The idea of consumption was one I never thought of much until the last few years. When I was a young single woman in Florida, shopping was a hobby, a large part of the culture. Since marrying Mr. F and traveling throughout the Northwest ( which forces us to live with few belongings, no room for recreational shopping! ), my eyes have opened to a different kind of life. In his work, New York artist Peter Vahlefeld speaks to rampant consumerism and its effect on the world of art, pages torn from auction house catalogs and museum ephemera become the canvas upon which he unleashes unbridled swaths and splatters of color.
Art for art’s sake has always been a popular, if somewhat impractical notion. After all, artists need food, shelter, and clothing as much as anyone else. As much as art feeds the soul, it can’t fill a hungry belly. So, of course, artists must sell their work. But when is the line crossed into losing the soul of an artist? When the impetus behind making becomes selling and marketing? What of the “collectors” buying at auction and reselling, not for the love of the work, but simply to make a profit? And the popular personalities selling themselves as artists, creating mediocre work that is gobbled up by their “followers”, simply because a fashion magazine proclaimed it as special?
These are the questions that as an art blogger and fledgling painter that I struggle with. When does one become a sell out in order to sell?
To see more of Peter Vahlefeld‘s work, please visit his website, cleverly marketed with an address similar to a popular celebrity. Touche, sir.
All images are via the artist’s website.
