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AS AN ARTIST YOU’D BETTER HAVE YOUR LAWYER READY
AS AN ARTIST YOU’D BETTER HAVE YOUR LAWYER READY
THE INHERENT DANGER OF ART
2,500 years ago Plato through his Republic sought to banish the mimetic arts from his notion of an ideal society, in that he recognised the distracting and destabilizing effects of art on its citizens
WHEN HACKING LOSES ITS THRILL YOU CAN ALWAYS TRY ART THEFT
There is no doubt that Rembrandt would have been surprised that he holds the Guinness Book of Records medal for the most stolen work. Jacob de Gheyn III was stolen in 1966, 1973, 1981 and 1983.
THE ART COMPETITION, THE VALIDATION, THE NON-RETURNABLE FEE.
Art contest judges have to pick at least one “winner” just to keep the competition going and the truth is that success for artists doesn’t come from participating in petty competitions against your peers.
HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE LABELLED? EMERGING [unknown], MID-CAREER [a darling of the shopping trolley] or MATURE [dead].
At what point do you start and stop being an emerging artist? Many artists remain in the ‘emerging’ category all of their lives in spite of a sustained practice and sales and some never attain that status at all.
THE HONOUR, THE PRIZE, THE DECISION, THE FUTURE
The ultimate honour for any visual artist is to be recognised by their country as having contributed to the collective imagination and identity of the country
KEEPING PUBLIC ART SAFE – BANNING UMBRELLAS, MUFFS, PARCELS, SELFIE STICKS, CANAPES, FORKLIFTS, WOMEN, CHILDREN AND ARTISTS
Trying to destroy the Mona Lisa [many have tried] to get your name in the papers may not seem on a par with shooting John Lennon but inevitably, cultural artefacts of all types are seen as soft targets and a way to instant fame, however short-lived.
THE POPUP EXHIBITION, THE COMMERCIAL GALLERY, THE BENEFACTOR
As a working artist I’m continually faced with the need to find space to exhibit – and I’m not alone. Shortly the Adelaide Fringe will launch its 2021 program of which the visual arts section is an integral part. Last year was difficult but as with the South Australian Living Artists festival in August, anything up to 1500 artists will be looking for space.
THE ARTIST, THE SHOPPING TROLLEY AND THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR
So where to the artist? There are more art practitioners today than ever before with a burgeoning online market set up to sell their works, but the designation ‘artist’ is of ultimately no more value than yesterday’s newspaper, now rebadged as fish wrapping.
THE PARLOUS STATE OF THE ARTS AND ART EDUCATION
Artists left to survive on their own, art students with nowhere to go and policy makers ignoring the need for a concerted nation-wide policy in the arts, all point to a return to a time when Australian artists had no choice but to head overseas.
HOW TO TELL GOOD ART FROM BAD : ADVICE FOR THE WARY ART BUYER
If the artist’s work features many strange markings, it is a sign of carelessness and inexperience.
WHO UNDERSTANDS PICASSO?
Once upon a time Picasso was one of the few artists everyone knew about or at least the one artist whose name everyone knew once you got past Da Vinci and Michaelangelo.