Art Report 2009

The era of the noughties has sadly come to an end, but it also brings with it much hope, anticipation and expectation for art in the future decade. We have witnessed the rise of the art gallery as a place of sanctuary for those looking to have some form of experience. As Francesca Gavin of Dazed once said, "The Tate Modern has become like a modern-day cathedral; attracting people from all over the country to meet in its hallowed halls." This vast museum first opened its doors to the general public in 2000 and has been exemplary in showing us that Modern & Contemporary Art is for the masses now and is both more understandable and infinite in its possibilities.

The c also saw a rise in city populations and an increase in affluence which has brought a buoyancy to the art market, especially in British Contemporary Art. The poster-children of the 90's; Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst & The Chapman Brothers have all benefited from and helped to create a quiet confidence within the walls of the auction houses. It has inspired and permitted legions of young men and women to pursue creative fields as realistic career choices and this collective artistic contribution has been the catalyst that started UK Adapta in the first place.

One genre of Contemporary Art has stood out for UK Adapta and I think you probably have a very good idea of which one I'm talking about. It has shown an exponential rise in its popularity and has become engrained in the general public's psyches. It takes its inspiration from past art movements, like the way it samples from Pop to Minimal art and dabbles in Retro Futurism and Conceptual ideas. It also looks to the streets of London for cues and some artists have even successfully brought the materials & tools of Graffiti and Streetart indoors and onto canvas.

Key British artists within this movement include the infamous Banksy, Conor Harrington, D*Face & Matt Small, to name but a few. All their styles vary immensely, yet they are pigeon-holed into the same genre of art due to human beingﾕs constant need to classify things. I say "Let the art do the talking"..

Having now lived in London since 1998 and dabbled in the dark arts of vandalism & streetart, I have been very fortunate to have met and befriended many British & European creatives over the years. I have watched many of them blossom into full-time artists; like a proud parent might watch their kids from the sidelines of a sporting event. I have been completely in awe of the speed of their evolving skills; from their artistic prowess, to the way that they have learnt to "sell themselves" to the domestic and global art markets. And in the past decade, it wasn't even the artists who created the "Contemporary Art Bubble", but instead, it can be attributed to the scrupulous planning of the art galleries and auction houses.

As artists' popularity rose, the auction houses were sure to keep the value of the artwork as high as possible to create an "air of importance" related to the art and in turn, gallerists became more protective over their in-house artists. Suddenly, popular notions of collaboration between artists, in terms of group shows or teaming up to do canvases together faded out and more emphasis was put onto the artist to create solo projects which, if successful, could make both themselves and their gallery very rich indeed. The financial aspect of the scene was picked up very quickly by the mass media, who concentrated more on the value of the art, rather than the content of the art. However, this isnﾕt very surprising due to the sensationalist behaviour that the British media display regularly. Luckily, this trend of reportage looks as if it is slowly decreasing in quantity.

The seemingly unending hunger of curiosity & consumerism that the public showed towards this artform at the beginning of the noughties has now markedly slowed down due to the global recession we all seem to be currently immersed in. Art being considered as a "luxury good" has had a negative impact on this movement as the quantity of artists and the amount of art they are producing outweighs the actual demand for it. Although this can be seen as a pessimistic way of looking at things, I personally think that this is a good thing. There are two reasons why there are some artists who can survive even in these difficult times and those reasons are possessing conviction and creating original concepts.

You have to be passionate about the arts to fully comprehend the complexities of the business, as well as understanding how to compete in it. This decade has been about the possibilities in making money in art for artists and for the second-hand market flippers to cash in. Passion also equals longevity; this is best displayed by many of the artists who have come from Graffiti/Sreetart backgrounds and continue to this day to do both legal and illegal works. Examples include Sickboy, Cept, the Burning Candy Crew, Part2ism & Nick Walker. Being passionate also means that you understand what the audience wants or expects from you, as an artist; and that in turn, leads onto the second reason of originality. Staying one step ahead of the game and sticking out, allows artists the opportunity to put their stamp on society and shout, 'Look out! I wos 'ere'.

British artists have become synonymous with being able to talk the talk and backing up their artwork with inventive and sometimes mad ideas. This trend continues to this day with a classic example being the Diamond Skull by Damien Hirst supposedly selling for a £50,000,000 last year despite the recession.

This decade has brought in new artists, chewed up many of them and spat out the ones who didnﾕt possess the required skills and experience to survive. High art doesnﾕt exist anymore as art is absorbed into the mainstream of mass entertainment. Jonathan Jones of the Guardian was quoted as saying, "Art now follows the same rules as the fashion industry and has the same clients."

Again, I see positivity in all of this as it will truly sort out the wheat from the chaff. Only the strong will survive and every survivor will really have to think how they are going to produce better quality art as I predict that pieces are now going to have to be well thought out & executed, not just rely purely on its concepts. That notion may have gotten them through the noughties, but with a much more savvy general public to please, artists of the next decade have a lot of work cut out for them.

Written by Selph