wanted to discuss what happened in the art world just recently and it makes me more questioning – WHY exactly IM doing my ART degree???
Two very different but significant paintings have been sold on auction houses lately~
Nr 1 – An artwork created by Paris-based art
collective Obvious using AI (artificial intelligence) - has been sold at
Christie's auction house in New York for nearly half a million dollars. Therefore, making Christies the first auction house to
put an artwork generated by an algorithm under the hammer.
Nr 2 - "Portrait of
an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" - an
iconic 1972 painting by British artist David Hockney been sold for $90.3million
at Christies taking the highest price
ever paid at auction for a work by a living artist. Hockney's previous auction
record was $28.4million
The seller or the successful bidder left unknown…
Neither of artworks is to
my liking, but if to be honest I would rather spend money for AI project as its
first of its kind. I don’t have anything against David Hockney’s work, but
common- let’s be honest, it does not worth 90m. This kind a sale can only
indicate on sensible cover up in money loundering business.
It’s not a news flash that art auction might appear
to be a glamorous hidden world where highbrow art lovers meet some of the
richest collectors in the world. But the truth is the art market is a
"hotbed" of corruption- simplify, rich people passing money around
and its nothing to do how good or bad painting is. Dealers are known to use the
auction system to artificially inflate prices, planting an accomplice to bid
against clients and ramp up the final price…. WHERE important works sometimes
sold at a private price significantly lower than the sum announced publicly, the
headline-catching public price boosting the status of the artist for future
sales – in this case living artist.
For me it’s hard to understand how its seems normal
to majority of people and why no one objects.
These two sales leave me wondering why exactly I’m
doing art degree - is there a future for us arty individuals … I’m not sure… as to succeed
there is price to be paid….
All credits to sources bellow:
https://www.dezeen.com/2018/10/29/christies-ai-artwork-obvious-portrait-edmond-de-belamy-design/
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/david-hockney-painting-90-million-auction-record/index.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/02/art-world-is-hotbed-of-corruption-collector-claims/
