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About two weeks ago, an extremely good-looking female activist marched through London wearing almost nothing but body paint in bid to save birds. The activist’s name is Hannah Bourne-Taylor, and she made a speech on behalf of the swift population at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, wearing only a G-string underwear piece and the impressive pictorial work by artist Bruno Daniele on her skin. Bourne-Taylor is a conservationist unafraid of the British autumn weather who stated: “I stand here today, as a go-between for swifts, to ask for your comradery, because they need our help.” From Hyde Park Corner, she marched, almost completely naked on a cold November day in London, to Buckingham Palace and Downing Street during her protest. It is not surprising that Bourne-Taylor recurred to art to put across her message: she is a creative woman who has been a photographer focussing on horses and worked as a copywriter in the branding industry. As a cultured person, she has ghostwritten and edited books, including working closely with Anne Glenconner on her bestselling ‘Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown’, and with Norman Scott for ‘An Accidental Icon’. Bourne-Taylor is completely engaged in the conservation of the natural world, and as she puts it on her website: ‘Nature brings me joy, fuels my curiosity and constantly shows me how to live my best life. I want to contribute to protecting the obscure, resilient, efficient, beautiful natural world’. We admire Bourne-Taylor for the way she has approximated art to her intention of safeguarding the existence of wild birds. She is teaching us how art can be a great weapon for individuals who want to make a difference, no matter how small, when it comes to instil ecological and conservationist values in communities, both near and far away ones. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

The art collector’s world is increasingly changing, hence, visual appeal and originality are no longer enough. As ethical values and political engagement are pressing matters in today’s world, collectors want the fresh art they include in their repertoire to come from artists who explore topics related to the future of our Planet and are concerned with the political realities our younger generations will inherit from the older current one. The Ethical Factor We are experiencing an increasing growth of ethical patterns among collectors. We see that art lovers and buyers are now more engaged with big relevant causes and are interested in art practices and works that reflect their own engagement. Millennials and Gen-Z tend to invest in artworks and artists to fulfil philanthropic aspirations, and they even bought art at major global art fairs over the Covid-19 pandemic merely to support artists during the crisis. These generations also show a deep distrust of corporations and would rather rely on the opinion of influencers on social media to guide their decision-making in many domains. They are also very unsatisfied with the current state of global politics, and dislike the social asymmetries that the radicalisations to the right in the West are generating, given that these asymmetries result in racism, homophobia, misogyny, poverty, and injustice. In this respect, we take the occasion to discuss the work of one of the most politically committed art practices that we represent and promote: that of Brazilian artist Marcelo Amorim. Some of Marcelo Amorim's works Marcelo Amorim’s Art: When Ethical Art Equals Political Resistance Marcelo Amorim's work investigates the often aggressive and invasive construction of the kind of male identity destined to lead within white and phallocentric societies. The central themes of Amorim's work are 1) the Family and School Education; 2) Socialisation Rituals; 3) Initiation Rituals; 4) Sports and Boxing Culture; 5) the Military and War; and 6) Work Environmnets. And they are all approached with astuteness and an inquisitive spirit to highlight that hegemony is a mode of social, political and cultural structuring in the West. This investigation is made through longstanding archival research in books, newspapers and magazines on the subject matters, similar to that executed by German Master Gerhard Richter to build his famous work ‘Atlas’; a research which Amorim turns into majestic canvases where nostalgia and the language of colour mingle with a rigorous conceptual framework. Amorim's oeuvre represents an original counterpoint to practices that directly explore the theme of social minorities in Brazil, where recent radicalisation to the right has resulted in new waves of racism, homophobia, and discrimination against women. In other words, Amorim, instead of exploring the dimension of the dominated and issues such as the rights, the cultural histories and the need for emancipation of historically oppressed people, investigates - in an ironically caustic way - the ideology that shapes the ethics, the body and the vision of the dominant. At the same time, Amorim’s work is an act of global political resistance thanks to its explicit references to social categorisations such as those crystallised in the terms 'working class' or 'LGBTQia+ culture'. Amorim was one of the artists nominated for the 2010 PIPA Prize. In 2019 he had a solo show at the Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto (MARP), and, Zipper Galeria, gave him a solo show in 2016. Other highlights in the gallery world were his solo show 'Intervalo' at Jaqueline Martins in São Paulo and his presence in the group show at Luciana Caravello Arte Contemporânea in Rio de Janeiro (2014). His work has been exhibited at Casa do Brasil in Madrid (2018) and in Brussels (2017), as well as at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati (2017) and at Kunst im Kulturflur in Berlin (2011). FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MARCELO AMORIM’S WORK VISIT OUR WEBSITE OR CONTACT info@arriere-garde.co.uk Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

