http://www.friezefoundation.org/talks/detail/custodians_of_culture_dave_hickey/
Art critic Dave Hickey opens his keynote lecture by discussing the object of money and how some artists are more attracted towards money than artwork. He states that you can be an icon of virtue by behaving well, right, and/or correct. According to Hickey being wrong entails selling something for too much money which is known as primary practice. Hickey says that art dealers today are creating value but not real value which is resulting in higher prices for works of art. In the 80s and 90s public funding began declining which affected museums. He also mentions the presence of art bubbles which "suck money into the art world but actually hurt greedy artists and stupid collectors". Hickey comments on non-commercial art as being essentially art that doesn't sell in galleries but yet the artists that created these particular works are still getting paid. He reverts back to public funding and discusses how the government overtook the community and became the primary source of funding for museums. Museums then responded by separating themselves from the community. During certain moments throughout the lecture Hickey tends to drift a bit off topic but he is able to maintain the audience's attention through his use of humor.
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I first want to say that I absolutely loved this lecture because of Hickey's blunt statements and dry humor about the art world in general. He does raise some really good points about artists these days being more concerned about the money than the actual art itself. He introduces the quote, "You can't be right all the time, but you can never be wrong." I think this applies very well to art because there is not right way to create a piece of art so you can never be wrong in what you make. However, Hickey concedes that there is in fact a way to be wrong in the art world, and this is by selling something for far more than it is actually worth. He maintains that this not only hurts the culprit artist, but it also compromises the work of all other artists by throwing prices of everything off. This creates a gap between the artists and the general public for whom the art is meant to be enjoyed by. Hopefully we can return to a time when real art is appreciated and all the other "bullshit" (which he considers to be 99% of the art out there) is gotten rid of in the galleries.
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