Archival Materials

I know that the staff at SCAD will probably be disappointed in this revelation, but there does not seem to me to be any revolution (or reformation) going on in high end New York galleries as far as archival materials. I am not going to comment on whether or not I think this is a good thing, though it does seem to liberate many artists’ methods. Of course it is always surprising what some collectors will buy, and this includes art which may be neither particularly archival nor well done, nor sometimes even well thought out. This is not to say that quality, depth and permanence of art in New York is non-existent, but maybe becomes harder to find when asking for combinations of these characteristics. My overall impression is that the good stuff is, yes, really good, but there is plenty of room to compete, and seeing bad art can cease to be a disappointment when you consider that your own work stands a great chance against it. Except, one gets the impression that this is an insider’s game, and you need to have certain things on your resume to take part (or know the right people). Certainly I am convinced that the resume is more important than the work in determining “success”.