Ashley Biggs Business of Fine Art

What I found interesting when doing the research on public art was that I was drawn to installations. I really appreciated pieces that the public could interact with rather than just look at. I felt it brought a sense of unity to a community to have a common experience. Rather than glancing at something on a walk or on their way to work, these public spaces allowed room for communication between members of the community. I already focus greatly on sculpture within my work so installations aren't that far of a stretch. This is the first time I've realized Ringling doesn't have any sort of installation sculpture class, although after talking with my instructor apparently there used to be one but there wasn't enough interest. I think I am going to look into creating some installations in the future.

The second week in my blog I posted about finding a gallery for my work and since then I have been finding who some of my favorite artists are represented by. My findings have mostly been that even if the work is extremely strange, those that are represented are done so by completely normal galleries. The emphasis is naturally put on the concept behind the work. What the work looks like and/or consists of is not a determining factor. Damien Hirst would be the most mainstream example I can think of. I did find one artist with an association to a very strange gallery called Macabre Gallery. I really don't know what to think of it. It will be linked below, but they supposedly specialize in 'dark art'. I do warn some of the art is somewhat graphic. http://macabregallery.com/en/about-us/

Seeing all of the older artworks at the Ringling Museum and talking about preservation made my mind go off on a tangent to the social responsibility of preserving artworks in places like Iraq and Syria. I read an academic journal about blood antiquities where collectors around the world purchase these historic pieces often without official papers. ISIS and other organizations have started stealing pieces from war torn area’s museums and digging up protected archaeological sites to sell the work for funding. The dilemma that presents itself is do collectors buy these artifacts with the goal of preserving the heritage, or do they leave them where they have a high chance of being destroyed?   What I found is Art Association for Museum Directors (AAMD) created the AAMD Protocols for Safe Havens for Works of Cultural Significance from Countries in Crisis. Owners can request a participating museum to hold the material until it can be returned to the institutions or governme...