Art in France

The Art Resilience movement is already seven years old. Currently, the movement has 80 members from 30 countries. Of course, most of them are artists, but the movement is also supported by people from other professions who have the same conception of art.

Apart from sharing a conception of art based on aesthetics, Art Resilience works to bring together artists so that they can get to know each other and distribute their work more widely. The International Art Resilience Fair is also organized for this purpose.

I will briefly discuss the art situation in France. The French artistic field is dominated by contemporary art, with installations, performances, bio art, video art, etc. Little space is left for painting or sculpture, so it has very poor visibility.

The domination of contemporary art in France is explained by the direction and orientation of art by public authorities. It is an institutionalized art through art centers and grants.

Art education also follows the orientation of the Ministry of Culture, especially since at the National School of Fine Arts teachers are not recruited by competitive examination, but appointed by the Ministry.

The reasons for this are numerous :   the residues of history. For a very long time artists have been dependent for their work on religious orders or orders from the aristocratic class. During the French revolution, the State took over through the Academy of Fine Arts and controlled all artistic production.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, artists demanded more freedom for their creations, hence the formation of many avant-garde movements. The movements were very numerous but none of them were dominant in relation to the others.

But after the Second World War and geopolitical tensions, art became more and more politicized. In 1959 the Ministry of Culture was created and in the 1980s the Ministry of Culture created the Contemporary Art Center (the Cnap) which will direct and guide all artistic creation. We can read in their credo "The Cnap implements a set of support mechanisms, exhibition, co-production and commissions intended to support artists and contemporary art professionals (gallery owners, publishers, art restorers or even art critics) in their projects. It disseminates professional information for artists and relays calls for applications and job offers in the artistic sector ".

 So, through the Cnap all artistic production is directed  and what does not fit into the "contemporary" framework is sent back to small galleries or other structures with very little visibility. Faced with considerable sums that the State distributes in subsidies and orders, the market follows and the artists, already formatted by the School of Fine Arts, find it difficult to resist this pressure.

Since Romanticism circulates an idea of the artist, who’s expression comes from the depths within him, therefore thoughtless, not very educated, distracted, irreverent, unable to deal with practical questions, disturbed by his psyche. And unfortunately, one gets the impression that artists often bow to this vision. For all these reasons there is a call for resilience in art. It is the artists who decide what art is. Artists who do not comply with fashions, ideological or commercial pressures.

 We cannot deny contemporary art, it does exist, but it is about clarifying the categories. Indeed, if we analyze the productions of contemporary artists, a different nomination is necessary for these forms of expression, because in all these productions it is a question of entertainment, or claims of any kind, and not of art. The entertainment of a leisure society. Maybe we just need to find another name and allow art to flourish at the same time.*

With the Covid pandemic we can expect changes. After this crisis which will have repercussions on the economy, will the State continue to subsidize these productions ? Difficult to answer this question.

In April 2020 UNESCO launched ResiliArt Movement, Résilience Art Mouvement, (the coincidence with our movement is curious), urging States to come to the aid of artists during and after the Covid and at the same time to promote artistic diversity. 110 countries have joined. It is difficult to know if this would weaken the domination of contemporary art and allow art to flourish, or create even greater confusion. The same question is about visibility on the Internet.

Art Resilience was founded to claim resilience in art so that it finds its aesthetic foundations, but as well, this movement calls on artists not to depend on all kinds of manipulations and to take charge of themselves. Artists who are most often isolated, by coming together they may not depend on dominant ideas and work according to their perceptions, visions and knowledge of art. And it is precisely the knowledge of art that has been destroyed. 

Thank you, and I leave the place to the artists who will speak to us today about the art situation in their countries.  

* The most suitable nomination is: Political imagery

given the politicization of art since the beginning of the 20th century and the evacuation of the aesthetic foundation in this type of production.

Michelle Kamhi bio for Art Resilience

 Greetings, all, and my warmest thanks to Ksenia for organizing this online conference! To introduce myself, here are a few brief facts about me and my work.

I am an independent scholar and critic based in New York City. With my husband, Louis Torres, I co-edit Aristos, an online review ofthe arts at www.aristos.org, which he founded as a small print journal in 1982. Aristos vigorously defends traditional values in all the arts and debunks the avantgarde inventions of both modernism and postmodernism. You can read about our editorial philosophy here.

In 2000, Lou and I co-authored What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand. It was the first indepth study of a deeply insightful but little-known theory of art propounded by the novelist philosopher Ayn Rand (who is most often known for her novels and her controversial ideas on politics and ethics).

I am also the author of Who Says That’s Art? A Commonsense View of the Visual Arts (2014) and Bucking the Artworld Tide: Reflections on Art, Pseudo Art, Art Education & Theory (2020). My website at www.mmkamhi.com not only contains much information about my books but also includes my blog, For Piero’s Sake, as well as links to much of my other published work.

A particular concern of mine has been art education, as I am very critical of current trends in the field. My Background and Focus I obtained a Master’s degree in Art History in 1970, writing my thesis on the double portrait of Federigo da Montefeltro and his wife, Battista Sforza, by the early Renaissance master Piero della Francesca—to whom my blog is dedicated.

As I explained in my brief introduction to the blog, it is intended to commemorate the values [Piero] and his work represented—consummate skill and sensitivity in the embodiment of things of enduring human significance. Since those values should adhere to the terms art and artist today, For Piero’s Sake aims in no small measure to serve as an antidote to the bogus art and pseudo artists dominating the contemporary artworld.

The degradation of contemporary art was glaringly evident in 1970, when I emerged from graduate work and began to take stock of the current art scene. The artworld was then dominated by anti-traditional work ranging from Abstract Expressionismand Minimalismto Pop art. Such work had nothing essential in common with what had drawn me to the study of art, and I could not bring myself to deal with it. So I turned my attention to other matters for more than a decade.

