The cuts to the art industry is one of the most short-sighted acts of vandalism in recent years. With bleak prospects for graduates, what support can art students look to?
Google search results can be scary. See also: uncertain career paths, shaky prospects, and a vague idea of life after art school. After accumulating years of arduous study of art, history, and much of Foucault, art students enter a workforce that doesn’t always appreciate the curation of heterotopias, but would rather appreciate the extra foam on their cappuccino. Occupying Starbucks, the art students’ attitudes turn as bitter as the coffee they’re hired to make.
The landscape art graduates encounter is not one that Theresa May would find strong or stable. It’s on shaky ground, and not many institutions are grappling with the art graduate issue. In 2016, only 69.1% of fine art graduates got a job. Said jobs were mainly retail, catering and a rather sinister ‘other’ category. This is as worrying as it is important. These statistics make a powerful and convincing argument for the precarious situation of graduates. Is studying Herodotus something we should be paying people for? Currently, he is a no. The cultural work that graduates can offer is restricted, discarded and erased by non-artistic circles. The (mis)treatment of art graduates is a sign that something is wrong with the way certain societies position the arts.
Upcoming artists are crucial to keeping things fresh. While we pay for these practices a certain amount of Instagram advertising and postage, clicks and actions will not pay rent. Art institutions are crucial in providing platforms and forums for the curation of new and promising art modes. But some of these may be arcane, leaving art studios struggling to exoterically explain their art. The university faculties take refuge in niches. While this allows students to navigate the specifics, the outside world neglects it.
Art award schemes can give graduates an opportunity beyond the white walls of the university to express themselves. The variety and vibrancy of schemes such as the BP Portrait Award, the Frieze Artist Award and the Sunny Art Prize provide ways for upcoming artists to be recognized globally. When Art was included in Forbes’ list of the 10 worst college majors across the pond, the need for healthy art exchanges is more necessary than ever.
Over 2,557 artists from 80 countries applied for the BP Portrait Award in 2016. The judging panel selected 53 artists and saw their still lifes come to life at the National Portrait Gallery. So when only 2% of the artists who enter find their selected work and compete for £30,000, the program provides a critical platform for portraiture; a possibly dying medium. Divorcing themselves from strict figuration, the portraits range from tactile finger-painted pieces to photorealistic methods. The commissioned works come to form an exhibition that represents the diversity, creativity and vision of contemporary portraiture. The contest carries the prestige capable of changing the life of an emerging artist.
Discarding the portrait, we find spatial arrangements that prove the idea of the site in the Frieze Artist Award. The competition allows emerging artists to make a major commission at Frieze London. The site-specific works are ambitious and often question the concepts of digital media, video, and sculpture and the methods in which these can find relief. Previous winners range from Yuri Pattison’s navigation of the self as data through networked data systems, Rachel Rose’s layers of communication and sensory perception, and Mélaine Metranga’s leisurely negotiation of emotional and economic exchanges in a series of videos and a coffee shop on site. facilities. Produced under the direction of the Frieze Projects team, the award is budgeted at up to £20,000.
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is one of the largest open exhibitions in the world. The panoramic scope of the exhibition illustrates the pluriformity of art. In operation since 1769, the Summer Exhibition is open to all artists and hangs everything that’s happening on the art scene within its palatial walls. Both new and established artists can enter, and with prizes worth £50,000, it’s a peak in the whimsical realm of contemporary art.
Organized by the Sunny Art Centre, the Sunny Art Prize creates a transnational space for art from around the world to come together. The institution aims to exhibit most of today’s fine art, from two-dimensional paintings to three-dimensional sculptures. Crafting a mundane grammar through art, the competitions see the art of London, Beijing, Guangzhou and Macau represented and articulated to a wider audience. Cash prizes (with up to £3,000 for first prize) are on offer along with a public solo exhibition at the Sunny Art Center and a month-long residency along with a show at its partner galleries.
Visibility is key to art. It is a language not of stillness, but of robust dialogue. He refuses to shut up. The art has been influenced with superficial associations, which means that the culture has been obfuscated. Perceptions of art have been lost, so the sooner we find relief in art, the sooner we will see art graduates as more than just future baristas.