down by the water front

Had A Good Day

 

To have had a good day....

That’s what we all hope for when we head toward the land of nod. The hope that whatever we wanted to accomplish, discuss, start or finish has generated a positive rather than a negative reaction or thought. This is always good.

However, after watching the aftermath, of the aftermath of the aftermath discussions from the recent #rank visit to Miami, I began to pick up on something about the meaning of positive and negative argument that wasn't altogether obvious (to me) during this latest event.

After witnessing the #class debates held back in February my initial overall impression (viewing from a twitter/stream holed-up in the sticks in the UK) was that of admiration: That a group of artists could get together and discuss – yes vehemently discuss, coherently, problems and the possible solutions to real obstacles that artists face. The very fact that these things were being discussed and bandied about with people who in a lot of cases were perpetrators of those obstacles made me feel things were at last being dealt with.

#Rank too, for me was an event taken further into context within the fringe of the Miami Art Fair – a discussion centred around Art Fairs foibles ; a juxtaposition of interests set squarely in amongst the 4-day window of commerce opportunity that is Art Basle Miami, literally cheek by jowl. The event was later digested in a re-meet-up at Ed Winkleman’s Gallery, again streamed and twitter-linked for a post #rank, post #class discussion. And subsequent further discussions were then taken on-line in the days that followed.

Here is Jennifer Dalton's #rank was... posted a few days after Miami; the reply was also interesting.

And Feeling Rank Part Three by William Powhida (check One & Two also)

The main difference that I noticed with the current debate, and what I first saw in #class was an upfront no-holds barred discussion at #class by what seemed to be, to coin a phrase Angry New Yorkers as opposed to, say, coining another phrase Whinging Brits. A mixed crowd of people with both passionate and vested interests in art. The post #rank discussion was not seen as so vibrant by those present; admittedly it was only a three hour slot as opposed to a month long series of events as with #class or even the four day window at #rank. And true, those present were also pretty much already on-board with the #class #rank idea so any argument was more on the lines of differing views on a similar theme.

But the energy to discuss for me was still obviously present. So I was surprised to hear that maybe people were being too polite? – holding back from what they really felt.

I then witnessed an on-line twitter discussion about ideology connected with public art institutions, private art collections, funding and government. In which one wider opinion was put very strongly about communism being the only way forward – so strongly I could only think they were playing devil's advocate in order to drum up some sort of black and white yes-it-is-no-it-isn’t argument. The I’m right you’re wrong that tends to offer no compromise or no solution. Albeit in the finality of a glaring spotlight with black and white clarity.


Still, ineffective politeness and ineffective aggravated debate aside, I do agree that the next set of discussions need to include many voices, like the first hashtag class, with a wide variety of people involved in art and its business. In order to thrash out ideas.

But also, in order for ##rank (hashtag rank 2?) to evolve further this inclusion should have more artists from further afield  to air what must be very differing views and circumstances?. Like the hands-on at Miami with those who could travel distances and those who were local.

Art is a wide community who’s only defining definition is that of the name Artist. The only thing we have in common. And by default the only thing we have to focus on and invoke a-give-a-damn about what happens to a catchall term that describes our actions.
 
Actions which can be at once either clipped, censored, chopped and or misrepresented seemingly at whim, or left largely unnoticed - be it good art or bad. While being so unregulated when the cash hits the counter it counts for everything or nothing on a similar whimsical scale.

Regulation in the business of art is sadly lacking and the balance of public opinion is more often than not hoisted upon whichever artist of the day is ruffling enough feathers or causing offense. No doubt the offended would prefer a proposed regulation for the license of artists in order to keep the profession unencumbered by *rogue traders*. An oxymoron for the overall meaning of art.

But a clear indication for artists and those looking to understand its ambiguities would do no harm. Business practice too needs an unambiguous clarity:

Structures for a code of ethics for Art Councils, Galleries (public or private) and the business of art needs clarity in order for the art *community* to feel enthusiasm and confidence to nurture and become wholly involved - to give a damn. And not be divided by the ambiguous carrot and stick of the Art Market.

 

One thing that is screaming out at me from the hashtag events so far is the necessity to lose the inhibitive politeness and speak our minds. Solutions take time but not the attitude to address them, and with that rigorous and informed argument.

And so #class and #rank, overall I found, whether month long, four day or three hours, equates with having a bloody good day in my book! 

Let it grow!        

 

The Understanding of Class (The Frost Report 1966)

 

Substitute any of these?:

Art and business, Art and accessibility, Art and class?

In the context of the above noticed this from Gaping Void,...When *dumb* people make money, *smart* people (who make less) get very resentful.

Back next Thursday !

In the meantime Laura Isaac is performing the Tonglen Project PREVIEW: Friday January 7th, 2011 7:00 - 10:00 PM Eastern : Join in !!! as this project is reaching out far and near by proxy email/tweets with a group based project.

 

The Tonglen Project will be a community-based art event.

At least 3 experienced Tonglen practitioners including myself will assemble in a given space for a minimum of 3 hours to do Tonglen meditation. (The meditators will take breaks as necessary but there will always be at least one practitioner on the cushions at all times.)

  The meditators will wear all white and sit on white cushions.

  All visitors to the space will be provided with a black marker so that they can write those things which are causing them pain directly onto the meditators or cushions.

  Extra cushions will be made available so that anyone who wishes to join in the meditation may do so. These “spontaneous” meditators will not be written on.

The Tonglen Project will debut during the opening of Laura Isaac's January show at VALA Gallery.

 

 

And Platea are starting their Project Vlll Tree-Blogging this Monday 10th ; I recommend all who wish to participate take a peek at the idea!

So Glad You Came

Art Basel Miami (A Posh Supermarket Sweep – did I say that?)

 

 

#Rank at Seven

#Rank Miami was with Winkleman Gallery  at Seven

which included :

* Pierogi Gallery
* Hales Gallery
* Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
* BravinLee programs
* Postmasters Gallery
* P·P·O·W
* Winkleman Gallery

I didn’t go, obviously, as I joined in the “Sorry I Couldn’t Be There” video along with many, who, also for various reasons didn’t go either (be it demographics, work, commitments and or cost). In hindsight I wish I had gone!  Reasons: Specifically for #Rank. Explanation below;

Those who did manage to gave a vivid array of tweets, blog posts and photographs all documenting the atmosphere of what seemed to be an incomprehensibly large art fair from where I was, back in chilly UK, with my monitor and a few online-guides to whats-on. But even if you have visited the likes of Frieze etc. I get the idea this is BIG.

The reason I was drawn to finding out about this hitherto (for me) unknown event apart from its name, was #Class. This came onto my radar last February through a chance tweet. A brilliant month long gallery and internet based discussion about art, focused on blowing away the myths of the more delicately avoided subjects within the art world hierarchy, like exclusivity, class, gender, inside-deals and general unaccountability. You name it – it was discussed and may I say very inclusively.