Not until the mid ‘80s—when I met Lou Torres, who introduced me to Ayn Rand’s essays on art—did I begin to understand why I had been right to reject such avant-garde inventions. The principles of Rand’s theory have helped to informall my work. Most important, Rand offered a compelling account of the essential nature and function of art, in sharp contrast with the prevailing view that art can no longer be defined. As I wrote in the Preface to Bucking the Artworld Tide: With scarcely any exceptions, public institutions the world over have uncritically embraced every variety of “cutting-edge” contemporary work, however bizarre—heedless of the extent to which it not only deviates from traditional art (and therefore merits a different name) but also alienates many art lovers. It is as if humanity’s cultural gatekeepers were afflicted with collective amnesia regarding what made visual art valuable in the first place.

I share the view aptly expressed by the critic and art historian John Canaday (1907–1985) that art is “the tangible expression of the intangible values [people] live by.” Throughout my work, I have sought to show how works of genuine art fulfill that essential function, while the contemporary work that dominates today’s artworld (I call it “pseudo art”) largely fails to do so. In addition, I have aimed to explain why such expressions are important for both individuals and society.

Perhaps most important, unlike traditional work the “contemporary art” that fills our museums and galleries does not speak for itself but depends on reams of verbiage to explain it. Much of my writing and speaking has therefore been devoted to debunking the artworld spin on such work. To learn more about my viewpoint, I invite you to explore my books and articles. And please feel free to contact me through my website : www.mmkamhi.com

What we Artists did in 2020-21

I am Mary Joyce, and pleased, as Canada’s representative to Art of Resilience, to bring warm greetings from my vast land of 5.5 time zones to all the artists in this important conference. From my city of 1.3 million, on the western edge of the Canadian prairies, Edmonton, Alberta, I report that since March 2020 artists are cocooning, quarantining, working if they can at paid jobs at home, and continuing to produce art, not seeing much of each other or of each others’ works.

The following expands my assessment of the influence of the global pandemic on my own connections in the Canadian art world. Whether we are able to handle the emotional impact of isolation and how we decide to handle it seems to vary with individuals. A group of my colleagues, the “Unartists” who have met weekly in a local bistro on Saturday mornings for a more than a decade, mostly senior artists, gob-smacked by the threat to our health and to our social lives, decided we would continue meeting during the early stage, outside, distanced, in people’s yards, gardens, porches. When the danger rose, we organized Zoom meetings now continuing for months.

At first we continued to bring the odd objects of material investigation so intrinsic to the delights of Unart. But after some time online we notice now that we talk more and experiment less. The interest in the visual is still strong, and expresses itself in comments on the various locations of each person within the room they use for the computer; the lighting, their clothing colours, texture, design might bring reminiscence of a famous portrait. Artworks might show up on screen behind the speaker, especially when someone is able to get the wifi to operate in their studio. The fact that someone displaying art must keep speaking on Zoom to keep the artwork in large format view for the others, runs counter to inclinations of our most mischievous members whose voice IS their artwork.

Telling while showing is a new skill! We feel thankful for the technology that allows us to meet, but as we use it, it uses us and we change in ways we have not agreed to beforehand. Who Knew? Many artists are sending work to shows of “mail art” where actual work is sent through the post, posted online, possibly simultaneously with a “real” show, then the online stays up for an undetermined period. Many of the Unarters chose to show in an International Exhibition organized jointly by Penticton Art Gallery curator Paul Crawford and by Khaled Youssef and Houmam Alsaleim of Syria.art Association in Nice and Berlin. “You Are Not Alone” was shown in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, September 18-November 7 2020, with the works’ images posted online simultaneously. The actual works were donated to the gallery to be used “in the spirit of the penpal and mail art movement (to) create a permanent and physical document of our existence in this unprecedented moment in history…. As part of this project, one can connect and share their art with a global network of artists.

Our hope is that through the act of sharing, deep, rich, and meaningful connections will develop that will not only bring us together but may help build bridges of friendship and understanding. No one is immune to this pandemic and we hope this will help us to get through this time by allowing us to share our stories, celebrate our diversity, mourn our losses, and heal as a planet.” This show is where I first noticed Jean Smith’s portraits. http://pentictonartgallery.com/you-are-not-alone

Everyone at this conference will be aware of and proud to be associated with our International Art Resilience Exhibition, organized annually by Ksenia Milicevic and colleagues at the Saint-Frajou Art museum in southern France from 2015 on; the 6th pandemic show was published online in 2020 from August 8 – September 8. Now two Unarters are members of Art Resilience. “The objective of the exhibition is to show the artists who not only illustrate the current society, neither the ‘mind map of the artist,’ but also engage in the path of art. In this way, art preserves its reason for being, connects man to the world and makes him participate in the breath of life. These are artists for whom art is not a random act, a discursive presentation, a playful place or an incomprehensible show. What unites them is the rigorous composition, balance of form, perfect harmony of colors, originality and authenticity.” More theory of Resilient Art is available here: https://www.art-resilience.com/english/factors-of-resilience-in-art/

The Nobel Peace Project is an international Mail Art initiative founded over 20 years ago in Nobel, Ontario, Canada by artists Susan Gold and AG Smith as a response to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. In 2020, for the first time, the Nobel Peace Project has taken on a theme directly connected to the Nobel Peace Prize and is calling for submissions to celebrate and support the nomination of Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade for the award in 2021. http://www.nobelpeaceproject.com/nobel-peace-projects/