The Ecological Factor The art world is increasingly changing, and collectors are looking into alternative types of content in the art they buy. We also see an exponential growth of collectors with a strong orientation toward preservation, ecology and social issues who transform their homes into sustainable housing solutions in which even interior objects and artworks are committed to the cause. These truly engaged collectors require galleries to rethink ideas of transparency, flexibility, diversity, and sustainability. And they are turned off by some ingrained practices of the art market, such as elitism and exclusivity (think of the velvet rope outside a vernissage). All in all, they prefer to avoid pretentious vernissages and blockbuster museum exhibitions, and love art initiatives and institutions which address pressing matters such as the global urgency with respect to climate change, animal world’s welfare, pollution and other ESG related topics. If you identify with these strands of collectors and art lovers, you most certainly will find artworks by Conrado Zanotto of interest. 1. THE MEDICINE SERIES Did you know that each 1 kilo of incorrectly discarded medicines contaminates 450,000 litres of water? Well, if you did not and 1) you think that artistic production should address this type of problem and 2) you would feel better about yourself by buying art engaging in water conservation, then Zanotto’s MEDICINE SERIES is perfect for you! The Medicine Series is composed of 21 artworks created with expired pills and blisters, and through this gesture artist Conrado Zanotto has used 90.7 grams of disposable medicines and left 40,815 litres of water uncontaminated!! As per a study released in 2019 in the journal Scientific American, the concentration of antibiotics in some rivers around the world exceeds safety limits by up to 300 times. Samples from more than 70 rivers, in the six continents of the world, were analysed and the alarming result was that 65% of the examined areas present contamination by antibiotics (Source: ‘Eco Response’). Artists and collectors engaging with sustainability and climate change are creating and acquiring artworks that not only do not pollute, but are also contributing to the making of a better Planet! Presented as mini sculptures, Zanotto’s Medicine Series challenges the pervasive power of the pharmaceutical industry, criticizing both the exacerbated use of drugs in humans and animals, and the growing normalization of drugs consumption by children. As a conscious Brazilian artist, Zanotto is aware that, in his Country, approximately 14,000 tons of medicines lose their shelf life per year, most of which are disposed of in an environmentally incorrect way, in the common rubbish, in the sewer or in the soil. 2. THE FOREST BOOK Books are objects that gather information in the form of signs, signals and symbols, a record of time that stores memories. They are fundamental and ancestral tools used by humanity to grow culturally. The concentration of information on each page of a book represents history and is an endless source of knowledge. And, of course, books are made of sheets that are made out of paper, produced from cellulose, and taken from trees, which in turn came from Nature. THE FOREST BOOK is an artwork that comes as a deconstructed kit and asks for the participation of the collector, who is required to assembly all the constituent parts of the work itself: cut book, whole white clay, black clay in pieces, seed paper, moss, fertile soil and liquid fertilizer. The pages of the book that constitute the ‘DIY artwork’ were cut and re-signified into booklets that partially preserve the book's content. The reason for the cutting is to transform the book into a container to be filled with soil and seeds. Parts of the book cut-offs were used by the artist in the manufacturing of seed paper sheets (sheets in which plant seeds are embedded and that will germinate once the paper is put into the soil and watered). The clay supplied has a structuring function as a water-binding element, which will help keep the book's leaves and soil moist. The soil supplied in the kit comes from the composting of organic waste, as well as liquid fertilizer, providing fertility to the system. The interaction with the collector that Conrado Zanotto conjures up with this work suggests the integration between man and Nature. The person who plants the seed paper sheets commits himself to the development of a 'being', observes life, and formulates an environment, aware that one day the plant will extrapolate the physical limits of the book, and will demand to return to nature so to become a tree again. THE FOREST BOOK: Instructions for assembly and care Acquire a FOREST BOOK by Conrado Zanotto. You will receive a box containing the kit through which you will build the artwork at home, feed it and see it develop and flourish through your care. Open the book in an airy, well-lit place, with sunlight exposure over parts of the day and preferably where it can be wet frequently. Prepare the white clay (1) by kneading the clay to make it malleable. Position the white clay around the book cut to create a border. Wait for it to dry. Spread the ground black clay (2) on the bottom of the book. Place the fertile soil (3) mixed with the liquid fertilizer (6). Plant the seed paper (4) approximately 2 cm into the soil. Water regularly, on average once a day. Do not forget to emanate good intentions and thoughts when you are taking care of your plant, talking to it is a good attitude that collaborates with its growth; the artist has told us. As they develop, the plants will become more and more integrated with the book which supports them. When you feel that this integration has reached its peak, plant the book so that the plant can develop completely and integrate itself back into Nature. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

