Immature Lovers Jockeying for Position

Over at the excellent blog run by Zeke’s Gallery, there’s a link to an article about Toronto art collector and philanthropist, Ydessa Hendeles.

Hendeles’ collection is truly spectacular, and the shows at her exhibition space in Toronto are always essential viewing. She recently accepted an award for curatorial excellence, and delivered a speech to accept it that championed responsible art patronage and collecting that will have some longevity.

“The fickle art system has all the manipulative push and pull of immature lovers jockeying for position,” Hendeles declared in her speech. “It is a game of temporary winners and losers, but the gains and losses of today are momentary. What ultimately counts is the body of work over a lifetime, deposited into world memory – for the future.”

Spin the bottle. Grade Nine dances. Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Promise to Repeat. Questioning your judgement while the fellow you had \\such\\ a crush on last week grabs your bum during Stairway to Heaven is not a bad analogy to the awkwardness and desperate cool-hunting that sometimes goes on in the art world. Next to nothing is new and cool is highly subjective. I wish I could say artists weren’t guilty of fueling this fire, but unfortunately, it takes two to shuffle along to Led Zeppelin.

Hats off to all of you, wherever you are: collectors who seek things that mean something to them and don’t look purely for “hot names” or a return on investment; curators who believe in the shows they put together and would rather curate an unpopular/difficult/controversial work than plug in a safe choice; artists who stay true to their dialogue, work hard to figure out what their dialogue is, and for whom an MA or MFA is a renewal of vows rather than a bid for credibility.