For some Canadian artists, creative use of electronic technology in this period is boosting their reputations and earnings by degrees of magnitude. For example: Vancouver painter, singer and novelist Jean Smith, whose career began in the 1980s, began to post daily images of women’s portraits freshly made in acrylic on canvas stretchers, 11”x14”(28 x 35.5 cm.) She first offered them on Facebook for sale at $100.00 US each. They sold immediately. She advertised her practice of retaining $1000.00 US monthly for her life expenses and reserving the surplus to purchase a building and land for the “Free Artist Residency for Progressive Social Change.” Her work is still selling as she posts it. She presents the many nuances of compassion, dismay, pity, fear, empathy, dull shock and so on in the beautiful minimalist faces of the women in nurses’ caps, hats, earphones, aviator gear… thus the viewer visualizes a deeply human response to the horror of the virus. Her fans race to be first to click and buy her painting of the day. An important element in this arrangement is that the artist feels pleased to be able to sell her work at an affordable price for her fans. Vancouver artist ditches part-time job, sells over 1,500 paintings

An emerging artist who calls himself Mad Dog Jones, in life is Micah Dowbak from Thunder Bay, Ontario, a small Canadian city on the northern tip of Lake Superior. Stained glass artists whose work decorates churches constitute his family. The transparency in his digital images of cityscapes by night is thus second nature to him. He has become a millionaire overnight by selling a purely digital work of “crypto” art online. The technology is blockchain, where the unique identifier is an “NFT,” a “non-fungible token” owned only by the purchaser. Such a piece of art has to be displayed on a screen. Secondary sales pay to the artist 10%, so that when those sales reach the millions, crypto artists can realize large paybacks.

This technology is reaching Christie’s auction house in London now, where the first digital artworks are being sold. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/article-crypto-art-is-gainingtraction-and-one-of-its-biggest-stars-is-an/ Incidentally, the right to a portion of secondary art sales, the “resale right” is being fought for by Canadian Artists through the organization Canadian Artists Representation,

Le Front des Artists Canadien, CARFAC. So far with little success. Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art operates out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with a the determination to assist women to fully realize their desire and potential to become artists. Founded in 1984 by art professors at university of Manitoba, Sheila Butler and Diane Whitehouse, MAWA organizes an annual foundational mentorship pairing emerging artists with experienced ones, all female, and female-identified persons. Since 1984 this group has produced many of Canada’s best-known female artists, Aganetha Dyck, Wanda Koop, Eleanor Bond, Di Thorneycroft, Bev Pike, Linda Fairfield. The pandemic has forced their programs online, a sad and hopefully temporary cessation of their tireless journeys by auto east, west, and north through the province, finding women who need connection and support, offsetting the continuing dominance of the other gender in the still patriarchal artworld where a gender count of acquisitions at Winnipeg Art Gallery still reflect women’s art at 22%. https://mawa.ca/

So it seems issues of income and fairness, or consideration for others’ situations, make a difference in the ways we Canadian artists decide to distribute our work. The pandemic brought this contradiction to the fore, that while isolating at home, many families perceived a need for more art around them. A need grew. An interesting experiment was launched by the federal government early in the pandemic. Self-employed people who had earned $5000 in the previous year or work period were allowed to take CERB, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. It provided emergency funding to whoever qualified of $2000/month for maximum seven months. Some artists felt they were better off than they had ever been when depending on self-employed income only! This made giving away their work, or charging only a small affordable fee possible financially. Soon, opinion on the social necessity of a Guaranteed Basic Income became rampant, with calls for the government to put it in place. It is felt that a permanent method of securing the basics of life for ALL would be a brilliant way to reduce hospital, police, psychological, domestic and food bank emergencies, guarantee housing for everyone to replace tent cities now present in most Canadian cities, but even better, provide cultural sustenance to all Canadians by supporting artists in the work they live to make. Funding to do this might be achieved by re-directing the massive subsidies our governments hand over to corporations who respond by laying off and firing workers.

Artists began to imagine what life could be like if such arrangements as Guaranteed Basic Income were to exist. From history some know the Mexican Modernist School of Muralists was born from a union between social policy oriented toward mass education and artists who became great within that environment. They asked to be paid the salary of working people; in exchange for life security, they painted most public places in the centres of Mexico’s cities and towns. The resulting patrimony is one of the world’s greatest art treasures, crucial to the modern identity of the Mexican Peoples.

Separating survival from the distribution of our production is a psychological relief for many artists, whose background and loved ones are not wealthy. For me, the CERB arrangement allowed me to dream of being able to provide my work to people who want it, the kind of people I make it for, without having to extract from them the “market value” of the paintings. I felt pleasure in making several pieces I could give away, and making a large edition of prints to give during the holiday season, celebrating getting to know many more of my neighbours thanks to everyone in isolation making frequent walks throughout the neighbourhood. Now to summarize, the main effects of this period include having to experience the material thing-ness of visual art lit up, flattened, polished, formatted all in the same rectangle or square, irrelevant original scale and behind a glass screen. Further, a social need is recognized, that in this period of human ability to produce everything so efficiently, to create so much wealth, that this wealth created by nature combined with human labour must be shared out to provide rights and sustenance for all.

We dream this policy will produce happiness, peace and more and more art! Many thanks for listening to me, Mary Joyce 2021,03,10

Experience of Russian artist in California

Good Evening! Good Afternoon! Good Morning! I never had a chance to say all at once before!

I am Viktoria Romanova, I am a painter from Altadena, CA, which in close to Los Angels.  It is very exciting to be with you all today and many thanks to Ksenia Milicevic for organizing this event and for giving us the chance to communicate. It is my pleasure to share some information with you from my personal experience with Art.

Briefly about myself 

I was born in Ukraine and lived in Russia till 2002. I got my BFA degree there and showed in galleries very little, because I had an Art School to run to survive. It was a very difficult time, people did not have enough food and lots of young people left the country to make some money abroad. It was a completely different experience to be an artist in Russia, in a small town with 5 Galleries in total, and they all worked as a consignment type of stores, so the motivation to show art was not as strong and the possibilities were very much limited.

