Issue 2 - The Art Newspaper

16
BOOKS
CONTEMPORARY ART
The relationship between
the commissioner of a
work of art and the
artist charged with delivering
it is, writes Louisa
Buck, “almost analogous
to a marriage”. Which goes some way
to explaining why commissioned
works are on some occasions so lifeaffirming
and on others so deeply
regrettable. This well-conceived and
eminently practical book is required
reading for anyone intending to enter
into this precarious union.
Commissioning Contemporary
Art is an introduction to, and a stepby-step
guide through, the process of
inviting an artist to fulfil an assignment.
Buck, who is the contemporary
art correspondent for The Art
Newspaper, identifies the challenges
that this collaborative activity presents.
The most predictable being that
artists are defensive of their ideas,
the patrons of their budgets, and each
resents the disruption of one by the
other. This self-styled handbook is
useful to all parties as a means of
avoiding the mistakes that can derail
a project.
It begins with a potted history of
commissioning, reminding the reader
that so many of the paintings and
sculptures we revere today were
made to satisfy a rich patron rather
than an inner necessity. We are
reminded, too, that while the treatment
of artists as artisans might now
seem demeaning, it in no way diminishes
the quality of a work undertaken
under contract. One need only
visit a church in Rome to see that
many of the greatest works of art
were custom-made to fulfil a preordained
purpose, in a specific location,
under the aegis of a powerful institu-
tion. This opening chapter also serves
to deliver the point that the most fundamental
principle to commissioning
remains unchanged through the ages:
pick good artists in whose talents you
trust, and back them to the hilt.
Yet while the commissioning
process is nearly as old as art itself,
Buck points out that its scope “has
not so much expanded as exploded”.
The proliferation of contemporary
artistic modes such as film, installation
and performance have expanded
vastly the range of possibilities open
to both artist and commissioner, and
by extension the capacity for misconstruction.
This book advises on how
to best ensure that all parties are
working towards the same ends by
instituting procedural safeguards,
both formal and informal, into the
delivery programme.
It is clear that working under commission
can bring extraordinary benefits
for both the artist and curator. By
providing “the facilities or funds (or
both) to develop aspects of an artist’s
work that would hitherto have been
impossible to achieve”, commissions
have enabled the creation of breakthrough
works by innumerable
artists, from Rachel Whiteread to
Jeremy Deller. The process also offers
collectors and curators a greater personal
involvement in the creation of a
work than is allowed by the acquisition
of pieces created without consideration
for their ultimate placement,
one reason that “direct patronage has
traditionally had a status that extends
beyond mere acquisition”.
There is an illicit thrill to be
gained in intervening in the creative
process which, according to several
examples listed here, should in most
cases be thoroughly suppressed.
Among the book’s most enlightening
quotations is a wonderful anecdote in
which the collector Dennis Scholl
describes his excitement at working
on a commission with the British
Marc Quinn’s commission for
the Fourth Plinth: Alison
Lapper Pregnant, 2005
Commissioning laid bare
An instruction manual for curators, collectors and artists
Bertozzi & Casoni, Plate with Flamingo, Polychrome ceramic, 68 × 75 × 75cm
BERTOZZI & CASONI
regeneration
13 october ‒ 10 november 2012 10am ‒ 6pm
private view 12 october 7 ‒ 9pm
ALL VISUAL ARTS
2 omega place london n1 9dr
THE ART NEWSPAPER FRIEZE ART FAIR Wednesday 10 October 2012
“The relationship
between the artist and
the commissioner is
akin to a marriage”
artist Liam
Gillick. After the
Miami-based collector’s
second enthusiastic
revision to the proposal,
suggesting that blue be
substituted for orange, Scholl
received an email from the artist. It
read: “Do you want the fucking piece
or not?” Since then, Scholl concedes
ruefully, “I’ve never ‘helped’ again.”
By providing a near-comprehensive
survey of the most important
contemporary art commissions
undertaken in the past 40 years, the
book allows the reader to identify elements
common to best practice.
While these exemplar are interesting
and informative, it is frustrating that
the publication has no place for illustrative
photographs to which the
reader can refer. With that proviso,
Commissioning Contemporary Art
is pleasingly designed, with quotes
from influential artists, curators,
patrons and gallerists scattered across
the pages, and surprisingly readable
for a book the primary function of
which is as instruction manual.
Curators, collectors and artists will
also be indebted to the co-author,
Daniel McClean, a specialist in art
law, for his mercifully jargon-free
guidance on such potentially divisive
(and costly) practicalities as maintenance,
copyright and contractual
negotiations.
The second
half of this
book provides a
thorough appraisal of
how best to address every
applied issue that arises in any commission,
be it for a private foundation
or a public institution.
Together, the art critic and legal
expert successfully demythologise the
process of commissioning a contemporary
work of art. The book drums
in the simple fact there is no substitute
for a close association between
the artist and patron, while simultaneously
providing all the information
required to ensure that this relationship
is not disturbed by avoidable
conflicts. This book should only
encourage the increasing popularity,
and ambition, of contemporary art
commissions.
Benjamin Eastham
The author is a freelance writer on the arts
and the co-founder and editor of the White
Review. He is also the co-editor of Mythos
Berlin: a London Perspective, which is due to
be published today with the support of the
German Embassy, London
METAMORPHOSIS
the transformation of being
9 ‒12 october 2012 10am ‒ 8pm
ALL VISUAL ARTS
the crypt one marylebone london nw1 4qa
ALL VISUAL ARTS WWW.ALLVISUALARTS.ORG T.+44 (0)20 7843 0410 INFO@ALLVISUALARTS.ORG
Francis Picabia, La Chienne de Baskerville, 1932–33 (detail), oil on wood. Courtesy Gallerie Haas
Commissioning Contemporary
Art: a Handbook for Curators,
Collectors and Artists
Louisa Buck and Daniel McClean
Thames & Hudson, 320pp, £18.95 (hb)
LOZ FLOWERS