H: HERMAPHRODITE EDUCATION
LEARN TO THINK LIKE AN HERMAPHRODITE. GIRLS, THINK LIKE MEN, AND BOYS, THINK LIKE WOMEN!
The art world is occupied by a number of key players. Each has their specific role and task and can easily be stereotyped. Understanding these personality types will help you achieve your goals. We creeped under their skin to bring you a guide to art world personalities! The following definitions of key players in the art chain will help you understand what players think about other players and their position in the artchain, their inner and outer worlds. Imagine being:
The Artist
For those non-artists reading this, here’s the skinny on artists. They urge to change things and possess visions to that end. Artists are self-employed and function autonomously. They only listen to their heads and rarely deviate from these ideals. Artists know a bit of everything, but mostly about art. They think they’re the center of the art world thanks to their talent. Nothing else exists for them. Are they wrong? Not really. Nonetheless, too many artists take their perspective for granted and live their personal lives the same way,with some exceptions.
The Curator
The hard job of curator is more popular than ever before. Competition is intense and the pay is lousy. One of the options to survive is to become a so-called celebrity curator. Celebrity curators also use context control. They need to appear at major openings: Art Basel,Venice Biennale, Documenta, Manifesta, and Frieze, to name a few. A beginning curator is humble and would do anything to curate a show,even without pay. However, once powerful, the curator is unattainable and feels untouchable. The seasoned curator decides which artists receive visibility at major art events and can make or break a career.
The Critic
“The art critics on some of Britain’s newspapers could as easily have beenassigned gardening or travel, and been cheerfully employed for life.”- Charles Saatchi
As the term suggests, critics criticize. And to criticize is to be negative. Forget what you’ve learned about criticism being positive. True, perhaps you learn after being criticized, but positive criticism is contra-natural. Don’t believe in it! Artcritics are there to see wrong, the dull and the mediocre. They’re art detectives looking for a tiny clue that will undermine your work. They’re teachers with red ball point pens revealing your results to the world. They’re erudite in art history and link different facts easily. They’re not socially accessible because they don’t want to be personally involved with artists. The integrity of their analysis could be harmed.
The Dealer
Art dealers get a bad rap for their ‘dirty work’. They put a financial value on art, exchanging filthy lucre for art!
“Art is always at its best when there is no money, because it has nothing to do with money and everything to do with love.”- Madonna
Art dealers collect cash. They regulate an artist’s quota, playing with auction results, putting art in the right collections and use other strategic moves. They’re Wall Street kids with a passion for art! They play the game they have to play. Get this straight! Art dealers might ask for 50% of sales. They might even ask for 70%. At the same time, they protect their artists as their proper children. In charge of the their artists’ well being, they might help sort things out when one of their artists is in trouble. From lending money to getting them out of jail!
The dealer’s role is to aid artists they represent in for both their careers to succeed. Dealers promote artists at fairs, put them in museum collections, and help publish their books. When an art dealer offers you a 70/30 deal, with 70% for you, be sure it’s worth while but on short-term vision! There will be no catalogues or major participations to international fairs. Some dealers just want to sell without promoting. Maybe a 50/50 deal is better because the dealer promotes. And what about 35% for the dealer, 35% for the artist and 30% for your promotion? Learn the pros and cons.
Art dealers are salesmen, but don’t want to be called that. Still, they have tosell because no sales means no more production.
The Collector
“Sex is intense. Sex, food, drugs, shopping, alcohol, the gym, plasticsurgery, collecting art, are all things people get a rush from orbecome obsessed with.” -TerryRichardson
Collectors are interesting people. They made money in a walk of life outside the art world, but possess a certain admiration for artists. They yearn for the bohemian independence of artists. Something they might never have had, but dreamed of. They want to show society their craziness. The collector might say, Look what I dared to buy, a dead animal and a piece of shit. The collector is a rebelle-de-luxe! A Bourdieu-esque distinction seeker looking for some extra meaning in life, and willing to offer a lot to be part of the artistic experience.
“I’m just a sad kid who wants to find a new sweetie” -Charles Saatchi