When I moved to the US I did not speak English and had to learn about this new lifestyle and about this widely spread place called Los Angeles County. I wanted to get a Masters Degree in Art but I ended up studying "Color” intensivly for 9 years. I did some commission work during my studying time. I started to show my artwork in California 5 years ago and it was a huge change compare it to my Russian period, because I was living in small city with just under one-million population compare it to this megapolis with more than more than 10 million people.  

Exhibiting experience

An artist's career is a long journey for sure… I have been in Art Industry since my 20s, and 30 years later I still do not consider myself as an established artist, and there are reasons and personal believes that effected my art road. Very early on I came to the conclusion that I would prefer working with some Alternative Spaces and Non-Profit Organizations, because of their motivations. They do not charge a fortune for submissions and have a pure purpose to show art to the public, and active curators, and real collectors visit those places to discover fresh art.  

Because their goal is to educate the public, and for artists to connect, these centers are not focused on selling art. They are focused on more important and deeper thing “what generates interest” in order for artist to be able to communicate clearly. All of them are online now and Zoom is making them more interactive than ever.

Mainly I am showing my work in California from Sacramento to San Diego and I plan is to  start exhibiting in other sates and hopefully internationally this year. Online shows of course give enormous possibilities to go over the boarders. 

Example: I participated in 2018 in Vienna Biennial. It was a stressful experience plus the shipment was expensive and problematic. I thought that I lost a painting on the way back home, it took a long time to return and after that I slowed down on the out-of-the-US shows till the last year when the Pandemic united the world virtually. It was the main reason for me to apply for The Salon 6th Art Resilience last year, because I would not needed to deal with a shippment for the show and I was ok with the idea of paying for shipping out in case of a sale, because it would have been covered by the sale of the art piece. 

The websites to find art calls

I have to admit that it is time-consuming to research art calls, and I wish I could spend this time painting, but it is all a one-person production in my case. Here are a few websites that I use to find open calls for juried art exhibitions; artist grants; artist residencies; art contests and art charity auctions:

1)CaFÉ™- CallForEntry.org  https://www.callforentry.org/artist-help-cafe/refunds-and-chargebacks/

2) https://www.onlinejuriedshows.com

3)http://entrythingy.com

4)California Arts Council www.cac.ca.gov

5)www.ArtJobs.com - International calls for art

6)SideArts.com Global Community of Artists - International calls for art

7)ArtDeadline.Com - International calls for art

About Websites

If you are good with technology and have the idea to sell your work on Social Media platforms, please make sure that there is a keyword in your Domain! It will help you to get more views and to get into much more internet search algorithms. I did know about it before. My website is : viktoriaromanova.studio. Nobody knows who I am and I should have used at least one keyword that would connect me to the people who are searching for : “ fine art”; "modern painting”; “abstract art” or photography or sculpture, if it is your field of work. 

There are people who have websites called “ Abstract art for sale” and I checked, and they do sell a lot this way. I am not a techno person and my main thing  still is creating.

I did not start painting because thought I would make money from it, but I do agree that ONLINE business  and communications are the future (isolation time during Corona clearly showed that), so I am going to change my website name and add key words soon.

About work with Galleries

Working with professional art galleries could be a wonderful experience.

To my feel it is very special and sensitive relationship, it is like having a new friend, getting to know each other and building a trust.  I would like to finish my talk on an uplifting note that for us artists the progress in work is real great deal. We only getting better with every year, the future is looking quiet exciting! I am not tired of my profession, I certainly feel like my best paintings are not painted yet and it gives me a stimulation and hope for the bright future.

I wish you all some great art to come and to have a blast in your art practice!

Thank you.

 Chilean art 2021

Since October 18th , 2019. Chile has change on all grounds, this date we were spectators of how the violence on the streets of Santiago was entering in the minds of the people some of us condemning these acts and others in favor of the burning and destruction of our subway system , churches , small business, etc.

Five month later , we received as the rest of the world the famous Covid 19 , which had the hole country in quarantine . Popular art , meaning, music, poetry, graffiti , comics, they all felt that was the right time to protest against the system and you can see today how buildings , museums , statues of downtown Santiago are painted with revolutionary images. Police is incapable to control the huge amount of people that are burning and protesting every Friday evening. 

Unfortunatly artist are normally self employed , so when you get old there is not a pension,  if you have not saved some money. 

Most of the old artist in Chile are quite poor. We live in a country that is 10 or more hours away from USA, or Europe, Japan, Australia, since I remember artist have left the country to be able to be successful 

In what they do, as Roberto Matta, Claudio Bravo, Pablo Neruda, etc.

All of the above has produce an impact on artist , and we are force to look abroad for new opportunities, as with in the country art galleries , museums are closed or  people have to make an appointment to attend. So the amount of sales has diminish.

On the other hand I believe that there is a lot of opportunities on virtual galleries and new ways of getting yourself notice in order to start selling your art around the world.

For example I work with a professional printer in London called theprintspace, https://www.theprintspace.co.uk/ they will print my photographs on the paper that I choose and then they will deliver to any address on any country. For this purpose I started a web page on shopify this is my store on line. https://www.shopify.fr/site-de-vente-en-ligne.

The difficult part is to promote your store, probably this is more work than producing art.

Carlos Eguiguren

 THE ART SCENARIO IN ECUADOR AND ECUADOREAN EDUCATION

The pandemic and confinement have greatly affected Ecuador, where the vast majority of artists and cultural managers are independent workers, who have temporary assignments without access to social security.

At the international level, UNESCO and several multilateral organizations have been highlighting the importance of culture and the arts in the pandemic and the need to support cultural workers in this difficult situation. In Ecuador there is a Ministry of Culture that has tried to generate support, without success, in the midst of enormous economic difficulties and at a time of political conjuncture, since a change of government will take place shortly.

