Friday 16th May 2014
Contemporary art pulls us in a lot of directions at once. The sheer number of artists working in the world at any given time is pretty impressive, which means it takes a great deal of either luck, skill, persistence or a blend of all three to make sure your signal cuts through the noise. This series is dedicated to helping bring to light artists both artists that are doing exciting, remarkable, or ridiculous things to light, and those who haven't yet reached critical media mass.
Mark Flood has been an active artist for quite a long time, yet he was only brought to our attention last week due to his recent project in New York City, which he has dubbed the Insider Art Fair. As those of you who are relatively familiar with the art world are likely to know, so-called 'outsider art' refers to art created by those artists who are working outside of modern Western mainstream contemporary art (often code for post-colonial artists, those who are dealing with themes outside of the scope of most artists work, and others who appeal to the irritatingly jaded palates of said Western art world). Insider art, by extension, is from an artist working from within the very depths of contemporary Western art and all the history that implies.
Flood's "art fair" is really an exhibition, but one that not only provides interesting pieces derived from the world and sensibilities that informed the development of his style, but also as an indictment of the entire concept of art fairs, where the general attitude is to sell as much as possible as quickly as possible. The pieces tend to be caustic send-ups of both the art world and the corporate influences that have infected much of American art over the last several decades, and Flood appears unashamed and unapologetic, although as with an joke, it can sometimes be hard to tell who it's being played on.
When interviewed by the Gallerist at the Insider Art Fair, he said, "All the roles are breaking down. The collectors are curators, the museums are auction houses. I went to Frieze. I don’t have any problems with art fairs. For me, the fundamental issue as an artist at a fair is you don’t get to control the context of the work. Artists will have to take control, like always."
Here's hoping he can pull it off - or maybe the joke's on us.
Posted on May 16th 2014 on 02:36pm
