Case Study: Increasing Light Levels to Promote Alertness

Observations:

I was curious about how much light was reaching my desk at home, so I measured the light levels and recorded a range from 25 to 30 lux. Even with the window open, light levels at my desk were only 32 lux. I began to measure other surfaces throughout the space, with similar findings. Sitting on my bed, where I often read, I was measuring only 25 lux on my lap. In my dress area, I was measuring 30 lux on my full-body mirror.

The Illuminating Engineering Society recommends closer to 300 lux for tasks such as reading, writing, and dressing. This means that my room’s light levels at task planes were only one-tenth what IES recommends.

The lighting in my room was non-uniform, with a warm color temperature (3000K). Using Flynn’s lighting cues, the room could have been described as pleasant or relaxed.

Here are images of the luminaires in my room:

Hypotheses:

1. The light levels in my bedroom and office needed to be increased to 300 lux on task planes to improve my productivity. (Based on IES Illuminance Recommendations for reading, writing, and dressing)

2. I needed to change the color temperature of my lamps to 5000K, which is considered near to daylight, to promote a business-like environment. (Based on IES Recommended Practices for Lighting Educational Facilities)

3. Along with increasing light levels, I also needed to mitigate visual fatigue and promote visual clarity by providing more even light levels. (Based on Flynn’s lighting cues, and IES Recommended Practices)

Experiment:

1. To increase general light levels, I changed all of my light bulbs from 13W CFLs to 20W CFLs.

2. I made sure all the new CFLs were 5000K (daylight), to promote a business-like environment.

3. To increase light levels on task planes in particular, I considered luminaire distribution patterns and placement. See Figures 1 and 2 to get an idea for how moving the luminaires changed the distribution of light within the space.

Figure 1, Luminaire Locations and Light Distribution Before Intervention:

Notes:
-Light penetration into the room is inadequate.
-Light is not reaching the actual task planes of desk, bed, and mirror.

Figure 2, Luminaire Locations and Light Distribution After Intervention:

Notes:
-Light penetration into the room is better.
-Light is reaching the actual task planes of desk, bed, and mirror.

Evaluation:

The change in lamps from 13W CFLs to 20W CFLs increased the light output of each luminaire, while the 5000K color temperature does seem brighter and clearer. However, new lamps alone were not enough to significantly increase light levels at task planes. The greatest benefit came from the proper positioning of luminaires.

The linear fluorescent luminaire (Type A), remained above my cabinet, where it functions as an upper-cabinet luminaire to increase general light levels throughout the space.

The aim-able table luminaire (Type B), is now being used to throw light throughout the dress area. It is being aimed at the wall near my full-length mirror, where the light then reflects onto the nearby dresser and anybody standing in front of the mirror.

The aim-able wall-mounted luminaire (Type C), is now being used above my bed as a reading lamp. The ability to mount it almost directly above my reading surface and aim the light downward, without seeing the light source, made it an excellent task light for reading in bed. This luminaire was previously mounted in the dress area, where many of the directional qualities of this luminaire were being wasted as a wall washer. This repositioning boosted light levels on my lap for reading in bed.

The table luminaire (Type D), is now being used at my desk. It features a light diffusing shade, which allows more light to be cast on my work surface while preventing glare. I am now measuring from 150-300 footcandles on my desk, a range which allows for visually demanding tasks such as reading and writing, while levels become dimmer near my computer monitor for visual comfort. This luminaire previously was fitted with a 13W CFL and placed on my nightstand, where none of the light was reaching my lap for reading. This repositioning was a major improvement for light levels at my desk.

After spending a week in the brighter environment, I can report a definite increase in alertness. Reading comfortably is now possible at several different locations in the room. Also, the 5000K color temperature does seem to arouse associations of business and productivity.

This improvement in alertness came with a small cost: the room lacks a relaxing light setting for entertaining company. All of the luminaires are cold, bright, and unable to be dimmed, so even if I only turn on one half of my fixtures, the lighting in the room feels much less pleasant than before.

