Final Project Proposal: The Uncertain State of Art and Artists in a Troubled Economy

I propose to examine the state and future of the art market in relation to the current economic downturn. As this subject has numerous perspectives from which critical examination is pertinent, I will focus on the implications of the declining art market for college art students entering the art world in uncertain times. I will use as a point of departure, past examples of the re-envisioning of the art world in times of economic distress and the movements that originated under similar circumstances. New genres of feminist and gay art are examples. Looking at the contemporary art world, I will apply past examples where they fit and note possible adaptations that will need to be made for the specifics of today’s situation.

I will introduce the topic by citing examples that already foretell the decline of the art market, such as changes in art publications and museums and gallery closings. After establishing a sense of the general atmosphere, I plan to explore specifics that focus on the prospects of careers in art for young artists. I will conduct interviews with K art seniors to get their thoughts on the situation and their own plans for the future (and if and how those plans have changed). To get more perspective, I plan to interview one of the K art professors for their take on the issue. Overall, I will argue that the art world and artists will not be able to enjoy the same leisurely success that they have in recent years and that critical changes will have to be made.

With Change Come Improvements, Missteps in Oscar Ceremony

There were large ensemble musical numbers, Jerry Lewis, Eva Marie Saint, and a Kodak Theater stage draped in a curtain of crystals. The 81st Annual Academy Awards had the look (if not always the feel) of the classic awards show from decades past. Changes to the ceremony’s format were apparent and sometimes successful in the broadcast from Los Angeles Sunday night.

Host Hugh Jackman opened the show with a comedic skit that featured nominee Anne Hathaway and intentionally simplistic props. This, along with Jackman’s musical melody with Beyonce Knowles and other performers, were low points in the night, as attempts at old Hollywood-style comedy and song and dance felt like arbitrary time fillers in an already exhaustingly long show.

A part of the ceremony which did not receive much revision, the presentation of the technical and artistic awards were on the whole, the same extended and dull parade of surely talented but definitely unknown and awkward award recipients. If there was a section of the show that was in need of edits, this was it. When producers realize that these people work behind the camera for a reason, everyone (including many of the winners themselves) will be glad that we are no longer made to suffer through these two dreadful hours.

The updated format did allow for many successes, however. The first award of the night, which went to Penélope Cruz for best supporting actress in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” was introduced and presented by a diverse array of past winners in the category. The afore mentioned Eva Marie Saint, Tilda Swinton (the winner last year), Anjelica Huston, Whoopi Goldberg, and Goldie Hawn stood on stage together, each introducing and praising one of the nominees. This method of presentation was carried through all four of the awards for acting; connecting generations of actors and personalizing the acclaim for each performance.

Cruz, perfectly poised and elegant in a vintage Balmain gown was the perfect combination of overwhelmed and eloquent in delivering her acceptance speech. In the acting categories the stars did what they do best: shine. Best actor winner for “Milk,” Sean Penn jokingly acknowledged his own aloofness and used his speech to further the message of the movie and of Harvey milk, calling on those who oppose the constitutional recognition of gay marriage “to sit in reflection.”

This heroic moment was proceeded by another: the acceptance of the best supporting actor award by the family of the late Heath Ledger. Ledger’s father, mother, and sister, each offered short and reserved but thankful comments to the audience, Ledger’s sister accepting the award on behalf of his daughter, Matilda.

The celebratory capstone of the night was the final award, as “Slumdog Millionaire” completed an impressive run of awards winning best picture. The ensemble cast filling the stage behind producer Christian Colson, beamed with joy at the win for the year’s surprise favorite. While there were hits and misses, the updated and throwback format did, for the most part, let Hollywood dazzle for its most dazzling night of the year.

NYT Defense: “Diamonds on the Soles, Paint on the Walls, Nostalgia in the Air,” by Jon Caramanica

Using the recent Presidential inauguration as an attention grabbing lede, NYT music critic Jon Caramanica reviews a concert performed by Paul Simon and friends at New York’s newly renovated Beacon Theater on Friday, February 13. The critic takes the reader back to the origin of the song “American Tune,” for the inauguration of Jimmy Carter. Caramanica seems to use this reference to say that like the song, Simon was at his best in earlier years. The title of the article mentions nostalgia and it is clear that the critic is nostalgic for the Paul Simon of decades past.

