[COPY] To "Niche" or not to "Niche", That is the question.
I see this term, Niche, popping up online these days everywhere in many areas. This dusty old Victorian era term is getting a new life. I have the feeling that this has come about because of this digital era we live in where everything is broken down in to bits of information separated from each other and any larger context out of which they might emerge. So here are two standard definitions of Niche:
“ A specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product” great for Toothpaste but not for Art.
“A suitable position or activity”
I think it’s just plain dreary. It bring an image like this to mind
I think we some early glimmerings of the rise of “Niche” in pop Art. Some of it definitely had the feeling of a “specialized segment of the market (the Art market) for a particular kind of product (Art) Lichtenstein comes to mind with his endless variations of images painted in the Ben-day cartoon dots. The same territory ploughed over and over. Now lets take a look at the work of someone who doesn’t have a “Niche”
The work you see here of course is by yours truly. I’m using it as an example of what no “Niche” looks like. In fact it’s a way of working that is totally the opposite of niche in which the same basic thing is done with endless variations. In no “Niche” land, each work emerges as a one time event, but it opens up big territory for the Artist and the viewers alike, territory out of which can come infinite pictorial possibilities for the Artist, and unique voyages within the imaginations of the viewers.
It’s a short one today
Lots more to come! Let us all have a magnificent, jaw dropping year!
Ricky