Art and the Public

Some artists focus their artwork towards the public. They try and portray a message or idea for the public at large to view and interpret. But some artists go beyond just portraying ideas for public viewing but also use the public within their own work. Two artists that utilize the public in their own work are Gillian Wearing and Vanessa Beecroft.

Gillian Wearing is a British artist. Her first major work was “Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say” which was first displayed in 1992 at the City Racing in London. In this work she went up to people in public and asked them to write something on a piece of paper. Wearing then took a photo of these people holding the piece of paper they wrote on. These photos highlight people true inner thoughts. This kind of works makes you think about your own social assumptions and perceptions that you make about people and society as a whole. Another work that Wearing utilized the public was “Confess All On Video. Don't Worry You Will Be in Disguise. Intrigued? Call Gillian” that debuted in 1994. In this work she had people come in and confessed to things they would normally never tell anyone they had done. The trick is each person was discussed in a mask, which allowed him or her to tell the truth or lie. This kind of piece highlights what kind of things we frown upon in society such as stories of inappropriate behavior and lying. Due to the masks people are allowed to openly do both I front of the public.

Another artist that works utilize the public to highlight different elements in society is Vanessa Beecroft. Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian artist. She puts on performances that feature models. These models are mostly women sometimes nude and she organizes them in different spaces and documents them through photography. These performances highlight certain aspects of society and different assumptions of society similar to Gillian Wearing’s work. "VB 50"

In one piece called “VB 50”, she organized a group of nude female models of different skin tones and hair colors. She intended to highlight the definition of beauty found in advertising and the multi-cultural nature of society.

Both of these artists highlight different aspects of society in their work. I find Gillian Wearing’s work more effective at highlighting assumptions and perceptions found in society. In her work with the photos of people holding signs one makes perceptions about the person before you read the sign. For instance, one photo shows a policeman holding a sign. Ordinarily we see policemen as figures of authority that seem to be in control of situations they find themselves in. But his sign says the word “help”. Which suggest that unlike his appearance his thoughts portray an idea of not being in control and of needing assistance from others. I find that Vanessa Beecroft’s work is much harder to interpret the message that the performance is trying to portray. In “VB 50” at a first glance one wouldn’t find the message of the performance but after you think about how this compares with other portrayals of women in society one can draw out the message that the artist intended. But both artists make good use of the public to highlight the themes that they want to portray about society.

Money Makes the World Go Round

It has been said that money makes the world go round. In resent decades this has become more and more true for the art world. In a lecture by Dave Hickey and in the documentary “The Mono Lisa Curse”, the issue of money moving into the art world is discussed.

Before money became intertwined in the art world people used to buy art because they appreciated and enjoyed the artwork. But this attitude would change as people began seeing art as an investment. Dave Hickey discusses that artists began selling out. Meaning that they began making art so that they themselves could sell the art to dealers rather then making it to express themselves and highlight different issues in society. In the documentary “The Mono Lisa Curse”, this similar aspect is discussed. That no longer where people looking at art critically but they instead began looking at artworks price tag and not allowing people to make their own judgments. The documentary describes that one piece of artwork, Gustav Klimt “Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer”, as is being compared to the Mona Lisa but the maker documentary disagrees that though the price tag is high it doesn’t make the piece a major work of art.Gustav Klimt “Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer”

In many ways both these two art critics are right. The way in which artists and the public look at art has changed since money has become intertwined in art culture. People aren’t just critical about the art itself but also the works price and how much it is worth.

But not only did this transformation of the art community change the way people looked at art but also how art was being presented and displayed. In his lecture Dave Hickey describes that museums once displayed artwork that the public liked and wanted to see. But as he goes on to say that with government funding for the arts, museums began changing that they no longer responded to the publics likes. The documentary goes more in depth. The documentary illustrates that museums began becoming more business like in their own dealings. Museums started using advertising and began to put on spectacles of different artist to attract its audience. This reflects how the art market has changed art museums into something that is more commercial. The documentary points out the specific example of the new museums being built in Abu Dhabi. These museums will present some of the worlds most prized pieces of art. But it also will contain shopping centers, a boardwalk and a golf course. It turns art into a part of an attraction or spectacle and the artwork itself becomes a commodity allowing the artwork to loss its context. But for all these faults that money has brought to the art community in some ways it has given new life to art. Dave Hickey describes that the museum is forced to display new pieces of art because no one wants to see the same type of piece twice. The art market has made it so that museums are forced to show new pieces of art. So in a way the money behind the art is forcing art to change and create new pieces. It attracts new artists, new movements and new ideas to the art community. But those this sounds good that the art world is changing. The motive behind it is the problem. Art has its context and its own movements rather then artists trying to figure new ways to sell their art for money.

The revolution of the art community in recent decades has changed the way people look art. The intertwining of money into the art culture seems irreversible. It seems that art will in some ways be synonymous with the price of artwork. The market for art that has developed seems to drive an ever growing and ever changing art community and culture.