How to put Canadian Art on the map?

So I looked up the auction sales results for 2008. You can find it on artprice.com or elsewhere.

It has the top 500 artists in terms of worldwide auction sales.

No surprise, the top Canadian is way down the list, in 110th place: Jean-Paul Riopelle had $10 million of sales in 2008 auctions ($12 million in '07)

Next is A.Y. Jackson in 333rd spot with $3.2 million of sales

Then Emily Carr, in 382nd spot at $2.8 million, just ahead of Lauren Harris at $2.7 million (Harris sold $10.5 million in '07).

The last Canadian on the list, the only living artist, Jeff Wall comes in at 487th spot with just over $2 million of sales. A really nice jump into the top 500 after '07 auction sales of $382,000. Who knows I could have missed one or two whom I didn't know were Canadians or just skipped over...

I just want to say that these numbers are a disgrace.

A country with Canada's wealth and creative opportunities should be producing a much larger portion of the world's art, both in terms of dollars and recognition.

Just to put Riopelle's $10 million in perspective, the total of the top 100 is about $4.3 billion... So we see that Canada's total share is probably somewhere below a tenth of 1%!

What's worse is that, to a larger extent than many are aware, I believe the art of a country is related to the international public image of the country, not to mention its psyche and self-image.

This affects prosperity, lifestyle and future prospects in many other ways. Tourism, academics, investment, architecture, quality of life, advertising, creative endeavor of all types are all affected by a country's international profile in terms of art.

France, for example, is the world's #1 tourist destination. It also has +/-7 of the top 20 worldwide artists, in terms of '08 auction sales, depending how you count Chagall whatever...

Obviously there are countless reasons for France to be the #1 tourist destination on the planet ~ many of these, such as a location in the middle of the Europe, have nothing to do with art.

However, you cannot deny the obvious - that France's cultural profile is hugely important for its prosperity and vitality as a nation and that its visual artists are a huge part of that profile.

Canada, fortunately (and thanks in no small part to Canadian content laws), has been blessed with a disproportionately strong profile in music, so that saves us from being a total cultural wasteland.

The reasons for our pathetic placing in visual art are numerous. I couldn't even guess half of them. One reason is probably simply the same reason that our banks are about the safest in the world - we are all about safe, secure, boring and blue chip!

Probably another of the most important reasons is the aggressive defense of the top market positions by those who hold these spots. As if France or Germany or the U.S, etc.,. are the least bit interested in giving up their powerful positions - so they defend from a position of strength!

Another reason, probably the nature of our country. The large distances, small, spread out populations and two languages have worked against the development of a super-fertile source with a critical mass of creative energy. Toronto and Montreal ignore, if not actively disparage, each other. That kind of sets the trend for all the other cities... regional jealousies, etc., blah blah blah... all the way down to the gallery level.

Which, by and large, are also infected with the same diseases... regional biases, laughable pretensions, Asian reproductions, eBay, etc. fighting a losing battle to capture the interest of a conservative, skeptical buying public who see little of interest to them in the Canadian art landscape beyond, you said it, Robert Bateman!

All the well intended and costly (however tiny) efforts of the Canada Council, the National Gallery, provincial initiatives, etc., seem to go for naught...

Beyond that, you have the Canadian artists' individual and collective modesty. They are the antithesis of promoters!

sigh...

what to do... what to do... ?

Call for Papers for a New Economic Theory

At first, I thought that the whole recession/depression was just cooked up for someone's benefit.

Either the Bush/Cheney cabal or some other power brokers who are going to reap a lot of benefit out of everyone's suffering.

This "benefit" might come in the way of simple profits ~ or, more likely, in the way of new, arbitrary measures that would have the effect of putting more controls on people, keeping power in the hands of the already-powerful and rich, forcing people into accepting identity chip implants in order to get on welfare, get a job, etc., - any of that scary stuff...

