Target Market for Altarpieces

As with all Art/Photography there is no point making it if no one can see it!  So, who is this work aimed at and how would I approach marketing a work like this.  Altarpieces originally were commissioned by a wealthy patron for the church - here is an example:

 

Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece (open), completed 1432, oil on wood,11 feet 5 inches x 15 feet 1 inch (open), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium

The ghent altarpiece has a rich history and it is amazing it has survived as it was; 'Removed from its place in the Cathedral of Ghent by Napoleon (well, the main panels, anyway) and then by German occupying forces during World War I, the panels were returned and reassembled, only to be taken again by the Nazis in 1942 and stored carelessly in a salt mine for the duration of the Second World War. The altarpiece was rescued by Allied art experts in 1945 (below) who reassembled, cleaned and restored the panels, which had lost much of their varnish and suffered some surface abrasion.' (Hickson S. Khan Academy: 2019).  The piece itself was commissioned by a wealth patron by the name of Jodocus Vijd.

The patron, Jodocus Vijd (detail), Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, completed 1432, oil on wood, 11 feet 5 inches x 7 feet 6 inches (closed), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium

He commissioned it; 'Like most Renaissance patrons, Jodocus Vijd was a wealthy merchant who sought to expiate the sin of being too fond of money by spending some of it on creating a monument to God. An influential citizen of Ghent, Vijd commissioned the altarpiece for the Church dedicated to St. John the Baptist (now the Cathedral of St. Bavo) in his home city as a means of saving his soul while simultaneously celebrating his wealth.'(Hickson S. Khan Academy: 2019)

Damien Hirst 1991 artwork photo via GQ

It is interesting that he thought that by creating this he would somehow get rid of his sin.  Can spending money on something such as a sacred painting really absolve the sinner?  However I will not start a debate here on sin but consider this is how these pieces were created and still today people commision works of art, some for their home, some for investment or for the community.

One piece of art that is very famous is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Hirst (above). This was actually commissioned by Charles Saatchi the famous advertising magnate and art collector - he gave Hirst $50,000 to “do whatever he wanted” (Comish Team: 13th April 2017).  To bring this up to date - 'In 2006, the piece was sold for reportedly $8 million to investor Steven A. Cohen. However, since the piece was slowly decomposing due to improper preservation and according to Hirst, "no longer looked scary", the artist replaced the shark before Cohen took ownership of the piece.'(Comish Team: 13th April 2017).

So if it is commissioned obviously specifications for the piece usually come from the patron and the target market is the patron obviously as unhappy patron will not pay!  However in the case of my own pieces I do not have a patron and the best way of getting this to an audience would be now to sell this online in an online gallery such as Saatchi Art and promote this on social media,many more people are buying art online and this is probably where the buyers are today.  This article from Forbes Art Market Cooling, But Online Sales Booming supports this and states that 'The art market is changing, and social media has become the primary way consumers discover art, according to a study commissioned by Invaluable. The survey found that nearly a quarter (22.7%) of art buyers find new works of art via social media, which edged out museums (20%) and galleries (15.9%) as buyers’ primary source of discovery.' (Weinswig D. Forbes 13/05/16) Further to this the article stated that millennials are leading this market through art discovery on social media.

Therefore in real world terms I need to set up an online site to put this in the world - perhaps it will help me with my own sin....!

References

The Comish Team (17th April 2017) 7 of The Worlds Most Interesting Art Commissions [Online] Avaiable: https://www.comish.com/single-post/2017/04/11/The-7-most-fascinating-commissions (Accessed 12/02/19)

Dr Hickson S. (2019) Khan Academy, Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece [Online] Available:https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/northern-renaissance1/burgundy-netherlands/a/vaneyck-ghentaltar (Accessed 12/02/19)

Weinswig D. (13/05/16) Forbes, Art Market Cooling but Online Sales Booming [Online] Availble: https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahweinswig/2016/05/13/art-market-cooling-but-online-sales-booming/#e0625856ec9a (Accessed 12/02/19)

Creating the First Altar Piece: Test Shots 2

To continue here are some of the shots that I thought I could develop ...

This shot I thought worked quite well on the meditative however I do feel it is not very dynamic and definitely could be improved.

I tried various mirror shots however I do not think that the mirror works particularly well and I think I need to find a different pose for the second shot here

I liked this one more as It has got something to it and as a shot it works much better than the previous one. 

I think I prefer the one above to this one but I kind of like the girl looking out from the mirror to the viewer directly perhaps there is more connection with the viewer.

This one is okay however I feel it is slightly too mundane and overdone as an image - there is nothing that makes it stand out. 

This one I thought had something it was quite dynamic the lines in the image work well and the pose gives a feeling that something is happening, changing...

I think that i want to reshoot all of these as I haven't quite found what I am looking for in these and I need to work on these composition more - The studio is quite small and the problem of standing up in the images is that you cannot get far enough back and include the backdrop in the image - I am considering that perhaps I might like to do these images outside as this would give me the distance and perhaps a more interesting backdrop.