So, this is the atmosphere of Art Basel Miami as seen through the eyes of people predominantly visiting the Seven space. Whom I either *know* through the #Class event, or wider arts in general, like Hales Gallery London, who were also part of this years group of Seven.

 
A teeny bit of context here: The history of Art Basel Miami Beach is relatively recent (2002) compared to its parent 1970’s inception, Art Basel Switzerland. And it also has a more by-the-beach quality, it  has a lot of moneyed visitors, or at least it shows it more by those who would, with things like Rolls Royce and Mercedes (in a high viz ostentation-transport kind of way). I guess a sort of Cannes of the art world but with more emphasis on the Block-Buster, than World-Indie.

And why not, it works to some extent at Cannes, but then they do have a whole host of the unexpected not-your-usual-suspects on their books and it is a nomination event – pre sale if you like, not directly in the queue at the check-out.

Still the image of your average artist mingling at Miami seems a little at odds with all the official online details of exclusively tailored and expensive venues and special events, parties and the like (although busses are apparently offered as an alternative source of transport, so it can’t be totally non-inclusive). No I’m not being a kill-joy here – I like parties as much as anyone – as long as I don’t feel I have to gatecrash, that is.

So errm yes where were we ....  ahhh  yes the parties, the sun (its got to be a draw for northern hemisphere peeps this time of year). A vast structured event-space once a year in December, would I be wrong in thinking it's main purpose is for the shifting of ART. A well organised schedule (and why wouldn’t you want that) which seems to be focused toward privilege-based benefits. For example if you can afford the extra you can travel seamlessly between fairs – preselect works in advance and I assume not have to troll around with the crowds in an IKEA like daze through vast thorough-fares and booths showing increasing signs of ADHD.

I noticed from many photographs on tumblrs and twitpics that there certainly is GOOD art, and some fantastic backdrops for it. So its not that the art shown is not good and that all buyers with money are crass – they are not.

Wealthy Wolfgang Joop the fashion designer, for example (not that I would have a clue if he bought from this fair or not) has been involved with art for years, with an artistic sense rather than just buying to accumulate.

But maybe it’s just a wee bit heavy in veering toward Viva-Las-Vegas-Large, celebrity glitz and the two tier (one for the rich) sales pitches, that is not so much good.

It does seem a win-win shopping situation if you’ve got the bung. Though apparently sales in the high zeros were down this year. With those works priced in the thousands racking up the tills instead.

HOWEVER at Seven the status-quo-rules were reversed somewhat, as this space, didn’t seem to play to quite the same tune.

There looked to be a distinct lack of come-hither booths with dodgy? sales people (I know!, they’re only doing their job) but all that hovering and glancing you up and down (with xray eyes spotting your credit rating at fifty paces) and ignoring/engaging appropriately. The space here looked functional, errm think concrete, with clean lines and had an eye catching frontage. I have no idea how accessible the space was en-route inside the bigger picture of ABMB, but there seemed enough people visiting over the 4-5 day stint.

Outside Seven at Miami

I haven't any photos of the actual art as I didn't go! but here is A VERY PROMINENT LINK to some proper photos taken by some peeps who did! Seven.

Inside Seven it had its walls full and with mid ground space occupied by one giant silver man-thing in a rocking chair ......... and I think a flying fish? You have to excuse my lack of knowledge here as I'm still wishing I had experienced these works first hand......

 

I nabbed these shots of the #Rank space taken-as-it-happened on the Seven twitpic-share:

Man Bartlett: Measure, as The Absurd Tailor

Part of a #Rank discussion

Nic*Rad setting up Taking My talents To South Beach

The #Rank space during Stephen Truax: Project Present

The art seemed the only defining route-map for you to negotiate through the space. Basically it looked like you could literally immerse yourself and drift through, if not drift then at least go at your own pace and not be particularly bothered by anyone, depending of course whether it was rush hour or not.

Then there was the #Rank space which was taken up with discussions, films and related events. Like an on-the-road graduation from #Class. My eye into this was a fixed view webcam, this time subject to the whims of technology-on-the-hoof. Some of the live stream I found absolutely riveting. Hearing Diedra Kreiger’s Building Backbones; a group rendering of rejection letters to submissions for art and related funding, which was at once therapeutic, quite sad and also hilariously funny (in a probably only if you were listening to it in this context kind of way, ie, don’t try this home alone).

One reply on twitter quoted as The Best Yet! “Dear XYZ ....I'm sorry to inform you will not be qualifying for ... now you won’t go slashing your wrists will you?”. Quite, who ever came up with the idea artists are thin skinned?. 

 

The #Rank Space

The events overall during #Rank were all about questioning and showing how the art market and the system it trundles along with causes ructions and obstructions for the very people who supply it – the artists. And in that #Rank stood out, as I imagine, there were only a few at Miami doing anything like along these lines.

I am amazed that they got this over in live debate as the practical trips and switches of short term space sharing are never easy.

The whole idea of #Class and #Rank is to include artists and people connected with art who are mainly, by means of social media able to do so. In an otherwise art-centric world that gestates in cities such as New York and London, which then migrate to appealing art centric locations such as Miami for the Fairs. Excluding many – for some of the US artists who had to find the air-fair, hotel bill etc. it was still time off work, out of the studio, out of you own pocket job. Not an expenses paid gallery-funded jaunt, (not that isn’t as dead as a dodo these days - like the book advances of once-upon-a-time), nor indeed artist driven ROI.

So It’s the #Rank idea; the time to join the dots up thing, that I believe is what they aimed to point out here. By showing and discussing the lottery like ethos, purported by these overwhelmingly large fairs toward art and artists aspiration.

The wider event, even from a logistical point seemed pretty intense; one of those three day-hit the ground running (unless you had pre-pre-pre-planned or splashed your dosh around enough to pre-plan without the foot slog). I don’t know exactly how big it is but I imagine if you compare your average troll though any gallery taking a good half day?.

Either way the Fair seems a lot to take in critically. It must be a definite buzz – but also a colossal – and yet time restrict atmosphere of get-it-while-you-can, a posh Supermarket Sweep.

The sense of #Rank and all the wider thoughts it generated was good (with its gremlins and streaming aside - c’est la vie!). If I had been so wholly immersed in those I would have probably missed a number of other things like Laura Isaac informing ranker’s of a tid-bit about her kickstarted project providing (for those who would dare to don) t-shirts to navigate the exhibitions and booths with *where do you rank?* across the front.
A dealer apparently unaware of Laura’s involvement with them, took one look and rolled her eyes at her – brilliant!. Ordinarily that would be a crushing personal(ish) dig – which artists are used to but in these circumstances the whole idea of being privvy to a dealer rolling her eyes at something that you had done, held an inverted if not reversed relevance of importance. Doubly brilliant!.