Now, I'm beginning to wonder. The problems seem to be too widespread for it to be an organized depression, although I wouldn't rule it out yet...

But I am wondering if the economy has simply outpaced our ability to understand it.

The obvious examples being just the complete failure of anyone in a position of sufficient influence to predict or prevent the meltdown, even though it is of such an enormous and widespread nature.

Immediately before the bottom fell out of everything, we had so-called experts at the highest levels of government and the financial establishments, both in Canada and the U.S., declaring that everything was fine.

We had a November (+/- two months post-meltdown) financial report from the Harper gov't, prepared by supposedly smart, well-educated and experienced folks - that was total garbage - not worth lining a hamster cage with.

Now the new budget dares to include long range projections! Who do they think they're kidding??? They don't have an f-ing Clue!!

The Art White North Theory

The reality is that at this point in history it is possible for all of the work needed for a society's survival to be done by a very small portion of the people. i.e. - maybe 10% of the population could conceivably do all the work that needs to be done for survival. That is - grow the food, build and heat the shelters. Facilitate ample transportation, education and health care to service a modest existence.

There simply is not useful or necessary work for most of the people in the modern world.

More and more people are employed in recreational activities, fashion-driven industries contributing no intrinsic value to anyone, or the greed industry, in which bankers and insurance cos. chase their accountants around trying to figure out new ways of leeching off the rest of society... again, without contributing anything whatsoever... In fact, it seems like the American banking industry has only succeeded in going broke after robbing Americans blind for years...

Of course it is unfair and inaccurate to generalize in these statements... the point is, I think we may have reached a point where a new economy needs to be acknowledged. Some kind of a new value system that would differentiate between different currencies.

i.e. Alex Rodriguez is now proven to have fraudulently earned his first $120 million contract. Just this simple sentence is proof that our entire system needs to be re-constructed. It is bogus. It is full of crap. It makes no sense. It is full of cheaters like Madoff, scams like Enron and Bre-X, houses of cards like Nortel. Scumbags everywhere.

Maybe we have to look at supply and demand. Maybe we have to look at the principles of the market. Maybe we have to look at the compatibility of a commodity market conceived hundreds of years ago in the information age.

I think it is time for a new Adam Smith.

Artsy Fartsy News: Sculpture that farts visits Montreal

Cloaca No. 5, a sculpture that farts and poops, by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, opened Friday in Montreal at the Universite du Quebec's art gallery. The installation, containing a series of tubes, vats, elctronic and structural parts, resembles a mini brewery more than anything.

According to this story on CBC, the sculpture is on exhibit courtesy of a $30,000 travel grant from the Canada Council.

This seems to be yet another chapter in the ongoing story of how the only way to get the art into the news in Canada is to do something controversial.

Better Place Strikes Deal with Ontario

An electric vehicle infrastructure venture company, Better Place, will be setting up a head office for Canada in Ontario.

Ontario, the largest vehicle producing state or province in North America, will in turn conduct a comprehensive study, which will look at:

* ways to speed up the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles
* possibility of preferred access to roadways for electric vehicles
* giving incentives for purchasing electric vehicles (evs)
* enabling accelerated government fleet conversion to evs
* providing public education on the topic

The study is scheduled for release in May 2009. At the same time, Better Place (BP) will be developing an electric car charging network plan and timeline.

Better Place's business model calls for something similar to the cell phone model.

i.e. - instead of just plugging in to any outlet whenever you want, you not only have to use BP's exclusive outlets, you will also have to pay a monthly bill. Anyone who gets a monthly phone bill is already familiar with the creative bogus add-ons and line items that this implies...

“With today’s announcement, Ontario is taking a system-wide approach to retooling its economy for growth and environmental leadership,” said Shai Agassi, BP's founder and CEO. “Our partnership will move Ontario toward a new era in personal transportation – from the current Car 1.0 model centered on the internal combustion engine to a Car 2.0 model of electric cars powered by renewable energy. This announcement is the all-important first step in an expected electric car charging network rollout for Canada, and we look forward to working in partnership with the Ontario government on it.”

