There are parallels in every segment of the world of business. Things like the law of supply and demand or fashion are just 2 of the issues at hand. The modern media machine, being based on techniques developed by the Nazi’s before WW2 has a very specific aspect to it that seems to run parallel in most all of the markets I see. The technique is based in part on separating the wheat from the straw, and then further manipulating both parts accordingly.
For the separation there is a fairly simple tool that is used to allow people to feel as if they have increased their knowledge, where by they have only increased what they know. For the simple minded this will sound like the same thing, it is not. Knowledge has a very different quality than knowing things. A person can know incredible amounts of things, even things that are related to one another and sequential and still be an idiot, or worse, a blinded mule that follows orders. This particular issue is being multiplied exponentially by the flood of information we receive through media. If the summ of information becomes great enough it will in fact create a current of ideology which, if implemented properly will make the viewers feel as if they are in the know, and are still making their own choices. This will generally not be the case as this would require a clear differentiation of information, source and motivation as well as personal tendency.
This is not too much to ask, and certainly not what a controlling system is going to endorse.
The other group will be those that see this mechanism and see an opportunity in it. This is a useful group of people who will probably calculate out to be about 5-10% of the masses. These are then the people who could and may very well have a strong opinion themselves and also be knowledgable enough to implement their knowledge with precision. Of these there are a large number that can be assuaged by the simplest of things, luxury. That luxury can be formulated in any number of ways, be it fame, money, success, or what have you. Please do not understand this to mean that success is gifted to people in order to keep them compliant. This would be grossly unfair to the many individuals who have dared to follow their heart, or soul and have earned their success through specifically that purity of focus. This, in turn, would be the last group for the sake of this very skeletal framework of social hierarchy and how it is manipulated through the market and such.
The title of the post is “A Thinking Mans Game”, which I will now actually get to.
As you all know, I am an art dealer, a gallerist, a curator, a collector, a lover of and believer in the power of the arts. One of the issues I have read at length about and discussed is how a gallery is defined. What is the essence, or the brand of a given gallery. It has been said that a gallery should show and sell work that is within a close boundary, both ideologically as well as financially. The rich like to buy from places where everything is expensive, and the hip like to buy things in the places that are all the rage. This does make sense in so far as it is easier to have faith in the quality of something if it is purchased from a place that has a reputation for being a sales point for high quality things. The Porche Design folding glasses of the mid 1980’s are a prime example of a brand being meaningful. But I think this form of confinement is a detrement to the arts I am responsible for showing. You see, if I base the work I show on my market, then I am only serving what the market wants, which by that very definition must be something they have seen. They would not recognise their desire for it otherwise.
Does this mean I am doomed to showing the avant garde? Maybe. A better question is if my intention to show the best I can find will allow me to be free of the bounds of both the main stream and the avant gard. If I am not concerned with those criteria, but rather concern myself with what I think is great then I am true to my duty as a gallerist, win or loose.
