Back when I had my first art gallery — mid-1980's — one of the first sayings I heard a lot was that "art — like beauty — is in the eye of the beholder."
Whereas art can often be something that connects us, it can also be something that leaves us feeling like an outsider; like we're the only one in the room who doesn't "get it."
Sticker on the back of my truck...
Maybe it sounds like a weird and even callous thing for someone who has owned and run two galleries to say... but I often didn't like the art we were selling. But I was a good curator and had an eye for assembling collections and themes that would have an impact and potentially enjoy commercial success.
Don't get me wrong, I love art — and artists — but there's not very much art in the world I actually like enough to exclaim "Oh wow!" over, and fall into a state of thrall.
Cynicism?
Pickiness?
I don't know, to be honest... I just know that I like what I like, and whereas I can appreciate many different forms of art, that exists separately from liking it. And especially liking it enough that I'd actually want to own it.
Of course, these days the entire nature of what we consider "art ownership" is changing rather dramatically, with the advent of art as NFTs.
Much like cryptocurrency is money that doesn't actually "exist" in the tangible interpretation of the word, NFTs are art that doesn't actually "exist" in the tangible interpretation of the word.
I'm still "out to lunch" on the whole NFT thing, while being perfectly aware and appreciative of their current "Hot Commodity" status.
But I also realize — and that leads back to why I decided to write these words — that just like I can walk into a whole series of art galleries and possibly not truly like a single piece I see, I don't really like most NFT art.
Does that make me a "bad" person?
Part of my reservations may be on account of the reality that the entire NFT concept still lives toward the "8 Bit" end of art development... and whereas there undeniably are some outstanding NFTs out there, much of what I see feels like a chaotic overreaction to digital artists have worked for years in unpaid backroom obscurity and suddenly discovering they can get paid for their efforts so they launch a veritable avalanche of half-baked creative ideas in an attempt to share in the NFT "Gold Rush."
Can't say as how I blame anyone... and I even (briefly) considered getting on the bandwagon till I sat back and asked myself "What exactly do you think you are DOING?"
And I didn't really have a good answer.
Truthfully, I am glad I got out of the art business in 2019, and now only focus on my own art and the attendant worries of bringing that to some kind of commercial fruition.
I'm not (yet?) brave enough for the world of NFTs. Or so I think.
The irony is that I was part of Neonmob long before NFTs were even a thing, and we cut our teeth on identified and collectible digital art in limited editions. Even there, I only truly liked a tiny fraction of the work I saw...
So you just really never know what's going to happen!
Thanks for stopping by!
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