How much room is there for different electric car charging projects in Canada?

To what extent does this announcement imply potential monopoly down the road?

How will this project impact other EV projects in the works?

Will there still be a possibility of other electric cars that you can simply plug into the grid anywhere?

BP justifies using an exclusive green electricity provider (Bullfrog Power) because grid electric power would hardly be any greener than gasoline in Ontario. OK but what about other provinces where electricity is already emission free? How does this fit with an "electric car charging network rollout for Canada"?

Good questions - let's get them answered before this new concept rolls out of the showroom...

In any event, kudos to Ontario for doing something!

The role of the artist as an individual who is actively seeking solutions to improve our world

Alan Sonfist nails it in this interview by John Grande with the RSA Arts & Ecology Magazine. The artist needs to actively seek solutions to improve the world. Yep it seems that society needs artists more than ever before - and it's about time the artists realized it!

John Grande:
So you would recommend as a strategy for young land and earth artists involved in the public sphere, to try venues outside the art world, natural history museums, botanical gardens and so on and so forth?

Alan Sonfist:
All my art involves a clear understanding of environmental issues and their unique relationship with the local community. Within the 21st century we have to redefine the role of the artist as an individual who is actively seeking solutions to improve our world.

$23,000: Average artist earnings in Canada

There is a nice series in the Toronto Star by Bruce Demara that explores the economic situation of artists in Canada. Some of the statistics quoted are shown below:

Artists' earnings

$23,500: Average yearly earnings nationally – 26 per cent less than the average among other workers.
41: Percentage of artists with a university degree, certificate or diploma, compared to 22 per cent in the overall workforce.
29: Percentage growth in the number of artists between 1991 and 2001, compared to 10 per cent in the overall workforce.
67: Percentage of artists who work at other jobs to survive economically.

Sources: Artists in Large Canadian Cities, 2006, Hill Strategies Research Inc.; The Status of the Artist in Ontario Report

Actors' earnings

Income figures from Sept. 2007 to Sept. 2008 for the 20,000-plus members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists:

54: Percentage of members who reported income from performing, with 46 per cent reporting zero income from performing.
$6,127: Average income for all members.
$11,269: Average income for members with performance income.
$5,850/$4,85: Average earnings for actors aged 21 to 30 (for women and men respectively).

Income figures for the most recent year for the 4,120 live performance and theatre artists in the Canadian Actors' Equity Association:

1,207: Number of members working across Canada in an average week.
$12,226: Average yearly income for all members.
$11,481: Average yearly income for members with less than three years of membership.

Sources: ACTRA, CAEA

This is all fine and good. It can be very difficult to work as an artist full time in Canada. That much we know. Unfortunately, very little is ever done to address the core reason for this problem: that is, that Canadian art is under-valued the world over.

And what is the reason for that? Simple, the "PR / promotion machines" for visual art in many other countries are miles ahead of Canada.

Although it's really nice to see artist interviews in the Toronto Star, this does not even scratch the surface.

Promotion of Canadian art needs to occur at the global level.

Art White North ~ quelques arpents de neige...

Some of the things we are looking at in this blog moving forward include an overview and some analysis of the situation of art and culture in Canada. In fact, this expresses the mission of this blog.

We are going to revisit and further explore the CMYK kultural model of Canada. In addition, we will attempt to qualify and quantify the state of affairs in Canadian art and culture, with emphasis on conceptual and visual art.

I am interested in particular aspects of this situation:

* The relative prominence, at the international level, of Canadian culture in relation to culture of other countries.

* The access to exposure, financing, clientele and other sources of compensation or recognition available to Canadian artists from all regions across the country ~ in comparison with artists from other Canadian regions and from other countries.

* The reasons that can be identified to explain findings in these areas.

* Suggestions to improve the situation in the future.