A new generation of art collectors and buyers has not only emerged, but also taken the lead and is setting the trends of digital purchase. Through our social and demographics line of research, we have discovered that - according to ‘Deloitte Global 2021’, which offers an extremely interesting Millennial and Gen Z Survey - the youngest generations are ‘deeply concerned about climate change and the environment. More than 4 in 10 Millennials and Gen Z agree that we have already hit the point of no return when it comes to the environment and that it’s too late to repair the damage. However, a majority are optimistic that people’s commitment to take personal action to address environmental and climate issues will be greater post-pandemic’.i Another key finding of this survey is that these generations are aware that certain businesses have more impact than others on the environment and that their buying decisions have been determined by such awareness. Further, in the UK, the ‘Climate Change and Net Zero: Public Awareness and Perceptions’ (2021) of the HM Government shows that ‘85% of participants reported that climate change was a concern. 14% of them perceived climate change as affecting their local area by a ‘great deal’ compared to 42% of UK participants perceiving climate change as affecting other countries by ‘a great deal’. Around half (54%) of participants perceived their local area to be experiencing climate change effect to ‘at least some extent’’.ii This research paper shows that a large portion of the participants are aware that lifestyle changes are necessary to fight climate change, with 50% of them stating that the UK should pursue an equal mix of technological and lifestyle changes to reduce UK carbon emissions. The survey used a quota sampling approach with quotas in line with UK proportions for age, gender, nation, ethnicity and social grade. Participants’ perceptions of the likelihood of changes occurring over the next few decades suggest that energy efficiency, food waste, energy usage, and transport both terrestrial and by flight were extremely likely will most possibly adjust to climate change needs. Buying habits also scored high with almost 50% of the participants thinking that they will need to change in the next decade or so. Almost 70% of the participants were between the age of 18 and 54, with 51.2% of them being between 18 and 44: that is the age range that belongs to the digitalised society, which makes purchases online daily, art included. Finally, 50% of the total participants believe that the UK should pursue a balance between technological and lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change. The figure suggests that 25% of the total participants are Generation Z and Millennials who are aware of the need to engage in a change of behaviour to fight climate change instead of just expecting solutions coming from technological improvements and other external factors. Returning to microanalytical views, 6 in 10 Gen Z and 56% of Millennials express strong ethical and social concerns, with emphasis on systemic racism, personal background and unequal distribution of wealth and income as factors that impinge upon societal progress. This shows how their concerns expand beyond the environmental one and way into the social factor.iii Academic research shows that Millennials and Gen Z intensely use computers, ‘mobile devices and social media for sourcing and purchasing art, dismissing the need of experiencing the work of art in person before buying it, particularly in the case of less expensive work’.iv Their behaviour greatly differs from that of the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers, who although have a much higher budget and can afford top-segment six-figure artworks, are resistant to online buying and therefore make very expensive work of art difficult to trade online.v Global art surveys have shown that Millennial collectors, besides their developed awareness towards environmental and ethically viable lifestyle solution, lead art market sales, spending 6 times more than Baby Boomers.vi All in all, at a global level, ‘today 21% of buyers prefer to buy art online and this preference goes up with younger generation: 78% of Millennial collectors in the US bought art online, versus 40% of collectors from all age groups’.vii According to the Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2019, 80% of art buyers go to Instagram to discover new artists and pieces of art that are available to buy. Yet 23% of millennials had never bought an artwork in a gallery, auction, or fair prior to buying art online. Staggeringly, 79% of millennials said they had purchased artwork online more than once within the past year.viii Millennials and Gen Z are both aware of their agency in terms of sustainability, climate change and social factors, and the most willing to buy art online. They are those most likely to tap into the large majority of online art sales, which belong to the lower and mid-price segments too; as they are most likely to apply their social and environmental awareness whilst exploring the purchase experience. A new generation of art collectors and buyers has not only emerged, but also taken the lead and is setting the trends of digital purchase. There has been a growth in collectors who are Millennials and Gen Z; are more high-tech; the type of person that for sure is not familiar with the long-standing habit of attending snobbish private views at art galleries or populating the pretentious rooms of an auction house. To address and satisfy the demands of a