Eat or Enjoy Your View from the Ivory Tower. You Choose.

I've had a pretty good couple of days minus a stressful event or two. I got a chance to meet with someone from the DSM ArtFestival and discuss the mural project some more. Very exciting. Plus he was a pretty good cat so that helps. So far everyone there has been just fantastic. I'm sure at some point we'll rub foreheads a bit, but I try to be pretty easy to work with. Receptive to the ideas of others without being a total push-over. When this is done I'd like for them to say that I was pleasant and professional as well as a talented Artist. I've known too many people who've let their egos get the better of them. They become demanding or snotty or worse. In the end the talent will only get you so far. If you're an ass people will stop wanting to work with you eventually no matter how amazing your are as an artist. I figure the world has enough jackoffs with more being raised every day (yes, "raised", parents out there). Why add to an already exploding population?

Sorry, that stemmed from a conversation I had yesterday about people in the Art World who raise themselves up to be more than they are. They sit in their ivory university towers or in their offices (read as Art Critics) and proclaim this or that to be Art and everything else (art festivals, for example) to be beneath them: the "True Artists" who create for the sake of creation. That's so much bullshit and it keeps entire generations of Art students from taking part in some very rich artistic communities, and from seeing some really amazing Artwork, AND from making a living. Ever heard of a "Starving Artist"? Of course you have. The great names we studied in Art History were, for the most part, working people trying to make a living by doing commissioned work, art contests, salons (festivals), etc.

When you go to school for something the ultimate outcome should be to be able to make a living doing that thing in my humble opinion. We rarely discussed it when I went to University. As a result I had no idea what to do with my degree outside of... create Art. Seems a little pointless when you look at it through the eyes of someone who's paying a mortgage and raising a family. I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out how to make it work on my own. LOTS of trial and error. Still is. Somewhere along the line the teaching of a vocation turned into the teaching of a romanticized lifestyle. Again, so much bullshit. That being said I LOVED my teachers. Wanted to make sure that was clear.

(steps down from soapbox...)

So here I am trying to find my way in the burgeoning DesMoines Art community and hopfully branch into others. Thankfully I've made some great connections here and have been given some amazing opportunities, but ultimately you get what you get. It's what you do with it that makes all the difference.

Speaking of which I really need to finish this latest NYC piece. I'm hoping it will go on display in the next week along with a couple of others. Here's the latest update. More work to do on the big sign over the people walking and I've made the angle on the sidewalk too severe. Gotta fix that. I'm afraid all of those nice people are going to slide into the busy street.

Cheers,


R