The Old Masters

I saw the old masters were back in town again at the Detroit Institute of Art. I'm over here in Switzerland and heard about this exhibition coming to the - D. I recently visited one of the museums here and saw Picasso and Matisse at a Jeff Koon opening at the Beyeler museum here in Basel. The reason I'm writing this particular blog is because I'm trying to understand this circle and why the same artists seem to take precedence over the art world. This machine or circle, not sure what to call it, but it's big because I see the affects of it here too. What makes the oeuvre of these artists like Picasso and Matisse so so valuable and the public or certain classes of people can't seem to get enough of them. Why? Are they just as important as the Messiah or perhaps the Pope. I'm not trying be facetious here, not at all, believe me. I just want to understand these systems. As I travel around here in Europe and USA, it's the same circle of artists that I see at your major institutions and the same ditto of people attending the museums and upper class events concerning the arts on the high end. 

What is art today? It's a game where money plays a big part in this equation and creating a movement alone with the right propaganda to go with the philosophy is also part of it too. Time and history is an intricate part to this world of the old masters and the business of art today and why it's still relevant even now. Is it being in the right circle or place? Knowing the right people or perhaps doing something bizarre like cutting off your Der schnuffler and sticking it on a painting ( Van Gogh cut his ear off )? Now that will get you some attention for a while but it won't make you a master with staying power in this circle of the old masters of the past. I understand that it goes way back to the ancient Greek days and farther than that even and that the past is very sufficient to the present. But for how long is my question. 

Religion is a whole other subject but with a similar foundation. Organized religion has been projected and portrayed in the world and all over the globe, so have the old masters. The origin of religion dates back to the roman emperor and so does art. In the vernacular of the past and present of how it all came to be what it is today, it has everything to do with location, power and wealth. As I conclude here, it's starting to make sense. I need to go back into deep time, way, way back to the beginning of time itself. 

July 19 - 2012

$120,000,000

The value of some art is just unbelievable and astronomical in price. Why is that? Some art is more important than human beings and people will steal and literally kill for it. What do you do with a $120,000,000 million  painting? Can it walk or talk? I'm curious to know the thought process behind the person or persons that would spend that kind of money for a work of art. You have some art which is priceless. What do you mean by priceless? Who determines that or how is that done and by what authority? I would like know. The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, was sold for a record price of a $120,000,000 big ones. How do you insure a work of art like that? Do you keep it in a safe and how do you protect it out of harms way? What is art today and if a work of art cost $100,000,000 million or more, why? What are we buying it for really and does it become something other than art? Is it about money along with fame, prestige or politics? Maybe all of the above. Some art has become a big business, a weapon of mask destruction, that's controlled by a certain class of people. $120,000,000 million for a work of art! Can it do tricks or is it the subject matter that makes it so valuable?

I came here to Basel to learn and ask questions, to draw my own conclusions about the art world and continue to ask questions. So what is art today and will it change tomorrow? Don't know. I'm ready to share with the world one of my new works I've created here and the price tag is a $100,000,000 million called  scream loud bitch, A $100,000,000,000 .

Do you think Sotheby's or Christie's auction house might have an interest in auctioning off the piece for me? What do you think?