Modern art in a sense, is an investment tool. Business on the art is very similar to operations with securities: the artist - the issuer, the exhibition - issue, a work of art - a stake. This is not a mechanical operation "buy-sell", this is a complicated investment. In the art market has its own "blue chips" - the world-famous artists, to invest in which is absolutely safe, there is a "dark horse", where you can win big or lose big. Sometimes the investment in contemporary art are fantastically profitable: tens of thousands of artists in the history of art will get a few, and if the guess who, the prize could be thousand-fold. But such luck - a rare case. The average income is no more and no less than bank interest.
In Russia, the actual art emerged in the late 1980's, but in our country it is, though designed for Western markets, has never been rebuilt as a sector of the economy, did not have the infrastructure. Our art market has not reached the European average and, moreover, the American level of development (by the way, 70%of the global art market centered in New York). And so we have it is the object of speculation: it extolled his supposedly fantastic liquidity, on the contrary, are heard statements about the futility of building the art market in Russia. The truth, as usual, is in the middle.
On the one hand, the market of contemporary art in Russia is deprived of history (from the 1930's we were excluded from the global context of art) and the vulnerable. Like any other market products are not essential, it depends on the general state of the economy, in times of turmoil art market suffers first.
On the other hand, the outlook of modern art in Russia is theoretically possible to take breathtaking. In the West, the tradition of collecting has never been interrupted, and the works of contemporary painters must pass a strict selection in order to be in a collection of old masters. In Russia, the class of collectors was born recently, and - theoretically - space for contemporary art in private collections freely. Especially when buying a work of contemporary artist removed doubts about the authenticity of the product, whereas the acquisition of works by old masters a chance to buy a fake very large.
Who is buying
The existence of the art market depends on the existence of the middle class. First, the middle class invests in real estate, machinery, securities. And only after that he begins to acquire art. But if buying, for example, a car, we are aware that it has a cost and a price, which in some way relates to the cost, then the art is more complicated. The price of art does not grow out costs, and pricing policy - one of the main difficulties faced by parties to the art market in Russia.
Another complication: due to the fact that we were isolated from the world of contemporary art, the buyer prefers the art of old. If checked the time - hence, art. This causes distortion in prices. For example, the Dutch, who in Europe is not very valuable, because the market there are many, there are much more expensive. It is necessary to explain that it is better to buy a promising contemporary artists, as well the familiar old.
It is important that the buyer has not remained just a buyer, and became a collector. Now, this category of consumers beginning to manifest itself on the art market, whereas a few years ago in Russia works bought primarily for wall decoration. In some organizations, comes to the absurd: the purchase of works of art belong to the same individual responsible for the cleanliness and order in the office. Their task: to buy beautiful flowers and have a match - beautiful pictures. Once a high-ranking employee of the Savings Bank said to me: "We need pictures, from which you can wash the dust with a wet rag."
In layman's the only way to navigate in the contemporary art - to know the names of those artists who will, or at least have a real chance to enter in the history of art. In the meantime, substantial financial resources are scattered thousands of creative units, calling themselves artists. And this despite the fact that the value, as already mentioned, has the creativity forty or fifty of them: so many names of these masters left in the history of art, each epoch.
What (or whom) buy
Today in Russia, the artists themselves say about fifty thousand people. Only rent rooms at the Central House of Artists to spend 3 thousand dollars, at best, only 3%of the money spent on those same 50 artists whose work potentially valuable for the history. The system of galleries and museums of modern art selects about one hundred and fifty, and then a third of them selects the time.
There is a traditional system of criteria: talent, perspectives (youth), the inner content (that is to say). In the twentieth century to establish a new, fairly stringent requirement: the artist must exist in contexts.
The first context - the history of art. The artist should be remembered that before him had already been created, millions of works of art, and should be any reason to make these millions to add one more creature. He should strive to become part of today's global context. Today the art-world sets the coordinate system in which the artist looks for his place.
Second - it must be in the context of the here and now. Modern artistic environment - is a powerful communicative process, and to participate in it, one must possess modern languages. For me, it is also important that the work was relevant, clearly fixed the time when it is created.
And the third - the master must not be repeated: it is necessary to keep within its own creation, ie, on the one hand, be recognized, but on the other - to develop, build their art as a kind of strategy.
Of course, all this does not negate the talent and the desire and ability to work. Youth is of particular importance: now an art career is difficult, and the artist has a chance to go all the way, only if he is young.
