The Gatsby Sessions

The Musings and thoughts on the Art and Culture of France and beyond

[gatsbyhat]

Nature - Spotting the Art Dealer

Hello all, and welcome to a New Year. 

Too many gin fizzes and jolly dancing has left me looking for a quieter life and so a bit of nature searching beckons. You know, avoiding the city lights for a few weeks could be good for the soul (and the liver).

And where better to start than looking at one of the rarest and strangest creatures on the planet......the art dealer........

The Nature Column

The Supercilious Lesser Spotted Art Dealer

I once closed my eyes so tight that the blood vessels in my neck pulsated and I went dizzy due to the effort involved.

And what for.......

I WANT TO SEE AN ART DEALER

Oh you can laugh but have you seen them? So powerful, so knowledgeable and so attractive to the media and us that they often hide from us just to toy with our desperate need to spot one.

And so I give the guide on this most difficult of creatures to understand.

SHRINKING HABITATION

The connected world has put all of your art online. Like a bulldozer in a rainforest we don’t have to go to a gallery to view old masters or new fashions, we just sit at home in slippers and browse through all aspects of art. Websites of artists, sculptors, graphic designers, installation artists (?) and every gallery you have and haven’t heard of plus museums da di da. So how will you spot one of these exotic beasts?

EVOLUTION

The Art Dealer has used the evolutionary process to its advantage. First it realized that if it had a more ostentatious nesting area it could attract its favoured dietary choice, namely people with a trust fund or a designer watch and a sports star friend.

Look around all major cities and you’ll see these nesting boxes with names such as White and Cube and Gagosian and Gallery.

But evolution brings false dawns and a bigger and better plumage was required to really attract the lemmings to the party and lo and behold.......the Art Fair arrived.

The WILDLIFE RESERVE

“I was there you know”.

Ah, the statement of youthful exuberance given with a puffed out chest and a voice slightly louder than a Take That concert as he takes on a serious frown and goes on to describe Frieze number 1 (and 2 and 3 and 4).

But those days of being seen are no more. These Grande dames of the pantomime Art Fairs are no longer about artists......oh no they aren’t!!

Art dealers can’t rely on you coming to their galleries anymore. So they bring their galleries to you.

And so you travel to these hallowed grounds where you hope to see a collection of dealers in their very own wildlife reserve and you sit and you watch and you wait.

THE MATING CEREMONY

If you look carefully you can spot a dealer with a little practice.

The males are quite simple looking, normally as a result of inheriting too much money. They look sideways a lot, almost hoping that you’ll approach because they want to be domesticated but aren’t sure if you are of the right stature to be with them.

The females are a lot stronger and deadly. They usually come with a little black cocktail dress or a pvc coat and killer nails and phone that is waved about threatening violence if you get too close.

Both the mail and the female of the species will hover around the fair and as in days gone past child bearing hips may have been attractive now it is the column inches and the size of house / mansion that is attractive.

If you appear to be a prospect than you will be circled and quiet conversation will begin to ascertain the ability to provide networking opportunities.

Do not think for a moment that the art is important at this time, it is not.

What is important that you can partake of the foreplay of discussing art...... talk about the serra exhibition in New York and London and you can snuggle up but talk Hirst and all you’ll remember is the slap of PVC as it slaps you and vanishes from whence it came.

But make it to the cosy second base and the real reason for a dealers existence comes into place.

Picture it, champagne, hushed conversations and furtive glances into each other’s eyes and then the Art Dealer will glance furtively about, take a swallow and look at you and mouth the words.....I was just last week talking to Tom Cruise / Jay Z / Sandra Bullock and then it is the moment of truth.

THE HUNTER OR THE HUNTED

This is it, the moment you dreamt of, can you catch a dealer.

If you can reply “Well I just spoke to Tom Cruise / Jay Z / Sandra Bullock this morning’ then you have it. The little noose tightens around the neck and the dealer is caught.

If you can’t reply with ‘A’ list celebrities then the hook has slipped and you are left floundering with no way back.

You see, art dealers don’t need the money. They have plenty and if an artwork of standing is for sale they have a little club anyway. So new and upcoming artists then you cry? Yeah right.

Art fairs bring in millions of dollars in sales but it isn’t important to the Art Dealer, he is in it for the contacts and the prestige that can bring him.

And now you have the chance to see the real side of the Art Dealer. They are a group breed but they rarely protect their own (maybe the inflated prices, but not their own).

