the way things work is that media and publishing do not take risks, due to high costs of production and maintenance, and high damages if there is a failure. this means that they distribute information which has guaranteed success, a predictable reaction with the audience, an expected business outcome.
when it comes to art this means that we will only get information things which have been proven time over time safe.
museums will document artworks which can be supported by tax payers and investors. in some countries this is more liberal, in some not, it varies (not only on the “liberal scale” whatever that means), but the bottom line is simple: someone needs to pay for those building and salaries so it is good to keep those who pay somewhat happy.
galleries are even more fragile. they are smaller so they can be more niche, but in most cases they have to pay the bills, so they turn out to be a smaller version of the museum.
publishing again – if they can sell 150 different book a day on van gogh and mona lisa they would do it. there is very little innovation and risk taking because it costs. the stuff most think is innovative already had at least 10+ years of underground development and is already proven to be safe.
this is not bad. it is good. this is how these systems survive and it is very important that they survive. there i a very substantial and relevant function to museums, galleries, publishers etc in our society. it would be silly if they would take more risk than business allows and go under.
but it is important to understand that this is how it is. it is important to understand that museums, galleries, publishers etc do not offer the freshest stuff. they do not show us the picture of today. they show us the picture of 10-20 years ago.
there are always exceptions of course but this is majority.
so what is going on now…
for me the most spectacular art of today is neen.
i had the privilege to be part of it for the past decade but this does not change anything, my impression with neen is one of a spectator, or a consumer.
neen artists like miltos, rafael, angelo, mai publish their works online for everybody to see. these are beautiful elegant sophisticated pieces of art which take equal sensibility from the “viewer” as any old master or contemporary art. what makes these pieces especially amazing is that millions of people are enjoying them all the time.
this art is online and available to everybody. and the online audience truly does use that. they look at miltos’, rafael’s, angelo’s and i guess mai’s work in vast numbers (for some reason my works are more or less ignored :) ).
especially rafael and miltos are getting millions of quality visits (close to 1min per art piece which is more than most pieces in a museum) on monthly basis. rafael alone pulls in over 1.3 million per month and miltos i am sure is very close with tens of thousands per art website per month.
when i first found out about this i was amazed. i realized that these few artists get more attention than most museums or collections. these numbers are amazing. the audience is so responsive to their art that it goes over all the galleries, museums, publishers, they go directly to the individuals who react to their pieces. there is no need for anyone in between.
so beautiful!
i am no sure, maybe i am over excited, but never in the history of humanity has such direct and powerful link existed. artists produces something and there are millions who enjoy it…. immediately.
neen has been started by miltos. he is the person who gave it shape, there is always someone who needs to do this. besides rafael, angelo and mai there are many more.
neen has some presence in galleries, museums and in the media. it is hard to avoid it as particular individuals here and there in the art world recognize this power, but even after 11 years since its birth it is still far from being even close to recognized in spite of its amazing influence.
i do not have access to full statistics for all neen art but i estimate that every year at least 20 million people enjoy this online art by this small group of people.
although i do not like such centralizations in art (why i started something new) i am still in awe of this.