West Coast vs East Coast
I'd like to start out by saying that as someone born and raised in the Midwest, I have no coastal allegiance in this fight. Having lived and worked on both coasts now for all of my adult life, these are my observations:
- When I worked in New York, I encountered many people who thought NYC was all that mattered. I've learned since that the art world is much more expansive than I previously anticipated and that art and collectors live and work everywhere.
- The New York art world has such strong ties with Europe, dating back to when many artists and creatives fled the Nazi's and with it, the center of the art world moved from Paris to NYC. Since that time, LA has become a much more welcoming environment for young artists, especially given the number of art schools.
- SF also has a great art school, museums and collectors, but does not have the affordability to attract artists to live here. There are many reasons why having artists is essential, but you cannot truly have a full art ecosystem without them. I'm borrowing a word overused in the tech industry, but it best conveys how interconnected all of the elements of the art world are to one another. We cannot have a vital art center without artists, museums, collectors and art schools simultaneously.
- As the East Coast has ties to Europe, the West Coast has similar and growing ties with Asia. The largest institutions devoted to Asian art are located on the West Coast and we have a number of new partnerships between new museums in China and existing US-based institutions, such as the YUZ Museum and LACMA.
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