FRESE ALENT

& NEW BUYERS (con't)

mires an artist’s space; one admires
his/her energy. The other word is
“‘quote.’’ The new artists rely heavily
on ‘‘quotes’’ from other artists. In
other words, if these paintings were
novels, they would be written entirely
in quotes.

Glueck tried to avoid giving any
critical opinions about the new work,
but when pressed, admitted that she
considers it to be largely ‘‘old hat.”’
Perhaps that is because she covers only
the big museums and major galleries
and avoids the ‘‘far out.”’

With 300-500 galleries in New York
City alone, there is a growing interest
in art and stiff competition among col-
lectors for works of their favorite ar-
tists. There is also a huge base of work-
ing artists, since, according to Glueck,
it is now respectable to be an artist in
our society. What a dubious victory,
that seal of approval! As so succinctly
stated in a New Wave manifesto
quoted by Glueck: ‘‘We have taken
your garbage all of our lives and are
selling 1t “back at “an-—in-
conceivablemarkup.”’

Official art, that which the media
will declare as representative of the
decade, is fashionable art. Fashionable
art is what sells, and what sells is what
is pushed by art dealers. An artist is
chosen by an art dealer as the herald of
a New Age. His/her work is carefully
meted out to selected collectors at
selected prices. Glueck spoke at length
about the success story of Julian
Schnabel, a young painter who
embellishes his canvasses with pieces of
broken plates. Schnabel was taken up
by dealer Mary Boone, who made him
the ‘‘hottest young artist on the scene.”’
Boone will allow only one painting by
her protege to go to any one collector.
This makes the collector reluctant to
sell. The product is then in great de-
mand and the prices astronomical. For
exmaple, a painting by an artist who is
just being introduced to the Art World
by a dealer initially sells for $4,500.
Several years later it goes for $75,000.

There were three of us from
ECCAD at Glueck’s lecture, sitting at
the very back of the gallery. We had
spent the fall discussing topics like:
What is art? What is an artist’s respon-
sibility to himself and to society?
Perhaps what should be asked instead
is: Who really decides what is art?
What is an art dealer’s responsibility to
himself and to society? What is an art
critic’s responsibility to himself and to
society?

5 Cs | ee.

WILL YOU
READ THIS?

By: I. Maclean

There comes a time when a student
must think — in this institution
possibly art would be an appropriate
subject to consider. Not far from the
art college, in meters, is the Western
Front Society, an artist-run art center
which helps the development,
dialogue, production, and exhibition
of new art activities and ideas. Eric
Metcalfe, co-founder and _ co-
director, and Elizabeth Chitty,
curator and technician in the video
program, agreed to discuss the con-
nection that may or may not exist
between the Western Front and the
Emily Carr College of Art. Possibly
the following from Eric Metcalfe is
something everyone at ECCAD
should consider.

“The Western Front is a vital
situation in, the art community in
North America, Europe, and further.
We do performance packages of in-
ternational profile. We have a man-
date for experimental art which is
what we stand for. All of us at the
Front are practicing artists. There
are always lots of activities here, what
with performances, video tapes, etc.
Despite all this we see virtually no
people from institutions that profess
to teach art. It doesn’t seem difficult
to teach art basics such as drawing,
colour, etc. but, the actual teaching
of art ideas is very problematic, ac-
tually the whole thing seems just to be
a farce, a factory for the rich with
very little interaction with the com-
munity. It would be to the student’s
and faculty’s advantage to come to
our performances, video installa-
tions, gallery shows, music, etc. .. .
We try and reach as many interested
people as possible, people in the
trade; you don’t necessarily have to
like it but, it should be seen. If you
are at all serious about making art
your life/career then perhaps you had
better get out and find out about your
profession.’’

Metcalfe’s ideas are very valid and
rather reserved as he doesn’t want to
alienate the Western front from the
art college but, one question con-
tinually looms up; why do ECCAD
staff and students not support the
Western Front? The answers are very
wide ranged, I expect, but, still the
fact remains that the Western Front
is a world renown art center which is

all the more reason, you would think,
that the art college should be interac-
ting with them.

Elizabeth Chitty:

“*The video at the Western Front is
a production house as opposed to an
access center. We have local, na-
tional, and international artists work-
ing here. It is an artist run center,
which is important because with the
activities here, and working with ar-
tists themselves adds a special flavor
to the working situation, many artists
have found the Front a_ special,
creative, environment which is con-
ducive to their own work. There are
also large archives of video tapes at
the Front, all you have to do is
phone, make an appointment and
you can watch any of the 200 to 300
tapes — free!

Vancouver’s art communities are
very fragmented, the Front has its
identity, its fans and critics, I expect
the same for the college, but, there
does seem to be an unhealthy lack of
interest between the two, possibly this
could be the general interests of the
school don’t concide with the Front
aesthetically.

It appears that experimental or in-
novative learning at the art school is
of the least importance to its fairly
conservative image; another observa-
tion I’ve noticed is that art produced
at the Western Front isn’t taken
seriously at the art college. I believe
an obvious way to narrow this com-
munication gap with the school is
through our visiting artists program.
The Front is constantly bringing ar-
tists in, the faculty should be finding
out who is here and possibly having
them at the college as guest lectures. I
suppose that would be subject to fun-
ding etc . . . We put on a lot of per-
formances here and its rare that
faculty attend these events, even
though some allege to be interested in
performance. I do think students
should be informed to some extent;
while it is the Western Front’s
responsibility to ensure their publici-
ty reaches the college (it’s always sent
here), it seems to me it is also the
responsibility of the educator to in-
form them of what is happening.
Perhaps instructors only tell students
what they perceive to be valid art
forms. ;

It’s very important for a student in
school to know what’s happening, a
responsibility a student may have to
take solely on their own, they don’t
necessarily have to agree with it but,
just to see what’s happening,
sometimes thats a way to find out

(continued)