Art for Art's Sake

Opening Reception: Friday, June 7 at 5:00 p.m.
Exhibit remains through June 30, 2013
Burnett Gallery
Gualala Arts Center

Gualala Arts will present an exhibit entitled "Art for Art's Sake," curated by Bruce Jones, from the opening reception on Friday, June 7 from 5 to 7 p.m., through June 30 in the Burnett Gallery.

Professional artists always do the best art. Do you believe that? Generally their technique is excellent, they are at the leading edge of art fashion, and they sell at high prices in the big art markets: New York, Paris, Santa Fe, etc. So what's the problem with the quality of some of their art?

One thing is the repetition involved in "ginning out" the kind of work that sells well. One of the artists I grew up knowing produced three beautiful paintings of irises, different than anyone around had seen before. His gallery manager said: "Give me one of those each week and I'll sell them all and you'll clear $100,000 per year." He knew he could do it, and $100,000 would be nice, but after the 10th iris painting he quit. Even his wife was bored with them by then, even though she knew they could use the money.

Fragonard "made it" in France as he painted active, exuberant people with their hair blowing in the wind - and I loved them, until I had seen five, then I walked by them quickly in the Musée.

Thomas Kinkade, "the master of light," produced thousands of paintings and sold them at high prices all over the US before his death last year. But most of us were sick of them after seeing half a dozen. In his later years, Kinkade became synonymous with "kitsch."

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.