Fine Arts Commons^™

Keith Haring And Jean-Michel Basquiat: Visionaries Of The Legendary Art Movement Of The Eighties In Downtown, New York City, Ritu Cipy

MA Theses

The 1980s in New York Downtown culture was about rebellion. A vibrant community of young artists had occupied Lower Manhattan; interested in various art forms like painting, music, dance and theatre. The community thrived in an area largely ignored by Ronald Reagan’s presidency. It was an explosion of creativity that has had reverberations ever since. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s and Keith Haring’s art grew out of that zeitgeist. Their art was an uprising against a world that did not support their talent. Their need to enforce a social change prompted them into
using their work as a call to action. Their illegal …

“I’Ve Been Working My Ass Off For You To Make That Profit”: Fundamental Information For The Self-Advocation Of Emerging Artists, Layne Hubble

MA Theses

This thesis recognizes the inequity and lack of business autonomy afforded to artists within the greater art market, due in part to socio-economic barriers to entry and professional misconceptions perpetuated through romanticized narratives. Emerging artists are denied accessible forms of education and the relevant tools to develop strong business and marketing skills for entrepreneurial success; competitive atmospheres discourage mentorships at high levels of influence and leave many mid-career and established artists with professional self-reproach.
Results from original surveys and interviews present a cross-section of the artistic profession spanning age, gender, race, ethnicity, medium and level of experience to be analyzed. …

Manifesting Magic: Occultism And Feminism In The Art Of Leonora Carrington And Remedios Varo, Margaret Dirschl

MA Theses

The artworks of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo are replete with
/="/">symbolism and evocations of the occult, formulating bodies of work that are charged with magic and mysticism. When studied within the context of their male contemporaries of the Surrealist group, it becomes apparent that this use of the occult operates as a compelling and historically based feminist strategy. Immediately stemming from the occult revival of the previous century and the issues for females presented by Surrealism, the foundations of this idea originate much earlier in the pagan traditions of antiquity and the witch hunts of the 15th through …

Collecting An Empire: Stolen Heritage Of Indigenous Australians, Kyla Moore

MA Theses

Exploring the importance of the protection and preservation of Australian Aboriginal
cultural heritage, this thesis seeks to examine a need for change in the way
governments approach cultural heritage repatriation from a legal and ethical
perspective. By analyzing binding and non-binding laws of the United Kingdom and
Australia, this paper suggests the need for the improvement of legal frameworks and legislation currently in place regarding cultural heritage repatriation. It also identifies challenges Indigenous communities face in the quest to reclaim control over their cultural heritage, history, and identity. Examining contrasting case studies of repatriation, the impact legislation has on the …

Would You Rather Be The Head Of A Lion Or The Tail Of A Mouse? A Comparative Study Of The Art Markets In London And New York, Clio Giner Garcia

MA Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate which city best suits our goals in opening a gallery abroad; London or New York. This question arises from a debate with my father about the future of our business, which is a contemporary art gallery that we opened in Spain in 2012. It opened originally in Marbella, a city with a wealthy international population. Later in September of 2020, we welcomed our second space in the capital of Spain, Madrid. We have agreed the next step for us is to open up our third space abroad within the next 5 years. …

Art Investment Funds And Nfts, Francesca Osborne

MA Theses

Art price inflation, rising levels of wealth, and the artworld’s financialization have
/="/">changed the way investors view the art market. In an attempt to capture the
/="/">momentous returns realized by successful collectors, art investment funds have
/="/">emerged with the conviction art can be used as a speculative or strategic alternative asset. However, the majority of art funds have been dissolved or put on hold. This paper examines the investment characteristics of fine art to uncover the rationale for art investment fund failures, finding the art market’s inefficiency as the foremost explanation. Subsequently, non-fungible token (NFT) art and …

The Currency (Volume 1, Issue 1), Elsa Akesson, Claudio Castillo, Sophie Delaplaine, Jade Wu, Maria Paula Suarez

The Currency--SIA Student Magazine

Table of Contents

Page 2: Elsa Akesson, "Kids of Morondava," 2020, oil & acrylic on linen, 130 x 97 cm.

