Contemporary art is like a monster. The old man who is engaged in the collection of traditional calligraphy and painting is humming, but it does not prevent the world-famous art institutions from holding them in their hands like treasures. Contemporary art is a monster, which contains the myth of getting rich overnight and the fluctuating market. No one knows what is brewing and happening in this mysterious art world, which seems to have a great traction on the direction of human civilization. I only saw the mysterious new characters airdropped from other planets to the grand auction reception at three o'clock on the earth. No one could understand the performance art and the media reports full of profound topics.
Now someone has emerged from the inside of this "monster" and brought some "inside information". Among them, Murakami Takashi, a famous Japanese contemporary artist, is surprisingly frank; There are two Germans who criticize art history; Cai Kangyong, a media person from Taiwan Province Province, China, and his collaborators are involved in film and television hosting and art investment; There is also Professor Huang Heqing, who studied in Paris and taught in the Art Department of Zhejiang University after returning to China. The latter summarized the "truth" of contemporary art as "American art" forcibly established by Americans in the world after the war, and criticized it as "artistic conspiracy".
Their books will open a different artistic journey for us.
"It is also very simple to accept an era, that is, to accept the toss of several artists." -Liu Xiaodong
what do you think? Whoever says first wins first. Murakami Takashi is trying to meet the joys and sorrows of European and American art circles.
"In the process of working with LV, I learned how hard the so-called brand business is. A group of elites want to catch all kinds of people full of desires, do business with them, and then make the vast majority of people feel happy. This is a great thing. Even the brand business is not efficient, let alone how inefficient the art business is! If we know, if we don't rack our brains, we can't continue to create interesting works.
The value of a work will be influenced by the atmosphere of the times. The heads of newspapers and TV stations and exhibitions planned on a whim have become the main reasons for their popularity; Or the rich man's little wife said' good' painting, the value suddenly increased. These are all possible. "
Until the age of 36, Murakami Takashi often waited at the back door of a convenience store hungry to buy an expired lunch. Exactly 10 years later, his work My Lonely Cowboy was sold at Sotheby's in new york for1600 million yen. Two years later (September, 2065, 438+00), Murakami Takashi held a solo exhibition at the French Palace of Versailles.
Murakami Takashi has successfully become a symbol of the times. However, when we open his "On Artistic Entrepreneurship", what we see is the naked "truth" similar to business, rather than the autobiographies of talented artists who tirelessly pursue and eventually become late bloomers. As Liu Xiaodong, a famous contemporary artist in China, said in the preface of the Chinese version, "I have never seen an artist shout so loudly about money, nor have I ever seen an artist have an influence on so many ordinary audiences. He published books, hired people, put on airs, attacked various fields in the name of art and swept the world with fierce momentum. Cheer for the work to become a commodity, and shout for the work to sell at a sky-high price. There is no humility of traditional artists at all, and there is no avoidance of intellectuals. In the face of the trend that belongs to him or does not belong to him, wave after wave, go forward bravely and have no shame. " But Liu Xiaodong said that this is a book that must be read, "especially for us orientals who study art and art". Because Murakami Takashi used his own personal experience to describe his experience and know-how of entering the mainstream of contemporary art in Europe and America.
In this book, Murakami Takashi repeatedly emphasized that the works of art sold at sky-high prices or artists became famous, and the part that was affirmed was "concept". With a sober insight into the world, he wrote: in the western art world, what can be recognized as having real value is neither good materials nor much effort, but "ideas" or "concepts", and it must be the first idea to do so. The rest must be given to the diligence and luck of the artist, the flexibility and gain of the agent, and even the weather and the mood of the guests on the day of the exhibition.
Duchamp signed his name on the men's urinal and named it "Spring". It was a joke, but it succeeded. That's why.
The value of a work is no longer determined by the thing itself. Depends on what? Murakami Takashi called it "an internal transaction between the creator and the viewer". If the transaction is concluded, the evaluation will rise and the value will naturally soar. How did this deal come about? We must have an insight into the "hidden rules" of European and American art circles.
"In Europe and America, people are not moved by the ambiguous pursuit of' beautiful colors' like Japan. But to appreciate the intellectual "design" or "game", which is a basic artistic attitude difference. There is an unwritten law in the production of European and American works of art, that is,' creating a context in the history of world art through works'. " Murakami Takashi believes that the high price of his works proves that the context he has established for a long time in art history has penetrated into Europe and America.
Therefore, Murakami Takashi is always making some seemingly unfounded plans, and all the reactions he hears around him are without exception the voices of opposition and disgust. But he knows very well that "unfounded things have an atmosphere of attracting customers; If the atmosphere is not warm enough, there will be no customers. " Just like grabbing things from the air, his works were later interpreted as "anime otaku from Japan", "combination of fashion and art" and so on. He summed it up brilliantly as "this kind of thing is to do it first and win first."
These "baseless" groundbreaking plans include a giant balloon. This is Murakami Takashi's inspiration from the balloon used in the cartoon Doraemon. A series of calculations quickly flashed through his mind: balloons can be folded easily, and the effect of the works can be displayed as soon as they arrive at the exhibition site, so the freight borne by the exhibition organizers will be much cheaper, and thus more opportunities will be gained to participate in overseas exhibitions. As a result, this balloon was really well received. "This is because we know that the industry needs simple transportation rules, so this effort may be effective." It is not only the success of an exhibition that plays a role, but also the maintenance and increase of his personal reputation, which makes the graph of his follow-up evaluation by art institutions rise continuously, and the confidence of collectors in investing in Murakami Takashi's works rises continuously ... The business myth about him is farther away from the day of disillusionment.
In addition, in the western art world, art is closely related to the unique display or competitive atmosphere in the social world, which is the background of the value of artistic works. "Yes, art is just a boring game for the rich, but if you sneer at this kind of thing, please don't have any opinion on international evaluation standards."
