Parallax Art Fair

"The displacement of an object as seen from two different points that are not on  a line with the object", this is the definition my iPhone tells me when I typed in the word parallax. In an art world driven by money, at an art fair that drives to sell work, this seems an apt title. Parallax Art Fair run by Barlow Fine Arts was held from 17th-19th of May at Chelsea Town Hall on Kings Road just up from Sloane Square. The show itself displayed a varied field of artists, with varied prices and ranges of works. 

This was a show not only to sell work but for artist and art lovers to share and converse to create a better more caring arts community, with talks from artist not only about their work, but also advice and ideas about their practice and life as an artist. This community feel really helped to drive the show to something more than just a circus such as Frieze, this is due to several factors; first, it is the artists selling their own work, so they have a genuine passion for what they are showing, rather than commission based commercial galleries, and second is the scale, while there were over 200 artist on show, the scale is able to be held in the wonderful setting of the Chelsea town hall which generates a more intimate atmosphere. 

While I attend and worked at the show with the intent to see the inner working of the side of art we like to forget about sometimes, I gained far more by seeing that there is a genuine community that is out there looking out for each other. To me looking out for one's peers and colleges is something truly LADy

Art World Pretence

A rather skeptical and cynical friend of mine (who is a self claimed artist's son) has a huge problem with the art world and its lack of accessibility to the everyman.  It's something he has always believed; however, there was one night last year in particular that exaserbated his feeligns on the matter. This was a private view at the White Cube for Christian Marclay's work The Clock whereby mate friend preceded to get very drunk and was refused entry, in light of this he preceded to call the Director "a pretentious c#%t" due to his rage that he wasnt allowed in. Here we see an obvious and probably very justified resistance to the LAD; however, the main focus here is some notion of  pretentiousness exerted by the art world.

I think despite my friends perhaps overtly hostile reaction to the justified reason to not let him in, there was perhaps something more sinister as the director would not let any of us in, it was especially disconcerting when he looked at the three sober members of the group (one of them being a relative of his) as if we were not fit to be allowed in due to our appearances. While LAD culture and behavior might not at times align itself with the "appropriate" nature of such events, it did highlight the the overtly snobbish attitude that is often held by the "art crowd". 

Much of the claims of pretentiousness relies on the continued attempts by many to live up to some form of stereotype as an art folk, this quite ironical as stereotypes are something that many artists try to critique. This does not mean that the LAD culture itself doesn't live up to some kind of stereotype; however, it never pretends it doesn't. The rise of the LAD culture does have some roots in the ironic behavior of guys laughing at actions that they previously laughed at, but now by making it ironic they have in fact become the LADs themselves. This last point is perhaps something that the art world could build upon, by this I mean making fun of the pretense that covers so much of its sphere, maybe trying to not dumb down, but laugh at its own ridiculous behavior. Art for everyone is a lovely idea; however, the commercial side of art excludes and reduces the possibility of this happening. 

Rebranding

I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about what art means to me, and this therefore encumbers thoughts of where I figure in this realm. LAD culture is a bizarre sub-culture that has emerged form universities around the country, many (especially them of the art world) look down at this LADiness, I however want to explore these LADdy ideas and how it might not all be as bad as it seems. On the surface there are the exploits of individuals such as Man vs Booze which draw media attention; however, there is another side that creeps underneath the resistance to the growth of the metro sexual male figure, and that is some strangely configured notions behind that of a traditional Gentleman. LAD "banter" feeds on website such as TrueLad.com show that there is huge support for quotes such as "just took my lady out for dinner. knowshowtotreataLADyLAD" gaining likes just as one can on Facebook. 

So for me as an art student in London and not quite fitting into the artsy crowd, yet, and seeing around what perhaps started ironically the growth and taking over of LAD culture at university, I want to see how some of these so called LADdy actions can be in some ways a veil for something less gaudy and destructive as initially thought, and perhaps promote something more interesting in terms of a youth sub-movement. This sub movement isn't trying to subvert or destroy the establishment, or strike up some binary against progressive attitudes to the world around us, its perhaps just saying "hey wait, I can adapt to these changes, but perhaps I don't want to be so dignified in the way i do it". 

The progression of this blog is to carry on with the talk around contemporary art, but also perhaps unlock some of the snobery in the art world, perhaps one day Lads and Hoxtonities wont be so different. With this in mind i want to carry on the work that am/have already done, but from now on I want to do it with the LAD in mind.