Download the PDF: Case Study – Increasing Light Levels to Promote Alertness

Learn more about the Illuminating Engineering Society

Photomontage Collaboration

“Us” by Edward Bedinghaus and Jessica Kitowski

Image by Jessica Kitowski and Edward Bedinghaus

Turkish Delight Restaurant – Floor Plan & Schematics

I completed the schematic phase of the restaurant design. Click on the images to view the design presentation:

Evolution, Technology, and Power

Technology behaves like a fulcrum that humans use to gain leverage over nature. There is nothing evil or exceptionally destructive about this; all creativity requires some rearrangement. The most valuable creativity solves problems, making our lives easier. Technology dwells in this creative realm.

Here are some of the technological interventions that have reduced toil and increased pleasure in our lives:  lights, the internet, non-load bearing walls, air conditioning, home appliances, agriculture, mass production, the printing press, and freezers (making ice cream possible in Texas). That’s just scratching the surface.

Amateur Versus Professional

Interior designers are in a unique position of responsibility. When designers fail to act professionally, their decisions can negatively impact clients, suppliers, colleagues, and the general public. Furthermore, unprofessional behavior earns the designer a poor reputation. To make a positive impression on people, the designer must take it upon him or herself to learn some basic etiquette.

To further understand what it means to be professional, we will examine what it means to be unprofessional. Designers fail to be professional with a wide variety of behaviors–skirting code requirements, faulty bookkeeping, unfair fee structure, and dishonesty are some examples. When a designer exhibits unprofessional behavior, they put the health, safety, and welfare of others at risk. Eventually they will drive away clients.

To demonstrate, lets look at an example:

Frank had his own design practice. He was a relatively new designer. He had not passed the NCIDQ, and did not plan on taking it. After all, he had a few small jobs keeping him busy without being registered.

Frank had been working on a daycare in a residence. The client was converting her family room into a play room. Unaware of building codes, Frank specified flammable material for the curtains. The job was completed without a hitch, Frank earned his check, and moved on to the next client.

However, six months later, Frank received a subpoena from the court. They were investigating a fire in the day care. A child had suffered first degree burns. The curtain Frank specified was the suspected source of ignition.

In the example, it is clear that there is a direct relationship between professional behavior and competence. Due to Frank’s amateurism, lives were forever impacted. If a designer wants to make it this industry, professionalism is not an option, it is a necessity.

The rule of thumb when making professional decisions is respect. Designers need to respect everyone they work with–including coworkers, clients, and sales reps. Acting out of respect entails being honest and courteous in all of his or her interactions. Behaving professionally will earn the designer many trusting confidents.

Value Added

I often hear people say values have deteriorated, but I disagree. We simply have a new way of looking at things. Have you ever been criticized for your modern viewpoints?

Experiences are the new premium. Most people are not looking for products, people are looking for experiences. They don’t want I-Phones, they want to live the kind of lifestyle an I-Phone can enable. They don’t want a blanket, they want a story. This distinction cannot be underestimated.

Access allows privilege without the burdens and responsibilities of ownership. People are willing to pay for it too. Think Netflix, car sharing, and other subscription websites. These models will become more prevalent in light of scarce resources and increasing global competition.

Relationships give people a sense of belonging and enable people to accomplish bigger tasks. People want to share, collaborate, and empathize. Relationships are tomorrow’s currency.

Business Models for a New Age

Statistics: One Year Old

Design Life has been on the web for a year now. To analyze what kind of posts readers were viewing most, I sorted the top 20 posts into six mediums. To my surprise, the most popular medium was Investigative Essays. Before this study, I thought my viewers didn’t have time for longer reads, so I published more short entries. Judging by the popularity of investigative essays however, I am expecting to provide more in depth content in the next year.
Read the top 20 posts of Design Life’s first year:

