Masterpiece in the Subway, Trash in the Museum
"Words matter. Artists love to trot out the tired line, 'My work speaks
for itself,' but the truth is, our work doesn't speak for itself" -
Austin Kleon
The Power of Context
In the book The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, one of Gladwell's
observations is that humans act very differently toward the same inputs
in different situations.
In other words, context matters.
Here's a dramatic example of how context matters: A few years ago an
experiment was staged with world-class violinist, Joshua Bell, who,
fresh from a performance at the Library of Congress with the Boston
Symphony, panhandled for free during the morning rush at a Washington
Metro station. Of the thousand-odd passersby, only a few stopped, or
even paused, to listen.
Watch a video of Bell's fascinating performance:
Video Link
Joshua Bell Playing in the Metro Station
What happens when we take one of the world's finest musicians, who
normally makes over $1,000 per minute and put him in the "wrong"
context of a subway panhandler? The masses simply see him as a
panhandler. They don't recognize the artistic gift for what it truly
is. Because it's in the wrong context.
The "right" or "wrong" context is just a type of story. And stories
matter. Even the stories we tell ourselves about virtuosos and
panhandlers.
The Power of Stories
Instead of a violinist, let's consider an art forger.
Say we take a forged painting out of the garage and put it in the
worlds finest museums and galleries, let the critics rave about it,
what will the masses do? They'll see that forgery as "important" But,
again, it's only because of the context. And the story implied by that
context.
I recall a few years ago, someone found a bunch of suspected Jackson
Pollock paintings in a garage and experts spent weeks subjecting the
canvases to all kinds of scrutiny to determine if they were real. Were
they painted by Pollock himself? Or were the some house painter's drop
cloth?
The entire value of those paintings depended upon the story told by
those experts: If they were authenticated Pollocks - they were worth
millions. If they were not Pollocks - they were worthless trash .
Consider the following excerpt from Austin Kleon's book Show Your Work:
Art forgery is a strange phenomenon. "You might think that the pleasure
you get from a painting depends on its color and its shape and its
pattern," says psychology professor Paul Bloom. "And if that's right,
it shouldn't matter whether it's an original or a forgery." But our
brains don't work that way. "When shown an object, or given a food, or
shown a face, people's assessment of it-how much they like it, how
valuable it is-is deeply affected by what you tell them about it."
Stories matter so much that, if you tell the right story, you can turn
"trash", a browning banana duct-taped to a wall, into "art" that sells
for $120,000 or more:
"An art piece of a banana duct-taped to a wall, which captured a lot of
buzz in the past week, has reportedly been taken down at the Art Basel
show in Miami Beach....The controversy-stirring artwork first sold for
$120,000, and then was sold two more times for $120,000 to $150,000"
reported The Times
.
Banana Taped To Wall
The right story can turn "trash" into a work of art worth $120,000
In their book, Significant Objects, Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker
actually test the power of stories that allowed that banana to sell for
six figures.
Here is their hypothesis:
"Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their
effect on any given object's subjective value can actually be measured
objectively."
Here is how they tested it: First, they went out to thrift stores, flea
markets, and yard sales and bought a bunch of "insignificant" objects
for an average of $1.25 an object. Then, they hired a bunch of writers,
both famous and not-so-famous, to invent a story "that attributed
significance" to each object. Finally, they listed each object on eBay,
using the invented stories as the object's description, and whatever
they had originally paid for the object as the auction's starting
price. By the end of the experiment, they had sold $128.74 worth of
trinkets for $3,612.51. They made a profit of over 2,700% of their
investment simply by crafting the right stories.
How You Can Use Context and Stories to Your Advantage
First, if you can, in your own mind, move beyond context, you can learn
to see reality as it is.
So next time you see a panhandler, listen carefully - picture him
playing with a symphony. And next time you see the latest "masterpiece"
in a museum - picture it hanging in your garage...or even imagine that
YOU had painted it. Ask yourself, would you be happy letting it out of
your studio? Take it OUT of context for a moment and judge on the
merits of the work itself. This is a great skill to develop for finding
"diamonds in the rough."
Secondly, and more importantly from from a marketing perspective, think
carefully about the stories you're telling the world about your own art.
Paraphrasing professor Bloom's observation: people's assessment of your
art, how much they like it, how valuable they think it is...will be
deeply affected by what you tell them about it.
In what context are you presenting your work? What stories are you
telling people about your art?
Think through those questions carefully. As you've seen, they're
important.
Until next time, please remember that Fortune Favors the Bold Brush.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
BoldBrush/FASO Founder & Art Fanatic
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