Creative Capitalism

creative capitalism on Prezi.
Art has always been synonymous with creativity and dare I say, rebellion. It is a gleam into everyday life, a representation of heartache or perseverance, or even a stab at politics. The exigence of art lies in its roots of ingenuity, promoting a need for change. Whether this change is great or minuscule, artists create pieces to influence their audience. The monthly “Art Walk” on Santa Fe Street is a rich environment full of a diverse crowd and eclectic galleries of art. Hundreds of paintings are open to the public for a once-a-month free viewing, complete with incentives like crackers and wine. Artists of the pieces stand next to them explaining their motives, persuading their audience on the exigence of the piece.
Although this exigence could be for some creative purpose, the people who attend the art walk morph into consumers. The word ‘consumer’ has its own connotation to it; an audience rooted in the economy. This is not to say that every individual who attended the event’s sole intent was to buy art, but as a collective group, they are perceived as a mass pool of possible purchasers. Suddenly, people turn into nothing more than walking checkbooks. This mentality by the sellers is upheld through the different themes of each gallery and the different pricing of each painting. For an audience to be a rhetorical audience, they must be capable of change. In the instance of the art walk, the audience can change the quantity of paintings sold, and therefore, each gallery’s profit margin. So while the audience for a particular painting and the audience for the art walk are the same in a physical sense, the differences in their purposes for the two make the difference in the rhetorical situation.
Besides the exigence and audience of the art walk, the constraints of the setting also add to the rhetoric of the situation. Constraints are factors that can change the situation or the outcome of the situation by affecting the exigence of it. It seems that in the instance of the art walk, the real constraint is that of a budget constraint. Each person who attends the art walk has a certain budget and therefore they affect the outcome, or how many pieces a particular gallery sells that night.
The United States is famous for waltzing in the flourishing dynamic of capitalism. The foundation of this country, capitalism is the source of that “American dream” and that “free enterprise” is indeed the best. When the words, “capitalism” or a “free market” are mentioned, the Mona Lisa isn’t often the very next image to appear into a person’s mind. Juxtaposing art to a competitive market might be a stretch, but the art walk seems to combine the two worlds perfectly. In economics, the Law of Supply and Law of Demand are the basis for a free market economy. Through incentives (say, some red wine and crackers) consumers are given reasoning for making a particular investment. So while the art exhibited in the event may be produced as a form of expression, the art walk is rooted in America’s go-to solution—profit.
A particular gallery in the art walk, the Sandra Phillips Gallery, is a perfect example of the open battle between art and profit. The gallery is composed of the old and new world, with its breathtaking old architecture and modern appeal. The art contained in the gallery includes everything from contemporary paintings, to sculptures and prints. Through all of these different elements, the gallery creates the look of a high-end, professional environment, set up to convince all possible buyers. During the art walk, this particular gallery’s vendors were dressed in all-black, business attire. This detail alone made the Sandra Phillips Gallery stand out, all because of a simple business detail that it exposed. It seems that business suits aren’t saved for just the office, just as art isn’t only saved for coffee shops.
There is great exigence in the set-up of this particular gallery, as it does not hide the fact that they are trying to sell, not just display. The gallery also shows a very eclectic showcase of art. This kind of diversity equates into a much broader audience. By creating this broader audience, more consumers are attracted to the art and therefore, more money is made. It’s important to note that this “business” environment of the Sandra Phillips gallery still has its constraints. For people whose main goal is to only view the art, the business environment works against the gallery. The business setting of a gallery makes an obvious difference in the profit trends of the gallery.
Capitalistic or creative or both, the art walk provides a new thought into the world of our imagination and our economic savvy. So while a particular art piece may “speak to me,” I’m going to go a different route and say that “money talks” a bit more.

The Prezi presentation above is a my more sarcastic take on art in all of it’s capitalistic glory. I chose to make a Prezi presentation because it’s an “unlimited” canvas; this creates the feel of a “walk” through the pictures that I chose. My hope in making this presentation was to give my viewers their own “art walk,” in a more unconventional style. I grouped the pictures by the three different elements that make up a rhetorical situation: exigence, audience, and constraints. In the first grouping of exigence, I chose various pictures that all show the importance of money. One of the pictures in this grouping is a cartoon that shows how art is in reality, just a visual representation of money. Much like this one picture is a hyperbole, the entire presentation is meant to be a sarcastic exaggeration of the rhetorical situation.
The next grouping, audience, was made to be very eclectic. In my paper I discuss that one of the purposes of art galleries are to be appealing to a very diverse audience. So while Hillary Clinton might not ever walk the streets of Santa Fe, even she can be a consumer. I chose to include a clown in this grouping because while it may not seem like it at first glance, even clowns have money and are therefore also considered “walking checkbooks.” I also included a clown because believe it or not, I witnessed a clown buying an expensive painting at the Santa Fe art walk I attended—not what you expected? I know, I didn’t either.
The final grouping shown in the Prezi presentation is that of constraints. As I previously mentioned, the constraints of this rhetorical situation are the individual budget constraints of each person. I chose to display economical graphs to emphasize this idea. The art parodies that follow the constraints were chosen to add the element of sarcasm. Art is often seen as serious, and the pieces that I chose are meant to give you a second thought and maybe even a laugh. Many of them are parodies of famous paintings like Munch’s The Scream and Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory. In including these paintings (along with some political pictures) my hope is that art is seen for more than just something to look at. Look at the hidden meaning, even if this is the capitalistic gain made from producing them. Hopefully by going through my “art walk” you analyze art a bit differently, always keeping the not-so-obvious rhetorical situation in mind.