Ecuadorian art has succumbed to digital social networks to avoid the effects of Covid-19, which forced cinemas, theaters, galleries and museums to close their doors. Many artists, left without income, try to survive with their online shows and exhibitions. Face-to-face exhibitions in Ecuador, with few exceptions, have definitely yielded the throne to the virtual format. These online exhibitions are an option that hardly replace face-to-face exhibitions, where one is not only confronted with the work of art, but also with the human being.

As has been said, the virtual world has become one of the best allies of artistic and cultural spaces. Several art galleries and museums in the country are using it as an alternative to show the public the work of artists.In Quito, the city where I live, there are a few galleries that bring together works by young “emerging” artists, with physical and virtual exhibitions. The former are open at certain times and with a limited number of visitors. While in the others, the majority, the visit includes a kind of virtual identity card, through which the name of the author of the work and details of the piece can be known. In the tour of this gallery, the visitor can find works in different formats, including sculptures, photographs and paintings.

 There are digital proposals to encourage the purchase of art, with rather reduced prices, but in any case, there is an effective interaction between the public and artists. Consequently, this gives rise to the configuration of a small art market, especially in Guayaquil, the most populated city in Ecuador, which is on the Pacific coast.

For its part, the House of Ecuadorian Culture (CCE), which is a museum with national and Latin American art, has created a National Virtual Gallery, a space for national artists and has become another alternative for people to know the work of these creators, from the various regions of Ecuador. Each exhibition, which can be accessed through the CCE website; it includes an introductory text written by the Museum's curators, which reviews the artist's life and work, and a series of selected works. There is also an opening ceremony in a zoom session with the presence of people interested in the event. It is clear that this is more a work of cultural diffusion.

It should also be noted that artists in Ecuador are using Instagram and Facebook, turning these networks into a kind of virtual gallery. In some cases, through these means, the inclusion of our work in international galleries has been achieved. And this is a positive development achieved precisely at this time of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the press has been of little help in the dissemination of art. The media (newspapers, magazines and television), with few exceptions, are more attentive to politics and what gives them a higher and more immediate rating. Unfortunately, art does not.

In regards to the teaching of the arts, which is another topic, but which is linked to the cultural evolution of my country, I must point out that there are several universities that connect students with the arts in their curriculum. Perhaps the oldest is the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Central University, which is a continuation of what was the School of Fine Arts of Quito (capital city), founded in 1904.

A few years ago the University of the Arts was founded in the city of Guayaquil, as a higher educational institution that aims to generate a transformation of the new paradigm of my country. In the initial process it was essential to anchor the conceptual frameworks and pedagogical frameworks that crystallize the university institutionality in all its components.The determination of the conceptual framework sought to overcome the supreme conception of art or "great art" by nullifying and subordinating non-Western popular or ancestral cultures. In the case of Ecuador, there is a wide variety of non-articulated cultural movements, which have nevertheless generated this critical position vis-à-vis the arts. In any case, this University tends to create links with the community. 

From this perspective, important challenges are assumed, such as training professionals in the arts with full mastery of their field, critical thinking and transforming social awareness; It has also set out to be an art broadcaster, with international projection.The third most important city in my country is Cuenca, located to the south, and which has a Faculty of Arts and also more local museums. But this city has an important milestone and it is the Painting Biennial, which has already become a benchmark for art, as it has been incorporating new actors, from different countries of the world, raising awareness on crucial issues of contemporary life.

In any case, at the present time both educational institutions, as well as museums and galleries are closed, with few exceptions, and we hope that gradually, towards the end of the year, things will return to a certain normality in the art development. But it is clear that social networks and digital media are already part of the artistic development in my country.

Miguel Betancourt

From inside the cell of art in Corona Prison

What awaits art in the Middle East ........!!!!!!?

Introduction

The countries of the world witnessed a state of turmoil and confusion as a result of the outbreak of the Corona epidemic that affected all political, economic and social life activities. So that the literature, art, theater, singing, culture, education, sports and media sectors take their share as a result of imposing health conditions, and for the requirements of prevention, (social distancing) was one of the most important influences imposed on individuals' gatherings.

Accordingly, all activities of these creative sectors were canceled, restricted and postponed from presenting their literary, artistic, theatrical, cinematic, sports, book and art shows and festivals And to further notice, and because these areas in which creativity and display of their masterpieces cannot be presented in isolation from what is happening around their surroundings; By the fact that their actions are nothing but reactions to urgent changes occurring in the world and its environment by the effect and influence that appear in its characteristics from these fields is art.

Influenced by art

Certainly, the field of art has been greatly affected by that pandemic, at a time when art was a link between different peoples and a means of understanding the other and bringing them closer together through international exhibitions, events and conferences, through convergence and association, so we were surprised by this pandemic that calls for divergence .........

Shock

Creative domains live the reality of (trauma) as all of the earth's societies live. Reactions that may not appear evident in their innovations presented at this stage until the concepts produced by the effects of the (Corona) pandemic on (the international system) and what it will bring about and what will happen in terms of societal and political changes that will take place.

Then - inevitably - it will have actual reflections, emotions, actions and reactions that determine the features of the trends and methods developed in the nature of the (art and literature) creative movement associated with these changes, because any reading of the history of (art and literature) will find that the creative movements that exploded through (modern schools of art) It is the result of social, political and economic changes. Which came as a result of the (Industrial Revolution) that exploded in the (Enlightenment) in the middle (seventeenth century) and beyond; Which had a prominent role in bringing about radical changes in the international system, so artists, writers and creators rebelled against the old methods of (art and literature) and created concepts and kept up with urbanization and its aspirations with multiple art schools and schools of thought.

