Oh Amy Amy Amy.
Posted by cathedralofshit on July 25, 2011
After a sad weekend, CoS have been catching up on Amy Winehouse tributes. We’re off up to Camden later to lay some flowers and grieve communally.
But how is the young art community dealing with the loss of a young life? Well, Degreeart.com, tagline “Invest In the Artists of the Future” are running this feature, in no way trying to cash in from her death (Amy Amy Amy Andrea Tyrimos, 780.00 GBP, 40 x 52 cm).
You see, Degree Art are a company (based in Vyner Street, natch) and nothing to do with, as you might expect from their company name, supporting young artists straight from college. They’ve tied up their licensing terms PRETTY tightly.
“By submitting any material to us, you automatically grant DegreeArt.com the royalty-free, perpetual, exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, edit, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such material (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. You also acknowledge that DegreeArt.com is not obliged to publish any material submitted by you on any DegreeArt.com publication.
In certain circumstances DegreeArt.com may also share your contribution with trusted third parties.”
Cathedral of Shit 
nmeny said
Theres a tree near the corner of vyner street and mare street, I could never work out what it was
SCRAMBLED EGGS said
Let’s be honest though, anyone stupid and shit enough at art to fall for any of these obnoxious, depressing startup art advisories/promoters/shit galleries in golders green where you have to PAY THEM MONEY TO SHOW YOUR WORK, i.e degreeart, ‘debut contemporary’ and other bollocks like that, gets exactly what they deserve: misery and confusion
BB said
Haha! who’s running this self – righteous ship eh?? how many galleries would let a start up artist show their work for free in London and have over 1000 people turn up? sweetie please get your facts straight I’ve been to first Thursdays at Degree art and seen the artist sell out completely in one show before 9 o clock! on their own merit and with the help of their client list which they would not have access to otherwise. Also the show stays up for an entire month the artist gets press etc etc. If a struggling artist CHOOSES to show their work in a back alley basement and invite friends and family to see it and sell one to uncle Ron in the corner and call it a success then congratulations their living the dream if that’s what they want it’s a choice neither is wrong or right. But if you show at somewhere like Degree art & you’re pricing the work correctly then they make back what they paid for in venue costs plus more! get your facts straight about how the art world is run these days before commenting.
As for the Amy thing I don’t think it’s as sinister as you put it, MTV have had her on repeat! forcing us to listen to her now that’s exploitation iTunes encouraging people to buy her CD the minute she died that’s exploitation. The artist is a big fan of music and has done portraits and work inspired by Winehouse and it was mentioned it CLEARLY says it was an INSPIRATION if it was telling you to buy stuff they would have simply coxed the artist to put the price of the pieces up. the prices are there because it’s a formula clearly look at the other blogs and the way they are laid out it’s not that sinister
and did you ever think that they have to have rights to the on-line images so that they don’t have to ask the artist EVERY TIME they wan’t to use their work to promote or send to press or I don’t know…..put it in a BLOG post???
I’m sorry but this “attack” is weak & your comments are laughable,
cathedralofshit said
I love this response from the Directors of the space. It’s ‘hilarious’.
SCRAMBLED EGGS said
I wouldn’t usually respond to something like this but seriously, you are an moron. You can’t even ‘talk the talk’ very well…
Here are some bullet points for you, to help you understand what is going on a little better:
– ‘Start up artists’ is not a phrase
– All real galleries (in london or elsewhere) show the artists work for free, in fact they often give the artists some money
– First thursdays don’t mean anything
– The truly struggling artists are those who feel the need to pay charlatan organisations like yours to market their shitty work to complete chumps who don’t know any better
– you don’t know anything about the art world, you are not involved in it
– your gallery is not actually an art gallery, it is a hollow, cynical and disgusting business venture run by monied airheads desperately seeking to add meaning to their lives by selling lousy art and craft rather than, say, chemical weapons
– no one important will ever take you seriously
Before you start calling me bitter etc. i’d like to use this handy curtain of anonymity to be completely apalling and say that I am a pretty successful artist, who shows in numerous public and commercial galleries worldwide. I have never had to pay anyone to show my work, because I am not an idiot.
BB said
I have nothing to do with the gallery so get your facts straight
I was voicing my opinion.
Not everyone knows where or how to get their work shown for free or lets be honest gets the chance to so why don’t you go and do some good and show other people how to do the same instead of being bitter which you are, good for you you get to show all over the world that’s amazing, but don’t down play other people as idiots just because they choose to use companies such as this…like I said above its a choice. get over it those companies exit no matter what but they are not all run the same. THAT’S ALL!