Another important condition for success - the proximity to the artist's cultural centers. In other words, he must live in a big city. Modern art is focused primarily on the people of metropolis, to a certain cultural environment that exists within the cities. Although there are now digital technology, the Internet, which can not only serve as a means of expressing the artist, but also used as a means of delivery of his creations widest possible audience. To some extent thanks to the Internet art becomes more accessible. Internet - a way to unlock provincialism, to do so in the most remote places the artist was aware of everything that happens. Internet strongly influences on the artist for another reason, which gives a different way of thinking. In general, new technologies have always contributed to the development of art, so that the Internet indicates the direction for future art.
Work of art - a special product, marketing and advertising which is not possible outside the artistic environment conducive to the promotion of the market is not so much work as its author. As in the contextual environment increases the importance of the author, is increasing and the market value of his works, including early, created before the emergence of the art market. However, the process is complicated by the fact that we have virtually no rating artists. And as in the domestic marketing environment there is no pronounced hierarchy of artists, then in the West, there is no clear understanding of what Russia's actual art. Until recently, relations with foreign art dealers were built on the principle of supply of raw materials. For example, if the price of the work of leading American and German artists start with 70 thousand dollars, equal to them on the status of Russian Artists price range - from 3 to 7 thousand dollars.
Mediators
Museums, galleries, funds act as intermediaries between the work of art and the buyer. They perform the function of expertise (selected artists, building a hierarchy), as well and take the product from the market in its collection, ie, play the role of "a disposal". On the latter - more.
For the masterpieces of modern art is vital mechanism for recycling. The market is always interested in how to increase sales, but the art market is unlike any other that the proposed disposal of this product market does not happen ever. Trading jackets, we know how many coats need to saturate the market, how many years they will be ruined and need new, ie, we can calculate in advance sales. Moreover, we can artificially induce demand. For example, a good jacket can be worn for ten years, which is absolutely profitable manufacturer. In this case, comes to the rescue mechanism of fashion, and the buyer is forced to throw more good, but unfashionable thing to make room for new clothes.
Mechanism of fashion in art could be effective as it is effective in music, because the concept of "relevance" and "fashion", as we have said, have much in common. But the essential difference between the art market of the commodity lies in the fact that the old and supposedly "unfashionable" a work of art does not disappear, not thrown away, but rather becomes more valuable. As a result, on the art market along with the "fashionable jackets are sold and the old, overgrown with legends. After all, any private collection may be sold, for example, changing the host as a result of inheritance. In this case, once sold art back onto the market. And here is where museums are very important - because that museum collections are generally not sold, museums have become a kind of a disposal, once and for withdrawing from circulation the old works.
As a result, moving goods from one market to another: from the art market to market services of free time. The museum is visited by tourists - sometimes people come specifically to one or another city just to visit the famous museum. Thus, works of art, settled in the museum's collection, suddenly begin to generate income, but not as an object of resale and not only to the owner. For tourists, apart from buying a ticket to the museum, pay for travel, bills for hotels and other services of the traditional tourist business.
We still have no museum of modern art. Museum of Zurab Tsereteli (namely, it is called "Moscow Museum of Modern Art") can not be considered a museum in every sense: the museum collection, by definition, must be higher than the subjective tastes and preferences of one person. However, there are two museum sites, collecting museum collections of contemporary art. It is of the newest trends in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum.
We turn to another intermediary institutions, gallery. Galleries, generally speaking - a very recent invention. As a full-fledged phenomenon, they appeared after the First World War, and only because we are too late to join this effort, was born feeling that they have been and always will be. It is possible that in 15-20 years the gallery are modified or even cease to exist, and between society and the artist will be new intermediaries. But yet the phenomenon is relevant galleries.
Gallery owner acts as an intermediary between the creative and business, it adapts to the artist's real life and real life to art, while solving the difficult task: to make money for themselves and for the artist. But gallery owner in Russia - is a special job. If my colleagues in Europe and America, the main task - to persuade the client that the artists they exhibit, it is better than the artists who exhibit other, in Russia the gallerist should explain to the client, what art in general, what he was going and why contemporary art is so unlike what he saw as a child in the textbook.