So for me, the #Rank discussions and events, highlighted, by its very being there the large Art Fair market-bias in bold relief: An antithesis sitting against the backdrop of Art Basel Miami; The next party, The event, The Art (all, I imagine to be mentally-mapped within 30 seconds of landing by some form of clique-osmosis). Plus being in the know of this essential frippery, also seems to be the overriding factor gluing its presence together, to keep the show rolling. With the peripheral gestures of the not so errrrm *The* Art giving The Fair complimentary authenticity.

 

Within all this the #Rank space showed that these are still very necessary things to point out. The high-art, low-art, emperor’s new clothes, star rated this and star rated that. Alongside the fact that artist’s moneyed-recompense are not mutually exclusive – that they are all part of the wider equation that needs discussing. And what better place for #Rank to set up their stall and get to grips with that!

Oh and an aside-tweet-quote during #Rank that gave me cause to say Oh! Yes!
On I think, art, maturity and inclusiveness in an age relevant art world : "It is strange still feeling  *a little wet behind the ears* for someone my age!"


 

 

Back next Thursday 16th with possibly a leeeetle bit more  #Rank-related-art-fest

Opening Up The Debate

 

Nottingham Contemporary is all of One Year Old  – and it’s fair to say it has had all the usual suspects of criticism thrown at it right from its inception with things like ; why do we need an art gallery? no one in Nottingham will be interested, better build another mall or entertainment centre instead (these were pre 2008 sentiments). On digging the foundations; that’s a bloody big hole in the ground it's more like and underground car park than a gallery (it is built on a hill). And right up-to its final and glorious opening ; looks like a shipping container ! – bloody eyesore.

Nottingham Contemporary on its Opening in November 2009

It has of course sailed through all these (not many!) detractors and proved beyond doubt that it is the perfect spot and long overdue for the area as well as the city. And although Nottingham has always had a strong link with London for many reasons, this is a special place for art in the centre ; positioned as it is between the Baltic Newcastle, Liverpool Tate, Glasgow’s GoMA, all the galleries of London and the Tate in Cornwall. A sort of more accessible connect and radial north/south link. Although still not much use for south or mid Wales and, as far as north Wales goes only if you are prepared to travel to Liverpool. Nor indeed to the north of, and to the north east of Glasgow.... Phew!. And of course not forgetting the south east of the country, (though they do have good transport links to London). But there is definitely a more join-the-dots-up feel between these areas across England, Scotland and Wales than there was, say, even ten years ago.

And a special event being held first in Nottingham (though not for the first time) is the British Art Show 7.
This will then follow on to The Hayward, London, Glasgow GoMA and then Plymouth.

I had been really taken by the #Class discussions held at Winkleman Gallery NYC with its critics dealers and curators last March. So I jumped at the chance on-my-own-door-step, to join a critics *circle* at Contemporary – discussing the types of criticism evoked by the BAS7 and critical analysis of art in general – by three leading critics from the UK's Frieze, Art Review and Art Forum magazines.

True that the slant, if any was about the Broadsheet style of art criticism or opinion. But this was a good base for enlarging on what seemed very useful points and one in particular which was also picked up on in the #Class debate. That of opening up your (the critics) view, being a spring board for subsequent debate by engaging people with art through question. While trying to engage as wide an audience as is possible.

Good sentiments! and indeed as one of the critics in the Nottingham debate put it: not just to hold an opinion and lay down the law with that, nor massage possible favourites with un-critical positive reviews, but to “take yourself on your own journey with art – have an opinion – but open that up to a wider debate.”

This type of sentiment is being addressed far wider than the arts – from science to policy makers (well sort of!) but the time is ripe and right for this to be re-aired – we do need informed debate about a lot of things. And certainly not to re-enforce that historical elitist convenience of *you need a PHD to understand this* and by the same token not dumbing down so much that only the opinion that seems to matter  is *I’m right – your wrong*.

I did a lot of scribbling while in the discussion (because I only remember the crucial bits randomly later and not when I need them) so was also slightly aware that I was a *writer*/ blogger/ artist in a discussion talking about “writers who dash things off so quickly they haven’t given themselves enough time to do the in-depth research” etc etc. They were talking about broadsheet writers and their deadlines. And all three art magazine critics here agreed they themselves have a time-rich space-poor bite of the cherry. Art magazines having less space but more time to assimilate in-depth information. So their beef wasn’t with that, so much as the general dismissive-ness that sometimes prevails when the opinion of the broadsheet writer has not had time to open up the argument and only time enough to express a view while filling in a more generous word count. So the opinion is at once not relatively in-depth, then dashed out before copy and by default, set to reach a non-specialist audience.

All these sentiments did though have a wider connotation for art and those who document its meaning; that of opening up the debate.

Freeze opening party 1988 : left to right ; Ian Davenport, Damien Hirst, Angela Bulloch, Fiona Rae, Stephen Park, Anya Gallaccio, Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume

When the YBA’s first appeared for example, they had taken the task of self-curating and showing themselves with a kind of “high definition grabbing attitude”. Any critical opinion was also made a lot easier with the type of work shown – a simplified debate emerged – once they had latched on, the broadsheets and a lot of critics loved it for that.

Freeze exhibition Surrey Docks, London August 1988

Images from Sensation: Young British Artists From The Saatchi Collection

This bursting away from insider-clique-full-of-deep-meaning gave way to whatever was the easiest and quickest to grasp. Now, explained one of the BAS7 critics, he believed that Clever Art was on the way (back).

He went on to describe what he saw as the role of art critic. Seeing it as a personal journey with art, including playful scepticism. Unlike the biased attitude mentioned, by massaging fave-raves with *less critical* reviews (not that many would admit to that). Nor to have an idea about art and look to confirm that, rather looking for what the artists are doing.

Recently a lot of critics have basically opted for a listed description – trying not to put a foot wrong – even the galleries themselves are showing reticence on this type of coverage, on the one hand loving the fact but on the other being protectively quiet about saying so.

When the BAS first appeared in 1979 it housed a broad 112 artists from all over Britain, many of whom were abstract artists. Most of which according to the critics here “were crap” and have disappeared. Back then the curating was more of a Survey described as *The Best of* whereas the actual reality of curating BAS now is straddling a line between inclusiveness and un-thematic results but with commonality. The only reference to nationality being its umbrella name of The British Art Show.

