What Price Art?
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Is the production of seven or eight magnificent paintings every year too much to ask of a single artist? For many artists, myself included it’s tough enough to get a couple of works ready for one Annual Exhibition. But then again, I’m not necessarily part of the proclaimed elite of the Twenty (actually 19) Melbourne Society currently exhibitng in Caulfield. It is very easy to go along to this exhibition expecting a great deal from this particular group but perhaps we shouldn’t.
This year’s work was a smorgasbord of art – still life, portraiture but mainly landscape in the “realist, traditional, impressionistic style” that is mandated by the group. Just like the girl with the curl, when the art was good, it was very, very good. A percentage of the artists, Jacqueline Fowler and Joseph Zbukvic to name two, produced consistently fine works across their selection. Zbukvic is one of the many Aussie artists who spends time in Europe (there is always a Gondola and predictably there were a few today) and boasts a command of European light. More satisfyingly though, Ross Paterson, another traveller, redeemed himself with his Bridge on Broken Creek, Northern Victoria with dollops of good old Aussie light and mood, and stupendous perspective.
Over half this exhibition were oil paintings (60%) and a good third were watercolours (36%). Maxwell Wilks impressed with oils but it was his two refreshingly dynamic pastels that stood out, also because they were the only pastels in the entire show. John Dudley hung acrylic but his were the only three. Among other oils, Herman Pekel hung one painted on perspex and one on glass. Clive Sinclair showed us watercolours traditionally on paper but also on canvas. Sadly Bill Caldwell’s single tiny ink and watercolour looked slightly out of place though. Surprisingly, about a third of the artists felt they were proficient (always debatable) at more than one medium but no-one risked three.
Like most smorgasbords, mixed among the delectable were works that seemed to be there merely to make up the numbers. Subjective as art might be (in the eye of the beholder and all that!), a few of these works were clearly not of a high standard, even to an untained eye. The demand physically, psychologically and financially of putting up eight works might be more than even these artists can handle. Would an artist be better to hang four consistently proficient works (properly framed) and let someone else hang twelve. Of course, who would be the final arbiter? Art is so subjective.
To learn something from this exhibition we need go no further than Jacqueline Fowler. Technique is honed yes, but she also pays great attention to the whole package that is art. There is no trace of obviously re-used framing. Framing can make or break even the best art. Sadly some artists, even at this level, clearly use the same dated and poor frames over and over - we’ve noticed some year after year. This is tacky. One artist’s frames were obviously badly chipped and dented (and priced at $1850 each) which distracted any potential buyer into contemplating the frame rather than the work. Fowler’s framing spoke as loudly as her artworks to compliment but never to compete. Unlike Fowler, other works seemed more like student studies, albeit showing off impressive technique (what a brilliant egg), but no story or sometimes stories not at all well thought out. (Does the painting belong in the shed or the kitchen?) Fowler shows us expertly how to get a viewer involved with her artistic story.
Pricing was also a smorgasbord. Disparity in price due to size and medium is par for the course and yet the prices at this exhibition spoke volumes. Ranging from $500 for a 20x25cm watercolour (Sinclair) to the most expensive - a diptych oil (110x76cm by two) from Herman Pekel at $7800 each panel. Bacchus Marsh, at the end of the first corridor and placed to maximum effect (position is everything!) enticed a closer inspection to check out the masterful technique (the placement of the splodges). A splash of heaven’s light falling on the golden parched grassland of outer Melbourne showed incredible depth (glorious Aussie light again).
But Pekel’s work consisted of a dark frame surrounding the two panels and would not have easily been split. Covering one eye and then the other to view each panel, we agreed that one side could pass as a distinct artwork perhaps, but the other was lost on its own. This was purely speculative on our part and not important but it did keep us all in front of the work. I wondered later though whether Pekel was merely aiming to camouflage the full price of $15,600 which would have been horrendously far out on a long limb in the general pricing. At over double the most expensive, no red dot so far.
Prices per artist ranged so that the most expensive was about three times that of their least expensive (usually but not always size dependent). All artists gave buyers a range of price but some artists reached right out on that limb again with as much as a nine fold difference in price ($550 to $4950). Value for money perhaps? Certainly artists are giving a clue to the work’s quality and how they value their own work.
Half an hour, 147 works and I thought I was dawdling. As an exhibiting artist, we never get long to captivate our audience. That cursory glance at the full package of our artwork (masterpiece, frame and price) tells a potential buyer a great deal. Only those artists that didn’t ask us to dally over a poor frame or poorly thought out subject, showing consistent great craftsmanship and considered pricing stood out. Could the paucity of red dots be turned around with a little more attention to detail by some? I better put a note on that in my own little black book.
Twenty Melbourne Painters Society 91st Exhibition
Held at Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Caulfield, Victoria 5-16th August, 2009