Page 4: An Interview with Generative Artist Claudio Castillo by Sophie Delaplaine, SIA-London '22

Page 9: Jade Wu, "Grain Rain," 2020, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"

Page 11: Navigating the Artworld: My Personal Journey as an Emerging Artist through the Pandemic by Maria Paula Suarez, SIA-NY '23

Reclamation, Laura Day Webb

MA Projects

This exhibition will take the form of a group show of African artists who weave
/="/">cultural heritage with the contemporary, to challenge Western perceptions of African art and culture. Artists Wole Langunju (Nigeria), Prudence Chimutuwah (Zimbabwe), Lincoln Mwangi (Kenya), Moira Bushkimani (Kenya), and Angèle Etoundi Essamba (Cameroon) are confirmed to participate. In addition to the contemporary works by these artists on display, two Nigerian Gèlèdé masks have been generously loaned from the private collection of Olusanya Ojikutu, one from the early 20th century and, the other, whose dating is undetermined. In showcasing these works in tandem, the exhibition creates …

Anti-Art In Postwar Korea And Japan, Emma Patterson

MA Projects

Emerging from the traumatic devastation of World War II and the economic upheaval that followed, artists in Japan and South Korea adopted similar creative strategies and addressed parallel themes in their artistic responses to the postwar period. Anti-Art in Postwar Korea and Japan brings together artists from the two nations—which share a complex socio-political history—to introduce a new lens through which to understand contemporary East Asian art. Seung-taek Lee, Ha Chong-Hyun, Kim Tschang-Yeul, Lee Ufan, and Nobuo Sekine were few of a number of Korean and Japanese artists who developed comparable practices across the media of painting, sculpture, installation, and …

Fpi Art Initiative: A Romanian Perspective, Through The Looking Glass, Francesca Popescu

MA Projects

The FPI (Francesca Popescu Ife) Art Initiative is a curatorial business that focuses on creating pop-up exhibitions featuring emerging and mid-career artists from countries that are not as widely represented in New York or other major art markets. The foundation of this company is to form partnerships with real estate, hospitality, and public venues to host curated pop-up exhibitions throughout New York City and the Hamptons with future goals to expand nationally. The objective is to showcase artwork within a home environment where individuals and collectors interested in art and design can view and discover new artists exhibited within a …

Home Grown: Joys And Sorrows Of Domestic Life, Helena Black

MA Projects

Home Grown: Joys and Sorrows of Domestic Life highlights the work of contemporary female photographers who focus their practice on the depiction of domestic scenes. There is a long history of women drawing inspiration from the domestic sphere. For much of history, the exclusion of women from public life outside of the home influenced much of their work. Perhaps the most obvious example of this thematic focus can be seen in the work of female Impressionists. The Impressionist period is defined by the freedom of mobility allowed by new premixed paint tubes. Male artists, for whom it was socially acceptable …

Pasado, Presente, Futuro: A Story Of Immigration, Constanza Galindo Acosta

MA Projects

Oftentimes when speaking about immigration the conversation centers
around specific political agendas, economic impact, or labor. However important
these topics may be, they fail to understand the humanity of immigration, leaving
behind the most essential part of the conversation: the voice of the actual
immigrants. How can a more individualistic approach towards the experience of
the immigrant give us a better understanding of the nuances of immigration as a
whole? Pasado, Presente, Futuro takes as inspiration the personal experiences of
nine Latinx artists that currently live in the United States as a way to tell the past,
present, and future …

The Social Art Club, Beatrice Giuli

MA Projects

The Social Art Club will be a creative hotspot where leisure, art, culture and work come together in one place. The goal of this club is to expand on the idea behind the traditional social club concept. While members will still have access to use the space in whichever ways they prefer, this social club goes beyond. The Club will be a center for art exhibitions, food discovery, music pleasure, and culture renaissance while promoting a multi-sensorial experience and a long lasting communal atmosphere. Recreating the social aspirations of international and luxury clubs such as Soho House, the Social Art …

Artsino: Art Exhibition In An Immersive Casino Setting, Jiajie Jade Wu

MA Projects

In large cities such as NYC, there are a great number of individuals have good tastes in art. Many of them, such as wall-street bankers and traders, also like to seek risks. They are smart enough not to gamble too much although they still feel excited in the uncertainties. This venture provides an opportunity for artists to showcase their casino theme artworks in an immersive AR casino theme experience. The audiences have an opportunity to view and collect art in a setting that feels like casino, with drinking services, music, and various casino games using playing chips. Potential revenue generation …

Za'a Demi-Fine Jewelry: Cultural Representation Through The Use Of Wearable Crafts, Maria Canedo Gomez Ortigoza

