The war of Art

You’re bound to have noticed the civil war that’s long been raging in the art world. At most times in history, there’s been a battle between the conservatives (the ‘ins’) and the progressives (the ‘outs’). Thus, the Impressionists were derided by the salon painters of their day, but the new painting went on to conquer the world. Since then, art has become led more and more by non-traditional work. The bulk of artists have continued to produce ‘plinth sculpture’ and ‘easel painting’, but artists who don’t (and very possibly can’t) paint, sculpt or draw now hog the headlines, win the prizes, command the big prices and name the game.

Josef Herman: A Group of People 1974

The ‘outs’ have become the ‘ins’. One result is that you can’t easily find art students who produce anything that most people would recognise as art. Should you have followed in such footsteps and collected the new? In the short term, the answer has plainly been yes - although some of the work is uncollectable. You couldn’t readily accommodate Tracey Emin’s most famous piece without losing an entire bedroom to her post-nocturnal shambles.

Nor would you really want Damien Hirst’s shark swimming round your hall, even if you had one big enough. The ‘in’ artists make their big sales to a few private collectors and museum curators. But being as commercial as the next man or woman (if not more so) the ‘cutting edge’ artists have widened their markets by spinning off more convenient and lower-priced works - in Hirst’s case, ’spinning’ is the word. His spin pictures, made by firing colours at random on a revolving surface, have been spectacularly good investments.

This says nothing for their artistic value (dubious), but plenty about the value of fame - Hirst’s bought-in chairs for his failed restaurant, The Pharmacy, fetched ridiculous prices, simply because he had bought them. Half-a-dozen vendors are offering Hirst prints and posters, etc. on the web. The wisdom of these investments depends on whether buyers will still be so enthusiastic two or three decades down the line. Hard to say, of course, but note that fashion is crucial in setting these prices - and that fashion is fickle. The hot art depends on the reputation, not of the artist, but of dealers like White Cube or Victoria Miro, whose backing immediately shoves an artist’s prices through the ceiling.

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi: Newton after Blake

My advice is not to jump on the bandwagon for its own sake. If you really go for one of the ‘in’ artists, by all means put your money where your heart is. But I’m personally betting that the plinth and easel will continue to supply the lasting winners into the uncertain future. Also, the higher prices commanded by the new boys and girls must have an elevating effect on the prices of all the top class art. And if you don’t yet know what top class means, watch this space.

For lasting value, look no further than Joseph Herman, the last of the great European expressionists, and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, the leader of the pop artists of the ’60s (see second picture above). Both men have died, but their work lives. Both have works available at the Angela Flowers Gallery, 82 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DP.