Lowbrow art (including tiki) given a serve in Aussie press... - General Tiki

A aquarj Tiki Socialite SF bay area, CA Joined: Apr 02, 2002 Posts: 1125	A aquarj Posted posted on Wed, Feb 1, 2006 6:41 PM One "bitter art-world insider" quoted in LA Weekly dismissed the movement as the "art-world equivalent of a thousand-dollar black leather jacket". I guess this is taken (and maybe intended) as disparagement, but actually it seems to me like a very suitable comparison. A lot of "highbrow" fine art is the art-world equivalent of a $20,000 designer gown - even more artificial markup due to the marketplace, and probably an even stronger case of being purchased more to impress others than to fulfill any artistic tastes of the buyer. Lowbrow art buyers are often those in the happy position of having the disposable income to spend on the things they're interested in, while having the independence to be able to make these choices without concern for whether those interests are considered marginal. But that sounds like a good thing to me - it oughta be good news that there's a buyer for these kinds of artistic offerings. Actually I think another apt comparison is the $500 tiki mug, a pretty recent phenomenon where things once considered marginal have a new kind of appreciation. Maybe Robert Williams is grousing about a degree of oversupply, when it comes to lowbrow art lately. But even this is puzzling - if you look at the "lowbrow" art world from 10 years ago, there were plenty of hackneyed ideas back then using underground/marginal/outsider themes similar to what shows up today, just with more frequency now. -Randy

One "bitter art-world insider" quoted in LA Weekly dismissed the movement as the "art-world equivalent of a thousand-dollar black leather jacket".

I guess this is taken (and maybe intended) as disparagement, but actually it seems to me like a very suitable comparison. A lot of "highbrow" fine art is the art-world equivalent of a $20,000 designer gown - even more artificial markup due to the marketplace, and probably an even stronger case of being purchased more to impress others than to fulfill any artistic tastes of the buyer.

Lowbrow art buyers are often those in the happy position of having the disposable income to spend on the things they're interested in, while having the independence to be able to make these choices without concern for whether those interests are considered marginal. But that sounds like a good thing to me - it oughta be good news that there's a buyer for these kinds of artistic offerings. Actually I think another apt comparison is the $500 tiki mug, a pretty recent phenomenon where things once considered marginal have a new kind of appreciation.

Maybe Robert Williams is grousing about a degree of oversupply, when it comes to lowbrow art lately. But even this is puzzling - if you look at the "lowbrow" art world from 10 years ago, there were plenty of hackneyed ideas back then using underground/marginal/outsider themes similar to what shows up today, just with more frequency now.

-Randy

Post #212068 by aquarj on Wed, Feb 1, 2006 6:41 PM