MurmurART
by We featured online contemporary art gallery MurmurART recently and thought it was time to catch up with co-founder Donald Eastwood and ask him how someone like Damien Hirst can get £95.7 million for a bunch of pickled animals and stubbed out cigarettes: ‘It’s funny that pricing of art is always treated with much more suspicion than the pricing of other art forms. When you buy a painting, you are buying a one-off, original artistic creation, plus the cost of the materials used to make it. It’s not like buying a book or a song on iTunes, because they are just reproductions of a moment of artistic creation. When you pay 79p for Britney’s new single, you are in fact agreeing to a price for that piece of “artistic” creation that is 79p multiplied by the several million people that will buy it, and you are only getting a reproduction of a song that should, but probably won’t, be better heard live. Now frankly, why aren’t people asking how someone can sell meaningless lyrics and a banal tune for several million pounds?’
How hard is it for emerging talents? Will the big names forever eclipse any hope for young artists?
‘There will always be big names and emerging talents, just like there is for music or any art form. What is changing at the moment, and it is interesting to look at music again as an example of this, is that individuals are actively dictating their tastes rather than being passively sold things, and the internet is providing free access to a far greater diversity of new talent’.
More and more art can be viewed online, in fantastic detail. What does this mean for the future of art galleries?
‘It does signal a profound shift in how people come into contact with and buy art, but remember that the internet will never replace seeing artwork in the flesh. Websites such as ours are not there to replace the experience of seeing art, but to promote that experience. The detail on our site is limited, as is any reproduction. But to hark back to music again, it is like hearing a band at home on Myspace, then buying a ticket to see them live. You will never get the full experience until you hear them live, but could a band survive without ever recording or promoting their music?
‘Articles predicting the end of galleries suggest that fairs and websites will replace them, but neither has the same essence of a dedicated exhibition space, and they will continue to co-exist. The role of the gallery may well change however, to become more like a venue in that they will represent a select number of artists less, and play host to art and artists that are represented by others but suit the space more. This is a direction that we are moving in too, holding roaming exhibitions in different locations’.
Tagged: art websites, cool art websites
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Want to share your project and network with thousands of other like-minded creatives and artists? Well, this is exactly what Art Bitch does. With a local and international audience of 6000 plus people interacting on Facebook daily, sharing, talking, liking, we’re off to a good start. Oh, and this is expected to grow. In a super way. Hit the Like button and share your project. It’s that easy.
I went to a concert earlier this week performed by musicians who had spent years in training, many at some of the UK’s most prestigious music colleges, but now, given the fierce competition they face, rarely perform any more. Many are forced into completely unrelated jobs. Luckily, his regular hour-long session at a church in London gives them the opportunity to play to crowds and remind them of why they grafted so hard to achieve those skills. It reminded me of this website which provides a bit of a refuge and a sign of hope for new artists, photographers and sculptors. The basic idea is to give emerging talent a platform on which to both exhibit and sell their work and, on the flipside, engages a wider audience in contemporary art. In such a competitive field, too much good material inevitably goes unnoticed and the artist, for all their potential, quits the game. So these platforms are wholly necessary. In May, they’ll host online exhibitions of work selected by both established and emerging curators. Read more
With online ‘art-for-sale’ websites popping faster than magic mushrooms come mother’s day (or so I am told, ah-herm), it can be hard to pick the gold from the garrrr. To make it nice and simple for you, I can guarantee you’ll like what you see at Stupid Krap! Read more
Also by FRANCIS ANDREWS
Irina Werning’s Back to the Future photo series
Argentine photographer Irina Werning has complied this beautiful and poignant collection of portraits of adults re-enacting images of themselves as kids. From what I gather, she has asked people to submit photographs of themselves and then returned with them to these same spots at the same times in their lives. She’ll take this project round the world, from Baghdad to Eurodisney, and is looking for willing participants. Read more
Bug fighting in South East Asia
Of all the little idiosyncratic activities I’ve come across since living in Southeast Asia, this nears the favourite. The bug fights are held in a cemetery about half an hour outside of Chiang Mai late in the year when the stags are at their randiest. It pulls an impressive crowd who bet some hefty dollars on the winner, claimed by the beetle who throws its opponent off the revolving log and struts (or crawls) to victory. Read more
What The Fuck Should I Make For Dinner
All hail the magic 8-ball of cooking; the answer to those painful moments of indecision that plague every shopper at around 6pm on a hectic Monday evening. It’s not the nagging voice that questions every decision you make, but the blunt, obnoxious hollering of an online Gordon Ramsay. The kitchen abides.
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Check out Erin Gallagher’s portrait of Alexis Krauss and Derek E. Miller of Sleigh Bells. Her voice is like crystal and his guitar shreds. Perfect combo!
This cool work is from the witty German artist, Ich bin Kong. All of his work is fun and original, but this one particularly won me over. Read more
The issue of abortion has hardly ever been represented so honestly by a movie. Knocked Up and Juno gave the pro-choice movement a boost, and of those two, only Juno came close to confronting the issue. In the Princess of Nebraska, the main character suffers through indecision, naivety and turmoil that seem much closer to reality. Read more
This organic form, revealing itself from the sprawling metropolis of Barcelona via the marauding eye of Google, is the Santa Caterina Market. Designed by the late architect Enric Miralles it has a floating ceramic roof that drapes the bustling market below in a parental way. The coloured ceramics, of course, represent the smorgasbord of fruit and vegetables on sale within and enable a majestic view, not only for Google, but also to its immediate neighbours overlooking the site.
This is a friend of mines’ blog. Her name is Nirrimi. She takes really amazing photos, and she makes great little films, too. I did the music score for one a while back. Her blog is like a novel that just plays out slowly but happens in real life. Well worth reading if you’re into photography and good, honest writing. Read more
Skeletonbreath pound out some pretty raging post-punk anthems with a violin taking the lead rather than a vocalist. The trio can get surprisingly loud, despite frontman Robert Pycior’s classically trained virtuosity.
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Now you can take the annoying but fun sport of popping bubble wrap at work, or on a special occasion, onto your tie. This should definitely pass the time if you’re annoyed or you just want to annoy someone. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
A little infectious lollipop rock anyone? Feel free to embarrass yourself singing along at the stoplight. If the other drivers give you that look, roll down the windows and spread the love.
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Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
Michelle Blade’s psychedelic artwork
Michelle Blade’s washed out paintings are deceptively simple, her washy acrylics creating psychedelic textures and conjuring ghostly figures from the past. Read more
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
New York-based artist Suzuki Mariko has made this handmade felt doll set of a mom and happy baby bear sitting on a sofa. At just three inches wide and two inches high, it’s perfect for your side table. It can even watch TV with you. Aw! We have it for sale in the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
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