Another recent turn for critics in general has been the lack of political or angry art, so the shocking art of 20 years ago has moved from the black and white toward less easily articulated forms of criticism. Although gender has prevailed and gathered momentum, whether within the matured art expressed with one time YBA Sarah Lucas (in the BAS7). Or the fact of one’s gender per-se, as with Grayson Perry (who I noticed got an appalling and veiled article directed at him in The Mail last week – based on the fact of gender alone – and not his actual contribution to art or current affairs) the headline ran on the lines of “Why did BBC use this man as expert on spending cuts ...and why did they spend licence money on his bizarre bike tour of Germany?” complete with this picture just to make things absolutely clear.

Grayson Perry's Bike tour with teddy Alan Measles

Image: BBC Radio Four's Grayson on His Bike

A Red Top also once ran the headline about a Turner Prize winning Antony Gormley back in the mid '90's as "Gormless Gormley" (a friend noting at the time - poor sod he can’t even help his name). Another bash would have been Chris Ofili's work with its much obsessed and bandied elephant dung-isms.

Non of these were critical reviews, and this is still the sort of thing we see a lot of in the sound-bite press. But apart from things like gender, the target-specific, if you like, the obvious ticked boxes of art have not been in great supply in the last few years for critical debate (unless you count the headline grabbing stuff of Hirst, Koons and Murakami and the more established Stars-of-Art who emerged from the 80's and mid 90's).

Even in the insider-world-of-artists many would probably say that the open season criticism that abounds is certainly not for the faint hearted !

  

The overriding ethos or idea that I came away with was the importance of attitude and responsibility as an art critic. To develop an interest in encountering work that doesn’t necessarily show itself immediately and open up dialogue between the self evident and wider more informed (specialist) meaning.

This was eloquently put on how the BAS7 exhibition is being curated. By having a healthy lack of information on the walls explaining blow-by-blow what you’re supposed to be experiencing. And instead an information booklet with which you can choose when (and if) to read the artists essays. Parallel with this an analogy of the music industry was also made: As its critics have no insider audience to speak of, they are much tighter more informed and on the ball – because people *get it*. Art on the other hand still has that intimidating distance which renders it stable to certain biases. Some people still literally feel that walking into an art space is intimidating never mind the anxiety about *getting it*. "We expect not to get it, and so it becomes a form of social exclusion."

And so summing up, the critics saw their role as should be; not “here it is (my opinion)" but ”here are the questions (from my informed, but not static opinion)"........

 

I also took some notes I made during the #Class Critics debate and here are some clips from it taken via the live stream back in March 2010 ........ 
“The demand for popularising art is too broad - that there has to be a place for ‘high art’ or the kind of art that no one knows anything about, meaning some art is so inscrutable there is no translation. Even though some would want or desire it to be layman-ised and made accessible, really, connoisseurship and populism don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”

Absolutely, but I was still picking up in the wider debate; this vague or rather useful way of saying I’m in a (relatively) comfy place here and the need to defend it.
Most were very concerned and defensive that as critics they had a responsibility to history and also to their moral code of ensuring impartiality and detachment, even when reviewing friends or people they had an affiliation or affection with. I did notice from the artists gathered ‘laughter at the thought of ethics and art’.

 
One genuinely helpful comment, that tried to set aside a critic from (just) someone with an opinion, used the word ‘why’, on the lines of.... “as a critic I am passionate, I write about the work I am convinced about by being positive but you have to have or define your base line to say why you think X is bad and Y is good; why there is difference. In my book that is the whole point of having an opinion, not a gut feeling per se but the why.”

 
Money was never far away, in fact I don’t think there was any one particular point in the whole NY discussion which didn’t give a nod to some manifestation of that; not being paid enough (obviously), and one that stood out with its deflector stance; as collectors being the gatekeepers of the art world.
Indeed not the critics then.


Although both discussions were from different angles and indeed countries. I did feel that in the New York debate there were far more crucial questions being directed and answered about impartiality, money and ethics.

Either way the sentiments from both discussions did overall come up with a similar approach to what it should mean to be an art critic: 
To open up debate with questions not affirmations. Why it is, rather than simply, it is.

 

And its 24 hrs into #RankMiami !

Man Bartlett started the proceedings with The Absurd Tailor photographing each measurement

"Measure." Acting as the Absurd Tailor, Man Bartlett will take measurements of fair-goers and relate them to the measurements of the art for sale at SEVEN and other fairs. Based on actual and imagined relationships, the artist will draw conclusions about which work is best suited (or not) for the potential buyers.

If you haven't yet, check out the live stream on the website:

#RankMiami Ustream

Also An Xiao's Studio has some very useful links to the people who actually made it to Art Basel Miami Beach;

(I joined in the video from artists who weren't going to make the Fair in An Xiao and Platea's "Sorry I Couldn't Be There"  - well my feet did!)

Along with Hrag Vartanian's intrepid posting from ABMB on Hyperallergic

Photographs from the Seven Photo Stream

Plus the twitter images of Susi Kenna's

The next post here this coming Thursday 9th, will be taking on board some of the issues and indeed hilarity raised during the events. Including the chalk-board which has been rendered *hot lips* pink (I'm guessing this is not a Farrow & Ball shade). To air the many points raised during the discussions and performances, including the ranked art stereotypes and cliches.

#Rank Miami with Winkleman Gallery is at Seven

which includes :

* Pierogi Gallery
* Hales Gallery
* Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
* BravinLee programs
* Postmasters Gallery
* P·P·O·W
* Winkleman Gallery

A reminder of the event Calendar

 

 

Categorical Twist ( Plus a timely recap on #Class; The Feminists Tea Party)

 

 

 

 

Categories, categories, categories, I was warned about them by an artist once........”your work is very feminine (?) you will be categorised... oh yes you will!”.

 

 

The work I was producing at the time was sculptural as now, but no more or less feminine I don’t think. Perhaps it was because I had used fine white thread to make labour intensive (on my part) pom poms which I hung by equally fine thread from the ceiling at various lengths. I suppose soft, fluffy and snow-white would enter into the description.

 

 

But the work was no less interconnected with the stuff I am doing now, using crude oil, rubber, and jet; dark hard and even repugnant materials does that fit feminine too? No, silly me! that is just based on stereo type images, pink for girls blue for boys stuff.

 

I suppose my art is bound to reflect the fact that my gender has an impact on how I function in the world and therefore can’t help but be shown through what I do – though I am no more aware of using feminine gestures, materials, or ways of expressing, than Joe Bloggs or indeed Jo Bloggs on the wide spectrum of x, y and z chromosomes.

 

My works are, and always have been about products, labour, consumption and the social-human condition. So as far as being specifically feminine well – I am female and that just about covers it.

 

This is not an easy thing to flat-line because as a category women and artists can fit into that female catch-all group and do have similar basic dilemmas; simplistically put, child bearing and dogma. But from there they can have widely different bench marks.