You have passed the mating game and now the other dealers smell column inches and favourable publicity and they circle like buzzards. Voices are now a little louder as each uses its sirens call to entice you into their address book.

They don’t mix well, the plumage and testosterone in the males is almost tangible and the females begin to hiss and act more like cuckoos ready to jump into another’s nest if the egg is enticing enough.

And then it is done.

The marking of the dealer and it’s hypnotic qualities will permeate into you and after time you will be interested in the celebrities more than the art.

And even if you fail you fail, because you want to be a celebrity even if it is for just one day

And so it is my strong belief that if you visit an art fair to see many artists and many works in situ and not just on a screen then you have a fantastic time but know something.

Like the search for extra-terrestrial life, if you are hoping to engage with an Art Dealer the odds say they are there but I doubt they’ll pick up your signal.

[gatsbyhat]

The Art of being seen

Hey ho one and all.

It has turned rather chilly in this neck of the woods and I feel a need for a hot toddy (whisky, hot water, sugar and lemon juice) just to get me moving in the morning.

Rumour has it that I'm going to be taxed to hubbity to pay for some healthcare plan......what next, a councillor for a president?

Same can't be said for all you artists though can it?

I note with usual trepidation that my letterbox is full of invites to exhibitions that miraculously appear at this time of year.

So is it that you are hoping for sales via Christmas presents?

Or do you just want to share your art at this 'giving' time of year?

I for one love the invites.

Where I am it is the perfect soirée experience. A time to catch up with old acquaintances I haven't seen since last year and there is even free wine and food. So good for those struggling in these hard economic times.

But what of the art you say?

Well, this is a little difficult to say but you know what happens to me? Nada, zip, nothing.

I am convinced that 85% of all attendees at these little shindigs should be thrown out. Immediately. They give a cursory look at the art and then they work the room to catch up on news and gossip from old friends (loosely said).

I find you all shameful.

It is good to see people and catch up but when after an hour or so I come across tipsy individuals talking about soccer and children's schools I do feel so disappointed for the artist and the venue.

And if a night out is your intention why not go to 2, 3 or 4 openings and try different wine and nibbles and at least pretend to look at the art.

Openings are an opportunity you know. To look, to review, to often meet the artist, to celebrate the efforts of a gallery in promoting an artist that they believe in.

I recently met up in the street with a jolly chap, charming, intelligent and I mentioned that I saw him at a gallery just 6 days before.

His response: "Who was showing, so many drinks parties this time of year you know".

A good guy in many ways but I was embarassed for him. I'll say it, a freeloader drinking the wine and eating the food and his only interest in being there was to be seen there and ensure he gets his next invite.

Shame on you.

I'm off to look at the green light ( and you can too for reviews of exhibitions in the area).

[gatsbyhat]

Please stop complaining.......

When this was first published I was in a precarious state......no angostura bitters you see, ruined my light rum and orange juice. And lo and behold, breakfast was further made miserable by an artist fellow who complained that someone didn't like his latest piece.....so I read this to him and told him to be a fine chap and tone it down a little.

Was I right?

You tell me........

An artists life is so ......

Go on.....pick a word to go with the line above!

Dull, Complete, Finished, Lonely, Easy, Fulfilled, Understood, Rich!

Oh come on, I don't believe any of these things or the million other words you could use.

An artists life is fantastic!

Oh hold on a minute, I do believe there is a contract out on me now by angst driven artists around the world telling their assassin(s) that they suffer for their art and I just don't understand the turmoil they live with every day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.....heard it all before people.

Now dry your eyes, open your mind and...ready?

You sure you're ready? 

Now for the reality

1. You are all creative and therefore have the ability to leave behind a legacy of your work, your emotions, you!

2. You don't have to work 9 to 5 unless you choose to. Sooooo many artists tell me over drinks that when the inspiration hits or you are ''in the flow'' then time has no meaning. Ask an actuary or a bricklayer if he gets that feeling? I guess this is why I often meet you in a cafe at 1000hrs and we sit there for eternity thanking our good fortune.

3. You see the world around you. Just because you ARE creative then you see the world around you. Isn't it magnificent? Do you know how many people see nothing? You are the luckiest people in the world. Look now. GO ON, look around you, it is magnificent!

