Hiding in Plain Sight

Periodically, it's good to lay low for a while or just hide out. The picture above is me- ostrich like- covering up and being invisible at work. I am still recovering from the hub bub that was my show in NYC and the constant commuting back and forth... I still need a vacation!
But at the same time, I have loads (and then some) of work to do as I have a show to install at a local college* and another show in Brooklyn in June. I love working towards shows but sometimes I experience a strange longing to have a day or two (or even three or four) where I have "nothing" to do. Gotta recharge the batteries sometime!
And this past week was especially hectic and action packed. It's been crazy busy at work (check out me disappearing above) and in the midst of setting up for another auction, I got called to jury duty. I was excused after a morning's expenditure, but I had to re-arrange my work week to accommodate the court appearance and later in the week, we went to NYC to attend a friend's opening but also just to wander around and consume art.

Look what we found in Chelsea! An expression of someone's First Amendment rights! One of the most refreshing things we saw all day. Bob and I got pretty tired of being handed stupid plastic three D glasses with built in flashlights to view photos and videos; they didn't seem to work too well and after a while it got very gimmicky. But we did see two videos that were engaging: one had wildly dancing artificial shrubbery and a loud repetitive soundtrack (sounds horrible but it was funny and quirky) and the other featured some nice line drawings morphing into other line drawings.
We stopped into Jim Kempner Fine Art- he's a stand up comic turned art dealer who skewers the art world in a show entitled, "The Madness of Art". Jim Kempner was seated right there behind the desk so I took the opportunity to tell him how much we enjoyed his videos. He seemed honestly appreciative and stated that many people don't even know he does a show about art, despite his having done five seasons. (Check it out on YouTube. I think you'll still find it funny even if you're not directly involved as an artist or consumer of art.)
 We also saw a tremendous amount of forgettable stuff but the day was lovely and we had a swell time. We capped it all off with a delightful meal at our favorite Indian restaurant, which has newly decorated itself in a "Happy Birthday" motif. The ceiling gets lower and lower with layer upon layer of strings of Xmas lights; even I had to duck! (Inexplicably,  despite knowing exactly where the restaurant is, we wandered around in a big circle and were almost about to give up and eat something else when we stumbled on it... we must have been very tired and hungry!)
I need to spend a few days in the garden, just cleaning up and getting a grip on what's growing and what's not but it keeps snowing. (Seriously!?!?) Maybe it's good that the weather has been cranky and uncooperative as it's compelled me to stay inside and finish up my work...

*A religious college no less! And I brought along a copy of my book, "God Hates Artists" to the initial meeting for the group organizing the show. I was informed that that particular piece probably wouldn't go over so well...

Trip to New York

The above pictured blueberry pancakes- made with blueberries from our bushes!- will grace this post about our trip to NYC. Bob and I simply refuse to drag the camera along, and seeing as we have the original "Not-So-Smart phone", we couldn't take pictures even if we wanted to. Besides, is it not more Zen to "be here (or there) now" and experience the present? Anyway...
You may remember that Bob and I almost made it to NYC the previous week. But monstrous weather in the form of torrential rain and thunder changed our plans. Besides, I mused, in an opening with 111 artists, would they really miss me? So we stayed home and had our own splendid "opening".
But Saturday was a lovely day for a trip: warm, dry and perfect. We missed a train in the morning by like 2 minutes as we encountered road construction, but we were under no time restraints we caught the next train and had many interesting adventures, including exploring an area of Bushwick (Brooklyn) that we'd never encountered before. We took an elevated train to get there which afforded a great view back to Manhattan. We looked in on two (tiny) outpost galleries and saw some magical work. And then on to Odetta to schmooze with art dealers (hello Ellen!) and meet another of the three million, five hundred and twenty two artists that wish to show their work. I can't keep track anymore. An interesting discussion of the vagaries of the art press, how hard it is to secure collectors, etc etc- the typical conversations between artists.

(Isn't that a charming succulent? Looks like green twigs.)
And then it was off to the Manhattan to encounter my small offering in the show "Going Big" at Central Booking, an artist's book gallery. Strangely, I was the only artist to submit a book; I was alone in a sea of small paintings (largely abstract) and a few sculptures, But kudos to Suzan and Susan the curators! It was a really attractive show and well hung! I was more than happy as sometimes these huge shows are hung "salon style" (stacked up cheek by jowl) but this show had space between pieces and was remarkably harmonious.
Bob and I then repaired to an Indian restaurant on 6th Street that we have literally been going to for years. It was much the same, with crazy dollar store strings of light blinking and miniature flags of many nations blowing in the air conditioning and Indian pop music blaring. A feast for all the senses. I was glad we made it to the restaurant as we haven't been in that neighborhood for ages and Bob was eager to eat Indian food there again.

