Art gallerist Pearl Lam is again turning the tables with her propensity to push boundaries for art and artists with the Pearl Lam Podcast. She is one of the few in our era who turned the concept of ‘art for art’s sake’ on its head rather than focusing on the ‘art for the sake of life’ maxim. According to this female entrepreneur and authority of contemporary Chinese and Asian art, who has two eponymous galleries, Pearl Lam Galleries, ‘art is for the sake of life’.
According to Pearl Lam, this early 19th-century term coined by French philosopher Victor Cousin, ‘l’art pour l’art (art for art’s sake), is obsolete now. The expression was formed where art is independent of its subject, such as any social, political, economic, psychological, or ethical significance; instead, it has its inherent value. It was a reaction to the stifling moralism of the academic art and writers. From the Pearl Lam Podcast, it becomes apparent that any artist must be a moralist encumbered with reformation, where the art is laden with style, pathos, sophistication, psychology, and inner feelings and can resonate with the audience. Art’s sake is for society’s and life’s sake.
Art Is Everywhere For Fashion-Forward Gallerist Pearl Lam
In an interview, art gallerist Pearl Lam stated that she loves fashion, which can be easily identified with her dressing style: purple gravity-defying unique bobs and chunky bangles. For this doyenne, gallerist art is not only displayed on a canvas in the galleries, nor is it restricted to the conventional artists, which Puritan art connoisseurs often refer to. According to this fashion icon, Pearl Lam, art is everywhere, and the onus is on people like her to bring that out and put it in the centre for everyone to see it.
Pearl Lam Podcast has now become the launching board of the fact that art is beyond art’s sake. It is a soft power involving society, psychology, the economy, and everything else in the world, and it can open new discussions. For instance, the Pearl Lam Podcast with Thomas Heatherwick discusses the art of architecture and how it influences people’s mental health. The discussion continues with the paramount importance of developing interesting buildings that look different from one another and break the monotonous landscape of the world. Similarly, the way food is on a plate is another representation of art, and Michelin Star chef Stéphanie Le Quellec talks about the individual’s inner feelings.
The conversation of art is for the sake of society and how society influences art resonates in the Pearl Lam Podcast with Maggie Hambling, Olukemi Lijadu, Alayo Akinkugbe and Sam Cox. In understanding how art is for the sake of everyone and is a major influencing factor, one can easily refer to Picasso’s Guernica and Hamling’s works. They are the reflection of the inspirations she drew from society, places, people, and her identity. Maggie has become a pioneer in the British art world who has a queer perspective in her work, where one can see the profoundness of physical love.
Vision Of Art Gallerist Pearl Lam
Fashion icon Pearl Lam has an astute eye for art and has challenged the norms. We find it again with her representing Maggie Hamling in Art Basel 2024, Hong Kong. The solo exhibition ‘The Night’ will be inspiring, where art becomes part of society and vice versa. Also, as a female entrepreneur who has become a fashion icon, Pearl Lam is constantly setting up new challenges and disrupting the existing field to make something new, like investing in digital art and NFTs.
