Art behind art

 

What makes a great exhibition? What a strange question, you may say, great art does. But what if I’ll ask you to name a couple more things? Then large collection, good light, spacious halls and informational resources would be listed. Yes, you can look at The Mona Lisa standing in a crowd, being pushed from all the sides and blinded by flashes, you’ll probably see her quite close if you’re lucky – but will you be able to enjoy? I don’t think so.

So, the gem of art needs a good frame. This frame consists of proper placing of art objects, choosing the light that would show all their beauty but wouldn’t bring any damage, providing media materials, even setting up the right temperature! A whole team of invisible helpers: architects, designers, multimedia specialists, works hard to reveal the art at its best to the world. Their fresh ideas and professionalism change our vision of the most common, almost boring things, like food, objects from the past or things that are so ethereal that we rarely find time to think of them.

Yulia Alushina is a founder of a design bureau Museum Architect in St. Petersburg, Russia. Within her first ten years in museum design she worked on three large projects: The Third Battlefield of Russia, media exposition about the history of Smolny Institute and Museum of Armored Vehicles.

The Third Battlefield of Russia is a part of a large historical complex in Prokhorovka, Russia, built in memory of the great tank battle in 1943 when several thousand Soviet and German soldiers were killed. Despite the lack of funding, Yulia was able to show different edges of the bitter story of The Second World War, from the peaceful interiors of early 1940-ies to the days of Nazi occupation. The exposition tells not only about the combats, but also about the Soviet women who sacrificed so much in the name of the victory. They supported the soldiers with letters full of love and courage, they worked in fields and at the factories, and they served as nurses, radio operators, pilots and snipers.

Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens was a finishing school for young women established in XVIII century in St. Petersburg, Russia. Nowadays this type of educational institutions is often criticized because of the program focused on morality, languages, etiquette and housekeeping. However, that was the first institute for women not only in Russia, but in the whole Europe. Both noble and common girls could study there, there were opportunities of free and paid education.  Catherine the Great was a fan of progressive ideas of French and English philosophers and wanted to bring up a new generation of intellectual people with high moral standards. Smolny Institute was the first of more than 30 institutions for women opened across Russia by the XIX century.

Yulia Alushina created a small but elegant exposition illustrating the modest and sublime atmosphere of this place.

Museum of Armored Vehicles tells a story of military machinery from chariots to modern tanks. Yulia made the whole museum project herself. She brought new multimedia tools to the topics of war and history: animated tank model, 3D video, animated shadows and synchronized audio guide. The museum is going to add even more media, for example, animated floor for children. Besides the models of armored vehicles visitors can see a detailed model of the famous Soviet heavy machinery production facility Uralmash that produced legendary T-34 tanks and assault guns. Yulia says that the main goal was to make the museum interesting for the younger generations.

Small money, big hearts

 

Last week I received an email from one of the great performing arts institution in New York. They’re celebrating their 35^th anniversary with a range of virtual (alas!) events – and also looking for donors. In 2020, when art and culture organizations didn’t operate for so long and faced financial problems, my email was exploding with membership offers. Public funding plays a great role in the United States (in some countries arts are mostly funded by the government). Individuals, private funds and corporations may contribute up to 40% of the income of an art organization according to the research How the United States Fund the Arts by National Endowment for the Arts. Now, in the time of major fiscal crises individuals’ support starts playing a greater role.

However, it looks like the membership offers didn’t change much, they just became more frequent. I looked through the offers of famous companies: The Met, The Rubin Museum, The Guggenheim, Lincoln Center and The World Music Institute – and found out that if you donate less than $500-600, the biggest benefit you usually get is tax deductable. However, deducting such small sums doesn’t help you much too. All other benefits, like member events, previews, VIP and private openings, membership appreciation events are not accessible. However, these minor donors may have so much love and commitment!

Of course, it’s easy to understand such logic. Running an art or culture organization is expensive and often risky, and finding a good donor is a great success. But a big donation doesn’t guarantee that the donor will stay with the company forever. Why not to pay attention to people who are really devoted? Maybe they never buy orchestra tickets, maybe they donate $50 or less  – but they have been doing this for years, and their total could be much greater than a single chunk of money from a person who is not really engaged in the organization life and projects.

So if I was a marketing person, or an art director, or a board member (sending my wishes to the Universe), I’d definitely track these little lights of commitment and involvement – the volunteers, the regular attendees, the donors who send $10 every other month – and give them a chance to celebrate and to be appreciated by the company they gave their big loving hearts to. 

Break the wheel, flip the pyramid

 Have you heard about the pyramid? No, not the Great Pyramids of Giza, but a small invisible pyramid in your head called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? If you’re not familiar with the term, that’s a motivation theory. It puts physiological needs at the bottom of the pyramid, arises to security, then to social needs of love and friendship. After that comes the need of recognition, accomplishment and status. And the last level is achieving one’s full potential, becoming the true or the ideal self. This level is often said to be connected with creative activities.

Maslow believed that one moves to the higher level only if the needs of the previous levels are satisfied. For example, if you didn’t sleep for 3 days (physiological need), you don’t care much about hanging out with your friends (social needs). A promotion (recognition) will not make you happy, if you don’t feel safe and comfortable coming home (security and/or social). In other words, all these things – uncomfortable shoes, morning quarrel with a spouse, hungry stomach rumbling, feeling lonely or anxious – really don’t let us move forward despite all the self-discipline and positive thinking. “I’ll make this call AFTER I have my lunch”, or “I must feel happy because I got promoted – but I don’t because I missed my friend’s wedding and now he is upset at me”, that’s what you say. And millions of people say the same.

