Jim,Originally Posted by Jim collum
Are you around! Man you could be staying in my house!! Where are you?
Asher
Jim,
Are you around! Man you could be staying in my house!! Where are you?
Asher
Merg,
Which other event?
Asher
Doubtful that is the cause. Stephen Cohen's impresario photo show businesses (i.e., Photo 'abbreviate your city') have taken quite a hit over the last few years, as has most other art business, due to the depression. Photo SF (RIP) was on the skids by 2008 and Photo LA, once an important international event, has declined sufficiently that this year exhibition space was solicited from anyone (me) with the bucks to show (not me). Exhibitors previously had to be established galleries. Appreciation of any exhibition of photography aside, my cursory dealings with Cohen prompt me to observe that the decline of his business couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, not.
I spoke with one vendor in who said his $3000 space (an 8ft section of wall) at photo LA was 400 pounds in London at his last show. I remember hearing that the large spaces go for $10,000 a few years ago. I didn't see anyone carrying any prints out of the place in the hour+ I was there. Quite a gamble.
ROL,
Is the movement towards giant prints in color, often inkjet and sold by regular art galleries, hurting classical photography?
Asher
Asher, I was referring to the above noted event and galleries that have exhibited the more "classical" photographic work over the years. In the past you would have found them at the Photo SF,LA,NY events. Not so, this year. Seems pretty pricey for the current climate!
The pain, oh the pain of it all...
Boy, that's a big question, and in some senses irrelevant.
Digital in general, and inkjet posters are today, accepted mediums for photographic expressions. Of course they are taking an ever increasing bite out of the art market. Galleries show them and price them at seemingly inexplicable prices far above that for classically produced (other than vintage) prints. Many buyers prefer them to GSP, presumably because they are "artistry" expressed in new technology.
I once heard the outgoing curator of photography at the Getty advise that real photographers get back into the darkroom and get their hands wet at the same moment that the new curators were acquiring huge color inkjet works that were giving their staff fits in terms of reduced hours of lighting and display, as well as critical long term temperature and storage requirements. Archival digital color prints? Geez.
But here's what's real:
- People (buyers) like what they like.
- Sellers sell what can be sold.
- Hucksters make a lot of noise, so that they may be heard above the fray.
- Personality looms large as the imprimatur of success.
- ...And, artists and craftsman follow their hearts.
And there's nothing "wrong" with any of it. It's just business.
It doesn't hurt that I do make "giant" prints (by classical standards), if consumers are looking for pieces to cover their large walls. But I haven't sold any more of them than smaller pieces, which are more expected in terms of classical prints in recent years. So, it may hurt financially. Anyone in the art game for the "buck" had better be prepared for a bumpy ride. Given where my own heart (and negligible talents) lie, and my dedication to a specific milieu, I must be satisfied with the process and result of my own efforts. Making a go of art financially is a fool's errand.
...here's to being foolish!
i might go tomorrow, just waiting to hear back from friends.
see any good books there?
Compared to past Photo LA's...it was "ok"
Not worth the $25 in my opinion...
Mathew,
I have had an enjoyable several visits. But I'm interested in eclectic pictures like the photographs from Australia made too big for the frames so they curve and are covered with opalescent plexiglass to give a pseudo 3 D appearance or the work in the Ansel Adams gallery with pictures he took to document the Japanese confinement camps for California citizens of Japanese descent, Kerik Kouklis's platinum photographs, one, at least, toned in gum bichromate, use of aluminum as a backing and so on. I still will go back this afternoon for another visit, LOL!
Also, it provides a window as to what people think might sell at what price, if one is going to invest in printing a portfolio for sale. Likely, you have seen all this many times and it's not fresh to you. For me, however, I find there's still much I've never encountered before.
For folk that want to go to Brooks institute, there's a convenient way of meeting alumnae at that booth.
Is it worth $25? for me, the answer is yea. Still, there was nothing that blew me away like the exhibit of Learoyd's 7 foot high Cibachromes I saw earlier this year in San Francisco. So I can understand that folk might be waiting for the next LA Art show this coming weekend to get a real high.
Asher
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