tech-savvy and sustainability aware new generation of leading art buyers, the art market must explore and consolidate a new segmentation focussing on ESG (environmental, social & governance) art. Further, to focus on a segment dedicated to ESG topics in the domain of art, there is no need for a physical location at an art fair or a gallery space in a downtown art district where to attract and host potential buyers. This not only because the main consumer target is formed by individuals who would rather buy online, but because recent research has proved that, as a way of example, for galleries in the low segment with a turnover around the £ 250K mark, participating at fairs costs 22% of annual outgoings and returns only 11% of annual sales.ix [1]A Call for Accountability and Action, The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey, 2021, p. 3. [1]Climate Change and Net Zero: Public Awareness and Perceptions, HM Government, UK, April 2021 [1] See: A Call for Accountability and Acton, The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey, 2021. [1] In: Online Sales and Business Mode Innovation in Art Markets: A Case Study, A. Fernandes and L. U. Alonso, Social Sciences, MDPI, 2020, p. 2. [1] See: Online Sales and Business Mode Innovation in Art Markets: A Case Study, A. Fernandes and L. U. Alonso, Social Sciences, MDPI, 2020. [1]ANN: The Art Basel and UBS Art Market 2020 is Available, Artmarketstudies.org, March, 2020. [1]The Future of the Art Market, FOTAM Report, Creative United, 2019, p. 41. [1] See: From Influencers to Collectors: The Rise of Millennial Art Buying, Connect with Art, 2021, at: https://connectwith.art/art/business/from-influencers-to-collectors-the-rise-of-millennial-art-buying/ [1] See: UK Contemporary Gallery Report 2015/2016: Opportunities and Challenges in a Rapidly Changing Market Place, Creative United and Art Tactic, 2016. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

Gen Z are social media native, despise anything associated with big business, and are consumers seeking alternatives with a socially conscious bent. Overview of the subject matter. To thrive, an art business needs to know who its clients are and what collectors are after. Today’s society changes at a speedy pace and there is no way for an art gallery to ride the wave of uniqueness and innovation without knowing the preferences, habits, deepest concerns and aspirations of those who consume art and culture. Awareness of the key features of the art market cannot be limited to an interest in art economics and to the reading of reports on global/local sales trends; indeed, understanding the social factors behind statistics is paramount and at Arrière-Garde we pay great attention to the human element through which numbers are generated. As we are based in London, we want to share our knowledge of the art demographics in the UK. In the UK cultural landscape of 2022, Millennials and Gen Z make 48% of the ‘Metrocultural’ population, that is: prosperous liberal urbanite groups, who choose the city lifestyle for its broad cultural opportunities, who have their preferred art form or style, who represent good prospects for emerging artists and new, innovative artworks, and who are highly responsive to e-commerce; likely to take up digital offers and to make recommendations to friends. Millennials and Gen Z, in the UK, make also 48% of the ‘Experience Seeker’ population, that is: the most significant part of urban art audiences, who are highly active, diverse, social and ambitious singles and young couples engaging with art on a regular basis. Experience Seekers tend to live close to the city centre, are mostly in search of novelty and have disposable income to spend on art, art memberships, bars and restaurants. They are digitally savvy and share experiences through social media on their smartphones. In the UK, Metroculturals and Experience Seekers are those among the Millennials with a growing interest in buying both digital art and unique artworks (such as paintings, sculptures, and drawings) online. They are also high representatives of those art buyers who use social media as a primary source of discovery. In a recent Artsy survey, ‘66% of buyers said they use Instagram or other social media networks for discovery and 26% said they buy art from Instagram. Millennials and Generation Z are leading the trend’. Millennials are nowadays the fastest-growing segment of collectors, but how do they behave and what are they looking for when it comes to buying art? Millennials blur the line between collector and seller because they are not afraid to resell what they buy and to treat artworks as a financial asset. According to London Trade Art, ‘the social impact of their investments is equally important, as they tend to invest in artworks and artists to fulfil philanthropic aspirations', and they even bought art at major global art fairs during the pandemic merely to support artists during the crisis. According to Art Basel, recently, art galleries' focus on attracting the attention of millennials has increased, and ‘according to the New York-based art advisor Heather Flow, of whose clients approximately 70% fall within the demographic, precision is key. “Truly engaging millennial collectors requires galleries to rethink ideas of transparency, flexibility, diversity, and sustainability,” she says. “The gallery business model must adapt to consider these elements”’. Moreover, and according to Joe Kennedy, the co-founder of Unit London, a gallery opened in 2013 in London which made extensive use of social media to build up its business and has grown to become a 6,000 sq. feet space in Mayfair, “as well as being used to getting what they want—from instant delivery pizza to personally customised Nikes—this generation is turned off by some ingrained practices of the art market, such as