Art, arrogance and free speech

I have had an experience that I would never have thought of as an art critic. I have been observing that there is some confusion in some people, sectors or groups with what is freedom and the rights of people, of each individual person.

It is a particular idea that goes beyond individualism when some people think that freedom can only be achieved by themselves. Looking in their direction is already a grievance, the idea of freedom of these people does not take into consideration the freedom of other people, nor those who by their profession should have freedom of expression. I naively thought that these behaviors are typical of dictators. In my works as a critic I use the freedom of being able to express myself. One guideline is that criticism must always be within the limits of respect and I do not leave this object for criticism in a journalistic sense. It would not be healthy for society for critics to agree on a criticism for the purpose of criticism itself, certainly the figure of the censor disappeared in Spain decades ago, or so I thought.

My curating works are also performances according to the ethics of respect. When I work with an art gallery, I am aware that the gallery is risking its capital, its prestige and its survival. The job of the art gallery is to know the art market and its possibilities. In the curatorships we are a team and no one is left out, the team is the priority. My experience is that most of the people who do interesting things, what we call artists, mostly don't know what the art market is. Those who call themselves artists choose in many cases to bathe in a puddle of pride that ends up expelling them.

This week I have had an experience that, when a third person does not respect freedom of expression, someone is harmed. I have curated a stand for an art fair and the text is designed with care and respect for the creators. Pride caused a person on the team to have a dictatorial or censorship outburst, a person who defends freedom through his work but does not practice it. Faced with my refusal as a critic to condition my writing to his impositions, she decided to leave the fair team with the consequent damage to the gallery that trusted her and to the other fellow artists. Possibly his pride required him to demonstrate his power, a power that he only has for his own self-destruction.

Is the world of art in the hands of selfish, arrogant and arrogant creators? Has it always been like this? One thing is true, there are too many art creators and few artists. Possibly the artists were concerned with knowing the medium and using a professional logic in their work because the artist is also a worker. And it is that respect and knowing the rules of the game is decisive in all areas.