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An art blog by Jon Coffelt on The Whole 9

Jon Coffelt, highly acclaimed artist, activist and curator, is a former gallery owner living and working in Manhattan. Coffelt decided to keep his distinctive Southern drawl.

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“What the Frack is going on?”

June 20, 2008
10 Comments (see all)

First, here is a little about me…

I am a visual artist living and working in downtown Manhattan. I love to see art exhibitions and reading critical reviews is definitely a pastime. I like the underbelly of the art world and I love exploring things that are not always talked about. That said…let’s get started!

There is a huge shift in the art market as of late. The economy is down. Companies are downsizing and people are tightening the belt. Galleries are closing and/or merging.

How is this happening when supposedly the market is stronger than ever? Maybe some of the blame is to be had on the galleries who seem only interested in growing young MFA’s and giving them their first shows. Several young successful artists come to mind including Dana Schutz, Jules de Balincourt and Sean Slemon among them but burnout rate is high in this group and when we have an unstable economy art collectors tend to purchase known entities rather than risk their money. This is not something many in the artworld talk about and even acknowledge but the galleries suffering the most these days seem to have set themselves up by pushing these MFA’s into a market the artists don’t understand or are not ready for. One solo exhibition should not be used to base whether an artist is going to be successful or not especially in this current economic downturn. Does this remind anyone of the music industry as of late? For every successful younger artist, there are literally thousands who will never be given a fair shake to demonstrate what they can accomplish. For a very slim pack of successful young artists, a little ego in the artworld is fine but for many its been a bull session and many galleries have caved to these untempered egos sometimes compromising themselves. In the wake of these decisions a number of galleries have found themselves unstable, merging or even closing. This is the state of what is happening at the moment. I would love to have more dialog about this topic.

On another note, many seasoned artists are not having as many solo exhibitions and many of these same artists have figured out a way to make a living doing their art by leaving out the middle man altogether? What are your thoughts? I would like to know.

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  1. mannix

    John, you are so right comparing it to the music industry.

    The times are so revolutionary and the old business structure is faltering.

    Whilst you can’t help admire artists (including musicians) who have worked out how to sidestep the industry, you wonder how others are going to be able to grasp it and thrive.

    Is the gallery owner the endangered species?

  2. theroadhome

    Curious about whether or not the trend has accelerated across the board, or if it’s that we, at this point in our lives and respective fields, are finally seeing them for what they are and have been through the years.

    Capitalizing on the “next greatest thing” before it’s had an opportunity to prove itself has been a pattern for a long while, since art(s) have been a commodity. Throwing it all against the wall and seeing what sticks is standard practice. No doubt (in my eyes) it’s worse now than before as everything around us has become increasingly more and more disposable, including talent. With the access of avenues for increased exposure via mediums such as the web “experts”, critics and authorities require less credentials to be heard and and thusly wield their influence. It’s mayhem.

    Commerce is commerce, and those gallery owners (managers, agents, et al) who truly believe in their wards for their potential have become an endangered species. On the other hand, perhaps this is the bottoming-out of a trend that has extended for a very long time…there’s only one way to go…UP.

  3. donaldfrazell

    Yes, we have hit a pivitol point in American life, and the worlds. Cheap energy and the decadence it has brought, the sense of entitlement, the constant whining about self expression, are over. It will take awhile, but the commodities trading known as the art world is about to change, unfortunately not die, it has been going on since the nineteenth century salons. Which have been recreated, and against whom the Post Impressionists destroyed, to be reborn again, in its current all encompasing, diluted form.

    The problem is our language does not distinguish between forms of art, its all thrown in one huge category. In music, you got the spiritual and human extremes found in some forms of European and jazz, plus alot of folk musics for locals, and the rest mostly entertainment for the masses. Art is thrown together, and true art has drowned in the deluge of mediocrity and timid goals of the galleries. No one could possibly find any art that sticks with its original purpose from the dawning of civilization. From Phidias to Michelangelo to Cezanne, and Picasso, it was about who we are, where do we come from, where are we going. It defined us, and our sense of God.

    This no longer exists since the sixties, and the advent of art schools. Now it is all social interaction, entertainment, and the “scene”. Posing, individuality worshipped, and the sense of being part of so much more being trivialized through spiritual centers and everyone having some schtick to attempt to stand out, rather than improve oneself through hard work and constructive criticism. True art is spiritual, as Cezanne said, artists are the priests, and the philosophers. As those two had hit dead ends, and needed to be able to test and grow ones theories in some sort of reality, that is art. At least the art of the ages, and not the society page partying and hedonism it has become.

    And now a test has come, one of many that have before, and many more to come. Will REAL artists step up, the few that always are, and create works that question who WE are, not I. Not some silly political nonsense, always easy targets for that. Picasso did not paint Guernica as an attack on the Nazis, but the animal within, the beast that man can be, when he loses sight of God. And so becomes less than human, but so often usually is.