elitism, exclusivity (the velvet rope outside a vernissage) and a lack of transparency. Withholding information such as price lists just breeds suspicion, particularly since millennials have a deep distrust of corporations, preferring influencers on social media to guide their decision-making in many domains”. With respect to Gen Z, the prominent art newspaper ‘The Art Market’ states that this generation ‘accounts for 32% of the population (and 40% of consumers), according to data from Bloomberg, nudging them ahead of the relatively senile 22 to 37-year-old millennials. Combining Gen Z’s purchasing power with the influence they have over the spending habits of their parents leads the analysis to conclude an indirect potential spend of $3bn’. Gen Z are social media natives, despise anything associated with big business, and are consumers seeking alternatives with a socially conscious bent. They are a key winning audience for art start-ups and initiatives looking to get attention and to succeed in a ‘big brand artworld’. With the older Gen Z about to finish university and to join a post-global pandemic labour market, which adds to their lower buying power, art businesses like ours must have a cystal-clear view of the entry price point. According to Ellie Rines, a New York based gallerist who predominantly sells to clients under the age of 40, a good price point is around US$ 500 to 700, the same amount spent on a nice pair of shoes. At blue chip global auction house Phillips, the online-only ‘Unbound’ auctions targeting the youngest collectors saw art selling from US$ 375 to 750. Further, and somewhat as a natural response to the insights we are sharing today, at Arrière-Garde we believe in the democratisation of the art market: any art lover should be able to afford art and transform his/her home into a ‘temple to art’! And in this sense price point matters! Why should you hang a poster in your house when your dream is to own an original?? And why so nowadays; when you can acquire unique and high-quality art which - given the current movement that is overthrowing the often opaque and exploitative nature of the traditional gallery model - is not going to be overpriced ??? Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

“People are starving, people are freezing, people are dying. We are in a climate catastrophe. And the only thing you’re afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a painting!! (…) Here we go again: on the 23rd of October, less than 2 weeks following the #TomatoSoup splashing by two of Just Stop Oil activists on ‘Sunflowers’ by Vincent Van Goth at the National Gallery in London, another art treasure has been attacked in Germany: this time it was ‘Les Meules’ by Claude Monet. Climate activists representing the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) have thrown soup at a painting by Claude Monet hanging at Potsdam’s Barberini Museum in protest against the continued use of fossil fuels in the country. The painting (also this one covered by protective glass) and its golden frame were doused with 2 containers of mashed potatoes soup, and the activists glued themselves under the artwork whilst shouting their views against the use of fossil fuels as follows: “People are starving, people are freezing, people are dying. We are in a climate catastrophe. And the only thing you’re afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a painting!! (…) Do you know what I’m afraid of? That science says that we will not be able to feed our families in 2050. Does it take mashed potatoes on a painting to make you listen? This painting will be worth nothing when we are fighting over food. When is the point that you will finally listen and not just carry on as before?” This act went once again viral on Twitter where other climate activists stated: “If it takes a painting - with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it - to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all: Then we’ll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!” Let’s remember - before expanding on why activists in Europe and the UK are targeting artworks in gestures of political resistance - that on the 30th of July this year, Italian activists glued themselves to ‘Unique Forms of Continuity in Space’ (1913) by prominent Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni, displayed at the Museo del Novecento in Milan. And that in June 2022, members of the same group stuck their hands to an artwork in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery. So…what do these youngsters want? They demand that governments stop all future licensing and consent for the exploration, development, and production of fossil fuels. And why? Because they are scared, and worried about the future of GenY and Z; and therefore are acting against the actions of the older generations still in power and which carry on acting in ways that will leave a trashed and incredibly unequal planet to the future generations. But why manifest such goals with attacks on museums and artworks rather than vandalizing politicians’ private property or harming them? Well, the youngsters understand that art is culture, and as this is a cry for help and for being heard by representatives of their own civilization, they are targeting an incredibly meaningful, valuable, and fragile expression of culture itself. Art is as precious and as vulnerable as the Planet and humanity itself; it is a metaphor for all that the older generations are disrespecting and destroying. We think that the act of mirroring such atrocious behaviour on behalf of GenY and Z, which is directed to art rather than to the Planet and humanity at large, has a strong symbolic meaning. Albeit highly controversial for its potentially destructive effect on works of art, the activist attack on art reflects the broader and incredibly catastrophic way in which political and economic forces have been treating natural and human resources for centuries now. These activists also show their own understanding and judgment of the art world, as proved by Hannah, one of Just Stop Oil members: “The aim was just to say to our culture, basically, that you can't be hiding from this. At this stage, everyone is responsible, everyone is going to be impacted by the climate crisis. (…) The art world, she says, doesn’t exist in isolation. I'm an art student, myself, and it does sometimes feel like the art world views itself as existing in isolation from the rest of the world. But, you know, the climate crisis affects all of us”. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

