marginalmatters: On Marginal Matters

Sunday, February 24, 2008

On Marginal Matters

"...his (Kabakov) basic conviction is that the greatest measure of creative latitude is often found at the artistic margins."
Intoduction by Robert Stern in ILYA KABAKOV, The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away by Amei Wallach, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996.

Inspired by Ilya Kabakov and the Soviet NonConformists Art Movement, Marginal Matters explores art and life on the margins. Margins suggest a center. The center in art is often called "the mainstream". In this debut posting of Marginal Matters, several artists contemplate the mainstream and their relationship to it.
I live near the mainstream of mainstreams. I think about it; I visit it; I like it when it doesn’t smell bad, I once dreamed of living in a houseboat on the mainstream but then I discovered rats live on houseboats and I’m afraid of rats so I changed my mind.

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margin:

(noun)

1. The edge or border of something; the blank border on each side of a printed page

2. An amount by which a thing is won or falls short, an amount of something included as to be sure of success or safety. FINANCE: a sum deposited with a broker to cover the risk of loss on a transaction

(verb)

Archaic: annotate or summarize (a test in the margin)

mainstream:

(noun)

The idea, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as normal or conventional, the dominant trend in opinion, fashion, or the arts.

(verb)

Bring (something) into the mainstream; place a student with special needs into a class of students without special needs

TOP, MIDDLE, AND BOTTOM

Jane Kallir, St. Etienne Gallery. is a noted dealer and observer of the art market and publishes a yearly commentary of its latest changes and direction. Last year, before the collapse of the mortgage market hit Wall Street, she noted the unprecedented expansion of wealth in the top end of the art market. While the middle market had almost totally eroded, the bottom market was voraciously seeking new, hot, young talent, only to spit them out quickly if they failed to fire up sales.

Collectors, she found, no longer sat at the feet of connoisseurs, art critics, and art historians. They considered themselves sophisticated enough to call the shots. For example, growing collector interest in Gustav Klimt had resulted in the recent rise of his prices. Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer was originally the property of a Jewish family who perished in the Holocaust. The painting surfaced after World War II in an Austrian museum. After a long. protracted, and much-publicized legal battle, the painting was returned to its legal owners who then placed it on the market.

Iconic paintings of an art period or a movement are generally permanently housed in museums. They rarely appear on the market. When one does, the competition for the "trophy" painting is fierce. In 2006, Ronald Lauder purchased the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer for $135,000.000 for his Neue Galerie, NYC, a museum of Austrian and German art and design of the early twentieth century. Kallir reported that what was shocking was not the price, but the artist. Klimt. although admittedly good, was not in the million dollar auction club of a Picasso or a Pollock, according to an art world obsessed with early twentieth century Paris and post-World War II New York City.

THE WORLD’S TOP 200 ART COLLECTORS

Where

USA 108

NYC (38+ 11 connections)

UK 13

GER 12

FR 11

SWZ 10

Who

Finance 47

Industry 41

Real Estate 29

Entertainment 25

Retail 24

Inheritance 10

What

Paintings, photography, some sculpture, prints, furniture and jewelry.

Contemporary and modern art are what are mostly collected along with some additional ethnic concentration of art works and objects. Impressionism and Old Masters and decorative objects make up the rest of what is collected.

Art News

Summer, 2007

About Jenny Tango

I am a painter, supporter of Hillary for President, and write a column, "Working Art" for Home Planet News, a literary and arts quarterly.

I am not going to list my favorite books and movies. There are too many. As for what I'm currently reading, it's what's ever in my bookshelves since I'm avoiding going to the library as I generally end up reading instead of painting. As for the latest movie I've seen, it's what ever dvd is in the public library. I watch on my computer because I have no TV. As for music, I listen to WQXR even though it's thoroughly mainstream since it's the only classical music program left on radio

My favorite artists is more to the point. contemporary and otherwise. But that list is humongous and I shall be dribbling those names into future issues.

That's all, Folks!

marginalmatters