Investing comes in all shapes and sizes and this is especially true when considering an investment in the arts. Now you may ask what got me thinking about this? It could be that I was at a gallery opening the other day trying not to look totally confused and avoiding conversations about form and exploration of texture, mostly because none of the art on display really knocked my socks off. In a final desperate attempt to navigate through the room unscathed toward my friends, not shockingly all gathered at the bar, I picked up an art magazine and starting flipping through it as I walked.
Half way across the room I was taken by surprise by a head-on photograph of a defiant animal, aptly names Defiance. If I had been wearing socks this could have been really embarrassing. The photograph, by Dr. Joe Zammitt-Lucia, is one of a series by the artist aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues. He donates the money the sale of this series raises to environmental causes.
Being that I am pretty quick I realized there must be plenty of artists out there with similar goals and stumbled onto greenmuseum. This site has a massive list of environmental artist covering the entire spectrum of visual arts. A few examples:
Kang Hee Joon: Self Statement, ‘Substances of nature becomes the motive of my work.‘ His photographs show the humor of how humans fit in and interact with nature.
Josh Keyes: Self Statment, ‘My intention is to create work that asks questions about the implications of urban sprawl and its impact on the environment.’ His paintings are intense abstracts of as he says urban sprawl. He also has a cool picture blog.
Georg Dietzler: Self Statement, ‘In retrospect my work is still a kind of exploration of art & nature and ecology.’ This guy is doing really amazing things with oyster mushrooms. Not only are they stunning they are also solving a soil pollution problem.
