Thursday, June 25, 2009

Dare to be UNIQUE!


Heartbeat, 100x120 cm/39x47 inch, follow your heart, not your head.

On Artblahblah, the blog of the gallery who represents my work in New York: Monkdogz Urban Art, the Gallery Diva wrote a, in my opinion, very interesting article. Essence of the article (and quote): "People are buying art for the monetary value, more now than ever. They’re buying a known commodity, limited availability and safe. It has nothing to do with understanding the language of art."
For more: http://artblahblah.com/?p=586


I agree with her view on this phenomena.

In the USA sales are under pressure even more than in Europe, but galleries and artists overhere who live from the sales of their art all are having a hard time now. A lot of my colleague-artists who were in a rising (or sometimes established) position up til the beginning of 2009, are confronted with a lot less sales or no sales at all!
I've been lucky I think, because up til now it has not been that bad for me, but I know that I'm not going to dance away from this crisis.
Most of the people who are buying art now, do this not because they love the artpiece, but for the monetary value of it... So they invest in 'established' art. Most of the time these artpieces are at least 40 years old, and older.
Even though they've got enough money, they don't dare to follow their heart and buy art they really love. They rather buy art that has been valued by others.


Apparently in times of crisis people react primitive. This is pure biology, the animal in us shows herd behavior more than ever. In times of abundance it's more easy to distance yourself from the rest of the crowd. There's not much to lose (in terms of money) when things go wrong. It also is a sort of luxury to (try to) be unique, different than the rest of the world. But when times are rough, we act primitive and there is not much we can do about it. This shows that we're so small, so humble, only a tiny part of the enormous universe we live in and we are dragged into the maelstrom.

For the people who don't have much to lose during this crisis, speaking of money, I urge you to make the difference. Be unique, choose the art you really like and which hits you, not the amount of money that it represents. I like the way the Gallery Diva puts it: 'What about being part of history?'... Wouldn't it be great if a contemporary artist becomes more known, and later on maybe even famous, and you were the one who discovered and believed in this artist back in 2009? Or would you rather be part of the crowd, just like sheep or ants and play it safe? Think about it. You might be making a better investment than you could have ever dreamed of, besides the fact that a good piece of art, which you fell in love with, can bring so many moments of happiness in your life!

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