As if the plain old art market wasn’t enough of a rat race, more and more, as museums across the country attempt to become more entrepreneurial in an effort to increase traffic and track that traffic’s personal information, art is being corporatized. Advertising companies are even getting in on the art action by partnering with museums to project well-worn art images at us while we drive.
In the spirit of the entwined bedfellows that are art and commerce, or perhaps to ride the art gravy train, the Naveen Jindal School of Management at University of Texas at Dallas will be rounding up artwork from off the walls and out of the lobbies of area corporations this month for a show called—with diligent, perfunctory finesse, à la Dilbert—Artistic Impressions of Management. It’s an initiative “to advance creativity and innovation in a world-class business education.” In addition to creating a Corporate Art Showcase of loaned work, the school will also host a photography competition among its students that will be juried by Jacqueline Anderson, a show with work by Dallas artist John Fowler, the unveiling of the Jindal Art Collection, the contents of which have not been disclosed, as well as other art events. Why the big to-do? To raise money, of course!
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Jindal School’s art fund, which will be used to commission a glass sculpture by local artist Jim Bowman as well as contemporary works for the new building expansion. This collection is designed to provide a cultural experience for Jindal School students as they receive a world-class business education.
And what will business students do with all of this art-fueled inspiration?! This seems in the spirit of the day.
