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Park Hyun-Ok
Flowers in the vase 14-2 |
Motivated by the
Afforadable Art Fair recently held in Hong Kong, I looked and found the
inaugural Silicon Valley Contemporary Fair right here in San Jose last weekend. Galleries participated from all over the world (10 countries according to the organizer. For example, this painting was from a Korean artist)
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Moita Macedo
Untitled |
In addition, the organizer has invited experts from the art world to discuss topics like “How to Effectively Build a Corporate Collection” The panelists include experienced gallerists, art consultants, an architect who worked with government/city projects where art was incorporated for public display, and finally, someone from the tech industry who understands how companies here value art. There was supposed to be another talk about art investment earlier in the day but it was cancelled due to illness of its panelist. That topic was briefly discussed here since it was also related to corporate art collections. The panelists gave a few advices: collectors usually started small. It could be as simple as finding things one like online and learn about them. It is also good to have a focus, for example, focusing on collecting oil painting, or sculpture, one at a time perhaps. As far as places to look for good bargain, try nonprofit gallery, like the Institute of Contemporary Art right here in San Jose. One audience member asked about how art works are priced. The panelists said the artist’s experience and presence in the art world are important factors. (The painting on the left was from Portuguese painter Moita Macedo whose work has appeared at major museums. The price tag is $10,000)
Back to the original topic, compared to the banking industry (with “old money”) who has a long tradition of collecting art, tech companies (with “new money”) had a late start for sure. However, using art as stimulation of creativity and providing pleasing working environments are no secret to the tech industry. One example mentioned by Kira Lyons from Gallery Wendi Norris was Facebook, which invited artist Val Britton to a residency at their analog lab, where she installed a 3D collage-like large scale work.
Bill Gould (the architect) hosts art shows at his own firm. His firm pays each artist $50 per month as an appreciation for their participation. Another way he contribute was to try purchasing 1 piece per show. That’s how they built their corporate collection.
However, as the Silicon Valley tech giants continue to add their presence in SF and thus driving up the rent, many current residents and businesses were priced out and forced to either close or move. Galleries in SF are not immuned from this either. Also, they are facing increasing competition from online galleries, like the online branch of Saatchi gallery, whose director was on the panel. Saatchi Art splits with their artists 30/70, unlike the traditional 50/50 in a lot of brick-and-mortar galleries. Nevertheless, the consensus was that both type could co-exist and compliment each other. After all, seeing a piece in person is a much different experience than via the computer screen.
Speaking of technology, I want to mention one participant of the show,
Mobile photography awards, who displayed award winning works. All of them are taken and edited using smartphones (no further touch up on computer was allowed) On one hand, it showed artists with great eye and creativity were not limited by the equipment. On the other hand, it also proved how good the camera and processing power are on smartphones these days.
Compared to the aforementioned Affordable Art Fair, I think both shows have different goals but they do have a few things in common:
1) both were successful in breaking down the barrier between galleries and the public by bringing works into a less intimidating setting like a convention hall.
2) both features some relatively affordable pieces. I saw pieces from SVC ranging from $800 to over $30000 (pieces from well-known artists like Alexander Calder were without price tags) while AAF has an upper limit of $13000.
I am looking forward to Silicon Valley Contemporary 2015!
和油畫相比，我對攝影作品的熱情相差很遠，除Ansel Adams之外，差不多無一認識；曾經在SFMOMA欣賞過Adams的原作，尤其喜歡他在Yosemite的作品；原來倒不是前無古人！這位Carleton Watkins是最早期的Yosemite攝影家，1860年代他帶著重達2000磅的自製攝影器材（包括大塊感光玻璃板，流動黑房及沖灑用品），由騾隊運載入谷兩度，認真艱巨。其成績與付出成正比，他的作品出色地展現大自然雄奇之美。除了Yosemite，影展還有兩個主題：一是三藩市的自然景觀及建築，包括Farallon Islands, Alcatraz, Cliff House等等，二是Columbia River Gorge，他成功地捕捉了Multnomah Falls, Castle Rock等地的神態，"Cape Horn, Near Celilo"的構圖更是特別巧妙。
