Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
20 November 2018 Vol 3 No 24 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2018
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
How do you quantify the unquantifiable?
Success, for instance, is a concept that Western society often equates with money and fame, but is actually quite subjective, especially in the arts, where quality is not always synonymous with art world accolades.
I've spent a fair bit of time thinking about artists who seem destined for big careers. What sets them apart? Are they creative geniuses? Which privileges accrue from the accident of birth? How do they manage their creative trajectory? What role do power brokers play? The questions are endless.
My take is that apart from the rare and incontestable innovators, there's a middle ground where artists have a base of aptitude, creativity, talent, skill – whatever you want to call it – along with the ability to work hard and manage the uncertainty that yields creative work of a certain level.
But, beyond that, skill at navigating the art world, building relationships with curators and other influencers, is often just as critical. I never overlook random luck as a factor – an unlikely connection made by happenstance, for instance, or the fluke of showing up the very day someone is looking for a certain thing. But an ability to network still helps after that lucky break.
My understandings are based on observation and conversations with a broad range of artists over the last two decades, and are subjective. But recently, an email circular by Toronto art dealer Christopher Varley (a former curator at the Edmonton Art Gallery and, yes, that Varley family) caught my eye.
Varley decries the muddling of quantitative and qualitative analysis that often occurs in the all-too-common numbered lists of "top" movers and shakers, based on things like sales figures. His example is the ArtReview Power 100 list. The next day, he passed along a link to "Quantifying reputation and success in art," a study published Nov. 8 by Science Magazine, a respected American academic journal.
The study's authors, noting the role of reputation and influence networks in determining "access to resources and rewards," reconstructed the exhibition history of half a million artists, effectively mapping the movement of art between institutions.
Their findings? "Early access to prestigious central institutions offered life-long access to high-prestige venues and reduced dropout rate. By contrast, starting at the network periphery resulted in a high dropout rate, limiting access to central institutions." The study includes a fascinating graphic that maps the art world visually.
With that musing, I return to our humbler endeavours here at Galleries West.
This issue covers a lot of ground. John Thomson writes about a fascinating Vancouver show that offers insight into Indigenous worldviews in Australia.
Lissa Robinson responds to sculptures by Calgary artist Shona Rae that were inspired by Tarot and fairy tale archetypes. Also in Calgary, Sylvia Dreaver looks at Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal's show, which focuses on dance as a pathway to Indigenous healing.
In Ottawa, Paul Gessell reports on the Canada Council Art Bank's plan to issue an open call to buy more art within the next two years, surely good news for artists.
Rounding out the issue is Helena Wadsley's review of Vancouver artist Jay Senetchko's heroic vision of the female form and my story about Wendy Wacko's mountain landscapes, on view in Edmonton.
For the next issue, expect articles about Vancouver architect Fred Hollingsworth, historic art from Canada's North, and portraits of immigrant women.
As well, Doug Maclean's latest report is due from the fall auctions, surely a place where the value of art is readily quantifiable – in cold, hard cash.
The big international auction news was the record set by British artist David Hockney. His Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million US at Christie's New York auction, easily toppling the previous record for a work by a living artist. (American artist Jeff Koons, whose Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for $58.4 million US, had been the top dog since 2013.)
It makes Canadian art – even the record $3.6 million US paid at auction in 2012 for Dead Troops Talk, a work by Vancouver's Jeff Wall – seem affordable.
I'm fighting the urge to insert various emoticons at the end of that last sentence, so feel free to add your own in the comment section below. As always, we're interested in your views.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Sylvia J. Dreaver, Paul Gessell, Lissa Robinson, John Thomson, Helena Wadsley