But there’s a certain category of people who turns the Maslow’s pyramid upside down! For them the need to express themselves, to follow the inner call, to create something meaningful is stronger than the need for sleep or food. Very often those people are artists.

Vincent van Gogh’s paintings now are one of the most expensive in the world – his Laboreur Dans Un Champ was sold for more than $80 million in 2017. However, the artist had quite a modest life and depended on his younger brother Theo until his last days. At the beginning of his career van Gogh even couldn’t afford using paints as he was unsure in his skills and couldn’t afford wasting such expensive materials.  He also used to paint over his own works to save money on canvas. Experts say about a third of van Gogh’s works is painted over the earlier ones. For example, in 2008 a woman’s head was found under his “Patch of Grass”. Van Gogh wrote to his brother about despair and sadness filling his heart. However, he never doubted in the chosen way. “At present this horror of life is already less pronounced, and the melancholy less acute. But I still have no will, and hardly any desires, or none at all that are to do with ordinary life.” Despite being exhausted, anxious or ill van Gogh kept painting and all the troubles of his life couldn’t distract him from seeing beauty around and tame the artist’s desire to capture it. He created at least 850 paintings and over 1300 drawings – less than 15 were sold during all his life.

Brilliant Oscar Wilde’s – one of my favorite writers – eccentric and glamorous life changed in one day when he was betrayed by his lover and later imprisoned. A person who had nothing to declare except his genius lost his status, his friends and admirers, even his aesthetic philosophy that was a core idea of his works – but not his skill. The imprisonment broke Wilde – and miserable life he had to bear after it hiding his real name worsened his mental condition. "This poverty really breaks one's heart: it is so sale [filthy], so utterly depressing, so hopeless” he wrote. But Oscar Wilde found strength for one more work - ­ The Ballad of Reading Gaol -  that was very different from the previous ones. Formerly careless, arrogant and egoistic dandy also wrote two letters describing the horrible conditions in prisons and ideas for improvements. Many of them were later used for the prison reform in Great Britain in 1898.  

If you prefer more modern examples, think of Andre Leon Talley, fashion journalist and author of The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir. He lived in an average family in segregated North Carolina. His grandmother who brought him up was a cleaning lady in. When Talley won a scholarship to Brown University, he was already intoxicated with the world of fashion and beauty. He spent his first money not on eating out in shining New York or presents for his beloved family, but on high-quality sheets and navy admiral’s coat. That was not the sign of selfishness or ungratefulness – but ways to bring him feel closer to his ideal self. This also helped Talley to build connections to the world he wanted to belong to. In The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir he recalls a moment when all food he had was a bottle of Hershey syrup, but he did not give up or return home. His dream was stronger than doubts or hunger.

What’s the moral? Maslow’s pyramid, in fact, is more like a diamond: one pole gravitates to our biological survival. If we suffer from food, or sleep, or social deprivation, we won’t last long. But we also won’t feel good, if we don’t care enough about the second pole. Development, using our talents and pursuit of our true self are as important for our well-being as air and water, and sometimes the sweet fruits of achieving our goals can fill an empty stomach! So the next time when you’re tired, lonely and upset, think about something you’re truly committed to, things you’ve always dreamed to do – and this energy will help you to keep going.

PS However, I don’t recommend ignoring your body signals for too long. Remember, it’s still a diamond – and both ends are equally important. Both a healthy body and a happy soul because are parts of the ideal you.

Bring your art out of closet and put it on display...where?

The last several months have been a truly dark time. But there is a tiny light spot in it – a lot of people got more time for their hobbies, or works they always wanted to finish, or some even got inspired by these macabre - but unique conditions. And by the moment some artists may have quite a nice set of works and believe that they deserve to be displayed.

Of course, MoMA, The Met and Whitney are great places for an exhibition, but maybe you don’t feel confident enough to contact them, or negotiating in English is a challenge for you, or you see art just as your hobby – don’t worry, there still are ways for you. 

How about a local library since they're reopened? They are very likely to be delighted to have your works! Prepare some portfolio – make pictures of your works or bring a couple of them with you. Also be ready to introduce yourself. Prepare a short, but saturated "marketing pitch". Think of including the following:

1) You name and where you live - to highlight that you're a part of the neighborhood 

2) What kind of art you do - painting, sculpture, literature, pottery etc. Keep in mind that libraries can't host any kind of group meetings now, so they can put your poem on the wall but you can't do public readings

3) Why your works are important for the community. Maybe they reflect your experience, maybe they're portraying the life in your neighborhood, maybe they were inspired by something related to Brooklyn. What knowledge or experience does it reflect? What's the story behind your works? And - the most important - who are your works for? Who can be interested or benefit from them?

Don’t make your presentation too long – librarians are busy and they may not be able to listen to you all day long. 5-7 minutes is enough for the introduction. Also, keep in mind that the library supervisor may be out of office and you may need to come next day.

A library is not a place where you can make money. You can display your works for free and neither you, nor the library will get any profit from it. But you’ll have the audience! To make sure that you’ll get maximum attention check several libraries nearby – some of them may be much busier than the others.

If your works contain nudity or violence, a library is not the best place for it. But it doesn’t mean that they’re doomed to stay in your closet. Check various neighborhood institutions: bars, stores, community centers, even yoga studios! Find something corresponding with your aesthetics and don’t be shy. Follow the same logic – portfolio and a brief, but energetic and persuasive self-presentation.

So, no matter if you are a young artist finding his or her way in New York or you’re just a community member who wants to share his/her emotions and experience, there are easy ways to be seen and heard. Yes, a library or a pub may seem less appealing than a fancy gallery, but it’s a great place for your first step. And you know, big art experts borrow books too.