Diplomatic World_nummer 55

© SGS
72
(R)evolution is supposed to be part of the contemporary
art practice and conceptual art becomes the new academic
path to follow for a young emerging artist. Transgression
is part of the DNA of our new generation of artists
where they follow new paths in parallel with the mere
academic approach. Yet this doesn’t automatically mean
that this path is the right one to follow because in the
end it would become the new conformism again and even
the new academic style of developing art. But again, it
could mean that opportunities are missed when dogma
starts ruling and this will happen again in the future. It
is clear that academic’s failure to discover and welcome
the Impressionists in the 19th century should not happen
again and we should not miss new art geniuses for
academic reasons. We should create an open atmosphere
that becomes a fertile soil to accept new ideas and
practices. I was worried once that we should also miss the
new wave of graffiti artists and that is why I organised the
expo “Pressionnisme”, to stress that a 100 years after the
first failure, a second one was happening to these graffiti
artists. The world changes more rapidly than ever but still
we don’t always learn from past experiences and mistakes.
The impact of this 20th century period on today’s
art market is still extremely high, thanks to the
enormous amount of creative energy that was
used during those modern and exciting times in
Paris and thanks to the romanticization of the
artistic scenery of the main protagonists. From
a monetary point of view this period is one of the
most acclaimed related to financial values. Can
you explain the relative value of this period in
comparison with other important periods in art
history ?