 

Recapping on one of the discussions at the extremely energising #class  – which by all accounts they are having another bash this summer – (hold on to your seats and watch this space! plus their website for details).

 

The Feminists Tea Party

 

The event description;

Caitlin Rueter and Suzanne Stroebe will host a Feminist Tea Party, an event that lies somewhere in between a contemporary consciousness raising group, a panel discussion, a performance, and a joke. They will create an installation of sorts, with a table set for tea, complete with tablecloth, porcelain cups, finger sandwiches and cookies. While attempting to maintain a visual and stylistic protocol consistent with an afternoon tea party, they will engage visitors in a dialogue around contemporary women's issues that contrasts sharply with the formal, prissy setting.

 

During the discussion, someone suggested that the term feminism had actually come to represent an angry word and for many people this category had become representative of an angry movement. A lot of the idea, stemming from people who felt threatened by it in the ‘70’s, and describing them as family destroyers.

 

 

I was only a whippersnapper at the time so I never really picked up on the feminist thing, only what was reported in the press and shown through TV sit-coms, fashion etc.,. The general consensus if you like.  Even the feminists themselves found that their camps were split into what kind of life should be led by women; stay at home or have it all (like now) as though the word and world of feminism needed to have a firm identity stamp of approval on it rather than a choice. Toe-ing the party line.

 

 

During the discussion the idea was bandied about that female art is still very much unrecognised or underrepresented, (now where have I heard that one recently? oh yes! women parliamentary candidates and MP’s). Concluding also in the discussion that art media is still perpetuating a certain idea of women and that these roles are still relevant – and no less so in the general media either. With front covers showing the most coveted prizes of image, style and whats accepted and hot.

 

Galleries too, joining with that idea that women and art have a certain place. Although as a specific example in ’93-’95 when Times Magazine had front coverage of all male art, it is not true now. Things do change, attitudes change, but as with a lot of institutions the dogma is slow to move and a comfy sense of business-as-usual tries to prevail staving off any boat rocking.

 

 

Artists do not tend to work in tandem either, they are individuals and like writers sometimes there may be drifts of genres or movements but ultimately the writer is alone with the page as is the artist with their materials. I’m guessing here, but change by artists is absorbed on different levels and at different rates. Rather more individual beginnings than group shifts. Although the groups and the categories come later.

 

I mentioned Laura Shapiro’s book Something From The Oven in my last post; if you haven’t read it she describes very wittily how woman’s roles in the 50’s were morphed post war into a new era of perceived domesticity and bliss.

 

The *advert* had a lot to do with selling the idea and the products that drove it. A prosperous new era for all, and certainly for production and the economy. If you take the art of the era and juxtapose the general vibe of the times, the artistic shift, gender specific or not sort of shows its own pattern.

1950's advert: a post war progression, graphic and embracing tv/cinematic style mini-ad

 

 

 

 

1950's artists;  a progression from earlier artists, but in general a desire not to be literal with the image

Willem De Kooning: Woman

Barnett Newman: Zip

Jackson Pollock: No 5

Bridget Riley: Movement in Squares, 1961, a shift again as Pop and Op art brimmed over with geometrical and semi-literal images of industrial and consumerist culture.

 

I had to search hard to find women artists (there were, of course) but with the popular artists, the ratio here is not quite right, probably more on the lines of 7:1 if that.

 

 

Categorising has always been a useful way of joining-up social ideas and wider constructs to form ways of understanding and also popular ways of doing. Not social engineering as such but how policies can shape peoples thinking about certain areas of their lives. Such as the domestic bliss of the 50’s linking to consumerism, different ways of approaching wants and needs; literally buying into the lifestyle, including the domesticity needed to go with it. And art reflecting that.

 

 

Fay Weldon of  She Devil fame, came out with a remark in The Observer recently, also relating to women and their *position* in society;

“Marriage, according to Weldon, is often a commercial exchange in which a woman swaps "services of a domestic and sexual nature" in return for her keep. "I married for love because I could afford to. As soon as you can keep yourself, you can afford to love."

Fay has made mucho money and got herself in the position to enable her to do this. And as a female and a writer she is no less vulnerable to the whims of changing society than any other artist.

 

 

I think many artists - have a slightly different agenda though when it comes to being self supporting ie; the oh-so-important day job!.

But as far as women being solely reliant on someone to earn for them while they have children, for example, or through choice or lack of choice – illness or similar. I don’t think this is particularly gender specific apart from the physicality of bearing children. I guess people have wrestled with this one for years – to be reliant on someone is or can be a damaging position for some – for others it is their redemption and works. But values and traditions have usually tried to *encourage* women to rely on someone even if they are seemingly having it all by working, juggling, and running round like headless chickens in doing so.

 

 

And according to Catherine Bennett in the Guardian this week, after the election results came in. The pecking order of attention that our policy makers hold dear appears to be somewhat like this;

“With their working wives, but no female colleagues, neither Cameron nor Clegg did better. Judging by the last few weeks, the political consensus on female respectability places elegant wives and mothers in the first rank, followed by nurses (also known as "angels"), horny-handed "mums", caring grandmothers, cancer victims (treated to a special Labour scare story), single women with children, followed by childless single women who cannot be bribed with tax credits, women politicians and, lastly, the widow, mum of two and former prime minister, Baroness Thatcher. Thanks to Labour's vision of a women-free public life, reinforced by both rival parties, it should be generations before her freakish achievement is ever approached, let alone repeated.”

 

 

Stereo-type categories may benefit our understanding of society but choice is the main component. It frees us from those categories that can so easily be manoeuvred by policies and public opinion into places where many feel they have no choice but to be in them.

 

 

I do like the idea though that Fay was getting across – that a woman, artist or no, should not swap an idea of love for an exchange of monetized reciprocation.

 

I also think that in general women and women artists have had dogma stacked against them for a long time including bad press for the feminist movement in the sixties and seventies, a lot was also tied in with liberal and left of centre thinking which also fanned the flames of the counter-press. Along with wider *femininity* issues being given equal dogmatic resistance from women as well men.

Sometimes I wondered if a lot of it wasn’t just old fashioned jealousy, never mind the element of control.

 

 

 

But all in all I liked the sentiment that Sam Taylor-Wood (who also must have given up the day job by now).... came out with on all the shock-horror press she received on hitching up with Aaron Johnson.

In a recent interview, she criticised the attention paid to the age gap in her relationship with Johnson, saying that men with much younger female partners did not receive the same treatment.

"How come no one says anything about that? It's totally sexist," she said. "I try to ignore it. In my life I've never really listened when people start forming opinions on how you should be doing things."

 

 

Categories, categories .... choice and change eh!.

