FAQ

How museums decide what to store

Why Storage, Not Display, Is the Primary Functi...

Gavin Coates

Why storage, not display, is the art system’s primary function, and how preservation, documentation, and continuity determine what actually enters history.

Why Storage, Not Display, Is the Primary Functi...

Gavin Coates

Why storage, not display, is the art system’s primary function, and how preservation, documentation, and continuity determine what actually enters history.

Why most art lacks context

How Art Becomes Contextualized in Culture and H...

Gavin Coates

How art becomes contextualized, and why most work never is. An explanation of institutional placement, continuity, and why visibility alone isn’t enough.

How Art Becomes Contextualized in Culture and H...

Gavin Coates

How art becomes contextualized, and why most work never is. An explanation of institutional placement, continuity, and why visibility alone isn’t enough.

What is abstraction in art

Abstraction Is Not a Style

Gavin Coates

Abstraction is not a visual style but a historical method. Abstraction is a way images think, not how they look.

Abstraction Is Not a Style

Gavin Coates

Abstraction is not a visual style but a historical method. Abstraction is a way images think, not how they look.

What Separates Exhibitable Work from Non-Exhibitable Work

What Separates Exhibitable Work from Non-Exhibi...

Gavin Coates

Why some art is exhibitable and some is not, an explanation of institutional criteria, public legibility, and why exhibition is an obligation, not a reward.

What Separates Exhibitable Work from Non-Exhibi...

Gavin Coates

Why some art is exhibitable and some is not, an explanation of institutional criteria, public legibility, and why exhibition is an obligation, not a reward.

How Exhibition History Becomes Financial Collateral

How Exhibition History Becomes Financial Collat...

Gavin Coates

Why exhibition history functions as financial collateral, how institutional continuity, not visibility, turns exhibitions into durable signals of value.

How Exhibition History Becomes Financial Collat...

Gavin Coates

Why exhibition history functions as financial collateral, how institutional continuity, not visibility, turns exhibitions into durable signals of value.

History of figuration in art

Figuration in Art: From Prehistory to Post-Inte...

Gavin Coates

Figuration is not a style or revival. From cave art to post-internet images, it is a persistent mode of meaning shaped by bodies, power, and institutions.

Figuration in Art: From Prehistory to Post-Inte...

Gavin Coates

Figuration is not a style or revival. From cave art to post-internet images, it is a persistent mode of meaning shaped by bodies, power, and institutions.