A sales training film from the 1960s
An amazing piece of art history: when Vincent Price sold art through Sears Roebuck.
Fine art was made available across the United States; over 50,000 pieces were sold. The idea that art could be popular with a general middle class audience is lost in this era of elitist art attitudes.
Remodernism is bringing art back to the people-all people. As it should be.
Remodernism grew out of a painterly art movement called Stuckism.
Like many art movements, the name of Stuckism grew out of an attempted criticism.
The Stuckists have generated much attention and controversy by their willingness to tackle art world dogma and celebrity worship. Stuckism is a much more recognizable “brand name” in the insular world of art, compared to the more generalized term of Remodernism.
Both movements were founded by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson, artists of great vision and integrity. They were able to precisely articulate the failings of establishment art, and suggest constructive alternatives.
BLOOMBERG: The Stuckists Strike Again
The Stuckists continue to provide perspective on Britain’s woeful Turner Prize competition.
Recent interview with Stuckism/Remodernism founder Charles Thomson.
There was a point when I was heavily involved on Facebook, skirmishing with the conformist drones of the art world. When someone posted a call for liberal agenda art, this was my response:
Too much of contemporary art tries to use sociology as a short cut to significance. Propaganda is feeble art no matter what cause it supports. Art is about a deeper experience than a debate about public policies. What makes Guernica powerful is not a specific protest but the universal depiction of the human condition. So what I am going to do is go as deep into my art as possible and be true to my vision. Separate from my art is the discussion of how our cultural elites have created a corrupted and doomed system that I am determined to see dismantled.
Propaganda visual art is preaching to the choir. It lets everybody who already agrees with it feel righteous for a moment without really taking any substantive action. It does not work as outreach-a painting will not persuade anyone to change their opinion on a complex issue. Art is ineffective as a tool of debate, because that is not the level it communicates on. Emphasizing politics has been part of the general decline of the art establishment over the last few decades, where context and theory have taken the place of powerful work that succeeds on its own terms. If someone feels passionate on a cause and pours it into their work, then that may be honest, but if politics is all it’s about, it’s limiting and will be ultimately less successful as art. The easier it is to explain what a piece is about the weaker it is as art, and political art is all about delivering simple messages. There is a lot of work to be done out there, but if people really want to make institutional changes art is not the way to make it happen. It takes other kind of work.
BLOOMBERG: Contemporary Art Market Sizzling
The theory presented in the video is the art market will continue to thrive, based on the liquidation of great collections build decades ago.
But what about the artists of today? Who are the future super stars of art?
That is the problem with 50 years of agenda based art. Because quality and vision have been sacrificed for ideology and sensationalism, the productions of the current art world offer meager hope for enduring relevance and value.
Remodernism is not part of the elite’s plan. The arts establishment assumes they continue to dictate success in the arts based on cronyism and obedience. The idea of a grass roots movement that not only rejects current cultural institution expectations, but seeks to actively destroy their corrupt system, is inconceivable to them.
The feeble offerings of the contemporary art market can only exist in a monopoly format. If there were true freedom of expression, and a diversity of thought, then the art market would be out of the control of the self-proclaimed taste makers. The good news is this freedom is coming, whether they like it or not.
Remodernism will alter the course of Western civilization by restoring to art the principles that made our culture great.The forces of decadence and decay will be confronted and defeated.
What kind of price can you put on ideas that change the world?
RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS: In Ten Years We’ll All Agree That Damien Hirst Is A Joke
SIMON DOONAN: A Slate article that gets it right for once.
Saving our culture demands telling our stories.
And visual art is one of the most effective means of story telling there is-one picture equals a thousand words, etc.
Remodernism is art for those who have something meaningful to say.
remodernamerica.com 