Winged Way

[Lewis Hyde is the author is The Gift: "The Gift is a brilliantly orchestrated defense of the value of creativity and of its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities." Goto: http://www.lewishyde.com/pub/gift.html. I wrote and sent this letter today, 11/18/2008.]

Dear Professor Hyde,

I am grateful for “The Gift” and thought you might find some of my work and distribution strategies interesting. Enclosed is my book, published by my company, Winged Way, via Lulu. The contents of the book are released to the public domain as an offering. The PDF is available for free, and the book is available at cost ($7.72).

I believe in the market economy as an effective mode of communicating value, and I also believe that gifts beget gifts. Both beliefs are founded on a tangle of experience and faith (or idealism). I dont have the logic entirely worked out yet, but I think these two models have the potential to be mutually supportive.

I believe the business of the artist to be one of service to his or her community. It is also the responsibility of the artist to create work that fits into the lives of his audience in some way - whether that means on the wall behind the couch, or in the town commons between the playground and the fountain. It seems to me that if the work is good, and the work fits into individual or community life, then it has a quantifiable value - a sacrifice that its patrons are willing to make in order for it to be part of their experience.

I am experimenting with these ways of understanding art and value right now with the production and distribution of my paintings. On November 23rd I am distributing my paintings via a live public auction in which the 32 paintings on the block will have no minimum price. They are therefore guaranteed to sell. As the artist, I accept the possibility that I will by some abstract calculation lose money at this particular sale given the parameters of limited time and limited exposure for a still emerging artist like me. However, it is a very real compensation to me that the work will move into its next phase of life by taking up residence in the lives of others. The work will then accrue a kind of internal value by virtue of the attention it is given in its new home, and over time, it is my hope and belief, this value will flow back into the value of current and future work of mine. My sales in 2011 will be higher and more stable than in 2008 as a direct result of the paintings perpetuating their own value and energy by being in peoples lives.

So, while I hope this play with the modes of exchange is of interest to you, I am more interested in your interest in the content of my work. I hope you enjoy the poems, and that you get a chance to take a look at my work on my website (www.wingedway.com), and perhaps to see it in person sometime.

My very best,

Ian

Here are some thoughtful pieces on the current state of affairs:

Shakeout Time, by Richard Polsky

Frieze After the Freeze, by Jerry Salz

My take away:

• Where quality and scarcity meet, value endures.
• “Alternative spaces will become more important for shaping the discourse.” (Salz)

This of course means you are in the right place.

I create the paintings as an offering to my community. You are my community, and the exhibition and auction constitute the performative ritual to gift that offering to you. In exchange, I ask that you offer the appropriate sacrifice. In the auction format, the person willing to make the greatest sacrifice receives the offering. In this case the currency of exchange is the good old greenback. Ideally, the sacrifice could be measured with respect to resources -i.e. the wealthy pay more and the less wealthy pay less. Some of my most meaningful sales have come from fellow artists who have had to pay monthly installments over a long period of time. That’s sacrifice! I havent found a way to accommodate this difference in resources yet, but my interest in making the art available to anyone is significant in my decision to handle my exhibition and sales independent of a third party gallery or art dealer.

As it is my intention to re-describe the transfer of value (sale of art) in these terms, it is also important to me to energize the moment of value transfer via the incantation of the auctioneer. Auction chant is beautiful. Beauty conducts value like gold conducts electricity. Here is a beautiful example of Cecil Ward’s chant at a livestock auction in 1964. And here is Stenson Clontz in 1985. Amazing!

For the Legs Icon Auction on November 23rd, 2008, the bidding will be guided by the chant of auctioneer Michael Powers. Michael cut his auctioneering teeth at large vintage car sales in Puerto Rico. We are in for a ride and a treat - but dont worry! - he will only chant as fast as you can hear him!

The exhibition and auction catalogue is now available. Click here to download the PDF. It is a large file - it might take a minute. The catalogue includes images and lot numbers of all the paintings in the current exhibition and in the upcoming auction on November 23rd at Housing Works. It also includes the essay on the exhibition by Natasha Becker: “When Likeness Breaks With Likeness.” The physical catalogue will be available for $10 at the gallery (beginning Saturday, November 15th), at the auction, and can be ordered online here.

Images and posts relevant to the current exhibition can be seen by clicking on the category “CURRENT SHOW” in the left sidebar. The images are also posted on Winged Way Auctions (the bidding has already begun!).

by Natasha Becker

Independent Curator and Critic

Legs Icon, Ian Robertson Duncan, November 6-22, 2008

Like his previous series, Skin, Legs Icon are the kind of paintings that make Ian Robertson Duncan the enigmatic painter that he is; one can’t resist looking, touching, feeling, and pondering the rich surfaces of the work, yet the work also dares us to look beneath its surface. Indeed, they extend to the realm of human relations and invite us to go beyond our own layered and complex surfaces.

(read more…)