You (Yes, You) Can Be an Art Collector
by Benjamin SuttonPage 2 of 4
"It's been really great," Tischer explained by telephone, "because a lot of the people have turned out to be people who we'd hoped to work with anyway." Needleman elaborated: �ƒ¢â�€š¬�…�€œWe realized that we have a really limited knowledge of new artists out there. Obviously, we're only two people, so that if we invited really great curators who we were already friends with or curators we wanted to work with and had them each curate a month that would even widen the scope of the artists who we could involve in the project." In the first year of the AMC, which wraps up next month with a public exhibition of the 12 works for 2009 at Invisible-Exports, curators have included Lia Gangitano, an associate curator at P.S.1, Shamim Momin, an associate curator at the Whitney, and Matthew Higgs, artist and director of White Columns in the West Village, whose piece "Not Worth Reading" was the edition for March. Other artists who created works for the AMC in 2009 included Anne-Lise Coste, the artist duo Ms & Mr and William Powhida.
Powhida's piece, the first in the AMC, was a commentary on the state of the art market that tried to predict how hot gallery artists (like Ryan McGinness, Kehinde Wiley and Cory Arcangel) would fare in the recession. In an email, he explained the inspiration for the piece: "I wanted to create something that would be a discussion piece, and offer the viewer the possibility of playing a sort of game with me about predicting who will matter." It seems like an especially apt first piece for the AMC, which in many ways shifts the terms and criteria for determining which artists will matter.
"I don't think it's going to replace the traditional gallery format by any means," Powhida said, "but I think [Tischer] and [Needleman]'s model for AMC is unique in that it creates an element of surprise by keeping the artists and the work a mystery." He continued: "I think if other galleries can find similar, inventive ways of packaging art, they might be able to create steady revenue streams through different kinds of subscription services or low-cost editions." Low-cost doesn't necessarily mean low-value, though. "We know that at least one AMC edition has already been re-sold," Needleman said, "for $1,000, which is a huge profit." She continued: "We really have collectors from all levels participating, from young people buying their first piece of art to established collectors looking to pick up work by younger artists who they might not know about." As the club goes into its second year, a whole new slate of curators will be picking a completely new group of artists to create works for adventurous collectors who don't mind giving themselves over to the discerning tastes of art world professionals. (Don't miss the chance the see the first twelve AMC works at Invisible-Exports, December 12-20.)
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