What’s Wrong With “Buying Local” When It Comes to Art?

By Barbara Smits | Opinion

It seems that the modern art world wants the artist to be restricted to the haul and carry, booth setup, travel, out of town hotel expenses, adverse weather, damage to artwork, and watch the crowds meander by art show circuit rather than using local art for interior decorating or serious art show displays in art centers or galleries. Communities like art shows that draw crowds and money into their area, and seem determined to keep the art show circuit working to their own advantage.  

What’s wrong with using local art for decorating that represents our community or state? I have tried for many years to get interior decorators and designers, hotel builders, local art galleries, etc., to purchase and display my artwork, but they will not do so. I do have my prints for sale in local retail shops, and people do like and purchase my artwork, and I have placed high in online art contests, but I have given up trying to break into the larger markets that seem to be dominated only by money and huge discounts for interior decorators or art dealers who  purchase artwork. I have sold through interior decorators in the past, but that is not the case today. 

Shouldn’t ALL types of art be given a chance to be seen and appreciated? Artists today are in the same situation as artists in the past when new forms of art began to take over the old ways of doing things, but meeting with great resistance from the art world establishment. 

As an artist, I am motivated by deeper thoughts than producing an artwork of appropriate, matching colors to hang on a wall and then never look at it again for the next fifty years. There is nothing wrong with abstract art, and many people like it, but I am not motivated to produce it, and I should also have a chance to do my kind of art. 

I am a photographer and writer, and I produce many different types of artwork. Some  photographs I sell as straight images, others I manipulate with digital artistic software to create  artworks, and on some I like to add text that includes my poetry or thoughts. I also like to  produce motivational and inspirational works which seem to be taboo to many people in today’s world! In any case, my end product is a print, either a photograph or a print made on a printer, so it can be reproduced in larger numbers. That type of artwork doesn’t seem to be appreciated as a work of art, just as a cheap print that anyone can produce with an iPhone in today’s world. 

Our community is building a new cultural center that will open this summer, and they advertise and brag about bringing in displays and art shows from outside of the area to attract crowds, and they offer no opportunity for local artists to show there. It is really a slap in the face to local artists who might have something worthwhile to show, and visitors to the city might really enjoy seeing local artworks that portray the history of the community or other areas of interest, including statewide images.  

The modern art world needs to change. Art galleries need to change. Arts organizations need to change. Art should be available for everyone to enjoy, not only for the rich to purchase it for  investment purposes and then hide it away in private galleries to let it grow in value. Art should have something to say and be created for beauty, inspiration, and motivation, not just for money. Yes, we all like to make money from our work and be rewarded for our time and effort, but the artist should not just be motivated by money and following popular trends that sell. We are not helping the world by following that criteria for creating artworks; and I’m sorry to say that the world needs much help today. 

I don’t think that change in the art world will happen in my lifetime, but we are in the modern  age of technology, and perhaps change will come about in the coming years as people realize that we need art to help us understand the world, not just add color to a room!

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