Monday, October 9, 2017

What is the Difference between Commercial and Fine Art?






What is the Difference between Commercial and Fine Art?

It's All About Why It Was Created

Artist Pipilotti Rist's installation 'Mercy Garden Retour Skin' is displayed at the 19th Biennale of Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art on March 18, 2014 in Sydney, Australia.
Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Updated September 04, 2017
By definition, all art is the expression of emotion and imagination. It begins with a concept or idea and blooms in the artist's hands. There is no difference between commercial art and fine art in this respect – both come about in the same way. The difference lies in why the artist is creating it.

Commercial vs. Fine Art

You would not expect to see commercial art in a museum. It's created to sell something, typically a product.
Fine art’s purpose is to create an aesthetic object that's appreciated for its fine and unique qualities. Fine art's purpose is simply to exist and thereby offer enjoyment to others. It doesn't compel the viewer to go out and do something or purchase something.
Fine art is respected and critically acclaimed. Commercial art might be appreciated and acknowledged, but it's not going to hang in the Louvre. Commercial art tends to utilize acquired skill, whereas fine art requires inborn talent.
Commercial art includes advertising, graphic design, branding, logos and book illustrations. Fine art includes paintings, sculptures, printmaking, photography, installation, multi-media, sound art, and performance.

A Historical Perspective

The difference between commercial art and fine art was pretty clear up until the mid-20th century. Commercial art included television and print advertisement campaigns, as well as mass-produced images.
Fine art consisted of one-of-a-kind unique objects such as paintings, sculptures and works on paper that were exhibited in galleries and museums.
Then the art movement known as pop art subverted and merged those diverse aims in the 1960s. Pop artists such as Andy Warhol mass produced images using the tools of a commercial artist.
Warhol's silk-screened Brillo Boxes is a memorable example of how commercial art merged with fine art.

Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes

Philosopher Arthur Danto explained why Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes is art while the supermarket's Brillo boxes are not. Although the two boxes look identical, Danto wrote, ''Given two things that resemble one another to any chosen degree, but one of them a work of art and the other an ordinary object, what accounts for this difference in status?''
Danto realized that art such as Warhol's Brillo Boxes was much more than just an object to be visually perceived. It needed a system to define it as art. ''It is the role of artistic theories, these days as always, to make the art world, and art, possible," he wrote in his famous essay, "The Artworld." In other words, it is the art system of galleries, curators, art critics and artists which help define what is fine art and to differentiate it from commercial art.

The Crossover

Artists often use commercial techniques in today's contemporary art scene. A prime example is video artist Pipilotti Rist, whose videos resemble music videos. Her work is nonetheless exhibited in art galleries and museums.
Even though today's art world combines elements of both commercial and fine art, art schools still maintain a division between the two.
Students must choose between majoring in fine arts or commercial graphic arts when pursuing degrees.
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What Type of Skills Does an Art Curator Need?



What Type of Skills Does an Art Curator Need?





A curatorial assistant works with the chief curator.
Macduff Everton/Getty Images.

Updated February 20, 2017
Art curators need an 'eye' for art, plus they need a passion for art, as most successful curators are passionate about art and the art they exhibit. Curators need to be knowledgeable in art and culture, so they may have an educational background in art history and philosophy.
Additionally, today's art curators need to multi-task, so being skilled in business, marketing, public relations, and fundraising is absolutely necessary.
Art curators also need to be skilled communicators as they are often the mediators between the museum, artist and public.
Art curators also need good writing skills as they write the exhibition catalog essays, promotional materials and grant applications.

More about Art Curators and the Business of Art Curating:

Fine Art provides clear definitions, such as: What is an art curator?
What Do Art Curators Do? A fundamental question about curating is answered.
Where do art curators work? Do they need to be part of an art museum staff or can they work as freelancers? What Is the Difference between an Art Museum Curator and an Independent Curator? Is having institutional support of the lack of the only difference between an in-house curator and a freelance curator?

How to Get Started as an Art Curator:

Have you thought about organizing an art exhibition, but you're not sure what tasks are involved?
Here are 10 Easy Steps to Curate an Art Exhibition. In this facile tutorial, Fine Art takes you step by step to help guide you through the many details and factors involved to make your art exhibition a success.

Further Resources

Jessica Morgan, Director of the 2014 Gwangju Biennale and Curator of Contemporary Art, Tate Modern, London spoke with Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director of the Jewish Museum, New York at Art Basel on June 13, 2013.
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