Can Writers Learn from the Art World?
I have an interesting topic I'd like to discuss, and would love to know what others think. First, a few words on what I am reading right now. A great blog called Writers Read asked me this a few weeks ago and they have just posted my answer today - and you might be surprised that it's not all short stories, or even fiction!
And, to shock you even more, dear blog readers, sometimes.... I just don't want to read short stories. (I know!) Sometimes... I want to have that delicious experience of immersing myself in one story for several hours. I did this yesterday, and in one day read two novels, straight through: Dear Everybody, by Michael Kimball (thanks, Nik, for the recommendation) and the Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano. Both were excellently written, devastating and moving. Both, oddly, dealt with characters who were deeply wounded in some way, and with the themes of disconnection from one's family, but in very different ways. I highly recommend them both.
Now, to the other topic I wanted to discuss. I read an article in the New Yorker the other day about a 36-year-old artist who is now the latest Wunderkind (well, slightly older) in the art world for his odd installations (wax sculptures of women that melt as the exhibition progresses; a large pit dug in the floor of the gallery) and sculptures. His works fetch enormous sums of money, in the hundreds of thousands of pounds, and this is mentioned in the Arts articles as if it is simply accepted, a matter of course. So I say this: what is it about "art" of this kind that such sums are demanded and are received but that when it comes to the written word, the situation is so different? Even talking about artists who are not the latest Hot Item, a painting in a small local gallery has a price tag of several thousand pounds. And yet... if I get £10 for a short story, I am thrilled.
Here's my question: are we not asking enough for our work? Is it something to do with a sculpture, installation or painting being a "one-off", in some way unreproducable (even though this is not always the case)? Is it that the collector or buyer wants to own the art in a way that you couldn't own a piece of writing? And... is there any way we writers could somehow emulate these artists, by putting our work up for sale instead of submitting it to a journal? Any other ideas, thinking outside the box on this one? Is there a way we might write one-off pieces too, something we can guarantee is unique and unreproducable or - and this is a big question - do people view an object that is made up of words, which are the currency everyone trades in, as far far less valuable, as something they could "probably do themselves if they tried"?
I would love to start a proper discussion about this. What do you think? While it is quite common to hear that someone is a poet, novelist and playwright, for example, I rarely hear of someone who is a painter and short story writer. Why the gulf? Is there "art" and then "art"??
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Michael Pokocky says:
Interesting topic! Not sure
Interesting topic!
Not sure you can compare the two.
The publishing world is now controlled by the corporation, where once it was owned by the children of millionaires who created publishing houses and they did not care about the money. They had money before they created the publishing house, they had money while they published writers and they had money when they were bought out by the corporations.
The art world is not controlled by corporations.
It would be a great book to research and write to see what one writers can learn from the art world.
Heather Koelle says:
art and writing
Just wanted to comment on your post.I am a performing artist,a musician.I always loved to write,but never took it seriously until a friend of mine,a poet,encouraged me to start.so here I am on redroom,now spending mroe time writing here than playing the piano!I think there is a connection between all the arts,as they are what lift us up fomr just being animals,and give us a spirituality that transcends themindaneness of the world.
Tania Hershman says:
Thank you Michael and
Thank you Michael and Heather for taking the time to comment. Michael, is the art world not in some way similarly controlled by extremely rich collectors (Saatchi etc...?) I don't know that much about it but yes, it would make an interesting book!
Heather, you are spot on about art lifting us up. Thank you for this, nice to meet you, and I am glad that you have found your writing voice as well as your musical one.
Michael Pokocky says:
Hi Tania! You asked," is
Hi Tania! You asked," is the art world not in some way similarly controlled by extremely rich collectors (Saatchi etc...?)," and I want to take it further.
Ok if we look at the big publishing houses and the best imprints we find they are owned by corporations today and this has changed how publishers make decisions and the process of choosing which writers get a book contract__and it is not the nice I'd prefer like it was in the good old days where an author was taken on and became part of the family. I found this interview in my bookmarks that really sheds light on the publishing business past and present and future with Georges Borchardt.
If we look the art world we see that art is owned by collectors as you say, but collectors are not corporations. The are the end buyers of art. The corporations that control the publishing industry still have to sell their writers to the end user.
Therin lies the difference, but it also raises your idea of one off printing of books as objects for collectors. [correct me if I am wrong please]
What is controlled is a good question. In both the art world and the publishing world the book as object and the art as object is controlled by whomever has the money. But the money that is behind the art world is different than the money behind the publishing world.
Collectors and readers are the ones who buy art and books respectively.
But how the art is marketed and sold to the collectors is different than how books are marketed and sold to readers.
It seems obvious that a book sold in quantity is similar to a painting sold in quantity as a limited editon signed by the artist themselves.
I am streaming here so bear with my comment. The purpose is to think out loud to create ideas that add value to this conversation, which I personally find facinating. There's got to be a resolution, or if we are lucky a new way for writers to sell their books__even if its one signed copy.
Kindest, Michael Pokocky
Michael Pokocky says:
Further to my comment Mon,
Further to my comment Mon, 10/19/2009 - 11:13am I read this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/18/robert-mccrum-on-books about the damage the suits [aka the corporation's marketing people] have usurped the power of the editor role in the publishing process. And this has a direct effect on fiction. Robert McCrum says,"In the past, when editors exercised real power not just as midwives to the creative process, but as the dynamic element in the world of books..."
This adds to the conversation further I hope.