Finally, in our country, contemporary art - almost the only sphere of life, programmed to seek a new one. Russia - a country that always wants to in the past. When you ask: what kind of future you want, the majority of calls one of the options of the past. Democrats want to restructure once again, the Communists - to return to 30 years ago, the monarchists - in 100 years. But look back. In a country that wants to in the past, is particularly important social role of the gallery - to keep the audience, ready to go in the future.
Determine the worst level galleries of the exhibition, but not the best. The main problem of our galleries - too large range of authors: in the same gallery coexist very bad and very good artists. So it is impossible to form a reputation. It must be remembered that the reason for lifting galleries in the postwar period was investor confidence to the gallery as a guarantor of quality. If a potential buyer liked the picture, and besides it is set in a particular gallery, therefore, it is of good quality and buying it. And when in the same gallery exhibits works of varying quality, there is no guarantee. Hence, there is no interest or confidence. The man, invest in art, it is important to have a guarantee - not in the sense that he was going to resell your purchase, but in the sense that he would not be ashamed of it after ten or twenty years. Therefore, a gallery owner must be an expert - an expert feature gallery is very important.
In professional (gallery owner or a representative of the museum) no taste in the conventional sense. He has a bias. There is a vision. People looking for talented and willing to "play" with the current artistic situation.
As for me, I'm in an art world has entered a very advantageous way, as a collector - even before, in 1989 she came into my own gallery. After the success of the auction Sotheby's in Moscow (1988), contemporary Russian art sold for big money, but it affected only the situation in Moscow is absolutely locally. I realized that the need to expand the geography, and started collecting "southern Russian wave" - Kiev, Odessa, Kishinev, Rostov. Southern Russian, because these artists are distinguished different quality - a special vitality, the rehabilitation of painting, in defiance of Moscow conceptual school, which then determined the mainstream. This was my first strategic choice. And then - the first success of the gallery.
This year, the gallery turns 15. During this time, we have implemented many projects, many of which were aimed at overcoming the tightness of the Moscow art environment and involvement in the metropolitan art process of regional forces. Thus, in 1999 we organized a festival of contemporary art "In Search of Cinderella, or cultural heroes of the XXI Century" held in 40 Russian provincial cities.
We - the only Russia's gallery, working closely with museum institutions: part of my collection was donated to the Russian Museum and now on display together with a collection of well-known western art patron Peter Ludwig. By the 15 th anniversary of the gallery, we plan to hold a range of museum exhibitions of our artists in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum.
The future of the art market
Despite the fact that now the world art market is a strong and complex structure, it is not absolute. Art Market - a huge pyramid, planted many centuries ago, and the basis of its cultural fetishism. But in recent years, this building became the world is rapidly deteriorate. Until recently, the art market is held on the belief that the original is expensive, and a copy is not worth anything. And this is understandable: in the days when the art market was formed, copies were really bad. Now? If you were from Pushkin manuscripts, originals, then Pelevin's Sorokina manuscripts or not, everything on the computer. Their readers will still never come to auction to buy the manuscript - they are arranged differently, they are important to read and not have it. World cultural fetishism, where the original cost of money remains in the past. Removes the notion of an original or a copy, made in principle replicable things. Valued image, and not the body. And all the old culture is built on the fact that the most important thing - the body, the original. Not for nothing is very popular photography and computer prints, which are inexpensive. Market mutates exactly due to the fact that the digital era cancels the difference between copy and original. New generation is difficult to explain why you have to pay for the original big money, it is far easier and cheaper to buy a lottery thing.
It is not that artists began to work in a digital format, and that consumers switched to digital. And here the opposition "a copy - the original" immaterial: it is important that there was no distortion. New consumer completely inactive as a buyer. So I think that the art market remains, but his role will be negligible. As for me, I see myself as a transitional figure. The collection dates back to a previous era, the gallery has to do with the originals, but not to stay in the past, I am concerned about other areas and projects.
Appendix. Stages of development of modern art in Russia
Schematically the post-Soviet history of modern art can be divided into several stages.
1985-1990 - finding freedom. It is not only the release of the artistic language or the creation of new artistic strategies, but also on the separation of art from the state. At this time came a boom in Soviet Art ", which allowed a rather painless experience such a gap. At first no one paid any attention to the fact that together with the customer (and also the jailer) lost art of real communication with society. As a recipient of the speculative performed an abstract "western museum", as an expert - western people as a source of information and role models - Western journals (often passed and pozaproshlogodnie), some inspired by modern Western philosophy. The huge difference between the official and "black" the ruble has made the profession of artist superprivlekatelnoy (those who were connected with the artistic environment is likely to remember how great was in those years, the flow into it from other professions) and inspired false hopes in the long prosperity. It is not surprising that many of Moscow artists, who had had time to form, as professionals, emigrated. As a result, virtually all of them vanished without a trace in a foreign culture. In 1990, the first attempt to create the infrastructure art market, which gave the start of the top ten art galleries, five of them for all subsequent years of leadership and formed the image of Russia's modern art: "Regina", Guelman Gallery, "School", " 1.0 "," The Gift ".