Who's behind the curtain? said
Hellooooo Mark Leckey!
enemenemenemy said
bb, late in the day i know, but some things…
what determines a struggling artist? you mean, i presume, solely on sales-based terms, well some well informed and observant artists will appreciate it takes time to develop a practice and to develop genuine patrons who are in it for the long term, sell out shows early in a career can be a recipe for disaster and they can be left pigeon holed in one style that has no wiggle room or scope for manoeuvre once the demand falls off, some artists would prefer after a show to be left better off in terms of experience and interaction with like minded people rather than in their pockets, and im not sure the likes of Mlles. Olisa and Beauchamp could offer that kind of enlightened conversation
back alley basement, please elaborate? examples if possible would be great, have you actually been to any of these basements yourself, what was it like for you? were you scared? did you not understand the nature of the installation on show?
1000 people turning up at first thursday, it wouldnt have been the free beer available would it? or as i heard someone mention recently, it was a veritable meat market down there these days… are you suggesting 1000 art-savvy people were there for the art on show at degree art, which show was it if you don’t mind telling me, just so I can keep informed
don’t try and share the blame-load with MTV, degree art and mtv are as bad as each other…and anyhow in mentioning them you’ve compared DA to that obese organisation, well done, own grave dug…(btw, I cant hide the fact now that I presume your are one of degree art employees)
Another ill-judged example of bad pr, ‘they have to have rights to the on-line images’, come on you suggest you are an insider who knows how the system works (mr lanji, come on own up), do you really think that galleries enforce these kind of criteria when they show an artist, most galleries in my experience don’t even have any form of contract with their artists, for better or for worse it’s the done thing and often results in relationships based on trust rather than quasi-nafarious contractual means (im not saying its fool proof btw, just that your terms as outlined on the website include such outrageous things as ‘By submitting any material to us, you automatically grant DegreeArt.com the royalty-free, perpetual, exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, edit, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such material (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed’, that is frankly OBSCENE (note use of capitals, im very disturbed by this)
Another thing, I mean what gallery needs an interior design consultant? Ive been in degree art, as far as I can see the extent of interior design stretches to a sofa, coffee table and a scattering of vased flower arrangements. On top of that there hasn’t even been any attempt to cover up the butt-ugly breeze blocks, and the walls are full of unfilled holes, Its an ugly gallery by any standards, and if they/you are paying for the services of a consultant, the least she could do is get busy with the pollyfilla…
COS, any chance we can put this to the vote in a youpoll styleee, as scrambled eggs mentioned, no one important will ever take Degree Art seriously (just like they wont with Salon/Debut or George and Jorgen et al). Who thinks Degree art are just plain whack? Im concerned there may be decidedly biased outcome, (as BB rightly suggest, we COS followers and are a bitter bunch) but im pretty sure there are plenty of professional/successful/savvy/intellectual users amongst us, so it could be fairly reflective…and this sort of trend in the gallery sector needs a good honest appraisal in a proper journal, I think JJ is the man for the job, lets get all undercover like hugh grant and flag up all the examples of seedy agent-ising of bad art, Samir at Salon would be soundbite central, he loves the sound of his own voice, a proper in depth article in freize/art review might actually weed out some of the gluttonous trash operating on the
outer extremities of the art world
Alistair said
We always know CoS has hit the target when the sockpuppets arrive for a counter-offensive.
Miranda Slanda said
DegreeArt is signed up to the Arts Council’s Own Art scheme – which in a sense means that the Arts Council is indirectly supporting DegreeArt’s exploitation of artists. I’m not sure that’s in its royal charter.
EmmSee said
The Ownart service now requires the participant gallery to purchase a consumer credit licence from the office of fair trading that costs upwards of £1,500, so at least there’s the scant consolation of DegreeArt having to pay for the privilege of being associated in any way with the Arts Council 🙂
cathedralofshit said
Isn’t this fun?!
Dear BB,
never one to shy away from a request of help, here’s the CoS guide to becoming a successful artist. Perhaps SCRAMBLED EGGS can let us know if it’s a route s/he followed.
1) find a space. A shopfront or your kitchen will do (see: HUO, Deller). It doesn’t have to cost anything. Give the landlord a handjob or something. Or ask nicely, if you prefer.
2) make some art. Now, here’s the important thing – make sure it’s NOT TERRIBLE. This will help your chances.
