Conceptual art : how do I hate thee, let me count the ways

While from time to time you do see something intellectually interesting, challenging and (occasionally) visually interesting in conceptual art, mostly it seems an excuse to avoid real artistic effort, in the case of Hirst much of the work is actually made by an assistant. The not so YBAs have made a lot of money but have they produced anything that will last ? Certainly there are permanence problems with some of Hirsts' pieces and it is hard to imagine much of Emin's early work either keeping (in a literal sense) or being of genuine artistic interest in the future. It may be of historical or sociological interest, little more. Much conceptual art is mimicked by art students who see it as any easy way out of actually learning any real skills, the concept is all. We need a new term for it : it isn't really art, or certainly not visual art, perhaps we can call it part of the performing arts ? Where visual aspects are not pre-eminent ?

How much is a Titian worth ?

We have bought a Titian 'Diana and Actaeon' for £50 million from the Duke of Sutherland : the painting had been housed in the National Gallery of Scotland for 65 years, presumably with the advantage to the owner of the public paying for insurance, security and restoration all those years.

The Scottish Government has pledged £12.5m, £7.4m has come from public donations and £12.5m has come from National Galleries in London.
The rest of the money has come from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, which has given £10m; the Monument Trust has pledged £2m; £4.6m has come from the National Galleries of Scotland and £1m was secured from the Art Fund.

It seems likely that these funds, in Scotland at least, will be drained for some time to come, with less money available for other cultural projects.

It has also been made public that another Titian 'Diana and Callisto' will be sold in a few years. The duke will apparently (according to the Times and the Guardian) gain a significant tax advantage through this sale, as well as the cash !

Is it worth it ? The painting may very well be worth the cost on the open market, but in a small country like Scotland, with limited funds for culture, one must question the sense of the purchase.

Being paid ...

As an artist I hardly paint for remuneration : I paint for satisfaction, to express new visual ideas, develop new colour combinations, many reasons. But when your work sells, you do want to be paid for it. Maybe it is the current more difficult times we live in, but for some reason I seem to have some difficulty in receiving the money I am owed for paintings. Is it just me ? Does anyone have any suggestions ?

Even more on liquin ...

My paintings are now in progress but to be honest I am not entirely happy with the finish using liquin. They have a rather matt appearance, I quite like the gloss you get using linseed oil.

Update on liquin

Well, I've used the dreaded liquin and no allergic reaction : it did have rather a chemical smell though. I think I will use it for en plein air work : the consistency is good and it is easy to use and relatively colourless. The chemical smell is a bit of a concern in a cold Edinburgh studio : I really cannot bring myself to open the windows at the moment, it being 2 or 3 degrees outside. I have ordered some sun bleached linseed oil : I think this may suit my studio work better : it is a natural oil, but dries faster. I will report back (eventually) on that.

To liquin or not to liquin ?

Having started work for my next exhibition I am thinking about fast drying mediums. I really like using many layers of linseed oil based mediums to get a colourful, layered and deep feel to the work, but time is running out ! Last year I used Winsor and Newton's drying linseed oil, which I found excellent, especially for working outside. The only issue is that it may yellow, but for most of my work this hasn't been a problem, as the colour bases I use tend to have a high proportion of yellows. I also used liquin impasto, which was great, gave a real texture and depth to the outdoor work, while allowing it to dry fairly rapidly and remain stable. However, I eventually realised after a couple of times using it, that the massive allergic reaction I had was to the liquin impasto. What a shame ! I now have some ordinary liquin, and am trying to build up my nerve to give it a go : it would certainly make my life easier to have an alternative fast drying medium that was readily available everywhere. I'm gonna go down the studio now and try it ! I'll report back.

Figure study