Avant-Garde and Free Art
Two Different Mindsets for Making Figurative Art
Notes from the "Avant-Garde and Free Art" presentation by Matt Mitchell.
First given at in June, 2019 at the IMC. This version updated for October, 2020.
First given at in June, 2019 at the IMC. This version updated for October, 2020.
The basic idea:
It can be hard to figure out where your art fits within the art world. And it can be painful to try to put it in the wrong place. One helpful way to think about galleries, artists, and art institutions is to divide them into two categories. One type of art intentionally risks being difficult to understand and it may require explanation or education to appreciate. Historically this type of art has been called 'Avant-garde Art'. The other type of art aims to be appreciated by larger audiences, free of explanation. For lack of a better term I call this art 'Free Art'.
Even though there hasn't been a good name to describe what I'm calling 'Free Art', there is a long tradition of dividing the art world into these categories. There is something fundamentally different about artwork that purposefully risks being difficult on the viewer vs. artwork that purposefully tries to be easy for a wide audience to appreciate. The way an artist approaches this question effects not only their art, but their entire life around making art.
One of the most well known essays about modern art deals with this question. But, unfortunately, it does so in a way that caused deep biases in the art community. Biases that can still be present in. In 1939 the critic Clement Greenberg wrote an article entitled "Avant-Garde and Kitsch". Even today this essay is still considered important reading in fine art programs across the country, if not across the world. In "Avant-garde and Kitsch" Greenberg argued that Avant-garde Art must be supported because it's difficult to appreciate. This part of his argument is illuminating and provocative. It'd be great if he stopped there. But, the unfortunate thing is that, in order to drive home his point that the Avant-garde was important, Greenberg made other forms of art into the enemy. He called easy-to-understand art 'Kitsch' as an insult. Further, he claimed that art that could be comprehended without explanation supported oppression of the masses. He claimed that easy to understand art was the hallmark of capitalist oppression, fascism, and authoritarian communism. Basically all that is bad.
Since the publication of "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" many artists and art institutions have actively worked against these biases of Clement Greenberg and people like him. However, it's still good to know about his essay because he so clearly outlines these two categories of art: there is the easy to understand and the difficult to understand.
Another reason it's important to know about this essay is that a sizable number of people in the avant-garde have been persuaded by this kind of thinking. Some do believe that more approachable art is inherently suspect. It's good to know this.
It is my position that both impulses have equal contributions to make. And it is wise to know which path you--and the people you're dealing with--are on.
-------
Free Art:
Definition: Visual art oriented towards galleries and public spaces that is intentionally easy for a large audience to appreciate, free of explanation. It includes these categories: Low Brow, Street Art, Academic painting, Neo Classicism, Contemporary Symbolism, Imaginative Realism, Pop Surrealism, Contemporary Gothic.
About the Lists Below: All of these lists are partial lists. They're not meant to be the total picture. In both categories, Free Art and the Avant Garde, the focus is on Figurative Narrative art.