4. To sort of plagiarise from Gordon Gecko ''Ego is good''. Do you have a fear every time you exhibit? Hope so. Because when people, friends, strangers, children anyone comes up to you and states that they really ''like'', ''love'' or ''are moved'' by your work isn't it just the greatest feeling in the world.

And if someone buys something then oh la la, look at the ego go, the trumpeters of the Gods play, stars collide and you are as brilliant as we always knew you were.

5. Do you know how much wine you drink? How many openings you go to? How many invites you get? You have social calendars that make 1950s' Hollywood pale in comparison.

I am so jealous and so are most of the rest of the world.

6. You have a talent that makes you stand out from the crowd. Everybody has a talent but you have a talent that is visible to the world. You are seen, a beacon, a star, a luminescence that brings joy (or at least discussion) into other peoples lives. Embrace yourself, love yourself........

You know something.......

You ARE an ARTIST and it is a stupendous life you lead and have so stop with the negativity.

TODAY IS THE DAY OF THE ARTIST...........I think I want to be one!!!!

-------------------------------------------

So how do we stand out with an exhibition?

This is surely a question that galleries, artists and agents everywhere are STILL asking themselves.

I had an idea, an opening where all the men had to wear purple cod pieces. Mock do you? If it's good enough for George W and Batman then it's good enough for me. I've sent off to Amazon as I write.

But seriously, why is there such a UK / French divide in Art in France?

Is it purely that we don't mix?

Or don't try?

If you like a painting do you care about the nationality of the artist?

Do you look at a sculptor and feel moved but then go....it's no good, it's by a Frenchman?

Is a photograph tainted if by an Australian?

NO NO NO NO NO!

It's time to break the boundaries.

Tell us, please.

Let's make our Art a social and without boundaries event......

Speak soon.....................

[gatsbyhat]

A sad day for superheroes everywhere!

[gatsbyhat]

Is Fashion Art?

Art is something that is meant to last for ever whereas fashion comes and goes.

Correct? Then why is art and fashion so intricately entwined?

Let me paint a picture(!)

A fashion show a few years ago with the excitement, the clothes, the anticipation and the beautiful people.

I turn to the ultra chic and beautifully dressed woman next to me and pass a comment on the colours and fabrics that we see passing before us.

She pauses a moment and then looks at me briefly before saying, "It's like looking at an Art gallery with living, moving creations isn't it."

I mumble a reply and continue to admire and watch the spectacle. 

Move forward to 2 weeks ago. I am sitting with a designer who tells me they are an artist and their creations would grace any gallery.

Is this right?

Fashion and Art are most definitely connected, of that there is no doubt. From the use of Art works and colours in fashion to the Matisse dresses this is evident.

From inception, there is a drawing creation and then a creative element in the production of the garment.

Tom Ford, Valentino, Chanel, Galliano.......are they artists?

Are they more famous than their creations?

Is it another example of marketing in a world obsessed by fame and the content is not always relevant?

Question?

When you go shopping do you look at the way an item looks on you? Do you look at the colour? The style? The interpretation of the designer?

Isn't this what you do when you go to an Art gallery?

Is this proof that art and fashion are one and the same?

People I speak to tell me that the drawing of fashion is Art.

Others say that a fashion show is an exhibition of Art.

But what about timing?

When an item of clothing is on a piece of paper it is art, definately.

When it is created it is a sculpture on a mannequin. Maybe?

But when it is worn and becomes removed from the concept or the exhibition is it still art?

Have any of you really looked at fashion shows recently?

I mean the 'big' shows' in this context. How many of those clothes do you think can actually be worn, even in the closed environments of 'red carpet' events or awards ceromonies?

Come on, take a guess? Not sure? Really?

Take a look below and choose an answer.

Well?

What do you think?

Gorgeous aren't they, beautiful, creative and they are dresses and very fashionable .

But they are made of BALLOONS so that run down to Waitrose may be slightly problematic methinks. (but I'd love to see it).

Designers today more and more make new collections a performance. As you can see, the creations are more of an artistic statement than something we wear.

Art galleries and museums are looking at the fashion world to create exhibitions and performance alongside more accepted form of exhibitions.

On this site there has been a blog about the V and A exhibition of Grace Kelly. Is that the person, the style or the fashion? Note I didn't mention art.

Louis Vuitton have a moveable art lorry that travels around the world.

A recent art exhibition included for sale a number of 'artistically' designed handbags in it's merchandise.

So what is the question here?

It is two questions.

Is fashion art? 

