2024 11 25

The art of skating as seen through neon art by Neon Mike. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

This morning, I woke up a bit grumpy, thinking about how success at my job has increasingly more to do with being good at sales than it does being good at photography. This isn’t just true for commercial photography but fine art, crafts, trades, etc.

Tonight, I read the latest Tim Kreider Loaf piece about how there’s a show at The Met right now consisting of art made by employees of The Met. He sums it up humorously by saying the museum is promoting it as well as if they were hanging their children’s macaroni art up on the fridge. Is art worthy if it was made by the security guard of the art museum?

Is art better if it is made by an attractive female who gains tens of thousands of views via social media posts consisting of high-energy videos of herself? It is worse because of this?

Of course, none of this is new, but I’ve been thinking about the landscape of the art world (you know, bananas taped to the wall and whatnot) a lot lately, as I myself wade deeper into art both through my photography and a documentary project, which is in the early stages of development. That documentary will likely explore these thoughts, ideas, and frustrations in further detail, so I need to figure out what art is. If anyone reading this knows, please leave it in the comment section below.

Thanks!

-Clayton