 

 

And on the lines of change and categories and artist Jen Dalton also had an interesting view, talking about ethics in art.21blog, suggesting art has its own category agenda:

“Jennifer Dalton, who co-curated the recent #class exhibition with Powhida, pointed out, “The art world is not such a tolerant place.” She continued, “We don’t like conservatives, even socially-liberal-fiscally-conservative ones . . . . Our commitment to free expression is limited to the types of ‘transgressions’ we are all entirely comfortable with.”

 

 

 

 

 

AND !!

NB; Escape From New York.....

The exhibition Escape From New York (which also involves Jen Dalton, William Powhida, Man Bartlett and An Xiao from the #class project) is about to start this Saturday 15^th May;

I know I posted the link about a month ago but Art Fag City has also updated the event and shows the specifics of what looks like being really good event (wish I could get on a plane and wizz myself over there!).

Back with more on Sunday..... 



Hard Facts and Ambiguous Spaces

 

Hard Facts and Ambiguous Spaces (some ideas from #class)

 

 

Ok I’m bashing an idea out here; its still on the lines of how #class or similar can further forward the momentum and positive discussion outcomes achieved over what must have been an intense month of organising and doing – so whatever I’m writing here are ideas in motion – ideas maybe to think about and see if they could be updated or adapted and ....well, read on.... like I said not set in stone.....

Artist dilemmas.

 

I’m an artist;

 

Please don’t tell me that I have to say exactly what I am going to do before I have done it. You see I want the artistic freedom to create from moment to moment. And so on-etc., etc., along with various other arty anomalies that have echoed around studios, galleries and schools on and off since, well, since art became something other than a paid creative job in the renaissance, or church echelons of medieval and Greek times.

 

 

Freedom to Create;

 

Got no time, and no money....

 

And another side to that story.....

 

Jen Dalton mentioned in this interview the other day on one of the positive changes mentioned in #class; “Advocate for artists to get paid fairly for their work, both at the gallery level (this may mean contracts!) and at the museum and non-profit level (asking for exhibition fees when often there are none in the budget).”

 

Art can be very ambiguous, in-flux, controlled or whatever but the nature of art is for it to express itself. So the point raised here about individual contracts falls into the need, I agree for artists in general to be more organised on that level; a contract means there are no ambiguities and therefore reduces the sometimes half-truths or misunderstandings that may occur (on either side) on completion of the work and the transaction.

 

And at the other end of the scale....

I mentioned before Chris Offili expressing his very real unease in having to don his artist-in-front-of-the-art-media hat as opposed to his Man U supporting artist at home hat, causing him problems in actually doing and growing with his work because of market and media pressures to perform differently.

 

A very cruel portrayal of the artist's dillema portrayed by Mark D of Nottingham Stuckists

 

Schools of Thought.

 

Groups, Schools and Organisations part 1;

 

 

I came across this book recently called Hard Facts (Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense). Which as part of a much wider topic addresses a fact that many businesses which have hitherto used a command and control management, keeping-the-workforce-in-check-model are, seemingly failing with the false work-hat and home-hat personas that they encourage their workforce to adopt; not only does it apparently induce over the top in-fighting within these companies but it is also failing to address the general shift to a more open; this is who I am, not a who you think I am, attitude amongst many workers these days – they are just themselves, they mix, they socialise, they interweb with each other - and it is changing.

 

The book also points to business’s like the US South West Airlines, who are more inclusive of their staff. John Lewis in the UK with their staff as partners and their shared profits also springs to mind. But more than that, the general  jekle and hydeness of these tight control formats. For example if you were to suggest in a family setting that your brothers and sisters were your competitors ( I know it happens) but  it’s not generally a bench mark for sibling rivalry instilled by the parents, and  further, if you were to organise say, a family event and extended family members were involved, the general gist would be to let each family member do their bit without checking up on them to see that they were pulling their weight (I said general gist!).

 

But essentially a group effort for the good of the group, rather than a leader controlling check up to ensure no one was slacking, causing rivalry.

This I think exudes outwardly from businesses, showing a similar sense of that kind of competitiveness towards other business and so on.

Stressful aswell? possibly

The book does point out that a few businesses or organisations do well with competitiveness encouraged; like the military. But the service industry is a glaring example of not.

 

Groups, Schools and Organisations part 2;

 

Finance was one of the areas I didn’t address when I was bandying on about the Steiner style approach to schools, but they do have an inclusive attitude toward funding finance, and a sliding scale contract which each parent in the UK anyway, sign up to (in Holland or other countries where Steiner receives state funding it is different). They ask you to pay as much as you can afford – there is a top level income that determines whether you pay the full set fee per term, anything under that and it is pro-rata and below a certain level, ie; benefit income, you pay small a token fee.

But no grading anywhere else; you pay what you can afford and everybody receives the same education or service.

So people still feel, as much as possible that they are contributing fairly and for the good of the whole objective (which includes their child’s education – so also prime motivator to be involved).

typical kindergarten circle

 

 

 

Groups, Schools and Organisations Part 3;

 

Back to 1997 and Mojacar Southern Spain.

 

A good friend of mine Tim, was at the time an artist of no fixed abode or institution – a free spirit, he eventually went on to study and take up a place lecturing at Norwich University College of The Arts. At the time I met him though, he was in his 20’s, sleeping in his car and/or on the beach and he wasn’t quite in the mood for entertaining an arts degree. This was still at a time in Mojacar and Southern Spain’s recent history that had attracted a lot of musicians, artists, film makers to the region from the 50’s Beats and the 60’s hippies onwards. An obvious bohemian atmosphere still prevailed as late as 97.

It was around then that Tim mentioned a local artist residency. Set up in 1989 in a converted mill, the idea being to allow artists to stay for a nominal fee, provided they communally cooked and basically helped out, while at the same time having a relatively uninterrupted space to create. A while ago I came across the same residency on the web and they have now joined the arts residency organisation ResArtis. Which also started out similarly in Greece with a Dutch guy who, on meeting people from other cities and residencies, decided it would be good to host group meetings at each other’s places in order to create a network and framework for better residency organisation.

 

 

Fundacion Valparaiso

 

Looking at their membership mandate and fees structure, it seems to be aimed at providing a service for individual groups or organisations (governmental grant based or non) to link up and share information, experience and generally aiding a more professionally linked up outlook while at the same time retaining the principal of providing internationally (and with that, socially, politically, and religiously diverse) linked up communal spaces for artists to engage with their work for a number of weeks. As well as their web site community they encourage members to visit diverse destination General Meetings to further experience and contribute face to face with the group; provided, I assume you can afford the travel costs!. But I’m guessing with its organisation-to-help-other-organisation structure, the benefit works both ways (so that is their prime motivator for people to become involved).

