Thursday, March 17, 2016

To date or not to date

Jason Horejs is 100% wrong on this issue, but it is nonetheless a very interesting read and an eloquent defense of an indefensible issue.
Many of you who have been following me will know that I discourage artists from including dates on their artwork. Recently, I received the following email from the curator of a museum: Dear Jason, As a Museum Director, I vehemently disagree with not putting the date created on pieces of work in a portfolio. Why do you suggest that? It appears that the artist is hiding something. Sincerely, D.R. I responded: Dear D, Thank you for the email and the question. I come at the question from a marketing and sales standpoint, and from my perspective on the front lines of helping artists sell their work, I have only seen the dating of work as a negative.
I have plenty of empirical evidence to prove the opposite; many different instances, but the bottom line is this: for your 99% of the artists on the planet, it is the artwork, not anything else, that first hooks a potential collector. After that comes the perennial: it better be signed. Seldom does the date make a difference (for most artists' artwork encounter with a potential buyer) for an artist.

But, and this is a giant but, there are collectors that - once they have begun collecting an artist - are profoundly interested in early work, vintage, early work, even art school work. The "whys" are diverse, but they exist... and a date is a key validator in this case.

Case closed... read the piece here.

MFA first year and thesis exhibitions at AU

Wanna get a peek at what the next generation of DMV artists may look like?

When: April 2-20 and April 30-May 29

Where: American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

AU’s Department of Art presents the work of current Master of Fine Art candidates. The multidisciplinary Studio Art program showcases an exciting range of emerging artist’s works in painting, sculpture, collage and material studies, photography and new media. 

The First Year MFA exhibition will run from April 2-20 and feature the work of Mills Brown, Aaron Eckstein, Yaroslav Koporulin, Jean Jinho Kim, Sarah Ellen Norman, Sarah O’Donoghue, Jen Noone, and Zarina Zuparkhodjaeva. 

The MFA Thesis exhibition will run from April 30-May 29 featuring Sara Caporaletti, Sarah Dale, Carey Francis, Jihee Kang, Jean Kim, Zack McGhin, Calli Moore, J. Moukarim, Samantha Sethi, and Katelyn Wood.