1. The Birthing Pains of Modernism

2. Shedding Skin

3. Your Relationship with Interior Design

4. Edward Bedinghaus

5. Spring Renewal: Time to Redecorate

6. Mission Statement

7. To Be or Not to Be?

8. Dollhouse

9. Grandmother’s Hearts: A Quilt

10. Remodeling Your Kitchen: Functional Features

11. Illusive Nude Wallpaper

12. Stereotypical Male Interior Designer

13. From Funky to Hunky: Unleashing Creativity

14. Digital Divide, Of Course

15. Wild Child: Homemade Pillow

16. Sewing Journey

17. Minigardening

18. When Arranging Furniture, Mind the Architecture

19. For the History Buffs

20. Rolling Hills

Graphic Design: Art with Purpose

My roommate and dear friend, Amberlea Marcum, designed this poster for Texas State’s American Society of Interior Designers:

Job Satifaction by Design

In a knowledge economy, retaining talented employees is crucial. But how can employers accomodate their human resources? According to a recent survey, a pleasant work environment ranks second as the most important factor in job satisfaction, right after salary.  See the results of the survey at Research and Design Connections.

Digital Divide, Of Course

At the core of the digital divide are social mechanisms of distribution.  Access to hardware, software, and computer science varies across geography, income, ability, race, and gender.  Instead of citing any one of these particular variables as the cause of the digital divide, we will examine the problem holistically–because unequal allocation of any resource is always part of a larger framework.

Research has found that social networks form in clusters, bringing a web-like structure to the dissemination of ideas.  Some nodes are more centralized and connected than others (Krebs 2003, 2005).  Furthermore, each node represents an entity with specific properties–geographic location, resources available, perceptions, etc.

When an innovation originates in one node, that node’s properties determine how soon the idea will be distributed through others nodes in the social network.  An isolated hobbyist tinkering in his garage may have a breakthrough, but that does not mean others can automatically understand or use that breakthrough.  That is impossible.  First, a centralized node has to connect with the idea:  an opinion leader such as a business, organization, politician, or celebrity.  Then others nearby will follow.  The idea begins to spread through the web of social connections in a phenomena dubbed the ideavirus.

However, the opinion leaders that spread ideas are deeply entrenched within their social framework.  Unfortunately, this framework is not always fair, and that delegates access to new ideas to networks closest to the opinion leaders, leaving others behind.

To a huge degree, the digital divide can be largely explained by where individual nodes are in the web of social connections.  Just as one cannot catch a cold virus without contact, one cannot catch an ideavirus without contact. Complicating matters are the objective and subjective properties of the entity in question.  Different nodes have different levels of resistance to the ideavirus.

This unconscious resistance to technology by individuals exacerbates the digital divide.  For example, several individual nodes are connected to one central node–such as many students connected to a central school.  Each of the students has different perceptions and status.  So if the school adopts new technology, some students may be more likely to adopt it, because they have had computers at home or have seen images of their kin using technology.  While disadvantaged students may perceive technology as being for the “computer wiz” (a term that brings forth the image of a white male with thick glasses).

Often, these stereotypes are reinforced by the teacher:  they expect more from the kids already familiar with technology and less from the kids who have had less experience.  These images of where people belong remain deeply ingrained in our psyches.

The first personal computers were owned by a handful of isolated hobbyists.  They were generally white, male, and upper middle class.  This was the beginning of the ideavirus of personal computing.  Because of their location in the social web, it was far more likely for other white males of similar socioeconomic status to be exposed to and intrigued by these early innovations.

Eventually, as more businesses caught the ideavirus of personal computing, distribution sped up.  Corporations began selling computers and software.  A new industry emerged, with the number of potential participants increasing with every new social connection.

It is important to resist simplifying the problem of the digital divide to a mere matter of race, class, or gender.  Unequal distribution is inevitable with any idea.  While the adoption of technology began in particular demographics, the number of people with computing devices is unprecedented.  Perhaps, one day in the future, the digital divide will finally close.  Of course, newer and better technologies will be leaving digital dust.  Likely, creating an entirely new divide.

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From Funky to Hunky: Unleashing Creativity

Your light out?