Is fashion now so integrated in art that it deserves to be re-categorised or has it always been there but art tried to be 'above' fashion?

I don't know, do you?

I think fashion has always been influenced and led by art. But I still think it stands alone if (and when) it wants to.

  So I suppose fashion is both. It is art and it is fashion and that is why it inspires us, makes us look twice, is open to interpretation and has the ability to divide opinion so dramatically.

Sounds like Art to me!

[tailleur-votre-vie]

[gatsbyhat]

Take a break........

[gatsbyhat]

Art for Breakfast

Today I had the most wonderful kippers to go with my champagne and strawberry breakfast. Oh yes, and  I purchased a piece of art before finishing my first cup of Earl Grey.

It was a pretty piece, part colourist, part abstract expressionist, part surrealist that made me look again.

The artist is known if you read a little on art. The price was reasonable and within 4 minutes of deciding to buy it I had it and I never left home.

I have just purchased my first piece of ‘Tablet’ Art or to give it it’s more common name......iPad Art.

Am I happy? Yes, but in a different way to normal.

This Art is immediate, normally simplistic which is charming for me and I am not worrying about it being stolen.....or being held as a pawn in a kidnappers game.

Why?

Because I bought the limited print and then downloaded my original as a wallpaper for my smartphone and tablet.

125€ and I have an original for my wall and a reminder on my phone.....Welcome to the Future.

[gatsbyhat]

The Fabre.....wake me up before you go go!

Hello my lovely lovers of art.

How are you all?

I must apologise for my desertion of duties recently but other things have been upon me recently.....

So here I am, back from the Hamptons and what do I see?

A mixed bag to say the least.

Pavillon Populaire  in Montpellier is showing a phenomenal exhibition if you like datred photographs (bitchy eh?).

Seriously, Plossu is like a dry vermouth or a sharp suit. Once you've had one nothing else will do. Pity they can't sort there admin out though!

And Beziers, do see the Moulin exhibition. Pardon? You know nothing about it? Well that's not a surprise because unless you live in Beziers they won't tell you.....

Looking forward to Sète but I'll leavez that for another day.

And now for the unchilled white wine moment.......

The Musée Fabre in Montpellier is one of the most important and powerful Musées in the south of France.

Well funded, well staffed, a fantastic location and opportunities that many glance at with a jealous tinge of green across the pond and lo and behold........another lazy and quite frankly boring exhibition titled and sold on one of the greatest artists in history, Caravaggio.

Caravaggio? Where? I looked here, I looked thezre and found next to nothing anywhere.

What is going on here?

Is it laziness? I don't think so, the movers and shakers here are passionate about art.

Is it a 'comfort zone' of knowing they are safe? Maybe, there is no edge to these exhibitions. And by that I mean passion, admiration of the work, the opportunities that they have to excite us are being totally missed and it really is not good enough.

Is this my opinion?

Yes, but it is also the opinion of friends, artists and an acquaintance who has specialised in Caravaggio for 40 years.

Is it Montpellier? Is the city strangling the flair here? I don't think so when you look around at the wonderful and diverse art and culture that makes the city one of the best in France.

I asked for visitor figures and got.........nothing, zip, zero, nada.

I asked for an interview and was offered one on their terms....could be fun methinks.....

[gatsbyhat]

Big Is Better?

Gatsby here and even a dry vermouth can't stop my quivering angst against the monstrosity that greeted my arrival....

So I arrive in the Hamptons and all is well.

The parties are arranged and the boat is glistening with a new coat of paint.

And Tom has purchased the most bloody awful sculpture, no form, no lines and you can't miss it as it is over 30 foot tall.

Makes me think.............

Big is better…… not always  

The Argument For:

Did you seen the Hockney exhibition in London with the large canvases that envelop you?

Or visited the Artparks with the 9m high sculptures that seem to inhabit the entire space?

Or marvel(?) at Jeff Koons and his 12m+ “Puppy”?

I have and I think they are amazing, enthralling and powerful creations that deserve examination, awe and response. And they are created by artists who have worked hard to master their skills, so that when they ‘upscale’ and attempt to create gigantic pieces, whether on canvas, sculptor or installation, they are exploring the unknown, exposing themselves - craft and often, reputation - to achieve a very difficult medium; large pieces of art that open up a new realm of possibilities, difficulties and interpretation.

The Argument Against.

Going ‘large’ does not make you a better artist.

