Artistic Coin Use

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by wood_ster, Sep 4, 2015.

  1. wood_ster

    wood_ster Active Member

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  3. mlov43

    mlov43 주화 수집가

    This lounge sofa looks like it should be a piece of furniture in some swanky numismatic library. ...Can the words, "swanky" and "numismatic" really go together?

    Well, if I win the lottery, I swear I'm gonna open that kind of coin library (and adjacent coin shop) of my dreams. It'll be a test of whether those two words really can go together.
     
  4. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    Good thing they're not silver! :wacky:
     
  5. mlov43

    mlov43 주화 수집가

    Some guy in Korea makes art just by stacking coins:

    12.jpg
     
    Dean 295 likes this.
  6. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Must have a lot of time on his hands.......
     
    medjoy likes this.
  7. miedbe7

    miedbe7 Wayward Collector

    That is cool in so many ways. I wonder how much time it would take to wear those down, compared to traditional circulation wear. I wonder how much more (or less) expensive per area that covering is to other fabrics/materials. Also, that piece must weigh a decent amount, depending on what is supporting it underneath. Unless it's balsa wood, that sucker is heavy. Look at the bracing on the legs. I love it.

    edit - I bet it's impossible to sit on too because it'd be so slippery, but in a fun way.
     
  8. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    What a great piece! It's in good company; the painting in the background is by Sean Scully, a very well known contemporary Irish painter. It's probably a $50K painting. This is a serious collector.
     
  9. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    As an artist who loves coins, I love seeing these two pieces together.
     
  10. charlietig

    charlietig Well-Known Member

    That's $50K?! Well hell I know what I'm doing tomorrow... craft time!
     
    NSP likes this.
  11. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    Scully is a great painter; his work is in every major museum in the world. Rather than ridicule his lifelong efforts (he's 70) by calling it "craft time," I encourage you to go to museums sometime. You don't have to like everything there. It's a big world and art's a part of it. Abstraction's been around for more than 100 years.

    And by all means, if you think you can make a better painting than Scully, go for it. I'm behind you 100%.

    Btw, the half-dollar chaise lounge, being furniture, does qualify as "craft."
     
  12. physics-fan3.14

    physics-fan3.14 You got any more of them.... prooflikes?

    I know people go really crazy about modern art, but I just don't get it. Looks like the dude literally took a roller and put swatches on a wall. I did that in my bedroom a couple of months ago. Why on earth is that worth $50K?
     
  13. treylxapi47

    treylxapi47 Well-Known Member Dealer

    Paying $50K for a piece of art like that lets me know one thing about the individual: They have more money than sense.
     
  14. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    I separate the craziness of the art market (people will buy anything) from the appreciation and understanding of art. Consider all the Chinese, Russian and Saudi collectors who buy for investment and couldn't give a darn about what they're actually buying. They've really been pumping up the market.

    This collector might have paid much more than 50 large for this piece, depending on when he/she purchased it, whether it was bought on the resale market, etc. Scully is a major figure in the twilight of his career. In fact his kind of abstraction is seen as rather traditional these days.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2015
  15. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    "Abstract" art (as opposed to "modern" art, which consists of many styles, many of them representational) is a topic that feels foreign to many people. As an artist and art professor for 25+ years, I wish this weren't the case. The simplest reason is that most people equate "talent" with being able to draw and paint well. However, many people don't realize that, in the art world, these are rather common skills (not to take away from them as accomplishments). I have a handful of freshman students every semester who draw exceptionally well; multiply this by the hundreds of drawing classes at art schools and universities around the country.

    Most (but certainly not all) serious, professional painters and other artists have learned to draw really well; they then seek larger challenges and new territory to explore.

    This is a huge topic and I can go on but fear the mods will think it's getting off the topic of coins.

    Bottom line: there's a lot of interesting art out there, available to anyone who wants to check it out.
     
