'Questionable Content' Archives

Can/Should Anyone Curate an Art Exhibition?

By Claire Lawton Tue., Jul. 17 2012 at 11:00 AM

Categories: Questionable Content, Visual Art

Welcome to Jackalope Ranch's Questionable Content, where local creatives and experts sound off on topics posed by New Times staff blogger Claire Lawton and the community. Have a question you'd like to ask? E-mail Claire.Lawton@newtimes.com.

Julia Rothman

Curators are responsible for most of the artwork we're exposed to on a daily basis, and while their titles carry different weights and responsibilities, their role is universal.

In town, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art just hired a new curator while ASU Art Museum is still looking to fill the spot left by John Spiak last year, and Artlink just posted an "open call" for it's AE England Gallery in downtown Phoenix.

Most galleries around Phoenix have curators, though the term is a bit looser, as many are co-ops and exhibitions are solo shows decided upon by the artists. And local coffee shop have jumped on the bandwagon, welcoming curators at Cartel Coffee Lab's Tempe and Phoenix locations, and Echo Coffee in Scottsdale.

Tags:

curators, kathleen vanesian, phoenix art, sara cochran, ted decker, tim rodgers

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Visual Art

Should Artists Paint Murals for Free?

By Claire Lawton Tue., Jul. 3 2012 at 9:00 AM

Categories: Mural City, Questionable Content, Visual Art

Photo by Claire Lawton

Dave Quan painting his ooze on the Chocolate Factory on Grand Avenue. Note: Quan was paid to paint the mural in March, 2011. Read the full story about Quan's Blue Ooze here.

See also: Mural City
See also: Tag, You're Art: Local Street Artists Are Tagging Over Murals and Calling It Art

This town has a lot of thank you notes to send out to the artists who make its buildings a little more colorful -- especially if they're doing it pro bono. Artists have painted walls since they've had paint and a tool with which to apply it to a wall, and the history of being paid to paint a mural on the side of a building dates back to the beginning of advertising.

So when it comes to local businesses asking artists to cover their walls with their signature characters, landscapes and typography, is it hurting their own value to paint for free?