The Art world enjoys patronage from Auction houses, bidders, agents,lawyers, academics, specialists, collectors, gallery owners,sponsors etc...but ultimately they all (theoretically)are utterly dependent on the original Artist. But I believe the'Art world' today needs to only to select tokenistically the work of contemporary Artist without losing a penny.Contemporary artists beware,you are used as 'shock treatment to jump-start a tired market by provocative work banging on about the timeless cliche of 'What is Art?' or is it 'not Art 'at all?', or Is it 'rip-off Britain ?'. A false dawn of internet democracy now has slowed Art down with unrelated adverts attached like a limpet to a rock on websites, or Art 'becomes the spam of life. So, with regards to a Painter, can originality from a country -cousin break down any barriers to do with Art and the Art world?
Art is the distillation of insight and failure, but for me requires no paradigm but contradictions and paradoxes to deal with. There exists greater diffusion of social, political,economic as well as 'Aesthetic' power. where there are fewer 'easy money' bad guys but more expediency in the world who aren't popping their head over the parapet. So I'm a fusion of components:
1. Angry misanthropic, destructive and bearing a grudge of entitlement, advocating the formal hating of the Art Market, as a vehicle to commercial success.
2. A restorer,salvaging beauty from the detritus of unfulfilled expectations,whilst remaining steadfastly loyal
3. The backscratcher, comfortable and happy in his /her own skin, but terrified of risk.
4. Mr. Garratt, who specialises in personal failure, but remains true to his identity of moral indignation.
I am the sum aggregate of all of these.I don't mind being the little piggy who blows the house down, I don't mind if I go to market, or argue that Art has saved my bacon - like the metaphor that I've over-used,as a Painter I did not intend to over-use the medium, and I hope I haven't. I simply want to explore and see how far I can push myself. That is m a simple modus operendi.. But thanlkfully I haven't quite reached the point of absolute failure or tragic' imperfect necessity' yet. Or not ? You decide.