When your fizz goes flat, don’t agonize over your project.  Instead, take time to relax!

To unblock the brain:

1.  Howl at the moon enthusiastically (on all fours).

2.  Visit the library.

3.  Talk to strangers (especially weirdoes).

4.  Practice drawing from life.

5.  Run errands on your bike.

6.  Schedule lunch with a rival (order the same plate).

Get back to your project inspired, and don’t ride the roller coaster of self doubt.  Besides, the deadline is closer–you have no choice but to bust your ass.

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Innovation Shapes Society: Needlework

Innovation Shapes Society: Knife Design

I discovered hidden lessons in the story of knife design.  First came the blade.  Early humans needed the blade to stay sharp and last long.  Different stone and wood varied in sharpness, durability, and ease of use––experimentation with materials was inevitable.  People with spiffy knives improved their chances of surviving.

Imagine when dedicated handles came along.  People could cut more efficiently and spare their hands.  Expressing their craftsmanship, people carved patterns into their handles, showcasing their mastery over tools.

Then came the twist:  people combined various blades and handles.  Fastening a blade to a pole created a spear.  Elongating the blade on a small handle created a machete.  Better yet, they made hammers, picks, and and saws––enabling timbering.  Permanent housing arrived, giving rise to settlements and the agricultural revolution.  Knife design!  Who knew?

Fast forward to today.  Same story, new tools.

How has the car shaped cityscapes?  Teenagers? Dating?

How has television effected media, art, and culture?

How is the internet going to shape the next 10 years?  What will our knives look like then?  I mean, what will our lives look like then?

Buildings Will Never Be the Same

By Edward Canavarro

We assume life will always be the same.  But we don’t live in huts anymore, do we?  We also don’t go to Blockbuster, where they overcharge for scratched DVDs because they are trying to compete with their cousin, Netflix.  Netflix is faster and lighter.  It doesn’t have all the bulky, expensive real estate.

Let’s do a mental exercise to imagine where we might be in 2o years.  Keep in mind what this means for your career and lifestyle.

Politics

What if individuals were not allowed more that a small amount of private territory?  Say 200-300 square feet? (What would this do the the need for spatial efficiency?)

What if most resources had to be locally harvested? (What does this mean for construction supply industry?)

What if we stopped allowing new buildings to be built? (What would happen to the interior remodeling business?)

What if the buildings that were built had to be energy/carbon neutral in their construction and life cycle? (What would this do the the building regulation, certification, and inspection service industry?)

What if furniture became standardized, locally produced, and rationed?  (What does this mean for the consumers?  Designers?  Producers? Bartering system?)

Business

What if corporations had no need for a centralized office space or factory?

What if each person was their own boss?  (Determined their hours and output.)

What if there was no bureaucracy? (Only autonomous individual stakeholders.)

What if most factories were locally run and owned?  (Eliminating monopolies on commodities.)

Technology

What if everyone had a smart phone with internet access?

What if everyone had their calls/meetings, received their media, and did their business through this smart phone?

What if everything was wireless?

Culture

What if music, art, literature, journalism, design, and culture were unfiltered and produced everywhere, by everyone?

What if less people lived in the traditional family environment?

What changes might you make in your company, career path, stock picks, or lifestyle?

Home Makeover: Student Edition

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How can the interior design community help ordinary citizens?  This question may gnaw at your conscience when you glance through the McMansions in design magazines.  The benefits of this profession are typically enjoyed by a small handful of people.  Namely, the rich.

At Texas State American Society of Interior Designers, participation in community service has been a developing tradition.  The primary event ASID attends is Texas State’s Bobcat Build, a university-wide community service initiative in which thousands of students donate an entire Saturday to do odd jobs for San Marcos residents and businesses.  These tasks include picking up trash, tending to gardens, cleaning graffiti, and simple city maintenance.

However, beginning in 2010, ASID seriously raised the bar for itself in regards to Bobcat Build.  Then Vice President–Rebecca Wilkins–decided ASID was going to provide a needy family with a complete home renovation.  Most people laughed at her, “Do you know how expensive that’s going to be?”