1990-1993 - years of infrastructure. Figures of Contemporary Art quickly realized it was not worth wasting time in vain, fighting positions in official institutions, inherited from the Soviet era. On the other hand, the West made it clear that he is ready to communicate only with hierarchies. This position is understandable Western experts: not reading all, in fact, in Russia's art, they made too many incorrect rates, which only began to actively cooperate with Russia's artists. Not integrated in the domestic art among the artists had no chance of success in Europe and America. If the beginning of 1990 in Moscow there were only two art galleries, then in 1993 - has about 300. Appeared and disappeared all kinds of art magazines - harbingers still in good health (as far as possible) "XQ" ( "Art Journal"). National Center for Contemporary Art and its surrounding galleries became official authorized representatives of the national contemporary art. Even those artists who from the start relied on the West, had to first identify and take their place in the Moscow art medium. Established Russia's first collection. Some of them were subsequently resold. Opening of new galleries, such as L-Gallery, "Yakut», XL, gave the artistic process dynamics. Motivated as the creative nature of the activities and the need to build their own careers, the participants of the art infrastructure is not in need of major investments for its restructuring. Small cash turnover in this area has made it uninteresting for corrupt officials and criminals.
At this stage, it became clear that contemporary domestic art, even in its best period, remained closed marginal area of activity, concentrated almost entirely in Moscow.
1993-1999 - crisis. Contemporary art of Russia have nearly exhausted their resources. During this period, was not carried out any significant private art initiatives, and that much scarier, does not add any significant new artist. Gelman Gallery actively moved in the social space, referring to the "hot" socially relevant themes, and therefore remained "buoyant". "Yakut Gallery" as an ideology was declared "pure aesthetics", "Regina" and "Aidan" is also gone from the zone of relevance, "School" and "1.0" closed. Center for Contemporary Art switched to the educational program. Artistic environment of atomized, lost its plasticity, become loose, its reflexive capabilities were minimal at this time. Major projects usually failed, we can assume that their institutional attachment led to a crisis in contemporary art. Any new initiative was based solely on the efforts and ambitions of the initiator. Art does not have a policy one. Hopes pinned on the arrival of the Ministry of Culture of new people, have failed. Succeeding in a sense, the system of preferences, not Ministry of Culture took the alignment of any strategy. Good intentions of new cultural officials thwarted by the vicious principles of working with contemporary art. Ministry of Culture had been raised with the need to support tens of thousands of destitute, having no funds to help at least one-hundredth of those in need, nor sufficient competence to choose from the entire mass of significant proposals for projects.
Since 2000, the artistic life of awakening after a long stagnation - not least through the door at the Moscow artrynok new galleries (Stella Art Gallery, RuArts and others), who immediately announced his exhibitions of western stars. Other galleries have been forced to increase the competitiveness adjust its artistic policies. Important developments in recent years - Moscow Biennale, which caused a marked impact on "special projects": Exhibition of Andrei Erofeev "Accomplices" (TG), our project "Russia 2", "Gender Trouble" Mila Bredikhin.
Simultaneously, the actual art is in sharp conflict with religious extremism. The defeat of the exhibition "Caution, Religion!" Perpetrated by obscurantist in the Sakharov Center (2003), and the subsequent criminal trial of the curators of this exhibition (which ended, ironically, that were responsible for the exhibition organizers and participants of the pogrom did not) put Start constant attack from the fundamentalist positions on contemporary art. It seems that the revival of general artistic situation provokes the traditionalists to strengthen resistance to any current trends.
[1] The term "actual art» (contemporary art) combines the latest artistic trends in the visual arts from 1960 until the present time (as opposed to modern art, «Contemporary Art", which includes all areas of painting, drawing and sculpture 1900-x - 1950).
http://www.strana-oz.ru/?numid=25&article=1119
02.04.2009, 08:53
Actual Art ... by Marat Gelman
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