The art market is not immune to the burgeoning of the new communications media. Using the formats of print, television, and the internet many new contemporary art magazines and programs will be available free of charge worldwide. This has made artists, galleries and collectors much more aware of one another.
This has begun, and I believe will accelerate, the inclusion of many more artists and collectors into a mainstream milieu of the art magazine world. The traditions of a gallery’s representation of artists from one locale or even one nation is continuing to lose ground. International media is allowing more international arts awareness and arts business. The bricks and mortar art galleries with local art critics talking it up, or down, in the local newspaper is giving way to a spectrum of developments - mainly the magazine.
Critics and dealers can certainly see an international style in art that is becoming more predominant by the decade. While the introduction of new styles and media accelerates on the contemporary art scene, even the traditional institutions of the art world must change.
Artists already show work in multiple locales, and galleries work in cooperation from state to state or nation to nation. But these changes will compound until display of images to any collector and the resulting gallery sales are done far less in the bricks and mortar of the past. Contemporary art is still affordable enough to make shipping and insurance nonprohibitive. Greatly improved technology for viewing the art, communicating with living artists, transacting sales will make the initial viewing of the artwork in a magazine a very good first look.
How will these images be displayed? By magazines in all of the media - whether print, video or internet. Contemporary art magazines can display excellent art for artists, galleries or the collector quickly and cheaply. With digital technology the art can be further inspected, and with scans or high res digital photo enlargements the art can be inspected almost microscopically.
The future belongs to some version of the contemporary art magazine. The more interesting contemporary art magazines show images, talk about collector and artist concerns, review changes in the art market with gallery owners. This is the reason art magazines will continue to grow in the contemporary art world.
One excellent example of this phenomenon is the Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine for Artist and Collector Business. This art mag for artists and collectors makes good sense. CAG has several interesting departments. Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine provides the following articles for the art market.
- DF
August 2, 2007 at 11:23 am
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August 7, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Daniel,
Thank you soo much for this excellent blog and the great articles. I find it thanks my work I did together with Nora Ness. Maybe my personal artwork and photography is also interesting for a feature in cagzine.com
Best regards from Europe,
Sander/Visualclash
August 12, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Daniel society is not immune to new technology. And while the Internet has impacted the art world, I’m not sure I agree with your assessment on the predominance of electronic media. Over the past few years there has been an increase in the number of hardcopy art magazines published, even as new brick-and-mortar galleries have opened. Most take advantage of email & Internet technology as well. Granted there are more & more art-themed Internet sites. And while I frequent many of them (including CAG) I still look forward to sitting down at night with the latest copy of ArtNews or American Art Review. There’s something reassuring about the heavy weight of a magazine with full-page & full-color reproductions of artworks. Of course the proliferation of information on the ‘Net highlights another issue. Who will act as gatekeeper or navigator to help us deal with this avalanche of info? Sites such as CAG can play an important role. MadSilence http://madsilence.wordpress.com
August 13, 2007 at 10:16 am
Hello Mad Silence, I agree with most of what you’ve said, but for the artist and art blogger the internet has provided infinitesimally more exposure. And every hard copy or bricks and mortar enterprise is also using the internet. Also - I enjoyed your last two posts very much. DF