Monkdogz Artblog

Walking around Chelsea these days, video art is noticeably on the increase. It’s developing as a medium and so the quality is very variable. The 3rd dimension of soundtrack in conjunction with the concept or idea and the visual presentation can be an opportunity for real added value to the bottom line of the finished artwork.

Amongst video artists, there are a group who have not really crossed the line into fine art, but maybe they should. They are the Mashup artists who create a collage of music videos by first dissecting vocal, instrumental and visual tracks, and then reassembling them to create something spectacularly new with hints of the familiar.

Jordan Roseman, aka DJ Earworm known is well known for his annual music mashups of the top 25 most popular hit songs of the year according to Billboard Magazine. This year it is titled “United State of Pop 2009”. In a very small emerging art field, he is one of the master practitioners. Done poorly “it’s like you’re trying to watch TV, and someone is sitting there switching the channel every 30 seconds” says music host Tim Baker of Clash Radio. According to Technology Review published by MIT, “Roseman is a double major in music and computer science from the University of Illinois.” This allows him to “analyze the harmonies in his raw materials, (and so) he can see key clashes looming a mile away. He doesn’t have to rely as heavily as his peers do on trial and error to find samples that fit together musically.”

Unlike some other practitioners who just cut up and re order tracks, “Roseman gradually layers (the isolated tracks) over each other, adding texture and building momentum as a song progresses. His technical skill is apparent in isolating the vocal, instrumental and visual tracks. He has even written a book “Audio Mashup Contruction Kit” in which he explains the technique.

His “United State of Pop 2008” was so well received it received enough radio play to make its way onto Billboard’s Pop 100 Airplay chart, peaking at #58 and even broke into the Pop 100 chart. On Youtube it has achieved over 2.5 million views and his 2009 version has hit over 8.1million views. His work is so good that several record labels and artists have requested mashups created solely from one artist’s music. 

I also like his disclaimer on his website in this age of copyright and fair use concerns:

“Disclaimer: The media files posted here were created for my own experimentation and entertainment, not profit. I am not the author or owner of the copyrights of the component tracks. If you like the mashups, support the artists and go and buy the originals…they are easy to find. Representatives of either the artist or publishing company can contact me, and I will take these tracks offline.If representatives of either the artist or publishing company have concerns, please contact me.”

If a broken glass or a scrunched up piece of paper on the floor can be called art, and it was in a respectable commercial gallery in Chelsea, New York, let me assure you, DJ Earworm’s mashups are an excellent example of fine art videography.

(Thanks to the Didgenator for the thread.)

Wow what an eye-opener it was today in Chelsea.  We went to talk with gallery owners and directors to scope out the state of the art capital of the world. 

The week before the season opener is usually an exciting time for the galleries who are working to unveil their power shows and introducing the roster for the coming year or at least putting out the teasers.  Instead we found the mood somber.  Galleries with financial depth are hunkering down for a long haul through a cold season.  The anticipation of the mass opening is being tempered significantly with a realization that improvements in the market may be slow and very incremental.  

Since September 2008, most people we’ve talked to have been optimistic about the impact of the financial downturn on the art market, talking up the market, expecting a shallower and less marked effect.  However the summer of 2009 has seen a huge shift in the outlook.  The summer in New York is traditionally quiet, but many galleries have seen no sales over the last few months.  Even the non-profit foundations are starting to have concerns over the very significant drops in funding that they’re experiencing.  Quotes of “it’s really serious” and “it’s extremely difficult” are being voiced by people who just a few months go were saying “it’s not as bad as we feared, nor is it as good as we hoped”.  

Having said all that, I have a suspicion that when we look back on 2009 we will see that the corner was turned about now.  Landlords are starting to offer rents that are much more affordable. Magazines and newspapers are negotiating prices for advertising.  If only the banks and insurance companies would follow suit, the recovery would happen faster.

Overall despite the doom and gloom, I came away with a spark of enthusiasm.  I think that if we’re patient and clever, we’ll be able to get a hand up on the upswing of the recovery.   Hang in there with us.  I think it’s going to be a great ride!

The Federal Reserve released a statement today, suggesting that the economic downturn may be easing. It may not be getting better yet, but “the pace of contraction appears to be slowing down.” It continues saying that “household spending has show signs of stabilizing,” and the “economic outlook has improved modestly since the March meeting” however “activity is likely to remain weak for a time.”

In London consumer confidence rose for the 3rd month in a row despite figures showing that the economy shrunk at the fastest pace in 30 years between January and March of 2009.

People are starting to talk about what they’ll do after the recession is over and many are currently saving until that day arrives. In the latest New York Times / CBS News poll, 72 percent of Americans said they were optimistic about the next four years and President Obama seems to have survived his first 100 days.

It’s not a New York spring, when the flowers and trees explode in a matter of hours, drop-kicking the winter out in a blink of eye, but a very slow English thaw that starts with the little snow drops in the bleak of the mid-winter and gradually warm up the bulbs and blossoms over several months.

So what does this all mean?

President Obama said today at the press conference reported in the New York Times  “we cannot go back to an economy that is built on a pile of sand — on inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards, on overleveraged banks and outdated regulations that allowed the recklessness of a few to threaten the prosperity of us all.”

Similarly in the art market we cannot go back to the ‘Harrod’s annual sale’ style art fairs, the cliquey private views and gallery dinners, the ‘any celebrity (even D-list) will boost anything’ mentality, the ‘I’ll lick your behind if you’ll lick mine’ rules of business, the ‘if we haven’t seen it, it must be good’ biennial and the ‘if the artist is pre-pubescent I must have it’ group of collectors or the ‘my bid is better than your bid’ style of auction house shenanigans. Robert Hughes the Australian critic nailed it when he called the art market “a barren landscape of commercial mediocrity”.

The President answered that we need a solid foundation. We need to promote our artists who have integrity, drive, creativity, skill and an extinguishable passion for their art. Now is the time to find the ground swell of these artists. The risk may be high on start-up businesses, but so are the rewards. The same is true for artists; promoting the rising artists will bring greater rewards as a participant in the their future than being a voyeur on the sidelines of a blue chip artist. In the words of General Patton, “accept the challenge so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”

Thank-you to Rembrandt for highlighting this interesting and rare interview of an influential man in the art world.  If you want to find out what Charles Saatchi is yawning about, it’s a good read from The Times in the UK.

While my business partner Marina is on a continual quest to discover “What’s next?” which may or may not be discovered sometime before or after the Holy Grail, my associate Sebastien looks to the heavens, astrology, numerology and all other forms of the mumbo jumbo seeking to discover the one true path to the future of art.

Me?  I like to think I’m more pragmatic. I scour over information coming in from Europe, Asia, and South America; the gallery scene worldwide, fairs, the secondary markets and their analytical reports of what’s going on, as if at some point the information I am looking for will float off the report and point me in the right direction like a golden compass.

But truth be told, the information usually tends to create more questions than answers.

And all the so called experts are just as uncertain as the rest of us. Offering opinions like a sports caster at the Kentucky Derby, only to discover at the end of the race, the horse that no one believed had a chance did in fact win and in a big way.

This morning while working myself through another cup of bad coffee I received an e-mail from Jean Marc Calvet with some images of new work he has been developing. While looking at the pictures it occurred to me Jean Marc may have discovered the answer or at least part of it to the questions floating around in our heads……..

Work harder, do more, create more explosive work, reach higher, be accountable, and believe that what you do has value and meaning.