"In every era the attempt must be made anew to wrest the tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it.” -Walter Benjamin

I have wanted to start a Blog for years and just never did it. I guess visual artists and not by nature or training, writers and that is why we tend to shy away from Blogs. But now that I am a bit older and less concerned about my perceived aesthetics, I find that I do want to speak about art in general, my own art, and also some of the things that I live with since they are always with me.

I will be adding content as often as possible and hopefully, at some point, someone will read it and comment. That would then bring the space to life much like a completed and shown painting is born when actually seen by others.

For my first post, I think I want to discuss art, and Fine Art, specifically. Like most other aspects of work and life, the Fine Arts have changed considerably over the years. We still have our “Masters” and many great artists, but today, finding someone capable of being a “Master” is difficult. It is not that there are no Masters around, they are here, just as they always have been, but the difference today is that they are thrown into the mix of art that sells and sells for millions.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, that waters down the process and the true Master gets caught in the corporate financial system, being measured by dollars and not by the work itself. Even though they may also sell their work for millions, when you lump them in with the others, their creative value is diminished. It is diminished primarily because most often, they are the ones that moved the art world into a new period, a new style, or a new way of looking at things! They are, in fact, they are far more than the sum of their bankroll or popularity! They are the sun, the rest of the art world is the moon!

July 23, 2023

So, how does this play out for the individual artist? Firstly, today it is even harder for artists to show their work. It has always been an uphill battle for artists who mostly rely upon galleries to first show and then promote their work. That was actually a good thing because it made artists work harder to get their vision, style, and process to a place where the artist can truly stand on his/her own and even accept criticism without falling apart. We do learn that every piece may not resonate in ways that viewers can appreciate and that there are times when a piece does not work. Of course, that is a learned process just like the process of creation.

But the difference today, and it just might only be the fact that we have access to unlimited information, which was not there prior to the web, is that museums and galleries both, like all businesses, have found that the more references they are to what has already been produced, the easier it is to sell something, whether it be the sale of a painting or the amount of a donation. I think we are all aware of this “neo-liberal “ mentality and how it has permeated the world. When the value of something is only represented by its financial return, something like this happens, the pricing of art moves ever upward, not because of its creative genius, but because of its potential financial value. Much like an investment in the stock market. That leaves little room for new, or even older established artists, as space is narrowed to only a few new people. More Anon

Artistic Quandry, The Dimension of Spirit, and The Non-Locality of Space