When looking at the pictures of Kusama's work, I remembered I had seen the window display of Louis Vuitton store in Edinburgh.
Of course I knew nothing about Yayoi Kusama at that time. I felt it was very appealing and interesting. But of course because it is a Louis Vuitton window display, you automatically know it is highly fashionable even if you know nothing about fashion. It is the name, the label, the already established reputation.' At the same year of 2012 that Louis Vuitton cooperated with Kusams, Kusama had her exhibition in Tate Modern and Whitney Museum of American Art. Those polka dots became even more popular. This could not been done by herself. At 1973, she checked herself into a mental hospital and stayed there since then. At the age of 83 with illness, she would not have the ability to do any of these.
So who was behind it? I don't know. Noting is isolated in this word, everything is connected. No exception for art too. How can you make yourself popular? It does not matter in which field, they all the same. You have the talent is essential, but this is not equal you can success. When Kusama was in New York, she knew how to "sell" herself. 18 months after she arrived New York, as a foreigner, she gained vast popularity. She was neighbors and friends with many well known artists. Her work was compared with Jackson Pollock, Mart Rothko and Barnett Newman. Wikipedia says that in the 1960s, Beatrice Perry's Gres Gallery played an important role in establishing Kusama's career in the United States. So there we go, the gallery, the marketing, the big investors, they are all behind her. But even so, nobody will come to knock your door if you don't open your door first and promote yourself first. So I guess, in art world, upon your talent, you also need a business man's brain.!
At this moment of life, what attract me by art is its purity. But the world out there is full of reality. Everybody needs money, at least for living. Jack Vettiano, the most popular Scottish artist. His easel painting cost between £48,000 and £195000 new, he earns £500,000 a year in print royalties, his original The Singing Butler sold at auction in 2004 for £744,500 which had been rejected by Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1992. There are a lot of criticism about him. The director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art said:" I'd be more than happy to say that we think him an indifferent painter and that he is very low down our list of priorities(whether or not we can afford his work, which at the moment we obviously can't). his "popularity" rests on cheap commercial reproductions of his paintings."
Again, somebody are behind him, the market is there. From the video, I can feel that he is very nuch care about the recognition from the art establishment. But obviously, he chose his way and this way brings him big money and success. I tried his so called "color in" style, it is not easy for me, but I am sure lots of artists can easily do it. He is not just copy from a photograph, the photographs obviously come from his ideas, how to pose, what color, what kind of surroundings, the composition. But is it enough for an artist?
I am reading a book about Edward Hooper. If you do not know any of them and their work, by just looking, you may think their work are quite similar.
They are completely different. And it is this difference makes Edward Hopper such an important figure in American art history which Jack Vettiano's work could not be in Tate. There is deep philosophy in Edward Hooper's work, the use of light, the composition, the silence, the study and influence from other famous artists, you can see none of these in Jack Vettiano's work. What they see the world is different, what they see themselves is different and this makes the difference of the outcome of their work.
Anyway, you can gain a success in either way depends on how you define success in your heart. You get something, you loose some other things at the same time, only you yourself know which way you want to go and what is more important to you!
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