In the article from Monday, February 16, Caramanica alternates between mild praise and mild disappointment in his review of the concert. His descriptors relate a mediocre and mixed opinion of the performance. In the third column he uses the words “dour” and “uninspired” as well as “cheerful.” While this is a music review, Caramanica spends some time in the short article with the changes to the theater space, which he also finds to be mediocre after recent renovations, noting the style “toes the line between arresting and gaudy.” It seems that the critic includes the architectural review to further emphasize that both the space and the performance did not live up to expectations, were not all that they once were or could have been. This is a concert review and spending space on the architecture says that the reviewer was not enthralled by the performance. Also noting the other guests in the audience, like Paul McCartney who nearly received more attention than Simon, shows Caramanica’s half-invested interest.

It is not until the end that Caramanica has a definitive opinion of a certain part of the night, where Art Garfunkel joins Simon on stage. “A stirring medley,” are the words selected to describe the shows closing. The closest approximation to a “but,” comes at the article’s close as Caramanica notes the sense of nostalgia for the Simon (and Garfunkel) of the past.

Meeting the Masters

The term masterwork is often employed to evoke the sensations of grandeur and awe and, most of all, greatness in works of art. Including the word in an exhibit title is a sure way of sparking interest. The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts as host to “Spared from the Storm: Masterworks from the New Orleans Museum of Art,” through Sunday, has capitalized on the power of this term as an auditory indicator of high (and therefore “good”) art.

What is in store for those who are drawn in by the lure of the elevated and celebrated artworks? Well, most certainly the art is truly masterful and brings to Kalamazoo and the communities of Western Michigan artists and genres that are crucial in the development of Western art of the last 300 years. The art objects individually and as whole are the triumph of the exhibit. The museum goer sees in the three main floor galleries of the Institute, works by diverse European and American Masters including O’Keeffe, Renoir, Picasso, Pollock, and Monet. While the exhibit focuses mainly on painting, superb examples of changing traditions in sculpture and other mediums are exemplified by the works of Rodin, Degas, and others.

Beside the art itself, the origin of the exhibit has aroused much interest at each of the stops on the exhibit’s tour of city such as San Francisco and Colorado Springs. During the chaos and devastation of Katrina in New Orleans, the staff of the New Orleans Museum of Art worked tirelessly to save the invaluable pieces housed in the museum. In order to raise funds for necessary repairs to the building, the NOMA staff decided to put on a temporary exhibit in New York of some of their most prized possessions of 18th to 20th Century artworks. The popularity of the exhibit launched the traveling show that we see now in Kalamazoo. The exhibit is truly a celebration of the preservation efforts of NOMA and is a rare look at the museum’s holding outside of New Orleans.

But has the KIA done justice to the display of these masterworks? Upon entering the lobby of the Institute there is an immediate problem of presentation. The largest piece in the exhibit and the delegated “star” of the show, the 10 ft. tall portrait of Marie Antoinette by Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun hangs in power and dominion, precisely where it is easily unnoticeable. Positioned on a temporary wall constructed for the very purpose of hanging this portrait, Maire Antoinette hangs (no pun intended) perpendicular to the main entrance doors. Imagine the possessive power the infamous queen of France would have if she were to face the viewer directly upon entering the space; to immediately confirm the true mastery of the works in the exhibit.

Other problems of display are apparent throughout the galleries. Many of the large-scale paintings originally intended to hang in palaces and grand halls appear completely out of place and context on the stunted walls of the KIA’s contemporary gallery walls. And while to counter this effect the curators have attempted to appropriately transform the space, the transformation seems half-hearted. The layout of the galleries often appears arbitrary and does little to highlight the grandeur of the pieces. The worst of the design equivocations occurs in the second gallery where the wall color is more reminiscent of emergency room scrubs than of the Louvre. The gallery of 20th Century modernists somewhat redeems the previous one, as the neutral wall color and actual architecture of the space appropriately present the works.

Anyone considering a visit to the Institute for a masterly art experience should not be deterred by any errors of presentation. The rarity of opportunity to see firsthand the art that has shaped and recorded the history of the Western World for three centuries proves that it truly is masterful as the art stands (or hangs) on its own as worthwhile experience.