The Alpha Theory: Why Great Artists Die Poor & Art History is Wrong. - StoryBrain

We've always chalked up the tendency of some great artists to starve and others to succeed to fate and the lack of taste of the public, but I have another explanation for you to consider. Which might determine your fate too.

I'm very excited to finally introduce this concept, so I can talk more about it, and apply the idea in our uploads from now on.

Background music is "Midnight" by MPC, from Incompetech's free music archive. Media and Info from Wikipedia, MinutePhysics, UZH Art Market, The Washington Post, and Yours Truly!

[bake]

Van Gogh in comparison did Not do a lot of exhibitions like the Impressionists and that could account for his work not being "discovered" by the public since they rarely saw it. The Impressionists were continuously doing Advertised Exhibitions.

[TonBil]

+Storybrain, story well told. Now let me encourage you to dig a little deeper. Because the explanation of art appreciation is far more complex. Here are three factors to consider:
1. Research by Dr. Elbert Temme (that I have participated in as his student) has shown that art appreciation is partly driven by authority bias: people form their judgements according to what (fake or real) authorities say about it.
2. My experience of the opposite: I learned to appreciate the music of Bach, Mozart, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Björk, Stravinsky, Bartok, Messiaen, Ligeti, Boulez, Nancarrow, Reich, Glass and the list goes on and on just by listening to their music and it resonated with my musical taste. In most cases I knew nothing about their lives or circumstances. This has happened to many people who have a good taste for some sort of art.
3. The same researcher has also shown that many people can appreciate the craftmanship of a piece of art, even if it is not of their taste, or they even dislike it. (This was a revolutionary insight at the time, around 1980.)

[joelpaim]

can you someone explain me the meaning calvin coolidge's quote 6:32.

[InvincibleRage]

Thank you, and great video. I'm a film student, and future film director. This video has given me knowledge to be able to achieve my goals as an artist. To be able to connect with the audience, take them on a journey, and change the future.

[fullmontis]

Great video. I would suggest, if I may, looking into postmodernism since what you are talking about is related to the ideas of that movement. When the artist and the context itself became conscious part of the art.

I think your idea also closely connects to how new communication methods shaped the way people perceive art.

I personally think it is a little too big of a generalization, since I think that you can still appreciate art "in the void", so to speak (menaning when you don't know squat about the context and the author). But what you are talking about is actually a huge part in what makes us appreciate art.

[androshchukx]

2:18 not care-full, and instead thinking that there is value somewhere. This is obsession not life.

[Alabastrova]

very insightful content, but please get rid of this dubstep wobbles in background. it doesnt fit and distracts the viewer. go for some downtempo or ambient maybe:) great job anyway.

[spaceprior]

Mm.
A voice says "You suck."
You do not decide, "Well I guess I suck."
You ask who said it and why, and what it means that they said it.
That is what determines your response to the communication act, not the contents of the communication itself.
It's the same for art.
The idea that we simply believe the fiction, take the words on faith... Some part of us might really work that way, but a larger part of us never stops thinking about the frame, the author, and their intent. Most of the meaning of the story, the significance, comes from those factors.

[vlandanlaurusaitis]

Great. Now what. Examples of untalented success and talented success ??

[kandlewings]

So basically 'context' is a major part of art. Nothing new here. It's the reason marketing is so important.

[bake]

This guy is Utterly Ignorant and looks only at an Easy Surface Idea. What leaves you breathless in front of a large Van Gogh is NOT his story... IT'S HIS TECHNIQUE & MASTERY OF ALL THE ELEMENTS THAT GO INTO AN ARTWORK. I know that Modigliani died poor and his art still does nothing for me.