March 11, 2009 at London Affordable Art Fair - Bought my first piece of art!

Today is a big day for me. As busy as I have been during the last week in London before a stint in China for 6 months, I have to write down this landmark historical moment in my life!

January 10, 2009 Sunday - Tate Modern, Turbine Hall

Art and experience:

I went to Tate Modern on a chilly winter day to see Pop Life exhibition - Art in a Material World. While waiting for my friend, I got to explore "How it is" - a huge black box installation in Turbine Hall where visitors have to navigate themselves. There's no direction or indication of how far and how deep the box is after one steps in. It's a giant grey steel structure with a dark chamber, with walls of black velvet texture. I notice the huge difference in people's ways to exploring the dark chamber - the solo visitors having no points of references are advancing very slowly, while group of 2 or 3, holding each other, can advance with less fear.

The magic moment for me was when I finally touch the wall at end of the dark room. I turned back to see the light coming from the open end of the dark chamber (ramp) and realised that I was no longer afraid! That threshold moment was mind-blowingly overwhelming - because in 0.0001 second, I abandoned the world of darkness and confusion and stepped into the world of light and certainty!

Business:

This is a series of commissioned projects by Unilever to stage big installations in Turbine Hall. Entry is free. It started in 2002 I think. Another fine example of business and art marriage. http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm

To do this in China?

The art experience itself can be universally applied across the globe I believe. A perfect location to stage such an installation to maximise its influence might be in a shopping mall instead of modern art museum. Art museums don't attract a mass crowd yet in China, so maybe only by borrowing the crowd in shopping malls, projects like this can reach its maximum audience. 

Sep 22, Tuesday - London Design Festival @ New Kind of Urban Life: Designing Chinese Future

Sep 20, Sunday - 20/21 British Art Fair

Art:
This is annual British Art Fair showcasing exclusively contemporary British artists. Two galleries I particularly liked was Rebecca Hossack Gallery and Portal Gallery.

Rebecca Hossack Gallery:
I was drawn to this gallery first by the wide range of art works representing different styles. Then by their somehow harmonious connection between all the works displayed. They are all touching a sensitive humane part of me. I really admired the acute eyes the Rebecca has. Rebecca noticed my pondering eyes and invited me to the next art fair at Art London (http://www.artlondon.net/).

Portal Gallery:

Representing the finest Idiosyncratic paintings. Idiosyncratic: peculiar, quirky. In the context of paintings, they often have some surreal, foolish and sometimes humourous characteristics. The paintings below speak for themselves.

Business and China:
Art fair is a very mature trade platforms of art collectors and dealers. I am not going to delve into the specifics here. Will come back after doing some research. Similarly, there are many art fairs in China, especially recent years. I am going to study the differences in terms of sponsorship, running, participants breakdown and sales.

Sep 19, Thursday - Russian and Eastern-European Art at Calvert 22

Art and Business
Calvert 22 is a non-for-profit private gallery (www.calvert22.org/) that focuses on Russian and Eastern-European art. It opened in late spring 2009 in London, in the heart of culturally diverse Hackney, East London. I had a chat with Sophie, the Gallery Manager. I am going to the Private View next Thursday for a new exhibition, so will write more about the art then.

艺术，商业
Calvert 22 是处于伦敦东区艺术新区的一个私人非盈利画廊。它主要是推广俄罗斯和一些东欧国家的现当代艺术作品。伦敦东区近些年来相当活跃，这里人气越来越旺，成为了相当时尚的一快地方。很多艺术家，艺术画廊，有个性的小店遍及在这里。我认识这里的画廊经理Sophie，与她聊了聊天。下周四画廊会举行下个季度展览的私人预展，所以关于艺术本身我下次再写。

I have two observations to share after the chat:

1) It's among a stream of non-for-profit galleries opening in London in recent years. They are usually funded by affluent individuals with an artistic aspiration. Due to their non-commercial nature, they can be more experimental with curating and therefore can exhibit emerging talents to a broader British audience.