Artists used as examples in the SmArt School Lecture, October 2020
Mark Ryden
Robert Williams
Guy Colwell
James Jean
Tara McPherson
Andrew Hem
Nicolas Uribe
Colleen Barry
Brad Kunkel
Martin Wittfooth
Adam Miller
Roberto Ferri
A few more artists of interest
(this list could be huge, this is just a start)
Ryan Heshka
Swoon
Mu Pan
Adrian Cox
Jean-Pier Roy
Roby Dwi Antono
Ron English
Magazines and Online News Sources
Beautiful Bizarre
High Fructose
Juxtapoz Magazine
American Art Collector
International Artist
Galleries
Many thanks to Justin Lawrence DeVine who has helped expand this list through offering an editable spreadsheet to the community on line. You can find that updating version of the Free Art gallery list here
Abend Gallery, Denver
Anno Domini, San Jose, CA
Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles
Arch Enemy Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Bottleneck Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Beinart Gallery, Brunswick, VIC, Australia
Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Corpro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Convent, Philly, PA
Every Day Original, On Line
Galerie Daniel Maghen, Paris
Gallery Nucleus, Alhambra, Ca
Gallery Poulsen, New York, Copenhagen
Gristle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Guzu Gallery, Austin, TX
Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA
Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Inner State, Detroit, MI
IX Gallery, On Line Gallery
Johnathan Levine Projects, Jersey City, NJ
Kaleid Gallery, San Jose, CA
La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles
Last Rites Gallery, NY, NY --closed 2020, planning to reopen in 2021
Light Grey Art Lab, Minneapolis, MN
Mondo Gallery, Austin, TX
Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Mystic Museum, Burbank, CA
Nineteen Eighty Eight, Los Angeles, CA
Pop International Galleries, NY, NY
Rehs Contemporary, New York
RJD Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle
Spoke Gallery, New York, San Francisco
Thinkspace, Culver City, CA
Vertical Gallery, Chicago, IL
Wayward Arts, Chicago, IL
Podcasts
John Dalton, Gently Does It
Prizes
Bennett Prize
Beautiful Bizarre Prize
Art Renewal Center Salon
National Portrait Gallery Outwin Boocheever Portrait Competition
Art Fairs
Moniker Art Fair, NY
Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI
--------
Avant-garde:
Definition: Google English Dictionary says "new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts, or the people introducing them." For the purposes of this discussion we'll define Avant-garde Art as this: "art oriented towards galleries and public spaces that intentionally risks being difficult to understand and may require explanation or education to appreciate." Avant-garde Art is often referred to by other names: Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Art World Art, High Art, or Fine Art. But all those names are not as clear as the term Avant-garde.
Another trait of Avant-garde Art that I din't spend enough time on, is that it tends to be idealistic. In the best situations it can be a place full of thoughtful provocations and attempts at leadership on how to achieve equality and a better world.
Artists used as examples in the SmArt School Lecture, October 2020
John Currin
Rex Van Minnen
Ambera Wellman
Robin Frances Williams
Amy Sherald
Toyin Odjih Odutola
Hernan Bas
Lisa Yuskavage
Matthew Hansel
Allison Schulnik
Jenna Gribbon
Steve Mumford
Inka Essenhigh
Kyle Staver
A few more artists of interest
(this list could be huge, this is just a start)
Kerry James Marshall
Vera Grivi
Trey Abdella
Hiba Schabaz
Barkely Hendricks
Walton Ford
Chuck Close
Vanessa German
Bo Bartlett
Kara Walker
Tomoo Gokita
Jim Shaw
Jordan Casteel
Eva Beresin
Gerhard Richter
Wayne Thiebold
Philip Pearlstein
Eric Yahnker
Sophia Narrett
Elliot Purse
Charlie Billingham
Sarah Slappey
Kyle Dunn
Betty Tompkins
Judith Linhares
Walter Robinson
Austin Lee
Magazines and Online News Sources
Artnews --they have excellent newsletter that combines stories from many sources about all kinds of happenings in the art world.
Artnet
Artdaily
Artforum
Hyperallergic
Two Coats of Paint
artcritical
Galleries
Figurative Narrative artwork is very popular in the avant-garde gallery scene now. Almost every gallery will be open to showing it. So I am listing here some of the galleries that have stood out to me as having a particular long term interest in avant-garde figurative work. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
PPOW
Hole
Canada
Sargent’s Daughters
Marinaro Gallery
Postmasters
Richard Heller
Night Gallery
Miles McEnnery
Kai Kai Kiki
D.C. Moore
Jack Barrett
Monya Rowe
Ethan Cohen
Blue Chip Galleries Into this Work
(these are the hardest to approach galleries that may regularly sell paintings for millions of dollars)
Jack Shainman
Paul Kasmin
David Zwirner
Gagosian
Pace
Gallery Listings of Predominantly Avant-Garde Galleries
Art Dealers Association of America Gallery Guide
The Art Guide
Galleries Now --International
It can be hard to figure out where your art fits within the art world. And it can be painful to try to put it in the wrong place. One helpful way to think about galleries, artists, and art institutions is to divide them into two categories. One type of art intentionally risks being difficult to understand and it may require explanation or education to appreciate. Historically this type of art has been called 'Avant-garde Art'. The other type of art aims to be appreciated by larger audiences, free of explanation. For lack of a better term I call this art 'Free Art'.
