Bepen Bhana

Bepen Bhana told us he came from a design background and that students work is often influenced by their tutors, he also talked about artists that were of interest to him. During Bhanas lecture we watched an episode of The Apprentice UK, where the task was to try and sell as many art works of an up and coming artist. I really enjoyed watching this, not only because i am a reality TV freak! But also because it talked about the art sales, and the way they were being sold. The main issues of this task were what the teams chose to exhibit and the way they went about marketing the art, neither of which were done very successfully which showed in the profits made.

The two teams, Stealth and Eclipse, chose the work that was most aesthetically pleasing to them, not necessarily the ones that were cheapest or most likely to sell. Which probably was not the wisest decision. The idea of the task or 'challenge' was to see who could sell the most works and make a profit. I think the teams missed the point completely. By choosing aesthetically pleasing pieces the work was able to be appreciated but many viewers could not afford to buy it. The teams should have chosen the works that they thought would sell the best, in terms of price and the reality of them being hung up in homes and work places. The lip gloss series by Elizabeth Hoff, (www.elisabethhoff.com) were expensive and eccentric, the colours, glitter and size of each piece were quite overwhelming and were not a very good choice of art for this particular challenge. The pictures were more editorial looking, rather than fine art.

Another issue I felt the teams faced when completing this challenge was the selling strategies that they employed, one team going for the 'hard' sell approach, one team going for the 'soft' sell approach. Personally I don't think there should be either. I feel the art should speak for itself, and also I definitely do not think that the artist should be in the gallery trying to push a sale either. It is off putting and would make me feel rather uncomfortable. If you did not like the piece of art that the artist was trying to sell to you, what would you say? "I'm sorry, but I feel this art is a complete waste of space and a five year old could achieve the same outcome" ? I think not. A gallery space is set up in a way where the art complements each other, purposefully done to try and sell the art. This should be the way a gallery is run.

It is also important that the person running the gallery know the meaning behind the work, not so it can be forced onto the person viewing it, but if the viewer specifically wanted to know about the piece they could be told the truth. Not like a male member of one of the teams who thought it would be a good idea to change the meanings behind a body of work, simply because they did not like it in the first place. Like I said before art should speak for itself. The viewer should be permitted to read the piece and draw their own meaning, without figures and sales people jumping down their throats.

If I were in one of the teams, Stealth or Eclipse. I would have chosen the most cost effective body of works and also the most realistic works to sell. The horse collection by Tim Flach (www.timflach.com) were exquisite, and you would not need to have a love of horses to appreciate the beauty if the pieces.