    With all the vanity galleries it is almost impossible to find good work. Hardly any major artists have come out since the 60s, when MEism took over, and art schools with their dumbing down took over as the new Pharisees. But Art only blossoms when social needs call for it, now is one of those times. Who are WE, What must we do to SURVIVE, not party and revel in ones own “greatness”. It happened in the industrial revolution, the scientific revolution, the social rights that happened NOT in the 60s, but directly post war America, and let to truly great artists such as Bird, Miles, Monk, and Trane. . NOT the soothing lullabies and soul negating of the Beatles and pop music

    The insular “art world” is dying. Let it die.
    The Philistines took the Temple, it is time to rebuild.

  4. ralphie

    We love capitalism when it seems to be working for us, then feign surprise and innocense when tables inevitably turn. The supposed societal watchdogs of western life, artists, have never lived up to that billing in America and the lusting for exposure and notoriety are what galleries and the hoards of middle men feed on. Even the commentary on art and artists is swept up in the commodity labels of a commercial art inductry. As Donald casually separates Michelangelo, Cezanne, and Picasso from the likes of Bird, Miles, Monk, and Trane, his sense of rebuilding is taking the form of the wretchedness he decries. It’s very telling, not to mention the expected norm, that the former are likened to a sense of God and Trane is left hangin’. . . If you’re going to rebuild, get some real perspective on art.

    Eurocentric perspectives on art, coupled with non-existent reference to the more organic manifestations of art experience simply adds fuel to the same old art fire, the images of domination. For instance, ‘post war America’ did not lead to the emergence of Bird, Miles, Monk, and Trane. . their artistic roots sprang from the fields of Jim Crow, unlike Picasso’s co-option of African art themes from the comfort of his studios. If what is to be ‘rebuilt’ is to make a difference it may be helpful to get the details right on the failures of what ever came before, or you could be building what you are burning.

    BTW, there is plenty of art that exists from before and after the sixties; try any house in a Ndebele village. Art and the life are one, a non-concept in America.

    More later.

    Peace.

  5. joncoffelt

    As I say on my Facebook page, “Our collective soul is art,” It is the way we feel, the way we see, the way we understand. When art becomes a commodity is when we lose our faith in it. It is cheapened because it is defined. We are told what to think since we have contextualized what modern art is to us. We are supposed to see the same things and feel the same things but as individuals we need to understand on a deeper level how it is that art affects us. We can call the art market capitalism and trace it back to Africa or some remote island but couldn’t we do that with music and dance also. Living in a post modern time allows us so many different ways to express our needs as artists in our society. I commend that. I think thelongroad gets it right when he says. “The only way to go is up”… and like DonaldFrazzell says above and I am paraphrasing here…”It is time to rebuild.”
    Post haste!

  6. shultzo

    Hi Jon,
    As an artist who is still struggling to get his first show in the US, I have to say from my experience that it’s very hard to get any response from galleries if you are not an established artist. Maybe it’s easier if you’re a recent MFA graduate. But I refuse (and frankly, can’t afford) to pay $35000 a year just to get a ticket into some galleries.
    I wish the situation you portray, that too many galleries show emerging unknown artists were true.

  7. joncoffelt

    What I actually was saying is that too many galleries were willing to go out on a limb for unknown MFA artists not emerging unknown artists. I feel that the galleries are trying to find the next Picasso or some such nonsense. I thought I made that clear in my blog above but I do understand your plight. I think it is sometimes who you know not always what you know and/or can do that weighs heavily into a gallery’s decision to give an artist a solo exhibition. The hype around so many of these recent MFA’s in the Chelsea galleries are what has weakened them in this current art climate. That is really what I am trying to get across. I wish you well with your work.

  8. joncoffelt

    I will be gathering information soon to help artists get a grasp of what they need to get their careers started. I want to help artists by telling them what galleries are looking for and what information they need before approaching a gallery. Even though protocols are different from one gallery to another, there are some simple basics that need to be adhered to and some are intrinsic to the discipline.

    If there are any artists out there who may have questions concerning how to get started or even for the more established who are just trying to keep updated in our ever-changing artmarket, please let me know. I would be more than happy to share with you what you will need to get you farther down your path.

  9. emanuelravelli2

    To echo the words of another art writer on artsjournal.com, (paraphrase): “It will take the printed word to reverse the continuing downward spiral of The Arts.” As a visual artist, now retired college Art Instructor, I think that until critiques,(as in art criticism), instead of reviews of exhibitions are demanded by exhibiting artists, (via the printed word), Artdom will continue to remain in limbo.

  10. joncoffelt

    emanuelravelli2, I couldn’t have said this better myself.

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