TAKING A STEP BACK / September 2019
I am writing you to let you know that I have decided to take a step back from visual art.
It seemed necessary for me to explain you why as your support has made you a part of my practice. I am thankful you’ve desired to live with my artworks. And I am thankful if you supported my art practice in any other way. Be assured that I will never stop being an artist and this decision is not definitive. I have reached a point where I must acknowledge that Contemporary Art does not agree with me. I need to take the necessary time away from it all in order to reassess my artistic goals.
Subtly, slowly and surreptitiously, the original force that had pushed and inspired me since the beginning is vanishing. As years have gone by, after endless encounters, exhibitions, statements, residencies, diners, studio visits, interventions, conferences, art fairs, openings, in various museums, cities and countries, along with collectors, artists, gallerists, writers and all the other protagonists participating in that constant stream that embodies Contemporary Art as an industry, my fire has been put out.
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I initially choose to embrace my desire to make visual art because I deeply connected with the idea of “visual poetry”, a language of form and signs, essentially different from verbal language. But also because I encountered people like you who shared a similar vision and appreciation for such aesthetic research. At the same time I was also interested in the necessary bond between visual art and the words that describe it. I wanted to make Visual Art with a deep friendship with Philosophy.
I did not worry about making “salable” artworks because the very idea of art as merchandise was foreign to everything I believed. I genuinely wanted to break new ground and valued singularity over every other quality. Now I see how naïve it was for me to think that I would be able to undertake this kind of research and reach enough success to carry on. My goal was to try and at least earn enough to continue to grow and make better artworks. I didn’t understand the art industry and it worked in my favor for a time. I dove blindly into it, driven solely by an unimpeded urge to create. On the longer run though, it burned me out.
1. My artistic career now has little to do with art.
Seven years and ten solo exhibitions later, my life as a visual artist has burned-out somewhere in the Spring of 2019. I could not afford to make art anymore as I needed to maintain an absurd time-management system: I was spending 30% of my time writing applications, statements and prepare speech about the artworks I had already made or the ones I wanted to make in the future. Another 30% was spent whoring around in the endless stream of international art events in an attempt to “grow my network” so I could find new opportunities. And I had no choice but to also allocate 30% to search and execute side jobs in order to pay for food and rent when I couldn’t sell any artwork. Which left 10% of actual research and art making. Only a heartbreaking 10%...
2. The structure of the art industry is at the disadvantage of unrecognized artists.
Art does not sell itself, people do. And when you are not your own dealer, you have to rely on someone else. That’s where things become complicated. The art gallery system is structured against unrecognized contemporary artists. Only the best galleries have a real tangible access to the market. So that was ruled out because so early in my career I am logically not “recognized”.
I thus had to show my work in lower tier galleries where the system is very simple: you work for free to create artworks during 4+ months for a 1 to 4 weeks exhibition in the hopes that the gallery will sell your work. If they do, you take half of the profit but if they don’t, then you have technically been unemployed for 5 months while still having to pay rent and basic life needs. Since they are in the lower tier, they are not well connected and have limited resources. And nobody who could bring you to the higher tier will see your work. Furthermore because nothing really incentivize the dealer/gallery to actually work on selling your work, they often mostly rely on you to bring collectors where they basically hijack half of your profits as glorified real estate landlords… And if you don’t have any exhibitions, you can’t even hope for any growth as no one outside your own circle will ever see what you do…
I have met so many talented, original and brilliant artists that are out there, lost in this vicious cycle, barely making ends meet…
3. My work does not fit the leading narratives in Contemporary Art today.
I must accept that what I do is not in the zeitgeist. I am neither a formalist painter nor I am trying to “raise awareness” on political inequality. The conspicuous consumption aspect of Contemporary Art appalls me. A painting by Kaws is now more expensive than a large sculpture by Robert Smithson! (May 2019). If you are familiar with Smithson’s artworks and writings and the role they play in Art History, you know this new order of value is not anecdotal. As for the other end of the spectrum, I do not believe that having a political statement accompanying your artwork is enough to be celebrated by every institution.
The result is this improbable confusion where a visual artwork isn’t seen, criticized and judged for its phenomenal singularity. What is taken in consideration however is either how much it sold for or how its author’s statement and biography fits a larger moral narrative against inequalities and injustice. The great problem is that instead of the artwork itself, the amateur hears and judges the commercial pedigree or the verbose message presented alongside…
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So I am writing you to let you know I am taking a step back from visual art and like we say in French, “ce n’est qu’un au revoir” (it’s only a good bye), definitely not a farewell.
To quote Marcel Duchamp: “the great man of tomorrow in the way of art cannot be seen, should not be seen, and should go underground.”
Thank you for your everlasting support, I hope you will understand this decision and I wish we can hang soon.
Alexis
PS: This letter was sent to all who have supported me in any way over the last 7 years.