Invite your pals to show too if you must.
3) hang art in said space. Don’t overhang it now! You’ve been warned.
4) make a flyer. Or I’ve heard ‘Facebook’ is a good outlet for such promotion. There are curators and gallerists and other artists on there. We have seen them.
5) Open exhibition.
6) Repeat process.
SCRAMBLED EGGS said
Yeah that’s basically it
D said
ha ha regardless of the wrongs and rights all the work on that site is EXECRABLE
nut_mix said
Not just the art – how about the writing? Hey BB, are you responsible for this?
http://degreeart.com/blog/british-obsession-period-drama
Mylar said
The person that wrote that cannot be over three years old
Alistair said
The writing on degree art makes me want to weep, then the “art” makes me want to kill myself, and not because it’s so powerful that it totally blew my world apart.
Mainly, though, I want to know who this “Downton Abby” person is that they keep mentioning. Who is she and what does she have to do with costume drama? Or perhaps they mean “abbey”?
jeremy deller said
Hold on a second. I never gave my landlord a handjob in my kitchen – but I did make him play KLF on the trombone whilst blacked up like a striking miner. Seemed to do the trick.
cathedralofshit said
Ermm… LIKE?
Peter Jones said
DegreeArt is a company that sells shit to idiots. NOT shitloads of art to collectors – just shit to idiots. The clue is in ” based in Vyner Street “.
Fumer said
They will ship the shit to you.
‘Have art delivered to the door’, indeed they say this twice in the same list.
I wonder if it smells of sweaty dough and comes on the back of a moped…
Plus check out the photo of Director Christopher A Holder – he looks like Martin McGeown on a diet of kebabs and steroids.
Fumer said
These arseholes are really getting me down, every day I see more and more of these confident new-rightwing pricks, smiling about at how wonderful they are, unable to think beyond clichés of banality and selfish desires. My fear is that this isn’t just a swing to the right, but a permanent change…
It’s just too easy to picture this dross getting picked up by the gormless twits who inhabit the expanding yuppie dorms of the east end… accountants and their pals the property developers… YUK!
One look at these clowns (and the shit they sell) makes you forgive even the worst of the art worlds shifty coke addled nepotistic bollocks.
timwii said
Exactly….sure real dealers and gallerists are total cunts but at least they know what art is
Sweaty Dealer said
Too right Fumer! You’ll miss us old schoolers looking sweaty,nervous and talking about ourselves incessantly when you realise that all the new dealers are straight off the ‘Arts and Business’ course at Sotheby’s and think that having Ed Vaizey at their dinners is a career highlight.
Gnomemansland said
These pay to show galleries are nothing new and we all probably know friends so desperate or just naive that they coughed up to be in one. When I was at college a fellow student put her degree show up in some tiny East End space that was offering itself as a gallery for over a grand a week etc and there was a ‘gallery’ near Old Street that used to have an endless series of group shows that you paid £100 to have a tiny bit of wall space in. The pay to show galleries used to be run by slightly dodgy geezers but the new breed are run by self important ex public school girls who are waiting to hook up with a banker. So all very naff and steer well clear BUT before we get too smug showing your art in an old shop/warehouse etc can be pretty bloody depressing and in some way defying the laws of financial gravity isn’t quite so smart either. We think we can be clean of the money stench by funding the thing ourselves, not selling anything, not charging admission. Are we not just in some way perpetuating the myth of financial neutrality that both publicly funded and the more savvy commercial galleries present. Go into the Lisson (for example) and you would have little clue that this is part of a multi million pound business venture similarly in a way the same can be said of somewhere like the Whitechapel (existing symbiotically with the commercial sector). So maybe the reason we all hate pay to show galleries is that they just express the unpalatable greed and financial raison d’etre of the art world. In some fucked up way they are more honest.
Byron Getwunfree said
This is off the topic a bit ,but is ELINOR OLISA actually a man ? or just in the process.
Fumer said
Oh why oh why don’t these crazed teens do the galleries as well?
Fumer said
And the art schools…
Jeremy Duller said
Debut contemporary surely wins the award for the biggest con of all with the terrible ‘kingmaker’ description used by it’s clueless owner to describe himself. Samir Ceric really is a cunt maker and nothing more – apparently he doesn’t even pay em!
Iain said
The reson why these pay to show ’emerging artists’ dodgy art promoters exist is because of the failure, and in some cases downright refusal, of British art schools to equip art graduates with any business skills or experience.