category: Business of Art

Structures

ribs

Saguaro ribs, Saguaro National Forest

I owe at least two people posts, and apologize for not completing them in a timely manner as promised. I mention this not just as an acknowledgment of obligations I’ve yet to fulfill but because of an observation I made over the weekend. Sometimes some of the most important lessons have to be learned over and over again. To put it gently, not only are times extra challenging for emerging artists, it’s a rough go for most art professionals. I’ve been worried that the necessities of my life: a day job, a side business, freelance work, and the rest are taking up so much time that I don’t have enough left for the studio and it’s detrimental to my career. How to do more with less? How can I make adjustments to my way of working without making it something false? I was in Tucson this weekend for the opening of the Structures show at Conrad Wilde. This is my second visit, and each time I become more fond of the local art community, dear and supportive people, all at least as busy as I if not more so. Nearly all of us have secondary and tertiary sources of income. We are entrepreneurs, designers, teachers, writers, museum workers, and some of us are lucky enough to have family to support our endeavors not only emotionally but financially. This is why I am continually mystified as to how the romantic myth of the solitary creator persists. We are not alone, nor can we afford to be. We must care as diligently for our friends, colleagues, clients, dealers, critics, teachers, lovers, and families as we do our work. Without them none of our success would be possible. Thank you all. Here are few shots from the show. Apologies to the other artists, who I didn’t cover as well as I should have. There’s more information about them at www.conradwildegallery.com.

Opening reception, Structures, 9/4/10

Drawings by David Longwell. far left

Miles Conrad's encaustic sculptures

Miles Conrad's encaustic sculptures

A closeup on one of the units.

A closeup of one of the units.

Another view

Another view

Colony got a great spot

Colony got a great spot

Two drawings by Tim Mosman

Two drawings by Tim Mosman

Relief III

Relief III

Relief VI

Relief VI

A luminous work by Carrie Seid, not in the Structures show

A luminous work by Carrie Seid, not in the Structures show

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Control

Last night I went to two art openings, one of which was mine. The first was for a woman I’d shown with last year. I love her work. It was great to see more of her stuff but I also got a surprise. When I enthusiastically mentioned having been in a show with her, she expressed disappointment about the way her work was displayed there. It was an installation piece that needed to be hung in a very specific way in order to be read correctly–quite literally. And a second work of hers that I’d also loved had been trapped, horizontal, in a vitrine, when it was intended to be hung vertically, freely.

I mention this because over the course of my brief career I’ve found myself feeling like some kind of jerk too many times. I want control over everything having to do with the promotion and presentation of my work, and if I want to get on in the world, I have to work and play well with others.

My first solo exhibition was given an absolutely horrendous name better used for a neurology conference. The PR for it was equally embarrassing. I don’t like the graphic design of most of my show invitations. I don’t like the photos the gallery chooses. Or the writing. On and on and on.

At the same time, I found myself at my opening last night talking to a man about why I’ve decided to move away from narrative as much as possible most of the time. I told him that I was trying to encourage my audience to look deeper, to avoid concern with resemblances and to grasp the spirit of a work, to look within.

So if with my own work, I’m inviting others to value their own experiences and not shove my personal agenda down their throats, why the concern with the most temporary and superficial aspects of the work? Why not be open to others’ curatorial and critical views?

If this is not to be a shared experience, what’s the point of exhibiting at all? Why not just save time and keep all my stuff at home, where I’m not threatened with embarrassment or loss of control?

Maybe it’s time to lighten up a little…

Wish me luck.

Natural Expressions, University of Minnesota

Natural Expressions, University of Minnesota

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Running up That Hill

Colony, 2009 mixed media (Kim Matthews)
Colony, 2009 mixed media

I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time researching art promotion on line lately. Like most aspiring artists, I find this the least enjoyable part of the job and yearn for the day when I can turn the management of my career over to a highly competent, trustworthy professional who also happens to be psychic.

In the meantime, though, I feel like I’m sifting all the time: sifting ideas, trying to clarify my thoughts, taking in new information and leaving behind old ideas that aren’t compelling anymore.

As I mentioned some time ago, I decided to tackle minimalism as part of my art history education after being thoroughly entrenched in the first forty-odd years of the 20th century. It attracted me because I’ve always been so put off by it–the inaccessibility of it reminded me of being on the outside of an inside joke. And in looking–and seeing, I hope– I’ve found some useful things: the power of seriality to create objects or places of meditation and the potency of pure forms are two of them.

I’m still struggling with some very fundamental issues and have no idea how long it’s going to take to get through. One of the things I’ve realized over the past couple of years is that while it’s human nature to sort, classify, identify, and name, every time that someone says, “Oh, your piece looks like (X),” it makes me sigh inside. I’m not interested in narrative and I don’t want to make things that keep people’s thoughts at the surface. That’s what television is for.

And there are two other things of which I am pretty certain, at least for now and probably forever: I believe in making things, and making them to the best of my ability. And I want to make art that people want to really be with.

Guess that’s plenty for now.

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