Just because your canvas is the size of a barn door does not make it a quality piece of work.

Advertising banners are inspiring because they cover a building and are eye catching but they do not make the art better because they are big. They are there as a lure into something else.

A 50 metre high Kate Moss draped across the Musée D’Orsay is not art. Lots of fun for pubescent boys, but just  advertising. Period!

Abstract is in the dock here, along with contemporary and installation art.

Anish Kapoor recently filled the Grand Palais in Paris with a monster installation ‘Leviathon’ which was magnificent. 

To quote: “A single object, a single form, a single colour.” My ambition is to create a space within a space that responds to the height and luminosity of the Nave at the Grand Palais. Visitors will be invited to walk inside the work, to immerse themselves in colour, and it will, I hope, be a contemplative and poetic experience.”

It worked on many levels; it melded within the original building, and then transformed it. It was interactive and yet at the same time stood alone as an installation, like a parasite that chose to be there and became symbiotic with its host.

The other side of the fence.

An artist I met and liked has created a 6m x 4m abstract canvas with a Rothko red background and a black line that didn’t work as a ‘normal’ size canvas, so the artist trebled its size and then proclaimed, “It’s where I see myself and my art combining in a true sense of belonging and meaning”.

Absolute rubbish………

When it was a normal canvas it was called ‘Unknown red’.

And that is where it should have stayed…….unknown.

So why do it?

Does a painting (in this case) improve because it is 3 times bigger? (Very occasionally I admit it does).

I am disappointed, no, jaded by my needs and wants being dictated by so called media savvy messengers and artists who will not consider their own worth and ‘upscale’ just because it is the ‘new way’. It stifles the artist and ridicules me the spectator.

What will be ‘cool’ next? Someone is bound to tell me soon.

As a viewer of art I like to decide for myself what I feel or like; and at times I will go and see something that I don’t (think I) like. This is the quality of being open minded, coupled with a willingness to learn.

Show me an artist who is pushing personal boundaries, exploring their own feelings and drag-netting those shadowy depths and trying (not always successfully) to express that outwardly; it shows an ability to keep learning, to keep trying things, to endeavor, to grow as an artist, a person, a creative soul. For my part, I will actively seek an experience in the work. 

And if this is the case, if an artist’s creative path is taking he/she towards grander vistas, then excellent. But should one go down this route because it is ‘the latest thing’?

The Risk

Artists who create vast pieces are often moving away from a comfort zone into unchartered territory. It requires skill and vision, and for some, considerable courage. But the rewards for artist and spectator can be greater interaction, heightened experiences, with the creative presence packing a more powerful punch.  

But Artists, are you going BIG because it is what YOU want to do? Or is it that the constant white noise of media everywhere is telling you that you will fail unless you conform to the latest craze? What is the driving force here? Drawing attention to you or being inspired by a genuine notion that finally translated into the tower-block hugging piece? 

I would ask both creators and spectators to reflect on whether you are simply buying into the ‘bigger is better’ and the ‘shocking is sellable’ line that is shouted out by the lazy, bored or oft talentless media and moneyed minority who have nothing but their own interests at heart, in order to stay with the crowd.

[gatsbyhat]

A Phoenix rises

Montpellier is without doubt a city full of culture and enterprise. One of the many ways to benefit from what the city gives is to trawl around the art galleries that exist there, all of them within spitting distance of Place de la Comedie. There are five smallish and exciting galleries, which individually have much to offer, each exhibiting a diversity of work that one can easily relate to and be inspired by.

The galleries promote a number of their own artists all with individual and interesting styles and the artists are from all over Europe.. It would be too easy to write down a list of the artists who are exhibiting but more often than not when work is displayed as a group one artist usually stands out or has a special individual appeal. Even then it may be just one piece of work which signals a special message that one may relate to.

ROBERT COMBAS, who has work on display at Galerie Helene Trintignan, 21, rue Saint-Guilhem, is such an artist. There is obviously an intelligence  bubbling away in his work and one soon realises that in his head as there is more than what immediately appears on the canvas.

One cannot easily pass or ignore this man’s work as the overall impact takes hold and roots you to the spot forcing you to soak up the images on a number of levels.. One stands and absorbs and that in itself is a major triumph for any artist to achieve from a spectator..

Each of the five galleries have their individual presentations and style which is both interesting and varied. In addition, without exception. the patrons were helpful, informative and very friendly.