MA Projects

Za'a is an e-commerce demi-fine jewelry brand that gives its wearer the ability to explore, connect and give back to indigenous Latin American cultures. Za'a pieces are made with 14k gold, sterling silver, vermeil (solid gold electroplated silver), and semi-precious gemstones while incorporating traditional craftsmanship; incorporating elements such as woodcarving, embroidery, and painting. What makes Za'a's products unique is that they are designed and fabricated in conjunction with the communities, ensuring fair and ethical practices. This close collaboration turns the pieces into a cultural bridge of communication, an exchange of ideas, and an appreciation between consumers and the indigenous communities. …

Factors Behind The Successful Positioning Of Mexico City As An International Contemporary Art Center, Alma Roberta Zertuche Cantu

MA Theses

The following thesis highlights the factors that have contributed to the successful positioning of Mexico City as an international contemporary art center. The city has expanded its artistic reach in the last few decades and its contemporary art market is now booming. The key to its successful positioning in the global art sphere lies in three main factors: collectors, galleries, and fairs. These art market players have had a significant role in the development of the city’s vibrant art scene and have worked to expand it internationally. This investigation aims to answer questions on how the stakeholders have raised international …

Looking South: The Increased Visibility Of Modern Latin American Art, Sofía Festa

MA Theses

This thesis aims to identify and analyze the main factors behind the increased visibility of Latin American Modern art today. I intend to examine the role played by American institutions, private collectors, and the top auction houses and how they are driving awareness in the global art market. The research will focus on artists whose works were made from the 1920s through mid-1940s and are currently breaking records in the auction world. These are the same artists that are being showcased in prominent private collections and American museums, which in turn serves as a way of validating those artists as …

The Paradox Of Scarcity: A Look At The Old Masters Evening Sales From 2014 To 2022 In London And New York, Erin Haydon

MA Theses

This thesis sets out to disprove the theory of the decline of the Old Masters market using data from 2014 until 2022. The data is collected from the January and December Evening Sales at Sotheby’s auction house in both London and New York. It elicits that through the assistance of calculated estimates the market has been holding steady despite media headlines and assumptions. The market, as the smallest of the fine art sectors, fights against, but simultaneously uses to its advantage, the concept of scarcity. Many masterpieces that come to auction benefit from never having been seen before and thus …

Lucretia Van Horn: The Artist’S Meaningful Impact On The Development Of Modernism In The Bay Area, Annie K. Roddy

MA Theses

Women artists lack recognition for their significant contributions to the development of regional modernism in the United States during the twentieth century. This study seeks to highlight the important impact American artist Lucretia Van Horn had on modernism in the Bay Area from the 1920s through the 1940s. The study addresses how the artist worked in advanced modernist styles, achieving local recognition and success, but was ultimately overshadowed by her male counterparts in the larger dialogue. The results reveal an artist at the forefront of avant-garde trends who deserves much wider recognition.

The Printmaking Boom And Its Effect On The Future For The Market For Prints And Multiples, Helen H. Condo

MA Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the history of the market for prints and multiples beginning with the print renaissance of the 1960s to discover the underlying drivers of a successful editions market and make predictions for the future. Before the print boom of the 1960s, driven by the departure of printmakers from Europe during World War II, who reinvigorated a passion for the artistic process, printmaking was considered that of a craft. Once it was elevated from its secondary status, due to excitement from Contemporary artists and institutional accreditation, a market structure was solidified. By examining the …

The Private Art Collector’S Foundation In France: Issues And Implications For The Cultural Landscape, Milena Berman

MA Theses

The last two decades have witnessed an explosion in the number of private art spaces worldwide. From Bentonville, Arkansas, to Naoshima, Japan, hundreds of impressive structures built by star architects have been funded by private individuals and corporations to house collections of modern and contemporary art, often in unlikely places. The famously-termed “Bilbao effect” in which a grand museum structure is set up outside of the established art capitals of the world, thus putting the city “on the map” of cultural tourism, has become a widespread trend. The examples vary greatly and range from small private “home museums”
/="/">made …

How Nfts Are Driving The Latest Evolution Of Art From Physical To Digital In A Pandemic Age., Isabel Dominguez De Haro

MA Theses

Prior to 2014, the art industry did not know a lot about NFTs and the benefits of
blockchain technology. That is because when the technology was created in 2008,
it had nothing to do with art. In fact, it was primarily developed as a way to
decentralize a broken financial system.1 And, even when the art industry began
successfully using the technology in 2017, it was the digital art world and not
traditional artists, galleries, auction houses, or dealers who first recognized the
benefit of using digital tokens to represent ownership of a unique asset. So why
now are NFTs …