Inevitably, what will happen from the changes that will occur in the (international system) that is living today the reality of the (psychological trauma) of the (Corona) pandemic. The scene of peoples' lives was confused and afflicted by a kind of stalemate and paralysis affecting the core of their social facilities, after the public life of all human societies on our planet entered the circle of voluntary and compulsory preventive quarantine, and this is what led the creators to (isolation) to devote themselves to contemplation and to analyze what is happening around them of the manifestations Get used to it.

To establish in him strange social behaviors imposed by (preventive social distancing), to show in all (societies) a culture alien to the natures that had been entrenched in the minds of man, societies and human civilization. As this culture reflected psychological trauma. Creative people will wake up from it with creations that reflect this bitter reality in various fields of life. To create (modernist) expressions from them that will change many concepts (art and literature) and will be renewed and will add to them with the reflections of the scenes of the catastrophic crisis that befell humankind with the (Corona) pandemic, considering (art and literature) a reflection of the variables.

Repercussions of the Corona pandemic in the Middle East

In the year 2020, all artistic events and literary forums in the region were suspended, which negatively affected the cultural movement .... It is clear that the widespread cancellation of concerts, film festivals and art exhibitions has destroyed the Arab cultural agenda for 2020 and perhaps the following year.

Cancel or suspend live events

The season is usually busy with artistic events, with dialogues, art galleries, exhibitions and biennales taking place. But events such as the Sharjah Annual Meeting in March, the first Jeddah Film Festival and Art Dubai have been canceled, postponed or reformatted hastily as digital-only events as the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic becomes clear.

Likewise, book releases and author tours have been canceled due to travel restrictions. This year's events have been canceled, and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair has been postponed, ...........

Virtual exhibitions

For musicians and artists, concerts have taken over the internet as artists set up live sessions on Instagram to help boost morale.

For the visual arts, the artists deal with the question of what that might mean for their work and long-term careers as both commercial and exhibition opportunities have been postponed, or canceled altogether. A potential sales shortfall is at the core of many artists' concerns, and galleries run the risk of not being able to cover necessary expenses such as rent due to being forced to close for the time being. On the popular level, life paths remain unchanged.

Some institutions and galleries have created new opportunities for viewing exhibitions, and converting their websites into online exhibition platforms. By adding some necessary entertainment and fun

Influenced by the economic movement of art.

Since its outbreak, the Corona virus continues to wreak havoc in the global economy until it paralyzed it, as it has obstructed production, supply and air transport across the world, weakened global demand, isolated countries and placed them under quarantine, and others under curfew, and hit the financial, aviation, transport and tourism sectors with heavy losses.

The sudden economic turmoil caused by the new coronavirus is devastating, for example, the field of art is an indicator of the losses that hit the economic sectors, there will be no booming sales of art in economically suffering societies, which negatively affects the artist and the artistic production.

Uncertainty

Despite this, the state of "uncertainty" spoils the global economic scenarios in 2021, according to experts in the economic field, where experts agreed, that "the conditions the world is going through are abnormal and unusual conditions, neither of our generations nor previous generations have lived with the problem of restriction." The economy, the arts and the citizen movement, "explaining that" the movement of citizens and consumption is what drives and moves art, and therefore when the closure occurred in 2020, there was a significant decline in artistic output. "

Art and literature spring from the womb of crises, suffering, wars and epidemics.

Art and literature that emerges from the womb of crises, suffering, wars and epidemics is a committed art and literature that expresses its distinction and creativity for the human psyche in which the windows of life open to nourish humanity's sense of this overflowing spirit with transcendence to alleviate human suffering and enhance self-hope to overcome difficulties and build the future with strength of will, confrontation and awareness. Individuals and society with the crises and events that occur around the world, and this is the message of art and literature, especially at this stage in which the Corona epidemic is spreading, which kills millions of human lives.

That the creators of artistic, literary, cultural and intellectual works have influences, capabilities, skills, technology and tools. They may exploit it to spread awareness and precautionary methods to prevent the Corona epidemic or from the rest of the deadly epidemics. By presenting topics with expressions that suggest to the recipient the extent of the cruelty of the epidemic, the brutality of death and its ghost that clouded human societies. And such works, although we had previously sought their cruelty in immortal works immortalized by artists and writers pioneering in the way our civilization has known and lived through the ages, such as the tragedies left by the plague, tuberculosis and cholera, and the literary and artistic creative movements embodied those tragedies with immortal works and masterpieces. As her creative works fed those tragic topics into works and creations, as art and literature were affected by those disasters as a source from which literature and art nourished.

And with their effects, many artistic and literary movements were created that expressed the truth of those events, and which are those works that were presented in the field of literature and art as a documentation of those painful stages that passed through human history.

With the preservation of many of those events that were immortalized in the works of artists for those stages of history replete with creativity related to the depth of society's issues and which are still vibrating with these events so that those looking for them can receive them with emotion and great influence in the soul for the sincerity of their topics and the manner of their presentation Because these works genuinely expressed reality, and were not superficial. Because what is not addressed with feelings and sincere expression will disappear with the passing of time, the passage of the crisis, and the disappearance of the event; Because art and literature did not crystallize comprehensible except through documentation and daily facts of conflicts, plagues, wars and victories.

Thus, art and literature have documented these events since ancient times, and we have sought this in monuments, cave drawings, sculptures, stone embodiments, and digital writings written on clay tablets. Since these methods were an expressive language for that stage, so that the relationship of art and literature continues to document and record events and crises through the ages, as was the case for the Assyrian civilization with their wonderful sculptures, statues, drawings and literary writings written in cuneiform on clay tablets, expressing everything that happened in their era.

The same is true of the Pharaonic, Greek and Roman civilizations, and art and literature continued in various stages of ancient, modern and contemporary history, monitoring events, epidemics and battles. So that what has been documented in the history of literature and the arts is the best witness to what has passed in history of events that have been documented in various literary and artistic expressions.