  16. miedbe7

    miedbe7 Wayward Collector

    I will say this, art should move you. Personally, not moved by it. But that's me. So is that Scully piece worth 50K? Well, obviously, if it moved people to make a market for it. Some art though is more hype than anything (not impugning Scully here, just a general sentiment) ... Sounds like coins, huh... :)
     
  17. charlietig

    charlietig Well-Known Member

    I should go to a museum to see that? A $50K painting that looks $50.00 at best. No thank you sir. And another thing, merely commenting isn't "ridiculing" and since his.... "paintings" mean so much... I encourage you to go out and buy one.

    I'm behind you 100% ;)

    Do have a nice day :)
     
    TX15FX4 likes this.
  18. mlov43

    mlov43 주화 수집가

    Wow. Got some art-style police here, huh? Believe it or not(!), there are people out there who appreciate art styles different from our own (*gasp*), and will put their money on the things they value. (The apostasy!)

    Well, not everybody considers C.M. Coolidge paintings of dogs smoking cigars and playing poker to be the height of the artistic taste.

    ...Or perhaps some of us got a little bit of the sour grapes that Sean Scully can paint some patterns with a roller and sell his work for $50K to some rich Arabs and we can't?

    Well, if I had thought of it first, and I rolled with the crowd that Scully rolls with, then I'd be the one making $50K. But I didn't. So I'm not. See how that works?

    Much like Mondrian paintings, I don't like this painting, and I wouldn't want it hanging on my wall, either. But that doesn't take away from the fact that I can attempt to at least try to understand the aesthetic that attracts others by visiting museums and galleries with this style of art; to at least try to explore outside of the tyranny of my own notions of beauty in an attempt to understand the larger art world around me. Especially when that art attracts $50K bids!

    If, in the end I still don't like it (and I don't), that's fine. I think it's okay to comment on how much I don't like it, but when this artist is selling his work in the free, open market for $50K, maybe I need to step back a little bit and ask myself, "Who's knows better about what he's doing: Me or Scully?"
     
  19. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    Well, you were ridiculing, perhaps subtly, by suggesting that you could spring out of bed "tomorrow" and, during "craft time," whip out a painting worthy of hanging in the world's best art museums.

    And you're ridiculing his work by suggesting that this piece looks "$50 at best" and by putting "painting" in quotes. What exactly are you basing your expert opinion on?

    Here's how it would actually have to work: you'd have to paint six to eight hours a day for, say, 10 years, preferably after six years of formal education (including very rigorous representational drawing and painting courses and, of course, art history, so you'd have an understanding of cultural context) before you'd begin to develop a body of work that offered some level of cohesion and maturity—i.e, wasn't just weak mimicry of somebody else's work. Then, in order to sell, you'd have to compete for gallery attention with thousands of other artists, all with six years of education and 10 years of work under their belt—all of whom would be more than happy to make a painting half as good as a Scully. Keep in mind that galleries take a 50% commission on sales.

    If this holds no interest for you after all, fine. But it does many people for whom a life of creativity is worth the candle.

    Personally, I love Scully's work; have seen probably a dozen in real life and am familiar with two well-known books about him. He's actually a towering figure in the painting world. On the other hand, it's fair to say there are many "informed" people who don't respond to his work. That's what makes the art world interesting.

    I already mentioned in a previous post that most "abstract" painters go through rigorous formal training and can draw really well—i.e., the kind of "pictures" you'd deem worthy of 50 bucks. And yet you seem to want to hold on to your prejudices.

    Btw, even though I admire Scully's work a great deal, I have no desire (and certainly not the funds) to own any. One doesn't have to own something to appreciate it. If I had a spare $50K, I'd buy five nice coins.
     
    green18 likes this.
  20. oval_man

    oval_man Elliptical member

    I appreciate your comments, particularly that you make an attempt to explore art "outside of the tyranny of [your] own notions of beauty."

    Many people say "I know what I like" when they really mean "I like what I know."
     
  21. charlietig

    charlietig Well-Known Member

    Like I said, if your such a fan of the arts, buy it, if not, learn to mind your own business and not clutter up the post with that. ^
     
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