Even though there hasn't been a good name to describe what I'm calling 'Free Art', there is a long tradition of dividing the art world into these categories. There is something fundamentally different about artwork that purposefully risks being difficult on the viewer vs. artwork that purposefully tries to be easy for a wide audience to appreciate. The way an artist approaches this question effects not only their art, but their entire life around making art.
One of the most well known essays about modern art deals with this question. But, unfortunately, it does so in a way that caused deep biases in the art community. Biases that can still be present in. In 1939 the critic Clement Greenberg wrote an article entitled "Avant-Garde and Kitsch". Even today this essay is still considered important reading in fine art programs across the country, if not across the world. In "Avant-garde and Kitsch" Greenberg argued that Avant-garde Art must be supported because it's difficult to appreciate. This part of his argument is illuminating and provocative. It'd be great if he stopped there. But, the unfortunate thing is that, in order to drive home his point that the Avant-garde was important, Greenberg made other forms of art into the enemy. He called easy-to-understand art 'Kitsch' as an insult. Further, he claimed that art that could be comprehended without explanation supported oppression of the masses. He claimed that easy to understand art was the hallmark of capitalist oppression, fascism, and authoritarian communism. Basically all that is bad.
Since the publication of "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" many artists and art institutions have actively worked against these biases of Clement Greenberg and people like him. However, it's still good to know about his essay because he so clearly outlines these two categories of art: there is the easy to understand and the difficult to understand.
Another reason it's important to know about this essay is that a sizable number of people in the avant-garde have been persuaded by this kind of thinking. Some do believe that more approachable art is inherently suspect. It's good to know this.
It is my position that both impulses have equal contributions to make. And it is wise to know which path you--and the people you're dealing with--are on.
-------
Free Art:
Definition: Visual art oriented towards galleries and public spaces that is intentionally easy for a large audience to appreciate, free of explanation. It includes these categories: Low Brow, Street Art, Academic painting, Neo Classicism, Contemporary Symbolism, Imaginative Realism, Pop Surrealism, Contemporary Gothic.
About the Lists Below: All of these lists are partial lists. They're not meant to be the total picture. In both categories, Free Art and the Avant Garde, the focus is on Figurative Narrative art.
