The Nouveau Entrepreneur

Art patronage may be hard to imagine for many independent modern artists.  Patronage is the practice of political, religious, or social leaders financially supporting individual artists or groups of artists, often on a commission basis.  While 20th century patrons like Gertrude Stein and Albert C. Barnes, and a plethora of institutional grants, have helped support individual modern artists, they benefit only a tiny percentage of the artistic community now required to be half entrepreneur, half artist.

While artists have always publicized and promoted their art, the 19th and 20th centuries marked a change in how social investments in the arts were distributed in the West.  The rise of democratic governments and capitalist economies have led to a collapse of many artistic communities, dwindling public and private funding, and a shift in financial resources now stemming from private galleries, museums, and academic institutions.  Artists have been left to fend for themselves like never before.

But software, social networking sites, the spread of information, and innovations in artistic tools and techniques have also empowered artists.  While the older systems of organization and support are dying out, a new wave of technological and economic opportunities to expose one's work have exploded.  The fact still remains, though, that artists are leading an increasingly independent lifestyle led by one's ability to innovate both in art and in business.

Are our societies unable to support the growing number of working artists?  Or is it due to the difficulty for markets to price and democracies to support the most value subjective industry in the world?  Is it because of the dissemination, or concentration, of modern power through the money economy?  Or the growth and uncertainty of a globalized job market?

Whether these developments are positive or negative is an endless debate, but as with most questions in art, it's typically a bit of both.  Patronage and public support funneled significant amounts of money to small groups of artists, while capital entrepreneurship gives many more artists the chance to spread their work.  But cultural policy in the United States has only a fraction of the power of French and English institutions, with a population less willing to spend tax dollars on investments in the arts.

Organization, however, is critical.  Artists coming together to share, collaborate, and support each other may be our way to restore the social and cultural prestige the arts deserve.  It may be more "bottom up" than ever before, but maybe that's the way it should be.

That is our intention with Red Bellow; to create a new world founded on the organized voice of millions of artists ready to create a new world.  A world of art.  We, the adventurers.

Red Bellow.  The world's a stage.

Technique, Technique, Technique, then Art (?)

"To him, all good things…came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy."
A River Runs Through It

"[Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered."
Al Capp

A common tension in art criticism arises between the focus on technical ability and artistic expression.  Our first quotation implies that the creative process is a necessarily difficult and complicated path, and that "grace" only comes after mastering this difficulty.  The second quotation describes the importance many established artists and art critics place on traditional technique.  Abstract, abstract expressionist, minimalist, and much of performance art does not depend on traditionally honed or formally trained technical ability, inciting skepticism as to the quality of such work.

What do we mean by technique?  Technique is a specific way or approach to creation, defined by a set of standards, forms, and methods.  All artists employ technique, but that technique can be traditional or personal.  Traditional technique is founded in historical standards, forms, and methods, while personal technique breaks from or originates outside of a given tradition.  Traditional technique is measured against historical norms for quality disseminated in cultural institutions such as classical art schools, teachers, competitions, and literature.  These systems are so engrained in our culture that most Americans have a sense of what a violinist "should" sound like, a ballerina "should" look like, and an actress "should" act like.

When should an artist let go of the desire for technical perfection?  How significant must technical slips be before they detract from an audience's enjoyment of a piece?  Must technique precede art, or art precede technique?

While these can only be answered by the artist or supporter themselves, we believe that technique can be its own art.  That passion, emotion, and style can emerge from working with and through historical standards, methods, and forms, not just around them.  That human beings can thrive on the complexities of form and our inevitable relationship with it.  That technique should be seen not as a hurdle or barrier to art, but as a journey through art itself.

Red Bellow.  The world's a stage.