3 ms·

All this time spent going in and out of the art world makes me wonder if there is any kind of art grant program going on in YC.

dhskdhakdh 6y ago
I think it's fair to say that the art world's way of thinking didn't rub off on Graham. It's not clear to me that he ever had a genuinely creative attitude to art making. He didn't get the art world and it didn't get him. As a technical term, "art world" refers to the professionalized aspects of art production—and explicitly not the business of actually working on your art or training as an artist. It's the nonsense and PR side of art. When Graham says "Art galleries didn't want to be online, and still don't, not the fancy ones." it really doesn't reflect the reality of the most prestigious contemporary galleries like Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth. They are very online, but Graham clearly is just not keeping up with that. He might be thinking of some tiny stuffy and elitist gallery in New York, who knows. He is out of touch.
- egypturnash 6y ago
  Art is my career and trust me, the "nonsense and PR side of art" is an important part of making it work. One I am absolutely terrible at and do the bare minimum I can get away with, because it's just not fun, and because getting good at it requires some very different mindsets from getting good at art. Anyway. I think Paul Graham should think about his time trying to be an artist, take some of the absurd amounts of money he's throwing around for YC and put, like, one company's worth of investment into a bunch of artists. I volunteer myself for the pilot program. :)
  - selimthegrim 6y ago
    I hear Julia St has plenty of gallery space these days...
    - egypturnash 6y ago
      See, right there. Renting space in the local Gallery Row for a few months, printing stuff to fill it up, and promoting it is a serious chunk of change for me, but nothing for YC. Art grant or some kind of investment scheme, either way. Do it with thirty artists, maybe one blows up to the levels where people outside the gallery scene hear about the ludicrous prices their "I can't believe people are buying this shit" experiments start going for, profit.

dhskdhakdh 6y ago

I think it's fair to say that the art world's way of thinking didn't rub off on Graham. It's not clear to me that he ever had a genuinely creative attitude to art making. He didn't get the art world and it didn't get him. As a technical term, "art world" refers to the professionalized aspects of art production—and explicitly not the business of actually working on your art or training as an artist. It's the nonsense and PR side of art. When Graham says "Art galleries didn't want to be online, and still don't, not the fancy ones." it really doesn't reflect the reality of the most prestigious contemporary galleries like Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth. They are very online, but Graham clearly is just not keeping up with that. He might be thinking of some tiny stuffy and elitist gallery in New York, who knows. He is out of touch.

egypturnash 6y ago
Art is my career and trust me, the "nonsense and PR side of art" is an important part of making it work. One I am absolutely terrible at and do the bare minimum I can get away with, because it's just not fun, and because getting good at it requires some very different mindsets from getting good at art. Anyway. I think Paul Graham should think about his time trying to be an artist, take some of the absurd amounts of money he's throwing around for YC and put, like, one company's worth of investment into a bunch of artists. I volunteer myself for the pilot program. :)
- selimthegrim 6y ago
  I hear Julia St has plenty of gallery space these days...
  - egypturnash 6y ago
    See, right there. Renting space in the local Gallery Row for a few months, printing stuff to fill it up, and promoting it is a serious chunk of change for me, but nothing for YC. Art grant or some kind of investment scheme, either way. Do it with thirty artists, maybe one blows up to the levels where people outside the gallery scene hear about the ludicrous prices their "I can't believe people are buying this shit" experiments start going for, profit.