I want to introduce myself

[Frank Shifreen]

My name is Frank Shifreen. I am an artist curator and doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University in Art and Art Education. My interest is in art as research, and artists experimentation as exhibition. The History of modern art is bookended by artists organizing their own shows and groups.
Commercial galleries and traditional museums are art killers not art supporters

[Ajit Vahadane]

You have guts to say openly ,what most artists avoid to say in public.Congratulations

[Nitin Arun Kulkarni]

Hi, Frank, I am Nitin Arun Kulkarni from India. Well .....that statement is quite bold and i must say that i haven't come across such a direct one. Yes i can understand the undercurrent of what you want to say you are talking about the manipulative modes of dealing with art...But one can't forget the importance of the cyclic process of "Art-Commerce-Art", due to which the art industry survives and this survival contributes to the contemporary global culture.
What do you say?
NITIN

[Frank Shifreen]

Hi Nitin
You are correct - there is a cycle. Commerce picks up the art that is the current rage in a bull market and carries it for a while. In the bear market artists have to find their own society and support. That is why "Art" ios bracketed by commerce
There are two art markets. There is a collectibles market where are is traded as any collectible, and there is a living art space, with some galleries museums and collectors supporting artists making art. It is a tiny fraction of the art market.
When you look at developments in modern art in the last 150 years, in almost every case, new schools or artists introduced themselves by creating and organizing their own exhibitions. From the Impressionists onward. Once an artist becomes a big seller they are in another league, and do not make art in the same way anymore.
I have nothing against the commercial art market, I believe that the society of artists and art lovers supports art culture
and it has an impetus all its own. My dissertation is based on those themes. The Whitney Museum here started as an artists club. As the artists aged they wanted a museum to celebrate themselves. I could say much more about this but will have to wait till later
Nitin Arun Kulkarni said:

Hi, Frank, I am Nitin Arun Kulkarni from India. Well .....that statement is quite bold and i must say that i haven't come across such a direct one. Yes i can understand the undercurrent of what you want to say you are talking about the manipulative modes of dealing with art...But one can't forget the importance of the cyclic process of "Art-Commerce-Art", due to which the art industry survives and this survival contributes to the contemporary global culture.
What do you say?
NITIN

[Lilianne Milgrom]

Hi Frank. As an 'international' artist, currently working in the Washington DC area, I have felt what you are saying on a very personal level in my work. When artwork leaves the artist's studio, it is transformed by the mere fact of being seen, being reacted to. This transformation and morphing is greatly increased when the work in question is created solely to satisfy the artist's soul, as opposed to being created for an organized institutional exhibition. I am working on a show right now, deriving my work directly from Georgio Morandi's oeuvre. He is a good example of creation just for his own creative nurturing. I am fascinated with his writings on how other artists, galleries etc. were of no import to his work, or the impetus for his prolific body of work.

[GIRISH CHANDRAN]

hai everyone ..........me presently working as an architect .....
i write occasionally ...and am into abstract painting ....and finding more time to do graphic art and photography these days
nice to meet u all here..

----Girish Chandran