Rebecca was aware of how much her vision would cost.  Instead of backing down, with the help of colleague Andrea Hill, she began calling design firms, furniture shops, home improvements stores, and every other local business that could imaginably contribute to the project.  She asked around San Marcos to find a prospective family.

Stumbling on a single mother with two children, Rebecca did a site analysis.  The floors were moldy, the mattresses had exposed springs, and the walls were deplorable.  ASID found its candidate.  Fortunately, several businesses and churches were already pledging to help with money and supplies.  An astonishing forty students, mostly members of ASID, signed up to help on build day.

By pulling together local resources, Rebecca raised $3,200 in cash and product donations; people stopped laughing at her.  In the course of one day, interior design students installed flooring and window treatments, painted walls, supplied mattresses, refinished furniture, and redecorated.  The house was hardly recognizable.  At the end of the day, each participant went home with a greater respect and hope for interior design.

Rebecca was exhilarated!  But she was not finished yet.  This event was to become the new precedent for ASID’s Bobcat Build endeavors.  In 2011, Rebecca Wilkins became President of Texas State ASID, and she assigned Edward Bedinghaus to be Vice President.  She briefed him on Bobcat Build 2010, so he could lead 2011’s effort.

A year passed, a new family was found, giving ASID the opportunity it was looking for.  Wife and mother, Barbara, diagnosed with lupus and fibromyalgia, hardly had the strength, know how, or money to improve her home.  She had lived with her family in their house for 28 years.  It was outdated, dim, and cluttered.

Thanks to ASID’s previous ties with the community, they raised $3,100 in donations and fundraisers for Bobcat Build 2011.  On build day, with Edward coordinating, thirty three students assembled and painted walls, refinished furniture, replaced window treatments, installed ceiling fans and trim, and redecorated the residence.  Bringing in light and air, ASID sought to provide Barbara’s aging eyes a comfortable light level.  Also, daughter Nicole’s room was given a stylish makeover.  Once again, the interior design students went home with new inspiration.  People posted photographs of the event on Facebook for days.

2011’s Bobcat Build effort proved that students could continue offering a higher standard of community service through their unique design skills.  With a proactive attitude and the help of local businesses, Texas State ASID provided working class citizens with quality design–two years in a row.  Consequently, it is creating a tradition of involvement amongst its members.  This is solely the beginning.

Every year, one person at a time, Texas State ASID is forming new relationships with the community.  What are you doing to reach out?

Workplace Design Needs More Consideration

http://www.spaceinc.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/working-walls-picture.jpg

This is an example of a collaborative space, with acoustical panels to avoid noise pollution.

http://www.researchdesignconnections.com/content/influence-workplace-design-human-capital-02-11-11

Memo to Employers: Give Employees More Light Control

Check out this link on a study involving lighting in the office.

http://www.researchdesignconnections.com/content/office-lighting-and-well-being-02-04-11

Organs and the Organism

When I look at Interior Design, what I see is a complex and multifaceted industry of people working together to improve the lives of individuals.  It is comprised of artisans, designers, salespeople, technology buffs, managers, accountants, marketers, clients, artists, contractors, subcontractors, technicians, electricians, etc….  These people are the organs that make up the organism that is interior design.  Essential.

This animal is changing everyday, and a standpoint that acknowledges the humanity and the fluidity of the industry will prove to be the most effective for the firm that wants to surf instead of survive.

Networking as a Designer

When people meet, opportunities are born. If you have a skill or a talent, the only way to utilize it and get paid for it is to get yourself out there. Your face, your name, your business cards, or your leave-behinds (pictures give a potential client an idea of what you can do); no matter your age or experience level, if you have skills to offer the world, you can get paid for it.

Take an art class locally, talk to your classmates. What are their skills? Where are they in life? Go to the museum, and if you happen to be in an elevator or next to a water fountain with someone, instead of staying out of eachother’s way, you can talk! You can comment on the art. Why are they there? Tell them about yourself. Find out their name. You never know where the conversation can lead.

