About
WHAT PRICE ART? A WEEKEND SHOW @ CULTIVATE, VYNER STREET.
Opening night, Thurs 15th Sept, 6pm 9pm, then 11.30am 6pm Fri 16th- Sun 18th Sept.
SEAN WORRALL invites YOU to take part in WHAT PRICE ART?
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An invitation extended to fellow artists to take part and also for those who visit galleries and buy art to take control..
THE SHORT VERSION - A whole losd of art on the gallery walls, buyer sets the price and takes it away, Pay as much or as little as you see fit should you wish to buy a piece...
THE LONG VERSION -
My intention is to pack the walls of our recently open Cultivate Vyner Street gallery space with both my own paintings and hopefully the art of other invited artists.
Following on from the 22 Hours show that took just under a day to pull together and that officially opened the new Vyner Street space this week, this new show is being pulled together at the start of this week and will open on the evening of Thursday 15th September. The show runs until 6pm Sunday 18th Sept (at which point we start putting Steven Rawlings' Interim show in for Monday 19th and his eleven day working residency)
The whole Cutivate Vyner Street project is based a small group of artists questioning how galleries work. We're doing this by running out own gallery space right in the heart of things in one of the most significant art streets in East London. We don't have grants or funding for this, we're as short of money as most any other working artist, we have to make commercial decisions to keep this space alive and financial survival is as much an issue for us in these tough times as it is for any gallery space. Rent must be paid or the doors close. We've taken on the gallery for six months, we opened on September First Thursday with 22 hours notice.
WHAT PRICE ART?
What Price Art? is about exactly that - gallery prices, the way things work, the vulnerability of the working artist in terms of survival, in terms of paying the bills, in terms of the way things work with galleries. The show is about the pricing of art, about art in galleries, about leaving art on the street, about street art, about the art dealers, the collectors, the price tag and people's reactions to that tag, about how people interact with commercial art galleries. Who buys art? What is the point of a commercially run gallery?
The gallery will be full of art for three days, I hope that there will be more than just mine - people can just come and enjoy it, view it, explore it, or if they want to, they can buy it. The buyer sets the price, the gallery and the artist have no say in the pricing process. They buyer states the price, the piece is taken off the wall and the transaction takes place, the buyer takes the piece away and a new piece goes up in place
What's going to happen? Will artists be brave enough to join me and put their art on the walls and plinths? If they do will it just be their throwaway pieces that they attach little value to? Will it just scribbles on cardboard perfectly valid if that's the case or will it be the big expansive pieces they'd show at other galleries in a âconventional' way with a âconventional' price tag? Things they do attach more value to? What will I do when it comes ot hang? Will any other artists want to take part or will that just want to know what happens? Can it be pulled together in a week anyway?
And what of the viewers, the visitors, the people who come to galleries? Will they be comfortable with setting the price? Will they take away a big piece and pay just a penny? Will they offer ânormal' gallery prices? Will they just reject the whole idea, or will they just not want the art on sale anyway? What's going to happen?
The whole event will be documented, buyers will be given the chance to opt out of the documentation if they wish.
Artists are invited to come be involved. We will, as a gallery, be as picky as we would with any show. We will invite artists we already know to come be involved and allow them to bring whatever they wish, artists we don't know or haven't worked with yet can contact us and if we like what we see the invite will be extended for them to bring along anything they wish to include. The gallery will charge a 20% commission on all sales (unless a piece sells for less that 5p). I have no idea what will happen, what price art?