For two weeks, around the beginning of October 2022, activists from Just Stop Oil have been staging sit-down protests on roads around central London. This has infuriated commuters and drivers but then actions by the activist group escalated and involved an attack that affected the art world. On the 14th of October, two Just Stop Oil activists headed to the National Gallery with some canned soup and glue, just to throw the soup on ‘Sunflowers’ by Vincent Van Goth. Following the tomato soup splashing, the activists removed jackets to reveal Just Stop Oil T-shirts before gluing themselves to the wall beneath the artwork, which is one of the gallery’s most important treasures. National Gallery staff quickly cleared the room. In a statement released after the protesters’ activity against this world-renowned art treasure, the gallery has confirmed the painting was not harmed (as it is protected by glass). There was some minor damage to the frame, but the painting has remained intact. The reason for all of this is that the cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis, fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup. OK, but the question here would be: is it justifiable to act within the art world and possibly damage a piece of human heritage for the purpose of raising awareness and shocking people? The truth is that art treasures have been subjected to attacks and possible damage for a long time: The ‘Mona Lisa’ has been the subject of vandalism several times over – twice in 1956, in 1974, in 2009 and in 2022. It’s not a great surprise – after all, Leonardo da Vinci’s 14th Century masterpiece is arguably the most famous painting of all time. Also Auguste Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ (1904) was damaged in 1970 by a bomb. Thankfully, no one was hurt but according to the Cleveland Museum, where the sculpture was showcased, the explosion irreparably damaged the sculpture. There were ten casts made of it: the reason why you may have seen a fully formed statue during your last visit to the Rodin Museum in Paris. Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ (1937) was spray painted with the words ‘Kill Lies All’ when it was hanging at the Museum of Modern Art, and Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Urinal’ (1917) was smashed up by Pierre Pinoncelli, a 77-year-old French artist, in 2006. This all because, for sure, art has that kind of magic aura and appeal that one can also recognise in mega-celebrities…attracting the attention of stalkers, delusional and psychologically affected people. However, this is not what was behind the actions at the National Gallery earlier this month, as stated by Phoebe Plummer, one of the attackers: “I want to make one thing perfectly clear, we did not damage the painting whatsoever. (…) We’re using these actions to get media attention to get people talking about this now and we know civil resistance works, history has shown us this works. (…) I’m standing here as a queer woman and the reason that I’m able to vote, go to university, and hopefully someday marry the person I love is because of people who have taken part in civil resistance before me.” We are not here to judge, and for sure this is a peculiar way of talking resistance, but what matters is that these activists were aware that it would be hard to damage a work of art behind a glass shield…and there are so many other ones at the National Gallery that are not protected in this way. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

We really feel that, in the future, art businesses will need to further engage with the collector’s soul, rather than focussing on the artist and their artworks to catch collectors’ attention. The art market and system should increasingly admit that buyers overwhelmingly purchase art to live with it. Hanging artworks at home does not mean diminishing the value of art to mere decoration: it means that art collectors want to appreciate art on a regular basis. Art collectors have a heart…but has this heart changed? Or has the exponential access to artworks merely given more room to this heart’s feelings, dreams and nature? At Arriere-Garde, we know that the heart of the collector has always beaten for the preservation of history, for experiencing the thrill of the search, to tell a story, and, ultimately to reveal the personality of who has it in his/her chest. We also know very well the mind of a collector beyond his/her heart, and that financial profit is not the major reason for buying art. For the true art collector, visual pleasure relating to the artwork’s story and the artist history are the real longstanding values of the art they buy. Creative capital is above and beyond economic capital. Our collectors tell us that a work’s aesthetic appeal is frequently the gateway to a deeper exploration of the artist and their career. Among active art buyers in the artworld today, only approximately 17% admitted being buying art without significant consideration for the works’ content or the artist’s background or career trajectory. Moreover, when asked about the biggest factors to