August 1, 2009
Bill Jay in his Artists: Rebels without a Cause argues that there is no difference between fine-art and commercialism – and there never has been. He says that:
The invention and early history of photography is rooted in economics. Without the newly wealthy middle class in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution there would be no need for a substitute for oil paintings. Photography was invented, developed, made by and sold to those with surplus wealth, the nouveau riche of the Victorian Age....Only when there is enough surplus wealth in a culture (such as our own) can it afford to siphon off otherwise productive citizens and allow them to become fine artists in order to promote their own or someone else’s egos.
He adds that o ne of the biggest myths of contemporary photography is that of the solitary, wayward, individualistic, non-commercial, art-for-art’s-sake spiritually minded genius who is in opposition to corporate money-grubbing.Rebelliousness is not anti-establishment; it is the sales pitch of the corporations.Art and advertising are not as dissimilar as usually assumed.
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