2) The personal vision of the backer behind the gallery becomes important as the gallery is not driven by profits. It almost becomes a personal project. Nonna Materkova, a native of St
Petersburg who has lived in the UK since 1990s is the brainchild behind. Her vision is to introduce the modern Russian art, contrary to people's perception of Russia being flashy and lack in taste, to London. She also has ambitious hopes for the the gallery space to run educational events and intellectual debates for the public. A library archive on Russian art is well underway too.

今天主要写写在与Sophie聊天后，对于画廊商业运作方面的两个想法：

1）伦敦近些年兴起了一股非盈利私人画廊之风。传统意义上的私人画廊大部分都是盈利机构，以买卖作为目的。而这种非盈利画廊往往是背后有一个投资者，提供财力支持。这位投资者心存对某一种艺术的理念和信仰，于是用自己的积蓄来实现这个梦。恰恰因为画廊本身的性质并不对盈利有硬性的要求，策展人才有更多艺术上的自由空间去实验，去发掘新的艺术家们。

2）这种模式的脊柱是画廊背后的投资者。这位人士必须有艺术的信仰，追求，以及对画廊这个空间其他功能的定义。Nonna Materkova 来自圣彼得堡，从1990年就在英国居住。她想展示当代俄罗斯艺术的风采，引导人们改变对俄罗斯艺术俗气的印象。她也在考虑用画廊作为一个教育的场所，一个公共学术讨论的地方，一个收集俄罗斯艺术资料的小型图书馆。

Gallery to be used as intelletual debate space - 画廊将成为一个公共讨论的场所

The backer needs to have a clear personal ambition for the gallery, far more than just financial firepower - but isn't realising one's personal vision the best way to put one's wealth in use?

这么说来，这位投资者所要具备的并不只是金钱这么简单，他/她必须要有一个很清楚的理想与目标。恰恰如此，把积累的金钱拿来实现自己的个人理想，这难道不是金钱最好的用途么？

China

I had a chat with an expert in consulting Chinese arts/cultural organisations. He pointed to me that there are two distinct paths in China: public and private. Public path would be slightly more restricted due to obvious reasons, whereas the private path allows more artistic freedom and experimentation. Now the question is: are the private ones all for-profit only?? Does non-for-profit private galleries like Calvert 22 exist in China? *

*Geeky smiles again: to investigate in China when I am back!

中国模式

在中国，有公立与私立这两种展示艺术的模式。公立的很多是博物馆，所以展览范围也有所限制。私立的形式赋予艺术展览更大的空间与尝试的自由。但是我印象中，私立的画廊大部分都是商业性质(commercial gallery)的，以或利为目标。所以，我的问题是：在中国，像Calvert 22这样的私立非盈利画廊存在么？或许有外国投资者在背后支持的？

Wednesday September 9, Rich Mix Education Opening Evening

Rich Mix Centre

Art / Event:

Rich Mix is a cross-arts centre located in the vibrant and up-and-coming new central hub of Shoreditch in East London. The Education Evening is a showcase of Rich Mix's education programme to teachers, schools and those working with young people.

It was my first time to such events (representing School of Sylvia hehe ;-), so speaking without benchmarking it to any other similar event, I find the event well-organised, compact and informative. Part I is drinks and canapes reception which I missed. Part II is welcome speeches by Rich Mix team. Part III is a tour of the fantastic venues within the centre for hire and events.

I was quite impressed by the diverse and creative programme, ranging from theatre to film-making, to dance workshops. Art should be an uplifting tool for young people and Rich Mix is clearly advocating this. The other stunning thing is the high number of partnerships Rich Mix has formed. The belief behind Rich Mix is using art to regenerate disadvantaged communities and support new talent - and from what I saw yesterday, it is definitely gathering momentum and putting down its own footprint on the London cultural map.

