The magic bowl

Recently I read that the Tate group of British art galleries, which includes the prestigious Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, will no longer be accepting any gifts from one of its wealthiest sponsors, the Sackler family in the USA, because their money comes from the sale of the contested prescription painkiller, OxyContin. This is a remarkable decision which gave me a new slant in my thinking about dependencies in the arts sector in general and sponsorship of the arts in particular.

Short-term thinking is pretty much the norm nowadays. Shareholders are much more interested in a company’s quarterly results than they are in its long-term sustainability strategy. Targets must be met as quickly as possible. Wishes must be satisfied at double quick time. Quick success, quick profits, everything as quick as possible. I call this the “Amazon Prime Principle”. Want it today, have it tomorrow. In the fast-paced life of the 21st century there’s little room for patience.

"It took me four years to paint like Raffael but a whole lifetime to paint like a child again."

This was said by no one less than Pablo Picasso. Even though his paintings had long been ranked by the art world among the best ever painted, learning to paint like a child was apparently a major concern of his.

Just watch children at play. In their games they create their own private world. We grown-ups perhaps don’t take this seriously and think “oh, they’re just playing”.