Artists, Auctions and Activism

A word has emerged that describes these times: permacrisis. Whatever started in March of 2020 doesn’t appear to have an end date. Global anxiety has expended beyond highly infectious microbes to senseless war, gun violence, climate fear, inflation, and, not to be underestimated, the transformation of the US Supreme Court into a distorted, perverse junta.

Welcome to a world that does not have a reset button.

That’s true closer to home as well, in that domain that includes art making, art buying, art showing, art talking, art writing–all the activities that make up the collective components breezily referred to as The Art World.

Many observers have highlighted major changes happening in The Old Way, that intricate network of systems (Jason Farago calls it a “shadowy social collectivity”) that has provided governance of galleries, museums, celebrity collecting, patrician patronage, gatekeeping, trends, star making.

In the words of Louis Menand:

At the most basic level, the art world exists to answer the question Is it art?…You don’t know it’s art by looking at it. You know it’s art because galleries want to show it, dealers want to sell it, collectors want to buy it, museums want to exhibit it, and critics can explain it. When the parts are in synch, you have a market. The artist produces, and the various audiences—from billionaire collectors to casual museumgoers and college students buying van Gogh posters—consume.

But that method of parsing art, like everything in life, is not a fixed entity. Just in the last few years the pandemic has significantly altered the way bricks and mortar galleries and art fairs function. Digital networks are increasingly being used to find and sell art. Art criticism, opinion and gatekeeping have been disintermediated along with the breakdown of many of the practices that kept artists and viewers separated.

The digital revolution, for all its problematic qualities, has definitely eliminated many barriers for artists. No longer is it necessary to have a gallery, a trust fund, a patron or a grant to get your work in front of the public. Artists can offer their work to the world through emerging networks, collectives and platforms.

Pricing is also becoming more fluid. Back in the 1970s Sol LeWitt created a special series of torn and cut paper works that he wanted to sell for $100 in perpetuity (a wish that was not fulfilled.) He believed it was important to offer his work at a range of price points so that everyone could afford original art. Offering a full spectrum of prices is a sound strategy that is more feasible now with Instagram and programs like Matthew Burrows’ Artist Support Pledge #artistsupportpledge and Fair Share Art @fairshareart, among others.

Fewer boundaries and constraints have also make it possible for artists to step outside the art world’s hermeticism and exclusivity. Artists can be more fully participatory in the “cultural universe” at large, a place where art deserves to be part of the larger conversation.

A good example of what participation in that cultural universe looks like is happening now. Fair Share Art Auction @fairshareartauction is on Instagram, raising funds for reproductive rights. Over 100 artists have come together in what is a rich blend of art making excellence and activism. The works being offered are priced affordably, and contact with the individual artist is part of the process. And because the funds are split 50/50 between advocacy organizations and the artist, this approach is a more sustainable model going forward.

This auction exemplifies so many of these rapidly changing conditions: digital access, the power of artist networks, affordable art, art maker and buyer connection, alignment with crucial cultural causes.

Bidding is open to everyone with an Instagram account. The Fair Share Art Auction runs through 11:59pm EST on August 2. Step in and play a part.