Submitted by Tim Barrus aka Cinematheque Films, Jun 14, 2007 09:38

This is a nice piece but it misses one point and that is most likely because it's not a point that gets discussed much; it's sort of an Art World Secret. Collectors are no longer limiting themselves or what art they collect to agents, galleries, auction houses, and museums. Some are finding that turning directly to artists who can be found on such sites as a YouTube channel puts them, again, directly in the forefront of artistic paths not waiting to be blazed but being blazed and enthusiastically. Le Tube is no longer simply a dog and pony show featuring cheap tricks although those are numerous. But they are not the entire body of the thing. Artists have always been itchy to eliminate the middlemen who haunt the art world like leeches and vampires and I can reach far, far more serious people -- people who know art and understand what I am doing with it -- who walk through my channel than I could ever get walking through a gallery on a good day. I now hear from collectors all the time (they always make the point that their time to find great art is limited) and I never used to. The collector typically wants to discuss what you have done and what you are planning to do. The art you make is right there in his face. A dialogue often ensues. These people used to be faceless and the province of the vampires. I know them now and the real revolution is that they come to me and not me to them.

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