The Art Market’S Inflection Point: The Inception Of Modern Art Investment, Maria B. Abraham

MA Theses

The relationship between art and finance derives from the socioeconomic realization that art has high-value potential and diversification benefits within the investment sphere. This paper interprets the evolution of art's financialization in three different market contexts as the cause of an inflection point in the art market. Through research in press articles, interviews, published white papers, and journals on statistical art data analysis results, this thesis demonstrates the link between cultural capital and financial investment, which gave rise to initiatives today that bridge the gap between wealth and the accessibility to the art market. A technological or specialized element across …

Selling Transcendence: The Rise Of Experience And The Big Business Of Immersive Art, Emeline Callaway

MA Theses

There has been an explosion of immersive art experiences over the past few years. Even as the pandemic has taken a toll on tourism, immersive art ventures and experimental museums have expanded around the world, drawing significant crowds and offering investors an inside into a new, emerging industry. This thesis ties these new experiential businesses to the history of art through an analysis of immersive artistic exploration over time and connects the current forms of investment to the history of immersive art patronage. Exploring the relationship between major economic shifts and the development of the art market, this thesis explains …

‘What A Woman Can Do:’ Analyzing Correlation Between Historiography Of Italian Female Artists And Auction Prices, Paige Boucher

MA Theses

“And I will show Your Most Illustrious Lordship what a woman can do.” These words are by the miraculous baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, a Renaissance woman who took the plunge into a male-dominated profession.1 Women have taken the back seat throughout all walks of history. On the subject of their representation in art history, there was an extended period when researchers and scholars completely overlooked them. Due to negligence, knowledge of a marketable female artist of the Renaissance was close to an urban legend. Now,
through mending neglected recognition, the existence of marketable female Old Masters is bona fide in …

Lauder Art Collections: Two Brothers, Two Collections, One City, Carol Bradford Abruzzo

MA Theses

This thesis highlights two New Yorkers who donate a plethora of art treasures to their beloved hometown. The value of these collective materials provides a permeance to the history of civilization. Art works within these institutions provides visual history and allows for an immediacy to learn and a simple way to connect with the past. However, the art is as good as it is culled into a meaningful collective with easy accessibility for all. The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie are two of the most distinguished …

Paris Is Always A Good Idea: Study Into Paris’ Potenial To Regain A Place At The Top Of The European Art Market, Laura Bishai

MA Theses

The objective of this thesis is to come to an informed conclusion, although
inaccurate it may be, about Paris’ potential for growth, and for regaining its place at the top of the European art market given the current context. Through examination of its history, as well as of the current market through art fairs, auction houses and galleries as well as looking at the impact of Brexit and the French approach to culture, it aims to demonstrate the possibility that Paris can regain ground its lost over the years and recognition as the European capital of the art market.

Ag House Gallery - Business Plan, Madelene Arner

MA Projects

AG House is an art gallery structured as a membership community club, showcasing one aspiring artist per month while bringing together curators, collectors and art interested people in a social setting with the purpose of networking and educating. Today’s art world is intimidating for many, bringing forth insecurities and lack of knowledge when discovering and collecting art. AG House seeks to solve this problem by bringing together people from all areas of the art world, inspiring and educating each other through events, gatherings and programming in a beautiful setting in the heart of downtown Manhattan. By carefully selecting members to …

Counterpoint: Music And Art Education, Eileen Kosasih

MA Projects

Music education programming is generally not as accessible or available as museum education programming. General music illiteracy and the elitism of music education perpetuate a cycle of inaccessibility and lack of understanding of the value of music education. Meanwhile, the auditory art form is a fundamental component of culture, society, and history. Music’s language and history should be understood and appreciated widely. Art museum education programmers can work with music educators, music historians, and classical music programmers to incorporate music education into museum education programming. This project consists of three parts. The first section advocates the inclusion of music education …

Distorted Icons In Contemporary Art: An Examination Into How We Know What We Know And Why, Alessandra Ruggiero

MA Projects

The purpose of this exhibition, Distorted Icons in Contemporary Art: An Examination into How We Know What We Know and Why, is to explore the nature of icons, specifically contemporary renditions of modern or traditional icons. Colloquially, icons are a symbol of something well-known or an image that is easily recognizable. Traditionally, icons refer to religious figures, most commonly devotional paintings in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Greek churches and are used as a means of prayer to represent peace, piety and faith. However, what constitutes an icon in Western contemporary culture has changed significantly. Devotional images have been replaced by …