Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 4. 21st March 1973
Art — New Zealand Student Arts Council — Fine Arta Exhibition
Art
New Zealand Student Arts Council — Fine Arta Exhibition.
Art students have always been among the leas secure members of the university community. While they often affect to care little about their own future and only about the progress of their art, in reality they have a singular predicament. Unlike most other graduates who can scan the newspaper columns for a job, artists will not find an advertisement in the "Dominon" saying "Landscape or Abstract painter wanted at $4000 per annum". They have to find their own way and create work (and a market) for themselves.
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A young aficionado contemplating the metaphysical pullulations of Paul Louis Hetet's mysterioualy titled "Noddy"
Art students are now being trained in their thousands to paint pictures, but for a market which is already at bursting point with professional and amateur artists. In England and Wales there are now more than 50,000 art students. In the U.S.A. there are more than a quarter of a million, and here in New Zealand there are about one thousand students. Few ever realise what is little more than a dream. The vast majority will get jobs in industry, photography, advertising, general design and teaching in art schools. No more than a minority will paint a professional picture when they complete their studies and a smaller minority will be able to write "Professional Painter" on their driver's licence or passport. Many art students never really leave school. They remain, usually on a part-time basis, to teach other students to become painters, who in turn, teach other students to become painters. . . and so it goes on.
Here is an exhibition of some of the best works recently produced at the Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University. It is of interest for many reasons. These are works by skilled university students of fine arts. But can other students and people beyond the university relate to the work, or relate to Art itself? And these are works by artists aware of artistic and social trends in N.Z. and overseas. But do the works reflect any knowledge of art history, of the place of art in society, and any real social consciousness?
This week, walk a few steps off the beaten track, go to the Memorial Theatre foyer, and perhaps reconsider a segment of your culture.
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