Today, that same scenario is being repeated even though the effects of the economic situation have negatively affected artistic, literary, theatrical and cinematic activities. Therefore, the imam of contemporary creators in this epidemic stage of Corona only discovered the virtual world via the Internet in order to express their feelings and frustration following the outbreak of the deadly Corona epidemic; Which led to the massive closure of all areas of life on our planet.

That is why the creators turned to a different form from what we used to see or read through the previous stages of history, so the interface of the creators in the world of art and literature was to breathe through the Internet, as this technological world provided large space spaces that exceeded the limits of the great closure, enabling artists and writers to break the state of paralysis and stagnation left by the pandemic Corona in the artistic, literary, cultural, educational and educational circles, and a gradual return to activity through the virtual world (the Internet) and social networking sites; Although the works presented in the field of art and literature did not result in that feeling emanating from the consciousness and inner conscience of the terrified man about the epidemic that we have seen in the works of ancient art and literature following the spread of epidemics, but it is certain that the creators still live under the state of psychological trauma left by the Corona pandemic in societies, Because art and literature cannot - in any way - separate their reality from the reality of societies, their pain and their tragedies. Because literature and art are nothing but a translation of feelings and the language of human feelings that provide us with and increase our awareness, awareness and clarity and give us a deep understanding of all things that surround us, and that is why literature and art are worlds that deal with everything in life that affects human feelings and feelings;

Therefore works of literature and art come from these depths and are executed at the same depths through realistic expression expressing self-sincerity and feelings towards humanity to achieve the greatest degree of balance between motives, desires, feelings and reason. That is, between form and substance.

Because artists and writers strike a balance between freedom and responsibility. Not being stripped of moral and social responsibility for what they provide; Thinking, will, feeling and feelings are what lead us to the beauty in which the content resides in the authenticity of the meaning presented with splendor.

Mahmoud Elkouriny

Good Evening to you all, Ladies and Gentlemen.

My name is Miabo Enyadike, a fine artist, an art lifestyle blogger and a workshop instructor.

I am from Nigeria but presently I reside in Johannesburg South Africa,where I live with my husband and Kids, so I am fortunate to practice my art in both my country Nigeria and South Africa. I am pleased to be here and be part of this ecosystem of artists at this time.  

As an Artist with an experience of over 28 years in the profession, this last year was a really trying year for Artists especially in my continent.But I will narrow it down to Nigeria where I am from and practise my art profession also. The artists in Nigeria were hit hard, they experienced a change in attitude from collectors who demanded half the prices for their works and huge debts and bills that had to be paid in order to sustain their creativity kept mounting, this made a lot of artists to sell their art for nothing just to survive.

 But what was most striking was the turn to the internet to buy art. That took a lot of artists in my country by surprise because as the galleries and collectors were buying at low prices from them directly, they realized they could make better sales from online galleries, exhibitions and websites. Their only problem though was the fees they had to pay. Those who were able to pay participation fees saw a means to an end.

This ignited a flurry of new art websites and a lot of Nigerian older artists joined social media, 

It was daunting for them initially but the results from what I gathered has been good. They have connected via the internet to artists, art galleries and collectors alike within the country, the continent and the world raking in cash that would have been difficult to get by just sending their works to brick and mortar galleries, who were also suffering during the lock down. 

So the pandemic has its good and bad sides regarding the Nigerian Artists, we can only hope that things will change and improve for the best

About Romania and art in Romania, in short

Romania, located in Europe, is a country with cultural characteristics deeply rooted in the European cultural tradition.

The data regarding the geographical position of Romania are taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania “Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It shares land borders with Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east and has its opening to the Black Sea.

It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate. With a total area of 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi), Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union, having approximately 19.3 million inhabitants (as of 2020). Its capital and largest city is Bucharest. Other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Constanta, Craiova, Brasov, and Galati. The Danube River, Europe’s second-longest river, rises in Germany’s Black Forest and flows in a generally southeasterly direction for 2,857 km (1,775 mi), coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romania’s Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from north to southwest, include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft).

Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. ”

Romania after 1989, out of the communist regime, begins to develop in terms of the situation of contemporary art at a level aligned with international standards.

In today's Romania we meet a Museum of Contemporary Art, private galleries that participate in international art fairs, there are art biennials, national and international, contemporary art centers. There are several auction houses. National and international art exhibitions are organized.

There is still UAPR, the Union of Visual Artists in Romania, with headquarters in all major cities in the country, with workshops and exhibition galleries for artists.

The private galleries that participate more often in international fairs are Andreiana Mihail, Ivan, Anaid, Posibila, H'art, 2Meta (all from Bucharest), Zorzini Gallery and Plan B in Cluj, inaugurated in 2005, with another headquarters opened in 2008 in Berlin, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Berlin.

The artists from the Brush Factory from Cluj-Napoca are internationally recognized, for example Ciprian Mureșan, Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin, Mircea Cantor, Adrian Ghenie and others. See also

https://anamariaonisei.ro/top-20-de-galerii-de-arta-bucurestene-pe-care-trebuie-sa-le-descoperi/ According to the MNAC website https://www.mnac.ro/text/76/COLEC%C8%9AIA/6 we quote from the site the following “the exhibition Seeing the history 1947 - 2007 is designed as an open platform for presentation, analysis and debate , made on the principles of collective curatorship and destined for a continuous transformation through the accumulation of knowledge.

The history of contemporary art in Romania is revisited in an exhibition discourse that puts on the same plane the documentary and the artistic dimension, the production of cultural object and the context in which it took place in the permanent exhibition of the MNAC collection ”see video- Seeing History 1947 -2007, located on the first floor of the museum.

https://ibn.idsi.md/sites/default/files/imag_file/85_89_Piata%20de%20arta%20contemporana%20din%20Romania%20si%20problemele%20ei.pdf

In Romania, the contemporary art market is young, it is developing progressively, better and better every year. “The Romanian art market represents a complex system, in which the activity in the field of art has a commercial character. This is a relatively new sector of the domestic economy, the main elements of which are: galleries, art salons, specialized publications, etc.