Artists used as examples in the SmArt School Lecture, October 2020
Mark Ryden
Robert Williams
Guy Colwell
James Jean
Tara McPherson
Andrew Hem
Nicolas Uribe
Colleen Barry
Brad Kunkel
Martin Wittfooth
Adam Miller
Roberto Ferri
A few more artists of interest
(this list could be huge, this is just a start)
Ryan Heshka
Swoon
Mu Pan
Adrian Cox
Jean-Pier Roy
Roby Dwi Antono
Ron English
Magazines and Online News Sources
Beautiful Bizarre
High Fructose
Juxtapoz Magazine
American Art Collector
International Artist
Galleries
Many thanks to Justin Lawrence DeVine who has helped expand this list through offering an editable spreadsheet to the community on line. You can find that updating version of the Free Art gallery list here
Abend Gallery, Denver
Anno Domini, San Jose, CA
Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles
Arch Enemy Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Bottleneck Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Beinart Gallery, Brunswick, VIC, Australia
Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Corpro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Convent, Philly, PA
Every Day Original, On Line
Galerie Daniel Maghen, Paris
Gallery Nucleus, Alhambra, Ca
Gallery Poulsen, New York, Copenhagen
Gristle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Guzu Gallery, Austin, TX
Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA
Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Inner State, Detroit, MI
IX Gallery, On Line Gallery
Johnathan Levine Projects, Jersey City, NJ
Kaleid Gallery, San Jose, CA
La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles
Last Rites Gallery, NY, NY --closed 2020, planning to reopen in 2021
Light Grey Art Lab, Minneapolis, MN
Mondo Gallery, Austin, TX
Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Mystic Museum, Burbank, CA
Nineteen Eighty Eight, Los Angeles, CA
Pop International Galleries, NY, NY
Rehs Contemporary, New York
RJD Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle
Spoke Gallery, New York, San Francisco
Thinkspace, Culver City, CA
Vertical Gallery, Chicago, IL
Wayward Arts, Chicago, IL
Podcasts
John Dalton, Gently Does It
Prizes
Bennett Prize
Beautiful Bizarre Prize
Art Renewal Center Salon
National Portrait Gallery Outwin Boocheever Portrait Competition
Art Fairs
Moniker Art Fair, NY
Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI
--------
Avant-garde:
Definition: Google English Dictionary says "new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts, or the people introducing them." For the purposes of this discussion we'll define Avant-garde Art as this: "art oriented towards galleries and public spaces that intentionally risks being difficult to understand and may require explanation or education to appreciate." Avant-garde Art is often referred to by other names: Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Art World Art, High Art, or Fine Art. But all those names are not as clear as the term Avant-garde.
Another trait of Avant-garde Art that I din't spend enough time on, is that it tends to be idealistic. In the best situations it can be a place full of thoughtful provocations and attempts at leadership on how to achieve equality and a better world.
Artists used as examples in the SmArt School Lecture, October 2020
John Currin
Rex Van Minnen
Ambera Wellman
Robin Frances Williams
Amy Sherald
Toyin Odjih Odutola
Hernan Bas
Lisa Yuskavage
Matthew Hansel
Allison Schulnik
Jenna Gribbon
Steve Mumford
Inka Essenhigh
Kyle Staver
A few more artists of interest
(this list could be huge, this is just a start)
Kerry James Marshall
Vera Grivi
Trey Abdella
Hiba Schabaz
Barkely Hendricks
Walton Ford
Chuck Close
Vanessa German
Bo Bartlett
Kara Walker
Tomoo Gokita
Jim Shaw
Jordan Casteel
Eva Beresin
Gerhard Richter
Wayne Thiebold
Philip Pearlstein
Eric Yahnker
Sophia Narrett
Elliot Purse
Charlie Billingham
Sarah Slappey
Kyle Dunn
Betty Tompkins
Judith Linhares
Walter Robinson
Austin Lee
Magazines and Online News Sources
Artnews --they have excellent newsletter that combines stories from many sources about all kinds of happenings in the art world.
Artnet
Artdaily
Artforum
Hyperallergic
Two Coats of Paint
artcritical
Galleries
Figurative Narrative artwork is very popular in the avant-garde gallery scene now. Almost every gallery will be open to showing it. So I am listing here some of the galleries that have stood out to me as having a particular long term interest in avant-garde figurative work. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
PPOW
Hole
Canada
Sargent’s Daughters
Marinaro Gallery
Postmasters
Richard Heller
Night Gallery
Miles McEnnery
Kai Kai Kiki
D.C. Moore
Jack Barrett
Monya Rowe
Ethan Cohen
Blue Chip Galleries Into this Work
(these are the hardest to approach galleries that may regularly sell paintings for millions of dollars)
Jack Shainman
Paul Kasmin
David Zwirner
Gagosian
Pace
Gallery Listings of Predominantly Avant-Garde Galleries
Art Dealers Association of America Gallery Guide
The Art Guide
Galleries Now --International