Just the other day, Inez Escamilla-Joyce, a woman in my technical drawing class, who runs her own welding and fabrication company out of Austin (Creative Sparks and Arcs), approached me upon seeing my drawings. She liked some of the ideas I had drafted of a storage/worktable built-in, and asked if I would help her design furniture for her company. I was flattered. She gave me her business card, and I will call her next week in regards to this opportunity.

Notice Inez’s excellent networking skills here. She was prepared with a business card, and a specific purpose for networking with me.

Though we don’t know if our collaboration will be fruitful yet, we just created a door where one did not exist.

Selling the Sacred

The production of art has been with mankind since as early as 15,000 B.C.— evidenced by the primitive depictions of animals on the walls of the Caves at Lascaux (Abercrombie/Whiton, 1). Whether financed by the churches of the medieval ages, the wealthy families of aristocracy, or the corporations and individuals of capitalism, the means by which men and women afford the luxury of producing art has changed with the times; thus, not only is the artist’s career path effected, but his mode of production and choice of depiction is influenced as well. The inextricable link between the source of money and the artist’s strategy has never been more apparent and complex than in the contemporary art market.
To gain insight into the relationship between today’s artist and his market, it may be useful to understand some key developments in globalization–the spread of the World Wide Web, the proliferation of global media, and new multinational business practices—and how these helped shape an ironically fragmented global art market.
Thanks to outsourcing and trade, business is booming in places once considered third-or-second-world countries—like China, Brazil, and South Africa—and along with this increasing economic power comes a rising consumer culture and a new demand for art (Friedman). Consequently, in a trend unique to contemporary art, a young generation of ethnic artists from these countries are beginning to market on a global level. Just think of the prices of Oriental art since the nineteen nineties. Here we have an interesting intersection between globalism and the art markets, perhaps best worded by Hans Belting: “Thus the art world may eventually become a permeable, porous entity that disintegrates within a larger whole or yields to a diversity of systems (Weibel/Buddensieg, 24).” This is a market in which the producers and consumers of the art can be located anywhere on the planet.
Adding to this fragmentation is the increasing use of the World Wide Web as a device for commerce. Not only does this enable online auctions with bidders from all corners of the globe, but it also enables some artists to sell directly to patrons, blog, and maintain their own web pages. The inescapable fact of contemporary art is that it is sold as a commodity in this global capitalist context, and the artist’s job is not only to produce work, but to reach his or her market and entice them to buy in an increasingly competitive market.
“If you are an artist trying to sell your work, you are no longer only an artist. You’re a businessperson as well (Stanfield, 1).” In the contemporary art market, artists develop and implement many marketing strategies to compete in today’s new, larger art world. There are countless self-help books on marketing your art. New ones advocate a strong online presence, being a media magnet, keeping archives of your work, and being involved. The message is clear: get out of the studio for financial reward. Gone is the notion that creating the most technically precise work will bring success—instead branding, marketing, and confidence are pointed at as the key to getting your work noticed. There is a huge emphasis on using the web as an emerging artist to get your name recognized.
While globalization may have united many geographical regions under one umbrella, certainly individual reactions to these forces have varied tremendously, producing artists with differing methods of reaching their audiences. Perhaps if we examine a handful of successful artists in the 21st Century, we can learn from several of the recent marketing techniques used.
Thomas Kinkade, “America’s most collected living artist,” has developed a mass marketing and reproduction system that allows people to buy his prints and other licensed products for reasonable prices (The Official Thomas Kinkade Website). His limited editions run for increasing amounts of money, depending on which artisan of the Thomas Kinkade Company has produced the work. Here we have an artist that is able to meet the price demands of the general populace, while maintaining a reputation for making beautiful, sophisticated paintings. The way his art is made and sold has been custom fitted to a globalist art market. Kinkade couldn’t possibly paint as many paintings as he sells, yet systematizing his art enables him to produce more.
