INFORMATION SHEET A.

CHAPTER 2 - Assumptions of Art

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
1 clarify misconceptions about art
2 differentiate art from nature
3 categorize works of art by citing personal experiences
4 characterize the assumptions of the arts

Common Misconceptions about Art

1. YOU MUST BE RICH TO COLLECT ART

It's true, if you have a lot of spare cash it's easier to whip out the plastic and bag a piece of art from the
best of the best: the art world can be your oyster for the right price. But that doesn't mean the rest of us
have to stand by, walls naked and unloved. As budding collector Marlaina Key says, building an art
collection on a budget just takes a bit of thought, and a lot of patience.

Key, who is a graduate of Auckland art school Whitecliffe and now works there as logistics co-ordinator,
started her collection by swapping works with her fellow students. Since then she has exchanged,
haggled for, and bought pieces, building a collection that includes everything from lithographs and prints
by Fatu Feu'u to paintings by Garth Tapper and ceramics by Madeleine Child.

The most expensive piece the 34-year-old owns is a large acrylic work from Niki Hastings-McFall's Variance
series, which she paid $7500 for earlier this year. But she is always on the lookout for bargains, the latest
being a pencil drawing by sculptor Gregor Kregar she stumbled on while walking past Wellington's Bowen
Gallery. She paid it off over a few months - she often makes payment arrangements with galleries to secure
the pieces she can't live without.

2. YOU NEED AN MA (HONS) IN ART HISTORY OR FINE ARTS

Is it okay to bluff your way through a big art buy? Savvy collector Key tries to avoid trends and fashions
when she picks for her collection, although with an art degree, she knows what she is looking at a little
more than most. But art literacy is different to art appreciation. You don't have to know every detail of the
painting or painter to enjoy a piece of art. A new international study has suggested it's both what a collector
has been taught and their natural tastes that helps them decide if they like a piece of art.

While previous research had measured brain activity suggesting a like or dislike of a piece of art, little was
recorded of the person's understanding of it. But researchers from Norway's University of Bergen and
Macquarie University in Australia have created a new model that combines a historical approach (knowing
an artist's intentions, the history of the art, etcetera), and a psychological approach (where biological
processes in the brain make a judgment) to help us better understand how we appreciate art.

3. THE HIGHER THE PRICE, THE BETTER THE ART

"I'm not quite sure what a bargain looks like in the art world," says Auckland Art Fair director, Jennifer
Buckley. She might not know what embodies a good deal, but she says she has seen a lot of bad ones in
her time. Art, like everything else, is prone to fashion and rhetoric. But, like kitten-heeled jandals, not all
trends deserve to have good money spent on them.

"The last art work I bought was in an exhibition and there was one beautiful painting that I kept going
back to, so finally I bought the one beside it because it was really annoying me - it was disturbing me in
some way. It's kind of like hearing a pop song, you get the tune right away but you might get tired of it.
Meanwhile, you might not love Nick Cave the first time you hear him, but with each play you'll get
something a little bit deeper from it."

4. WORK SOLD AT DEALER GALLERIES IS MORE EXPENSIVE

While dealers will routinely collect a commission of 40 percent, according to Jennifer Buckley, the prices
you find in galleries all come down to the life cycle of the artist. "Art works by young artists start at a
certain price, at an entry level if you like, and gradually [the price of] their work goes up according to
how their career trajectory is going - what exhibitions they've had, the reviews, invitations to participate
in internationa land public galleries."

Buckley believes galleries have a responsibility to create sustainable relationships with both artists and
customers, so "they can't just whack some ridiculous price on something and expect people to come
back". And often, she says, rather than hike them up, galleries actually have to talk down the price tags
artists want to put on some pieces.

"An artist might say 'this is my very favourite work, I spent so long working on it, and I don't really want
to sell it, so I want to put a really high price on it'. And that happens if you go along to an artist's gallery,
but we are a little bit tougher and will tell them that if you ove it that much, maybe you should take it out
of the show. They often change their minds then."

Buckley often tells artists if they are going to sell works themselves, out of their studio, it should be for
the same price as in the gallery - otherwise the art is being devalued in the market. But galleries are
about more than just setting a price tag.

"The role galleries play is so multifaceted, and only a small part of that is hanging the work up on the
walls, putting the little numbers underneath them and opening the wine. That's only the tip that the
public sees. It's a long-term relationship that caninclude everything from marriage counselling tobanking
advice. You are the person between an artist who has created something unique and...someone who is
going to love it and cherish it."

5. THE ART WORLD IS SNOBBY AND INTIMIDATING

Is there anything more daunting than a room full of people ooh-ing and ahh-ing over things you have no
idea about? A sea of black-clad folk, attempting to out-critique those around them, while the pricey pinot
gris flows and the canapés wind their way around the room. I know nothing of art. I can bluff my way
through almost anything else - theatre, contemporary dance, a science lecture - but art is my downfall.
Normally I can tell what I like and what I don't, but most of the time I can't really articulate why. I
don'tknow what the proper terms are, what to say about the brush strokes, or how long to stare at
something before it's okay to move along.

But with the experts' advice ringing in my ears, I bit the bullet and dipped my toes into the murky waters.
Albeit on a lunch break, rather than at an exhibition opening. I walk past this particular Auckland gallery
almost every day, yet I hadn't found the courage to step inside. I was - perhaps not surprisingly - alone
in admiring the work on this sunny Thursday; no one to hide behind or steal opinions from.

But pushing past that awkwardness,it was also quite peaceful - kind of like wandering aimlessly around
the public art gallery (which I do surprisingly often) just without the screaming kids and slow walkers. I
could look at the paintings - oil against "stickywater" - for as long as I wanted. Largely left alone,there
was no feeling of being rushed or rushing. It was quite a relaxed way to spend a lunch break, and it was
something of a revelation.