 

 

 

The potential for some sort of fairly-run-for-the-good-of-the-whole idea for #class and things like it could work.

Zac Cohen mentioned in a recent blog post on the subject – taking small steps.

Indeed!

Not necessarily an organised group but maybe a framework of intent.

So clearer interactions can also take place in the wider art community with less of the ambiguity which sometimes hangs around artists like a misplaced hippy-esque, post-victorian mist.

 

 

 

Going to put this one down for a while and let it do its thing - Back to more stuff on  Wednesday!

 

 

 

 



Wide Open Space (plus more on Hashtag)

Wide Open Space

 

 

Plus Briefly Back to Hashtag Class: Market U

 

 

I will touch on this part of the hashtag event diary as it bears a lot of resemblance to things that were going on during the project and now.

 

 

 

Wide Open Space part 1

 

Market U

 

I started listening to this via an audio recording I made, which I then realised was art-theatre. It came over subsequently as though I was listening to a Radio 4 spoof play. Which I guess is how it would have come across live in the gallery.

 

The idea was that the institution of ‘U’ aka (I think) any art university of reasonably renowned merit with all the stereo type baggage that comes with that kind of power structure: including the patronage of the famous, the rich, the inbred hangers-on and the cogs in the machine that keep it running for the benefit of itself and the good of it’s product: education.

 

Market U sounded like a really satirical look at this and how, even the art produced is manipulated so it can be perceived as it should; for the successful reputation of the institution. All this completed with a very politically correct Student Loan Forgiveness Goddess encouraging those with the biggest debt to play a game of lottery/roulette.

 

Sounds familiar anyone? I left my BA with just such feelings, like I had to get away from the institution in order to breathe. I did learn to weld though, and glass blow, and certainly made very good friends including staff, some of whom clearly saw the system at the time was not ideal, and if I look at uni from a devils advocate stance I did learn about it from that point of view, so my apprenticeship was not in vain. Bitter, no but I am glad I did this at a time in my life when I could fund myself through the circus.

 

 

 

Wide Open Space part 2

 

Which brings me to a couple of things that were also happening while the hashtag project was taking place. William Powhida was an unfamiliar name to me until about 6 weeks ago, a week into getting involved I noticed he had done what I thought was a fairly funny and also satirical drawing of another established power structure, with The New Museum Committed Suicide With Banality featuring prominent figures of the New York art scene. I looked further and found he had done another referencing the Art Basle Fair on Miami beach as a hooverville: showing the flashy established art fair scenario in the style of the doomed shanty town of hooverville originally depicted very satirically during the 30’s depression (only in this one Powhida showed caricatures of real art world ‘dignitaries’ carrying on as though nothing had happened ).

 

 

I recommend you go to William's blog to get a better idea of what he intended

 

Now being a geographical outsider if you like I was, and still am fairly naive about the in and outs, the who’s who and the general politics of it all, but one thing I can see is as power structures go, they can begin to be insular and not open to levelled debate. Some of the empowered tend to get very defensive of their turf. You see it (unfortunately) in Unions, Government bodies, Public service bodies and no doubt the free and speculative Art Market is no exception.

 

As the hashtag events took shape so also did the Powhida drawing furore, to which it (the hooverville drawing) very timely produced another equally self evident affront by those depicted, during the final week of the project.

I believe the people who got riled at this saw it as either a personal attack. Or as an attack on their personal resuscitating efforts of an art machine that had hitherto high returns on the ‘normal’ art sales of previous years. One journalist or contributor to an art magazine took real offence and seemingly offered a violent response through a facebook page. One only hopes he gets his sense of humour back or he was ‘acting’ out a response.

 

Isn’t that just what we need though? It is not about us and them, its dammed healthy to have debate and not to take yourself so seriously (as in the really angry journo’s case). It’s a drawing! and whether it’s the art market or not the sensitivity to something like this smacks of power freaks, at best people with their head in the sand. We can satirise people yes? and no its not comfortable to be on the receiving end, but like comedy we’ve been here before, the drawings I believe are about an established business or market not personal vindication, even if personalities are involved. Bit like the Royal Family and even they have had to let go of the watertight grip on their public persona.

While he (Powhida) is very subtly making art a point, is at the same time drawing out the real fat controllers from their lairs, they really only have themselves to recognise and answer to.

 

Here's a Piece sent out in December when the drawing first emerged a comprehensive article of the furore featured  in the New York Times.

 

William Powhida’s blog also gives an up to date reference from the artists point of view

 

 

 

Which in turn brings me to.....

 

Wide Open Space part 3

 

 

I’ve been humming the Mansun’s 90’s tune, while wandering round Nottingham thinking about the call to arms for help to get exhibition space bought collectively by among others Jen Dalton,  William and Man Bartlett called Escape from New York. They are planning on buying space in a building that is over the river out of the city so they can travel relatively easily (I guess - considering how big NY is) and I assume not alienate themselves by still being in the proximity rather than moving right outside of town: they  are looking at a building in spacious New Jersey. I was trying to get my head around a building that has space for rent in (rich?) New Jersey that a group of artists can afford?. I am though totally with them on that. The fact that with so many artists involved they can exhibit essentially from their own framework and agenda. With the added ongoing potential of the space being used for art, seems a sound way to go.

 

 

Exhibition and studio space is so much part of the problem (and this looks like a good way to solve): the fact that city studio space is pitched to fail as land and property is premium and artists are not usually able to take out a second rent bill as they have enough dealing with home rent.

I mentioned before about the very fetching  5^th floor no-lift-space, I and other artists shared and rented (along with leaky roof and a family of pigeons) 12 years ago. This was bang smack in the middle of the club/music/fashion area of Hockley before it was redeveloped, forcing us to ‘disband’, relocate and basically find somewhere out of town. The beauty of the Hockley space was we were able to drag potential business from a few streets away into the space. We all lived in various places in an around Nottingham then, so we never found that central space again.

 

 

Even now I find things like the artist’s studio space that was allocated as the Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery was built, are now occupied by well established and (mainly) out of town artists.

 

So I’m thinking and musing about this, and how these sorts of approach can be used in different ways.

 

 

More coming up in Sundays post..... in the pipeline

 

 

 

 

U Stream I Stream The (not so?) Final Hashtag Rant

U Stream, I Stream

 

 

The Not So Final Hashtag Night (please!)

That was a very special month and it wouldn’t have happened without Jen Dalton and William Pohwida’s foresight and certainly not least for Ed Winkleman’s. There was a point midway when I saw some on-line-joke to Ed ‘how to run a successful New York gallery into the ground – give it to Jen and William for a month!’.