Commercial:
Finance of Rich Mix + UK / US perspectives

I caught up with the Rich Mix Head of Finance, who was extremely open and approachable. He is passionate about all art forms and in particular loves seeing art inspiring young people (an inspiration to me - he used to work in commercial for-profit sector too). I understood better how the finance of an arts charify functions. A big portion of Rich Mix's revenue comes from trade related activities, namely ticket sales, cinema, bar and cafe etc. The rest is split between arts council funding and fundraising. We also touched upon the difference in arts funding and arts patronage here in the UK and the US. In the UK, Arts Council plays a big role in funding while in the US such an equivalent organisation does not exit. However, in the US, Board of Directors in arts organisation are usually patronage of the organisation, i.e. they are personal donors of to the organisations. This piece is not as common in the UK. Art is perceived as a tool to raise social status in the US, which explains the support from private donors. One could also argue that the lack of governmental support drives the private donor participation.

China:
Location, location, location! Location?
I am fascinated by the role that cultural orgs play in regenerate communities. Rich Mix is a fine example of this. In China, where cultural centre is not yet a commonly recognised concept in urban dwellings, it would be hard to start a new cultural organisation in relatively disadvantaged communities in the suburb. However, I am facing a paradox now: in the UK, historically there have been the more established museums in South Kensington, West End and Central London, then the new cultural orgs subsequently established themselves in South Bank, and now in East End.
In China, where do you start??? In centre of cities where it's already over-condensed? In suburb where there is space but maybe not enough audience in the communities? Or maybe people are willing to travel? 798 Studio might be good case study. Ummm, note taken. Must follow up on this when I return to China! *

* Geeky smile to self: so excited to have so many due diligence items to follow up for my China stint next year!                                                                                                                       

Graffiti outside Rich Mix

Upon closer examination, it was a Rich Mix Art Project in the past!

Amazing juxtaposition: art in the foreground (graffiti) and building site in the middle, against the backdrop of City financial centre (Gherkin building). Significance: art, urban regeneration, and business should go together. Ah my life-long aspiration!

Tuesday, September 8, Spitalfields Arts Market / Smudge Gallery

Art:

Spitalfields Arts Market (http://www.spitalfieldsartmarket.co.uk/) is a gallery situated just off Spitalfields Market. It specialises in reproducing urban art (graffiti) onto blocks and canvas. A photo is taken, then professionaly mounted or printed to a block or canvas to be sold as the final artwork. Some of Banksy (famous for lots of trompe d'oeil works)'s most iconic works can be found here.

First impression of the gallery is its tidiness, so I felt the art of very approachable (given the nature of urban art, this is the way it should be). Perhaps it's due to the homogeneous size of all the blocks. The rather comprehensive display helps elevate the importance of his works and emmulate his works to a higher status of fine art. It's a good compromise for some money-pinched art lovers - one can purchase a block of excellent quality for a mere 35 pounds.

His works all have a hint of humour and were easily understood by audience at first sight. Compared to other more traditional art works, urban art doesn't demand concentrated attention to understand - I was surprised by how fast I was able to react with a learned smirk to each piece ;-)

Commerical:

1. Branding - The gallery itself has a name called Smudge Gallery, yet there's another more commonly known branding called Spitalfields Arts Market. I need to go back and chat with the gallery assistant again for the reason behind having two names. I see this as potentially misleading and inconsistent for PR purposes. Plus Spitalfields Arts Market simply sounds too common and generic for such a unique niche gallery.

2. Rights - I chatted with the gallery assistant about rights to sell the works. Interestingly, Banksy didn't ask for loyalty due to nature of the work - graffiti should belong to the public. On the other hand, Banksy avoided endorsing for the works as well. So maybe that explains the relatively low cost of art work due to the absence of loyalty share with the artist. The only cost of the gallery then is maybe the production?!

China:

Definitely a smart business idea in China. There needs to be good quality and well recognised urban art first to gather audience. Once that's ready, there's no need to involve any artist in the running and profit making of such galleries, because anyone can take photos of any urban art and sell the blocks / canvas. However, knowing the Chinese mentality, I highly doubt if the Chinese graffiti artist would live with someone else making profits from his / her works for free. In other words, Chinese artists probably see themselves owning the graffiti art and hence seek for a loyalty. Or the reasoning could be reverse - they would like a share of the profit, and hence declare the works to themselves ;-) I need to check this with Chinese graffiti artists when I am in China.