The national Business Review
15 april 2009
Arts scene top 100
John Daly-Peoples | Wednesday April 15 2009
Seen This Century, 100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists by Warwick Brown
Random House RRP $55.00
Most books about art tell you who the famous artists were. Warwick Brown’s new book Seen This Century tells you who are going to be the future famous artists.
The author has gone out on one of the art historical limbs with his list of one hundred artists who have come to prominence since the turn of the century and who he thinks have potential.
The artists he has chosen are all exploring new territories, some with strong links to the art of the past, others evolving out of popular culture while others are new and innovative.
For most people the artists he has chosen will unknown names. For those more involved with the arts many of the names will be familiar but in this national survey there will be few people who have seen work by all the artists.
The author has tackled this naming of one hundred artists as a sort of research topic and follows on from his two previous books, 100 New Zealand Paintings (1995) and Another 100 New Zealand Artists (1996).
He has trawled through galleries and exhibitions and whittled down the one hundred from several hundred potential listers.
He notes in his introduction that he has not included “traditional artists (landscape, portraits still life, illustrative, decorative etc)” nor has he included ”performance and video/DVD art, craft art … public sculpture, ephemeral installations and works of interest to specialists.”
While most of the artists are born in the 1970’s there is quite a broad range of ages from Kristin Hollis (born 1942) to Alexander Bartleet (born 1985).
In his previous books the artists had good credentials; several solo shows, several reviews, catalogues, grants and awards. They had all the things that go towards identifying successful artists.
With this new selection the artists range in their level of success. While some have only had the occasional show with hardly any reviews or critical mentions others such as Sara Hughes and Darren Glass have built major international careers.
The book also has a subtitle “A Collectors Guide” which reinforces the idea that this is not record of the artists who have made it but rather those who are early on in their careers.
This does not make the book some sort of bible however. It is one of the many tools that collectors and investors might use in association with other information to make considered judgments on the worth or desirability of an artists work.
It could have been subtitled “An Investors Guide” and used for that purpose. However looking back at the authors book Another 100 New Zealand Artists there are probably only 50% of those artists who’s work has made significant gains in the resale and auction markets over the past ten years.
So if one were to use this book as a guide to good investment one would take the same approach as with a share portfolio, choosing a dozen or more artists and buying a selection of their work with the probability of five or six getting good returns within the next ten years.
So is this is a well researched group of artists or just a random selection.
I think he’s got it pretty right and it is in line with the artists of promise I have come in the last decade as a reviewer and curator.
I have included twenty six of the artists who are in the book in several exhibitions and award selections. Last years Team McMillan BMW Emerging Artists Awards featured twelve of these artists with Alexander Bartleet winning the award. I have also acquired works by eleven of the artists and written about a number of them.
This is a book which will greatly expand the current knowledge of artists and the range of art practices being undertaken at present in New Zealand. It also demonstrates that New Zealand art has an amazing degree of innovation and integrity