Well, the project certainly broke many moulds, and now as all has been tidied away and the walls are bare of chalkboards ready to be graced by art after the constant etching of views and sentiments during the previous month, it can’t have done the Winkleman gallery any harm. In fact while the whole project was a virtual freebie from Ed, and his business was effectively on hold the fact that the whole premise of the events were essentially only about art and not product was a breath of fresh air in these days of discussions and media articles based around so and so’s new book launch or film or whatever.

 

 

I explained to a friend that I wouldn’t be able to go to a local award do, and my nights from Wednesday to Sunday suddenly became proper stay at home, because there were so many interesting events keeping me pinned to the computer (note to me; 3G/wireless phone on wish list) with sometimes not just a cup of tea to hand but matchsticks to keep my eyes open (Oh to have been in New York time) well New York actually, but I’m not complaining because a 1 in the morning finish isn’t that bad.

 

But sometimes with 3x2 hour stints in one day I was glad I had some recorded because I just wouldn’t have been able to have taken it all in.

 

 

I guess Jen & co. are really up to speed on that one because they seemed to breeze through very energetically. In fact that is what I felt right through – a vibrant energy – so much so when the final stream was switched off, I felt a sharp umbilical kind of wrench, a definite ’now what’ feeling which was thankfully quickly followed by lots of ideas and what-I-was-going-to-do-next.

The final Rant night was exactly that no slushy goodbyes or luvvie tear jerking moments - just full on rant (I now think I understand the term angry New Yorker) and this was a bunch of artists here! not that there was animosity but it was certainly animated, full on and humorous.

 

So, I will return to many of the discussions soon, but for now I will leave you with a cross section of the vibe of the last four weeks in one-liners:

 

On Labor Class (a talk about workers who help fabricate pieces of sculptural art in a foundry):

 

“Some workers didn’t think about what they were making as art. It was just stuff for rich people”

“That’s very sad – The fabricators were never told when the openings were, for the pieces they made”

 

 

On why The System Doesn’t Work:

 

“Problem: even top artists struggle to make money. In other industries, this is not common”

“Artists do power & maybe it can be leveraged in ways other than increasing their sale prices”

“We in the art world are somewhat responsible for inaccessibility of the art world”

“Problem: all the money is concentrated at the top. Pyramid has a very large base”

“There is a lot of bitching going on. That’s what you get when there are no guidelines to payment requirements”

“Could have called the project sour grapes or life isn’t fair, but we didn’t. Keep coming back to payment for art labour”

“If you haven’t broken by age 30, wait till you’re 60 – what does that mean?, stop showing stop promoting, stop dreaming?”

“Fundamental misperceptions in tonight’s discussion: 1 making art is parallel to putting out fires”

“Artists have MORE fucking power than ANYONE in the system: sites Jasper Johns”

“Artists are living a dream. There is a choice here”

 

On Man Bartlett’s imminent Balloon bursting:

“Balloon cave YES!”

“Starting to realize that the combination of ustream, twitter and Man Bartlett is shifting the possibilities of performance art”

“I want to buy the balloon project, install it in the MMFA but you have to insure that they wont deflate over time”

“Yes! Getting closer and closer! It’s going to be LOUD on the feed”

“Jerry Saltz is helping pop the balloons”

“Watching Man Bartlett and The Happy Gallerina makes me wonder why like events don’t happen anywhere else in the country?”

“Save the balloon scraps. They are a historical record”

“Yey! Awsome!”

“That was a strange and cathartic afternoon”

“Between your pumping (balloons over 24 hours) and Jen’s chair dragging it’s been great!”

 

On Zachary Cohen's talk on Social Media as Flattening Agent:

 

“its more important to me to have 10% of something than 100% of nothing”

“Establish trust in the Art world by “suiting up” and showing up”

“Trust, so long as everyone is who they say they are, social media is good for business and art. Transparency”

 

On Various topics:

“And I quote: Sorry. We couldn’t decide”

“Being authentic means having a point of view, while recognising that your truth is not THE truth, leaving room for others to speak”

“A wise man once said an uneducated man makes a great painter because he tackles art with a fresh mind?”

 

And on the Final Rant:

“My rant is that this (project) will be over way too soon!”

“Make Better Art!”

“Art is not a luxury. You just don’t realize you consume it every day and need it to survive”

“We need to adopt the apprenticeship method again and bypass the university completely!!”

“MFA = Mistress of Fuck All”

“Some people couldn’t paint if their lives depended on it – it’s not in their blood they pretend and its really wallpaper!”

“I have been saying from the beginning...guilds, unions, work as a tribe...and allow disagreement”

( One participant on explaining her frustration as an older woman still not having made any dint/money etc in the art world expressed; “In fact I am SO pissed off I’m going to break into an aria” at which point she broke into a pitch perfect rendition of the final scene in Tosca (I think) saying “And we all know how that ends!”

“You are lucky! You’re artists living in New York and living the dream!”

“Get a part time job!”

“Just bumped into Jerry and Roberta walking arm in arm on tenth avenue. So cute. After the storm (hashtag project) back to normal life”

“Art needs to make friends”

: )

 

 

Back on Wednesday .....

Start of Something Good? #Class last day

 

 

This Could Be The Start of Something Good

 

 

I’m going to be bereft;

It's the last day and events of Hashtag Class this Saturday 20^th March 

 

 

But really though, I’m not sad because this last month has been a real eye opener. The fact that so many events and discussions took place – with the all important aspect of participation via the internet – questions raised could be addressed via twitter, sending to the discussion panels or being worked into the conversation by William Powhida or Jen Dalton. Including a-while-it-was-happening twitter response, with Man Bartlett’s Balloon Burst as a work in progress.

Friday's discussions were (I thought) particularly good covering Ben Davis 9.5 Thesis on Art and Class very much worthy of a really good listen and I will refer back to this in later posts. You can see his thesis  here on the hashtag blog.

 

 

And a very focused look at Conceptualism, at the time I tuned I was thinking ohhh! food for thought – by the time I had finished I had taken on things that hadn’t occurred to me and things which I very much disagreed with. Overall a worthwhile listen, although surprisingly (maybe not for Friday night/evening) there were not many online interactions.

 

 

Thursday night also had a very nailed talk on Social Media as a Flattening Agent, to the point and briskly delivered by Zachary Adam Cohen who (coming across on twitter anyway) seeming a switched on and opinionated kind of guy (in a good way) even if you disagree! with a good look at social media and its true relevance in our economic and social evolution. Again will get back to this if I get chance later, but visit his blog here - you will get the idea – worth a look!.

 

But for now anyway I wait for Saturday's events and the final Rant !

 

And will leave you with this a review of the project in the New York Times today

 

 

 

 

Which, irrespective of whether a review was on the cards because ‘this artist was doing that’ or a couple of influential peeps were popping by. Reads pretty accurately what was going down with a very special event.

 

More on Sunday......