The Romanian art market, although it has remarkable results, is still in an emerging stage. This is considered to be a young market, and its horizon opened up a lot, especially in the years after the Revolution. In recent years, new galleries, auction houses, museums, new collectors have appeared. The emergence of private auction houses has a completely positive role. Thus, the art market in Romania is no longer the same as it was twenty years ago.

Museums, promotion galleries, art dealers and auction houses play important roles in the delicate process of setting fair quotas and prices for artists. ” (according to the article Romanian Art Market and its Problems, Dr. O. Percinschi, Scientific Journal No. 1-2016) See https://ibn.idsi.md/sites/default/files/imag_file/85_89_Piata%20de%20arta% 20contemporana% 20din% 20Romania% 20si% 20problemele% 20ei.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania

https://ibn.idsi.md/sites/default/files/imag_file/85_89_Piata%20de%20arta%20contemporana%20din%20Romania%20si%20problemele%20ei.pdf

http://revistaarta.ro/ro/column/mapand-arta-contemporana-romaneasca/

https://artavizuala21.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/arta-romaneasca-contemporana/

https://revistacultura.ro/nou/2010/12/scurta-privire-asupra-artei-romanesti-contemporane-dupa-2000/

Andreea Rus

Turkish Art, (History) 

The Turks, who lived in Central Asia and are one of the most rooted nations in history, have a history dating back to 5000 years. Turks, whose basic means of income are livestock, have climbed to high plateaus in the summer due to the extreme heat of the region they live in and the lack of sufficient water and pastures.

As a result of this lifestyle, the Turks, who adorn the tents they carry with them, the riders and harnesses they regularly use, leather belts, weapons, textile and metal goods, have created a unique sense of art.

Turkish painting is composed of wall paintings and miniatures, which are stylized depictions in terms of color, space and perspective, made with traditional techniques until the 19th century. In this period, the desire to live in the Western style, which intensified in parallel with the developments in the economic, political, social and military fields in the Ottoman Empire, also had its effect on the art of painting. 

Artists  who were sent to Paris by the School of Fine Arts, and Namık İsmail, who went with their own means, had to return with the beginning of the First World War. These painters have been named as "14th Generation", "Çallı Generation" or "Turkish Impressionists" in Turkish painting history.  The 14th Generation brought impressionism to Turkish painting when they returned from Europe.

Some painters  who grew up in Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu Atelier, founded the " 10's Group" in 1947. After opening their first exhibitions in the academy halls in 1946, they were supported by a wide audience and aimed to benefit from the values of both Western and Eastern art and reach a new synthesis. The group argued that Turkish painting, which had a strong place in the art of painting until 1955, should be composed of carpets, miniatures, embroidery and Turkish motifs that belong to our own. 

 The first examples of abstract painting in Turkey coincided with the 1950s. Painting works adopting the social realism with the acceleration of social and political change in Turkey after 1950 has been started. The painters depicted the suffering life of the Anatolian people living under difficult economic and social conditions with exaggerated bodies and expressions

 The general style character of Turkish painting in the 1960’s was shaped within the framework of abstract art movements. The artists, who took part in these abstract movements that were active in the 1960s, developed their own understanding of figure and presented a dialectical understanding different from the processes of styles in Europe. This understanding, which will be further dimensioned with new trends during the 1970s, paved the way for the Turkish official modernization to continue in line with the era. 

The new figurative painting is announcing itself as individual exits. The new figure interpretation, which was handled by Turkish painters in the 1960s, started to reach its full expression  by opposing traditional values. This trend has shown its development in two directions. These are expressionist - surrealist narration and social critical realist narration. New figurative artists work in style differences.

Today in Turkey are  especially contemporary art events in the big cities Ankara, İzmir and   Istanbul . Made every year and repeated this year for the 7th time "Ankara Art Fair" is the most comprehensive contemporary art events in Anatolia .. The "Istanbul Biennial", which is repeated every 4 years in Istanbul, and the "Istanbul Art Fair", "Istanbul Contemporary", which are repeated every year, are the most important events that can be given in this category.   

The seeds of Istanbul Modern were laid in 1987, at the 1st International Contemporary Art Exhibitions, today's International Istanbul Biennial. The founder of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı took action to establish a permanent modern art museum in Istanbul. After a long search, Feshane, which was an industrial area of the 19th century in the Golden Horn, was transformed into a contemporary art museum. 

Senol Sak

Art during the pandemic

We are in a situation undoubtedly unprecedented, in the practice of our art as in the development of our daily life. I think any situation unprecedented, breaks our spotting, especially if it lasts over time as it does.

We are starting to wonder how we could live otherwise ... since the way we have lived has brought us to the present situation.

What almost inevitably happens to us when we conclude that things must change, that we will no longer be able to experience how before, that the "world after" must be different. Different, sure, but how should it be?

I think most of us have made discoveries and finds in this period of isolation, to stay in the workshop, to reflect ... that we have improved our know-how because we are artists and creation is the heart of our profession.

We have used the massive means of computer communication to show our works, to put us in touch with each other, at least with those who we share the same ideals. Let's develop them, let's make the distance geographical is no longer the obstacle that was before. That the money needed for a long journey is no longer an obstacle to presenting his work at an exhibition, that our meetings can be carried out, like this one, that our lessons, our writings, can arrive at the most modest of artists. We are not rich in money, but we are very rich in inventiveness, it is our job to create. 

Let's rise to the challenge.

Béatrice Rodaro