East Coast Open II

When I was told that 25% of the paintings on display in the Scarborough Art Gallery’s East Coast Open had sold, I was astonished. I don’t know why, since I had nothing to compare it with. Is that a percentage that could normally be expected? Did exhibitions elsewhere have similar success rates? Was there something exceptional about this set of paintings or art works?

I suspect that there may be only partial answers to these questions, but were there conclusions that could be drawn from analysing this exhibition? Unlike a scientific inquirer, I set out with a number of preconceived ideas: in 2023, no one would pay good money for an abstract any more; most of the sales would be for landscapes; pictures of animals would sell well.

Oddly, there seemed to be some sort of herd instinct in that the pictures with red dots (indicating ‘sold’) tended to be physically grouped together. Was this the result of visitors seeing that someone had made a purchase and, at a subconscious level, wanting to be part of a community? Each work was numbered, so it was a simple matter of observation to see that numbers 30–33 had all sold. However, this may have been because of the curator’s decision to group two of the four with works that chronicled the arrival of the walrus, locally dubbed Thor, in Scarborough harbour.

The curator’s decision to group most of the abstracts together may also have inspired a buying frenzy (numbers 55–57). On the other hand, it could just be an incorrect assumption on my part that the day of the abstract is over. For their bright colours and optimism, they could hardly be faulted, and, in addition, one of them was everyone’s favourite price: £0.

One thing I was right about was the popularity of landscapes (and seascapes), and especially depictions of local scenes. Clearly, we like to see the familiar on our walls: Peasholme Park featured frequently, as did scenes on the beach (though for works of great charm, look no further than 'Day at the Seaside’ in the Junior Open).

There were a number of paintings that did not fit into any of the expected categories. There was only one life drawing on sale, and it had been snapped up: Evy from Life by Jorge Goytizolo. And only two that I could see had clearly been influenced by more famous artists: Melville Whittaker’s Escher-influenced Scarborough from Outscar (Filey Brigg) and Annette Hall’s homage to Hokusai Whitby Pier and Wave Machine.

I admit that this analysis is not exactly forensic. It took no stroke of genius to predict that East Coast resident artists would choose to depict the beach and the sea or that scenes of local life would be popular. What may be slightly more recondite is to answer the question: Why, in these straitened times, are people prepared to pay out hundreds of pounds for items that have no practical purpose?