Perhaps I go should paint more and go to openings less; maybe it’s the wine and company that does it for me - maybe it’s the wealth of possibilities there - but sometimes I feel like I use the Art World as way of avoidance from facing my own work - of being with myself.  I wonder how many other people I see at openings are doing the same thing?

Anyway, tonight I went to a show titled ”A New Spirit of Progress” presented by Art for Progress at World Culture Open Center and found the atmosphere too controlled, too tame, though the work I saw there was good - as far as it goes - I was left with the thought in my mind of “why”?   Why about any of this work really stands out?  

It got me back to thinking about something I’ve been grappling with for a while - why do people buy Art at all?   My feeling is there needs to be a compelling reason to buy someone’s work - otherwise, there’s no real commercial value to it.

For a while now, I’ve been working on the theory of “community” and how an art community can affix value onto any work, which otherwise is valueless.  For example, if I want to think of one of my paintings as worth 500 dollars - that’s a declaration of value - but only when someone buys it for that is the value really declared (to the world) that the painting was worth 500 dollars.

But wait, that’s not enough - in order for paintings to be worth something to a large community - there needs to be several who also agree (citations) that my paintings are worth 500 dollars (or more) - meaning that it’s the community that really sets and confirms value to anyone’s work.

Getting back to the Art For Progress show - what I felt missing was not so much community (there was a community of Artists present, after all, the same artists and friends of the Artists, that want to display / sell the work) but of the wider community that can affix real value and liquidity to work.

That’s why I’ve often fell back on the idea that Artwork is done (by me) for self development - and not really to sell - or even to display.  Why?  It’s too hard to get real, widespread buy in for your work, or anyone’s work - so it’s not a viable path to making a living - but more of a pleasant surprise that works sells, when it does.

So…getting back to the Why?  Why this show, why paint, I feel it’s OK to show display work and being a member of the Art For Progress Collective is not a bad idea, the benefits seem worthwhile and they do good work for their members, that only a few of the members would largely benefit from it - those that can best leverage the community they’re allied with.

I think that’s true for many organizations - perhaps they help everyone a little, but some benefit much more because they can leverage contacts they make.

At least, that’s my thinking about Art Communities today - maybe I’ll feel differently at a future time - I’ll leave the door open to change of my opinion here - though what I saw tonight more confirmed my opinions than changed anything.