consider when buying art, collectors reported aesthetics as the most important, cited by 78% of respondents—three times the number that cited an artwork’s potential to increase in value as a key motivating factor. Collectors also tend to see their homes as a reservoir of personal and cultural meaning, as a beacon of visual experience for guests, and a learning and formative narrative in the field of history of art for their children. And this is yet another reason why art galleries and the market should shift from an ‘artist-centric’ tactic that depicts the artist as an unreachable and glamorous celebrity so to convey the exclusivity and the scarcity of the pieces he/she produces. This for sure creates a halo around the selling process and increases the price point an artist production may reach. However, this also somewhat overlooks the subjective and considerate ways through which collectors engage with art and artists, leaving their true motives and deeper needs not totally fulfilled over the process of acquiring art pieces. Discover more about Lenna Mertanen, one of our amazing artists... Mertanen is a Finnish artist who responds to the landscape of mass media in the era of the digital revolution both with humour and criticism, appropriating images or referencing to the imagery of advertising, film, television, magazines, social media and beyond, and experimenting with the proliferation of new different identities that the era of WhatsApp, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok are generating as if the notion of the self and the meme could be either interchangeable or corresponding. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

A very important element to bear in mind in today’s contemporary art world is the way art temples have been built away from museums and galleries ‘white cubes’. Collectors are aware that art has a sublime, inspirational, and contemplative value in the context of their homes. And that this value is above and beyond any decorative function that the artwork may be given by some people. Hence collectors’ houses are often TEMPLES TO ART. Homes turned into private temple to art also function as places where to build a legacy; an art legacy to be left in the hands of the family generations to come. Their owners have a clear vision on the knowledge base, social and educational function that their homes spread out when they share their artworks with other members of their family, with friends and humanity at large. Moreover, in recent years there has been a democratisation and a verticalization of the collecting world. Again, a trend against the grain of the remoteness of the ‘white cube’ and its sense of snobbism and exclusivity. More people have access to art production, there is plenty of information online for them to develop a specific taste and hone it, and so much art and so many artists are on digital platforms selling at several price benchmarks that it feels non-sense to dress up and travel to attend to a live art event where the old art system is still imposing the ethics of the VIP list...as if there were only a certain type of crowd deserving to be included into the word of art buying. At Arriere-Garde we support and promote this process of democratisation, and we are aware that the collector’s space has expanded away from the baby boomer generation; from age brackets with high disposable capital, and has reached a much younger, engaged, curious and fresh audience. Art must be for all. Everybody should be entitled to transform their homes into PRIVATE TEMPLES TO ART! Discover more about Ricardo Coelho, one of our amazing artists... Brazilian artist Ricardo Coelho believes that the aesthetics of the body occupies a prominent place in today's world. And indeed, today’s celebrity culture, from tabloids to social media and the arts is deeply entrenched in the aesthetics of the body. Are you enjoying our content? Leave your like and comment on this post, we want to know your opinion.

Obtaining artworks is a powerful way to express one’s personality. Owning a work of art means both owning a piece of history and being part of a story. Many collectors draw on their heritage to collect art from artists with similar backgrounds or patterns of life. Some collectors seek limited editions from high-profile artists to claim their stake on art history, and to assert their lifestyle to themselves and to their social surroundings. Art collectors understand the unmatched feeling of discovering a new work of art for their collection. After carefully researching, nothing compares to finally encountering new artworks for their collection. About Marcelo Amorim's Work Marcelo Amorim's work can be seen as a revisiting and an 'acclimatisation' of the work of Gerard Richter, one of the established great masters of Modernism - and thus a Brazilian version of the strand of 'remodernism' with which globalised artists are updating the archive of 20th century art history. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MARCELO AMORIM’S WORK VISIT OUR WEBSITE OR CONTACT info@arriere-garde.co.uk Obtaining artworks is a powerful way to express one’s personality. While some collectors stick with a certain style or specific artist, others collect a diverse range of artwork from various artists to convey different sides of their personality, views and values. Knowing the background behind each work of art in a collector’s collection is half the fun. When guests come over, art collectors take pride in walking them through the story behind each of their pieces. Whether it’s talking about the symbolism in the artwork, the artist’s background or how they found the art itself, collectors love sharing their heart and passion with others. Are you enjoying our content? Join more collectors and subscribe to our site to receive new content from our BLOG by e-mail.

