So Hirst has his glass boxes, medical stuff and ridiculous spot paintings (no one want his swirl pictures, it seems…), Emin recycles her biography ad nauseam, Rachel Whiteread populates galleries with mouldings, Anthony Gormley populates the world with mouldings of himself, and so on… There was a time when artists used to try different things and be, you know, creative. But too much variety doesn’t sell as well as one solid brand, as any ad man will tell you, and art practice now has been poisoned by money. Ironic that so many artists consider themselves above the grubby world of commerical art, isn’t it? As Germaine Greer argued earlier this week, art of the future needs to be more than an exclusive commodity for the rich.
Fresh out of ideas | | Guardian Unlimited Arts:
The article in question is about Damien Hirst plagiarizing himself and the debate as to whether he has any original ideas left, but the thing that caught my eye was this comment at the end of the article. It hit me because I have been told that having a recognizable style and cohesion between works is crucial. In marketing you want a recognizable brand to help your customers recognize your name.
I think many of us have gotten so caught up in the business of being artists that we frequently get caught in a style (a technique in my case) and we possibly wall ourselves off from trying new things. I know I have to, I am working on some new things in my sketchbook and will have to expand my key techniques to explore them and maybe work out from there. Style is what we have intrinsically that shows in our work, our overall brand will come out no matter what. at least, I have to keep telling myself that, it is easy to get set in a rhythm.
I am quite looking forward to it really. I am also looking small scale for some upcoming shows, and while I was thinking of doing some of my key technique work to have a solid presence, now I am thinking of moving on a little and trying some new things. I still feel like I am on the edge of some new works, I look at my sketchbook and I wonder where they come from!
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