When you meet Warren Buffett, what do you tell him? It’s rude and hopeless to pitch your project right away, and asking how he is doing is familiar. Discussing politics and economics is risky; you might say too much. The safe topic for casual conversation with a stranger is cultural life.
Discussing Hollywood blockbusters, the most recent games at a National Casino login, or the latest Netflix series is fine for a party in a bar. Still, for a serious event, such as a charity ball, where there are billionaires in tuxedos, you have to choose another topic of conversation. A great option is a contemporary art. People on the Forbes list are interested in it, invest in the works of famous artists and sculptors, and support young talents.
What if the plan is to break the ice between you and a possible investor who is passionate about contemporary art but you have no idea about painting itself?
The Main Myth About Art
The world of art, especially contemporary art, seems to most people closed to non-professionals. It seems that to understand it and even more so to buy great and not so great paintings and sculptures, you need to study a lot, know all the styles, and rush with terms and names. It’s a myth. It was created by galleries in the early twentieth century to make more money and justify the existence of dealers, curators, and gallerists.
Now we have access to all kinds of information, and you can buy even an expensive painting through Instagram, so this myth is gradually dispelled.
When the art world is no longer so distant and inaccessible, it’s time to take the next step – to begin to understand it.
How to Understand Art
To begin with, understand that you have every right to understand modern art on your own level. By the way, 70% of art dealers do not have an art or art history education. So you don’t need it either.
For contemporary art what is important is not the form but the content. The content is the context. Sometimes it is expressed in uniqueness and progressiveness: nobody had drawn the “Black Square” before Kazimir Malevich. From the aesthetic point of view, this picture may not have any value (we should not forget that beauty is a subjective concept), but its creation in the early twentieth century marked the beginning of a new trend in modern art – Suprematism.
Sometimes the context is the historical background. For example, the official portrait of former U.S. president Barack Obama, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., is markedly different from other portraits of presidents. The portrait was painted by Kehinde Wiley, a contemporary artist who depicts dark-skinned young men in a mix of underground and classical art styles.
The painting isn’t like the usual official portraits of the head of state: Obama sits unsteadily leaning on his knees against a bright wall of flowers and leaves. Why is this painting so important to the art world?
Kehinde Wiley is the first African American artist whose work made it into the National Portrait Gallery. And he painted a portrait of the first African American president of the United States.
The common phrase, “my kid can do that,” shatters with the simple truth: He can’t, because he’s out of context. What matters is not how the picture looks, but when the artist created it and what meaning he put into it.