 (That one's cute, too! This is some sort of sedum, with a coreopsis photobombing behind...)
Wefinished the evening by missing the train home by three minutes; sort of a reverse repeat of the morning train episode) and had to wait as after 7:00 or 8:00 on weekends, the trains only run once an hour. Thank goodness that Bob and Is till seem to have things to talk about. It was a really nice trip and artistically productive, as in good feedback from past admirers and a new one too. Sometimes, I actually enjoy my trips into NYC...

And Another Thing....

(That's a photograph I got from work that was going to be tossed! Wow! Ganesh in red long johns! I absolutely love it, and it's not some print, but a real photograph! Good visual for my continued ranting...)
And another thing: not only are artists not factories, but their work isn't "product".
As I have saliently pointed out to anyone who will listen, art isn't like baling wire or underpants- designed for some particular occasion or specific need. Art is a strange and peculiar occurrence. The stuff we artists make (called "art") is unique and falls into its own universe, It's governed by its own discrete set of internal laws and those laws may or may not make sense to anyone else. That's why no one can tell you that your art work is stupid or pointless or anything else, because those statements are irrelevant. Art is whatever you as an artist choose to make. Now whether anyone else wants that stuff you produce is another entire discussion...
But returning to my central argument: you can make whatever you want and call it art. That's as long as it stays in your studio or is given as a gift or simply decorates your family members wall. As soon as it enters that exotic realm known affectionately as "The Art World" it becomes something else again. This is where the expectations change and the concept of art as "product" appears.
Products are admired for being uniform, intentional and pretty easy to describe. For example, if you make seating accommodations in your atelier, your product should bear some resemblance to a chair, that is, it should have (at minimum) a seat and legs of some kind. People quite correctly request an item that answers to their needs to sit.
Art is not always like this. When galleries or collectors or random cranks request art that resembles product, all kinds of  trouble ensues. For one thing, many artists have no idea what the next thing they make is going to look like. Yes, it may all fall loosely under the heading "painting" or "print" or even (heaven forbid) "sculpture" but other than that, it can look like anything. Or nothing. I suppose fundamentally that is a central sticking point to the need for galleries (essentially stores where art is sold) to sell whatever it is they sell. Art.
But when gallerists start demanding that the next picture be the same as the last picture (or last thirty pictures), that's a problem. Art shouldn't have to look like itself, although possibly over time, the mature artist develops a style and therefore is somewhat recognizable. A Matisse looks pretty much like a Matisse most of the time. A Degas looks like a Degas and on. But contemporary art doesn't always play by those rules and it's not uncommon for an artist (in full blown post-studio mode) to make a video, do a painting and also exhibit something altogether different (that looks like yesterday's regurgitated lunch.) That's okay. It keeps things interesting. I think high end established artists feel this less than early career artists who are persistently admonished to produce the same piece many times over... especially if that piece sold.
The sold piece is therefore more desirable, and everyone wants the same piece. This is where the art fair model starts looking pretty awful. We had the pleasure of attending one recently in NYC. There was a whole lot of product on hand- and not much art. So many galleries were selling things that resembled other offerings on display at another booth. There was lots of product.
I confess: art is not easy to sell. It's gnarly and stubborn and quirky, all attributes that defy easy sales. But what's the alternative? A slew of mediocre products that a few collectors want. Is anyone happy with this model?

Busy... Just Friggin' Busy

Doesn't this look just like a lunar lander? It's actually a very cool little sculpture that our artist friend Bob Parker made for Bob and I as a house warming present several years ago. Somehow, he took a light bulb and painted it- after it was busted I guess! It's on nails as legs and typically resides on the mantle. However,  Bob was making bread one morning and the way his fingers had raked the flour on the counter made it look all textural and like moon dust. Anyway, I'm inserting this picture because it was funny and I've really had absolutely no time to do anything... except work
And that's work as in job where we've been super busy getting ready for another very large auction (and still down to one photographer and a woman who typically works in the office who's been pressed into duty taking pictures. She's doing a swell job, but protests that she doesn't enjoy it).
And more saliently, getting ready for two (major, we hope!) shows is fun but exhausting and really is taking every minute I have. I still keep marveling that people actually do things like go shopping or on field trips! Me? I have forgotten how to do anything except put nose to grind stone in the studio. But let's face it! I now have a wonderful studio to spend my time in!
Bob and I are finally going in to Bushwick- a part of New York neither one of us knows. It's a section of Brooklyn that's become full of artists and is very trendy and I'm certainly glad to be showing there. But as luck would have it, it's supposed to rain (no!) but at least it's not 100 degrees like last week when I had poison ivy on an epic level. Let's share the photo I put up on Facebook, to general gasps of dismay and revulsion.

That wasn't even the poison ivy at it's worst! I looked like a leper. It spread to my other (left) hand and I had a few gratuitous bumps on my leg and beyond. Not fun! But except for general atrocious scabiness, I'm sort of over it...
This really is a far flung blog posting, subject wise! Not too much to report except to restate how busy I've been. I'd love to be finishing up planting some things in the garden, or musing over my next project, but I'm in the middle of TWO projects and on deadlines. Enough of that rant... I'll keep you posted.