Kinkade’s ability to reach the masses is magnified by his website, complete with a shop. Bypassing the traditional galleries and auctions to sell directly to his patrons, or customers, Kinkade becomes part of a global, contemporary art market. This is an emerging trend that demonstrates the world wide web’s ability to empower the individual by brokering instant transactions around the world. Also on Kinkade’s website, is information on his life, family, career, and perspectives on art—allowing him more direct control over the way he is perceived. All in all, the Thomas Kinkade Company is a great example of an artist creating a business, a legally separate entity, through which to channel art—a truly contemporary practice.
Thomas Kinkade’s marketing strategy involves mass production and mass appeal—capitalizing on globalism’s scale. In contrast to this strategy, artists such as Damien Hirst attempt to isolate a small and particular market—the wealthy.
Damien Hirst is the creator of The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, in which a ferocious taxidermy shark is suspended in a glass tank filled with formaldehyde. While one could argue that this sculpture could be decorative, its enormous size places it out of reach to anybody with an average home. It is outrageous and impractical. So why would Steve Cohen, owner of SAC, Capital Advisors, pay $12 million for a stuffed shark?
Don Thompson offers us an answer in his book The $12 Million Dollar Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, stating, “In the world of contemporary art, branding can substitute for critical judgment (Thompson, 2).” Damien Hirst was originally commissioned to create the work by Charles Saatchi, the famous art collector, for 50,000 euro. Fourteen years later, Saatchi sells the work to Steve Cohen. It was the use of lofty names that branded this work. It was its enormous, ego-stroking size that marked it for the “special” collector.
A wealthy businessman like Steve Cohen, as knowledgeable as he may be about art, has a busy life dealing with his career and finances. He relies on professionals, lawyers, advisors, and experts to give him advice on most matters, including art. Thus, branding is a way to make wealthy collectors feel more secure about their purchase by portraying the auction house or dealer as the expert. In contemporary art, the price tag on this security is enormous, with most of the proceeds going to the middle man, the dealer. However, Hirst benefits from the inflation of his art’s prices at auction, because the prices of all his works begin to rise, and he gains publicity.
Kinkade and Hirst are excellent examples of flamboyantly successful artists due to their marketing tactics. They are separated from the crowd by the infrastructure built around their works. However, the art market in the 21st Century is global, on the web, and colossal. Kinkade and Hirst are just drops in the bucket. Thousands of artists—who’s names may never make it into history books—sell their art every day on the web.
Indicating the degree of fragmentation in the art world, some of these individuals are highly skilled and some of them barely pass as hobbyists. However, they have one thing in common, they are finding ways to make art, reach consumers, and sell their creations. Websites such as Etsy.com allow people to sell or trade their handmade products with anybody in the world, providing a global forum in which the quality of your work and publicity you can generate determine your success. These new developments in globalization prove to be the most empowering—if the emerging artist can give up the pretentions or ideals of yesteryear.
Important to remember is that art coexists with the social and economic world around it. It’s easy to imagine art as sacred, and unblemished by money and ego. Reality tells a different story. One in which art has never and can never be separated from the context or zeitgeist from which it is born. The Contemporary Art of the globalized 21st Century, with its revolutionary and diverse marketing strategies, is a testament to this link.

Bibliography:
Abercrombie, Stanley, and Augustus Sherrill Whiton. Interior Design & Decoration. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

Thompson, Donald N. The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: the Curious Economics of Contemporary Art. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Weibel, Peter, Andrea Buddensieg, and Rasheed Araeen. Contemporary Art and the Museum: a Global Perspective. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2007. Print.

The Official Thomas Kinkade Website. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. .

Stanfield, Alyson B. I’d Rather Be in the Studio!: the Artist’s No-excuse Guide to Self-promotion. Golden, Colo.: Pentas, 2008. Print.

Friedman, Thomas L. The World Is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. Print.

Etsy :: Your Place to Buy and Sell All Things Handmade. Web. 30 Apr. 2010.