In the affluent class in the United States, people who buy highly praised works of art gain respect in society and are considered as "winners". These people are the targets of Murakami Takashi Company. At the same time, he is also familiar with another law: in the United States, successful people will feel obligated to contribute to society; Successful people like this, when considering giving back to the society, choose one of the projects, including assisting the art museum, that is, buying works of art and donating them to the art museum. In order to avoid forcibly bringing things with bad taste into the art museum, the curator of the art museum will also give some suggestions before collectors buy the works to judge whether the works are valuable. At the same time, the consultant also created a "story of the work" at the sales site.
"Collectors are like gambling, so goods must have stories to make them feel that it is worth gambling with money; The auction company is holding one cautious lunch meeting after another with the buyers who want to buy. Then spread the news that' who will win the heart of that Japanese beauty' and stir up the market with words that stimulate desire such as buying desire, conquering desire and winning desire. "
"For collectors, the more things that bother them, the more they want." Murakami Takashi gave the conclusion again.
"In fact, there is no difference between artists and adventurers. The weak must seek survival first, and artists must think very carefully about survival. " Murakami Takashi 12 years ago took a sad scene in the American subway: there were many mice, and the fat mice would kick away the little mice to monopolize the food, but when the cat appeared, all the fat mice had to run away.
In the contemporary art world based in Europe and America, the "cat" is a local artist, while the "chubby" mouse "is a foreign artist. At that time, Murakami Takashi realized that society was cruel. Between avoiding cats and competing for food with his peers, his only way to survive as an artist was to become a "fat mouse" in the United States.
"I feel the same as when I risked my life in art, just to survive."
"The veil of art has now been torn." Two Germans pierced the century-old "painted skin".
"In the 20th century 100 years, art has broken away from the traditional framework and entered the world of daily life from museums and galleries. It's like the king visiting incognito, mixing in the crowd, and finally finding his way back to the palace and sinking into the bar on the corner. "
Two Germans, Serrant, Ph.D. in Art History from Heidelberg University, are currently engaged in art history related comments in Berlin; Kittel, the artistic director of an advertising company, studied at Kiel College of Art. They co-authored the book "A Guide to Understanding Ultra-simple and Interesting Modern Art", which broke the hearts of insiders and emboldened laymen.
If you want to break, you must stand first. "It is not difficult to summarize the schools of modern art in the early 20th century. As long as we can remember the order of these art schools along the time axis: expressionism, cubism, surrealism … we can make a splash in art classes or impress our relatives in the countryside. However, since the development of modern art, its diversity has been confusing, and no school can represent the artistic creation of a certain period. In addition, the rules of the game that regulate artistic creation have long since disappeared. "
Another set of data further confuses Chizi: At present, there are about 20,000 professional galleries, 1500 auction houses, 22,000 art galleries and hundreds of thousands of artists engaged in painting, sketching, photography, video and media assembly and shaping, and dozens of art fairs are held around the world every year. We can almost believe that the world has become a playground for creators, although only those who are familiar with art history know what tricks these modern artists are playing.
The author used 40 pages to introduce the contemporary art schools such as minimalism, pop, installation and environment, photography, image, body, concept and sculpture. Other chapters ***200 pages, with laughter and abuse, opened the curtain of modern art: "There are more collectors than excellent works of art", "Left hand in, right hand out", "Various opening receptions", "Various art fairs", "Making art with production lines", and what's more, "Teach you to deal with bluffing experts" and "Artists" The following are some excerpts:
About the sky-high price-"More and more collectors want to know what the actual price of the works of art they bought at the auction is. Therefore, the time for collectors to buy and sell collections is getting shorter and shorter, and prices are also rising. As long as the art market continues to expand and develop, the works at the auction will continue to shoot sky-high prices. "
On the market-"the art market is more unpredictable than the stock market, and the price fluctuation of works is greater than the face value of stocks." Because the value of art is more likely to be pushed up by speculators than stocks. Artists' creative career is not romantic, and some people go insane or die young because they can't bear the pressure of preparing for international famous art exhibitions. "Ironically, some buyers especially like the works of artists who died young.
On Art Criticism-"The real art discussion and discussion no longer exists. Few free critics dare to expose bad works, because he doesn't want to make enemies for himself or lose the opportunity to write. Moreover, few art dealers or museum staff will criticize an artist's work without reservation, because they may lose customers or borrow exhibits. Due to the intricate exchange of interests, art criticism is completely controlled by the market. "
About the rules of the game-"For future people, this is a typical rule of the game of modern art, and this appeal is more obvious when people speculate on some popular large-scale exhibitions"; In addition, the most decisive survival rule of the art world at present is the so-called "enhancement effect": even insiders can't get the whole picture of artists, gallery industries and art exhibitions around the world, and people can only start with artists they have heard of. The higher the exposure of an artist, the higher his reputation and the better his market, because their works are widely valued all over the world. However, when the heat goes down, the market of some fashion artists will immediately decline, and the American Jewish painter Schnabel has experienced such ups and downs.
When the two authors admit that art has almost replaced the declining religion and give people timely comfort when they are faced with the limitations of life, they also exclaim: "What will happen when everything can become art? In our time, as far as aesthetic needs are concerned, artists are no longer needed! "
"The important condition for making a name for yourself in the art world is: nothing." After a lot of ridicule, the author of this book fell into the Great Depression. "Looking at the creation of modern art, we know that these works are actually fleeting and cannot leave a permanent track! This is reassuring, but it is also disturbing ... "
Nietzsche once said, "Only through the attractive veil of art can people endure the sorrow of existence". "However," they wrote, "as far as we know, the veil of art is now in tatters."