Marcelo Amorim's work investigates the often aggressive and invasive construction of the kind of male identity destined to lead within white and phallocentric societies. The central themes of Amorim's work are 1) family & school education; 2) socialisation rituals; 3) initiation rituals; 4) sport & the gym; 5) the military & war; and 6) work environments. And they are all approached with astuteness and an inquisitive spirit to highlight that hegemony is a mode of social, political and cultural structuring in the West. This investigation is made through a longstanding archival research in books, newspapers and magazines on the subject matters, similar to that executed by German Master Gerhard Richter to build is famous work ‘Atlas’; a research which Amorim turns into majestic canvases where nostalgia and the language of colour mingle with a rigorous conceptual framework. Watch now this video where Dr. Kalinca Costa Söderlund, art historian and art critic interviews Marcelo Amorim. The theme of this interview is: "Fighting power structures in Brazil, calling attention to the entrenched mechanism of perpetuation of the hegemonic". Amorim's work represents an original counterpoint to practices that directly explore the theme of social minorities in Brazil, where recent radicalisation to the right has resulted in new waves of racism, homophobia, and discrimination against women. In other words, Amorim, instead of exploring the dimension of the dominated and issues such as the rights, the cultural histories and the need for emancipation of historically oppressed people, investigates - in an ironically caustic way - the ideology that shapes the ethics, the body and the vision of the dominant. At the same time, Amorim’s work is an act of global political resistance thanks to its explicit references to social categorisations such as those crystallised in the terms 'working class' or 'LGBTQIA culture'. Amorim was one of the artists nominated for the 2010 PIPA Prize. In 2019 he had a solo show at the Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto (MARP), and, Zipper Galeria, gave him a solo show in 2016. Other highlights in the gallery world were his solo show 'Intervalo' at Jaqueline Martins in São Paulo and his presence in the group show at Luciana Caravello Arte Contemporânea in Rio de Janeiro (2014). His work has been exhibited at Casa do Brasil in Madrid (2018) and in Brussels (2017), as well as at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati (2017) and at Kunst im Kulturflur in Berlin (2011). FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MARCELO AMORIM’S WORK VISIT OUR WEBSITE OR CONTACT info@arriere-garde.co.uk

There has been a growth in collectors who are Millennials and Gen Z and are super high-tech. A new generation of art collectors and buyers has not only emerged, but also taken the lead and is setting the trends of digital purchase. All in all, at a global level, today 21% of buyers prefer to buy art online and this preference goes up with younger generation: 78% of Millennial collectors in the most developed nations bought art online, versus 40% of collectors from all age groups. 80% of Millennial art buyers go to Instagram to discover new artists and pieces of art that are available to buy. Yet 23% of Millennials had never bought an artwork in a gallery, auction, or fair prior to buying art online!! The more we talk to young art collectors, the more we find out how they despise the snobbery of the white cube, the type of pretentious crowd they think they find there, and how they find the traditional art system obsolete and out of touch. Staggeringly, 79% of millennials said they had purchased artwork online more than once within the past year. And this is a trend that is here to stay! At Arriere-Garde, we want to address and satisfy the demands of a tech-savvy and sustainability aware new generation of leading art buyers. Art is increasingly seen as a part of an aspirational lifestyle and a way of expressing identity, behavioural paths, sense of belonging to a particular ‘social tribe’, and to communicate social values, ethics and politics – particularly contemporary art. The ethos of Arriere-Garde and its associate artists is to allow Millennials and Gen Z to express their sense of urgency for a better and sustainable society, and their identity as agents of planet Earth preservation through the art they buy. DISCOVER MORE ON HOW OUR ARTIST ROSTER ADDRESSES THE NEEDS OF THIS TECH-SAVVY AND ECOLOGICAL ART COLLECTORS ON OUR INSTAGRAM ! AND SEE SCIENCE BASED AND SUSTAINABLE ARTWORKS ACROSS ALL OUR SOCIAL MEDIA. Are you enjoying our content? Join more collectors and subscribe to our site to receive new content from our BLOG by e-mail.