Pathology of Visual Art Economy and Providing Solutions to Improve It: Case Study of Golestan Province

Art has a special place and plays a significant and practical role in the development of cultural societies. Hence, the economics of art, especially fine arts, is one of the main drivers of artistic activities. The studied topic (art economy) is basically a young and new topic that has been raised in our country; therefore, it is necessary to deal with it comprehensively and to identify its capacities and to implement its results. Although less money is spent in the production of visual arts, they still command high and sometimes unbelievable amounts in the art market. This is one of the issues that shows the economy of this type of art more than other art fields. However, several elements are involved in valuing an artwork, such as the historical identity, reputation, style, and nationality of the artist, but if we want to ignore the author in this category as art criticism, we can point to other options such as critics, brokers, consultants and galleries. In the meantime, we cannot ignore the effect of the passage of time, because sometimes the time gap makes the work better seen. Since the structural characteristics of art make it indirectly related to the economy, the price of a painting or sculpture cannot be estimated in any of the production stages. Sometimes, according to people like Marcel Duchamp, it fights against the commercialization and reproduction of art in order to preserve its independent nature. The structural nature of art, despite all the changes and evolutions of styles in the visual arts, seems to be constant, and the modernization and post modernization of art have not been able to transform it, because according to the systemic theory, the structure determines the function and the structure of art always has an expectation which is the continuation of the life of art. Expectation is the same function that does not allow a work of art to become an economic commodity by maintaining the exceptional aspects of the economy of art, and this happens more than anything in the economy of visual arts. The present study while seeking to develop an active and functional relationship between art and economy, studies the research questions in terms of the economic situation of visual artists in Golestan province and after pathology, seeks and proposes solutions to improve it. The research method was mixed (qualitative and quantitative). The current research was conducted using a library and field method. The necessary data were collected from library and internet databases and in the field method through questionnaires and interviews. The statistical population of the present study included 3 categories: a) experts in the field of economics and entrepreneurship; b) Famous and skilled artists in the field of visual arts (painting, graphics, calligraphy and painting); c) Policymakers in the field of art. To do this, 10 people are selectively selected from each of the first, second and the third categories; a total of 30 people were considered. Delphi technique was used to analyze the data in the qualitative part to identify the damages and solutions to improve them. In the quantitative part, according to the opinion of experts and using the AHP technique, the prioritization of damages and solutions for their improvement were discussed. The geographical scope of the current research was Golestan province and the research timespan was 2018 to 2019. Findings showed that among the damages of art economy in Golestan province, factors of government, artists, media, society and economic activists are from the first to the fifth place. Sub-cases of each factor show that for artists the factor of decline in the quality level of art due to commercialization, for the government the factor of insufficient government support and incentive policies, for economic actors the factor of the absence of art guilds and financial dependence on the government, for the media the factor of lack of the spread of culture and art, for the society absence of art in the society's basket of expenses, and for the economic activists the absence of art guilds and financial dependence on the government are in the first place. In the continuation, the strategies for improving the damages of art economy were identified from the point of view of experts and the relevant institution for the implementation of that strategy was also identified. As a result, encouraging artists to create works that are relevant and appropriate to the needs and cultural and climatic dimensions of the society, improving the literacy of artists in the field of economic components of art; creating bazaars and cultural and art fairs and holding provincial auctions at the national and international levels; and the implementation of the plan to purchase and order cultural and artistic works and goods in government institutions are among the important strategies to improve the conditions of the art economy in Golestan province.