Writing - Contemporary Art by Julian Stallabrass

Contemporary Art by Julian Stallabrass. Chapter 4 Uses and Prices of Art - Art's Autonomy.

I am interested in how Julian Stallabrass uses the opinion of Niklas Luhmann he describes that art's exclusive feature is that art uses perception rather than language and because of this feature it is separated from other forms of communication in which the world uses to network. So the Art world is isolated from not only different areas of the economy for instance politics but also from the general public. 

Well I do not see that art is excluded because many artists comment on political and social aspects and art is a perfect platform to voice these concerns and in visually exploring issues invites the viewer to discuss and debate. In someways art can be a soapbox, a place to stand and talk and express concerns.
With this view point the other side of coin is that how the artist explores issues can also alienate the general public by being too subversive and then losing the emphasis of the work.

Julian Stallabrass brings us to the attention of the opinion of Howard Singerman's account of the definition of art as a discipline and therefore institutionalised theoretical learned practice. In doing this Singerman suggests that this guarantes the exclusive status of the art profession. Furthermore he suggests that due to this learned practice that some art educated professions stay within the institution and requires the presence of an artist for exposition and to create a dialogue among professionals and in doing this again isolates the idea of art from the general masses.

Firstly an art degree is regarded as a not a 'real' degree when applying for jobs in the wider world outside the art world and the academic world. Unless you have the three basic GCSE's of English, Maths and Science it actually means nothing on paper, in saying this as I am using my own experience as a point of discussion. I also recognise that when I decided that do an art degree that unless I was very very lucky I would be unable to use this qualification outside the art world or academia, it would not help me into a career and that it is an exclusive degree, I do not regret my choice but I do feel frustrated that outside the academic arena of the artworld I have no worth academically and I have struggled to gain admittance back into the academic arena of art since I left University because I had to go out into the world and find a job to pay so that I could live and support not only myself but bring up my daughter as well. It was only through this MA course that I feel that I am starting to dip my toes back into the pool and join other like minded fishes!
Therefore to be involved within the realms of the art world and to stay involved is very difficult and near on impossible unless you have contacts and the fact that Julian StallaBrass thinks that the description given by Singerman is 'compelling' and a 'fine' account seems to me to be ignoring the reality of many art students today, that unless you are picked out very early and placed on a pulpit or have money to be accepted into this world it is very unlikely that you will succeed or be able to use you academic achievement.

Julian Stallabrass goes on to state that the different models of art's autonomy has been brought into existance by the market and the Universities and museums and other tensions that threaten the idea of autonomy such as claims that art should be useful?

Does this mean that art should not be commercial and when you consider that artist's need to sell their work which will then enable them to create of art. Furthermore art therapy which is seriously undermined has huge benefits and has helped many people through serious mental health issues and has proven to add aid the recovery. 
I suppose what I am arguing about is that yes art has an autonomy within certain areas and yet I do not believe that this is actually a positive thing in some ways, the general public should be included and encouraged to enter or at least view this world and not to be immediately excluded because of financial or educational constraints. 
How these issues could or ever will be resolved is another issue, so now that I have finished ranting I do need to write the essay.