Creating the First Altar Piece: Test Shots 1

To create the first altar piece I have created test shots using my Olympus E3 in the photographic studio with the ISO 400/500, F5 and a slow expose of between 1/20 and 1/30 as I was using a tripod.  I also underexposed by 2 stops to ensure that the black background was pure black.  The focal length was 28mm.  Here are the first test shot contact sheets - I shot in Black and White in RAW and jpg.

As can be seen from these shots I tried various poses as Mary Magdalene and used the idea of the skull and the books to depict memento mori and meditation and reflection on the her transformation. 

Developing the Images: Focus On Mary Magdalene

After much consideration about which Bible Stories and people I wanted to use in my altar pieces I have chosen to start with Mary Magdalene.  I will focus on the stories she first appears in Luke 8:1 'The Twelve were with him and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out...' Mary appears in the Bible as shown here in quite a useful cheat sheet!

Mary Magdalene Cheat Sheet

This was from the blog 'Drawing on the Word' which also discusses the film about Mary Magdalene - the trailer can be seen here:

Mary Magdalene: The Untold Story

This story the director Garth Davis explains is about Mary Magdalene as she is one of the most “misunderstood spiritual figures in history.” (Drawing on the Word: 15th March 2018).

I would like to begin with the demons being drawn out and would like to study some artwork that refers to this incident however where it states demons;  'Scholars also suggest that the casting out of demons may have been illness or negative emotions.' (Biography online 2018) 

Here are a couple of examples: 

Penitent Mary Magdalene by Titian,(1565)

There are many images that use this pose looking up to heaven - a hand either on the heart or raised towards God.  The face is full of pure love and rapture. In some earlier versions f this image Mary bares her flesh however in this later image flesh is replaced with a skull as a memento mori, an open book and a vase. The memento mori is a reflection or meditation on the vanity of life on earth and mortality.  Mary stands out from what looks like a setting sun in the background, her white robes and flesh resplendent against the darker sky.  

The Penitent Magdalene by Caravaggio (1597)

'Caravaggio has managed to capture the image of a woman who has come to the end of the road, too tired to look into her future. This is the moment, he suggests, when she is ready to respond to Jesus' message of redemption. Mary Magdalene is sumptuously dressed, but the discarded jewellery and her slumped figure tell the viewer that she has reached a turning point in her life. Caravaggio portrays her as a rich courtesan, not a common prostitute. In fact, the real Mary Magdalene was neither. She was not the sinner described in Luke 7:36-50, and when Luke does describe an actual prostitute in 15:30, he uses a different word, not 'sinner'.' Bible Painting: Mary Magdalene (2012)

I will consider each of these images and which elements I would like to show in my own images and how I will portray this moment of change, not just change but utter transformation....

References

Sang R. (15/03/18) Drawing Out the Word. Was Mary Magdalene a Prostitute? [Online] Available from: https://drawingontheword.com/mary-magdalene-former-prostitute/ (Accessed 03/02/19)

Biography Online (2018) Mary Magdalene [Online] Available from: https://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/mary-magdalene.html (Accessed 03/02/19)

Fletcher E (2012) Bible Paintings: Mary Magadele [Online] Available from: http://www.jesus-story.net/painting_magdalene.htm (Accessed 03/02/19)

Spiritualising the Photographic Image: Project Sign Off

I have created and completed the project sign off for my project ensuring that ideas are possible in the time given and that I am developing new skills in terms of the materiality of the image and creating images that I have not explored before through the altar pieces.

Please find my sign off here: Spiritualising the Photographic Image

Adam and Eve; detail from the Mystic Lamb in the Ghent Altarpiece, Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, 1432. St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium

Here the beginning with Adam and Eve - Adam and Eve has an appeal as there is a simplicity and beauty to the images that could be photographed in a quite enigmatic way to really bring out the beginning of all stories...

Interlude: The Hand of Yves Klein

Today inspired by the hand of Yves Klein I created a small artpiece using all the hands of the Digital Arts Class.

Source: yves-klein-by-lalique

Yves Klein in his blue period created his own colour blue 'International Klein Blue 79'; ' IKB 79 was one of nearly two hundred blue monochrome paintings Yves Klein made during his short life. He began making monochromes in 1947, considering them to be a way of rejecting the idea of representation in painting and therefore of attaining creative freedom. ' (Tate 2019)

I though this image with his hand in colour with the black and white portrait really exemplified Klein and his work and the images I have created here I hope is a small homage to the artist!

References 

Tate Online (2019) Yves Klein, IKB79 (1959) [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/klein-ikb-79-t01513 (Accessed 24/01/19) 

Lalique (2018) Lalique Yves Klein [Online Image] Available from: https://www.lalique.com/jp/art/20th-century-artists/yves-klein-by-lalique-la-victoire-de-samothrace (accessed 24/01/19) 

Initial Project Planning

Please find here my initial plan for my project:

Initial Project Plan: Photographic Altarpieces

70 Million by Hold Your Horses (Click link to watch video)

Please find here a video by Hold Your Horses which includes a wide variety of Tableau Vivants (Living Pictures) based on paintings and artpieces - here you will find The Last Supper, The Scream, Magritte, Picasso and many more - also it is funny and well done!

I intend to create a more detailed plan and will add my project sign off as well so that it is clear what the project will be, how I will execute this and my intended final outcomes.