| by James Rosenthal
This essay was written
for and first published in Art Matters magazine.
Recently, in The New Yorker magazine, there
was a full page ad enticing readers to visit Philadelphia. Essentially
it was directing tourists to the art mega-shows at the Art Museum
and promoting the city as a quaint historical destination. Unfortunately,
this image of Philadelphia is propagated here as well and, although
it's fine for the tourist industry, it doesn't leave one with
the impression that this city is a vibrant place where you can
see contemporary art. The Philadelphia Renaissance has done wonders
for Center City but it hasn¹t yet transformed the art scene
nor dispelled this "antique" image. There are numerous
art schools, abundant funding, and lots of artists, so what is
holding us back?
The InLiquid art web-site began in September
1999 with the notion of connecting contemporary artists to an
online audience in the 21st century.This is akin to updating the
notion of a "co-op" gallery and is much more effective
as a marketing device since, as with anything on the web, it targets
a much bigger audience. To offset this digital catalogue of work,
InLiquid exhibits it's artists (now numbering 120) in theme exhibitions
at various venues including the Painted Bride and holds alternative
events to further solidify the sense of community among artists
and raise awareness with the public. The web-site attempts to
make a wide range of art more accessible in a new way.
Giving artists exposure online was simple enough,
but it soon become apparent that it was important to create a
new context for dialogue on the arts and to help develop a new
audience for the burgeoning art scene. InLiquid¹s philosophy
is to serve as a link between individuals, arts groups and this
audience. Ideally, this initiative could also spur the creation
of a viable upscale market where there is none. The dominant problem
is a general lack of interest from the public. Although events
like First Friday have gone a long way to create interest in art
happenings, galleries complain that most of those attending are
there for the spectacle rather than for any appreciation of the
art. The missing element is education. Media coverage of art in
Philadelphia is appalling for a city this size. Compare this to
the amount of coverage of sports or weather. Well-considered coverage
of arts events would do a lot to dispel the negative view of art
and go a long way to inform a disinterested public. Although newspapers
review exhibitions, they don't tackle more fundamental issues.
Positively, there is a new buzz going on. Venues
like Spector Gallery, Base Kamp and Space 1026 have adopted the
mission to show new young artists and have joined the more established
Fabric Workshop and the ICA (who show nationally and internationally
acclaimed art) in concentrating on current art trends. The Pew
Exhibitions Initiative is also a significant new development.
This has immediately brought the caliber of exhibitions up a notch.
Of course, individual artist funding is still abundant but it
is not as important to artists as being included in curated exhibitions
with a chance at national "critical" exposure. That
is dependent on the curators' function in the city. In order for
Philadelphia to fulfill it¹s potential, the public at large
needs to be educated in the arts and the city government needs
to decide to update this aspect of the city¹s image. Let's
dispel some of the myths that surround art making. Philadelphia
needs to shake off the "antique" image and take off.
InLiquid will continue to help create and enlighten this new audience.
© 2001 James Rosenthal
James Rosenthal, currently a contributing writer
for this site, was founding arts editor of InLiquid.com. Click
here to read recent reviews by Rosenthal
Click
here to see James Rosenthal's InLiquid artist page |
