A Thank You for Our Recent Show

We want to send a big thank you to James and the Giant Cupcake. It was wonderful to show with them. We had a lot of interest and some great conversation was generated by the work from what we heard! We also were able to make a sale, which is always a plus. We also want to congratulate our raffle winner! We had a raffle at the opening and that was very exciting! Caleigh and Euridice have ongoing, rotating shows each month and we encourage people to go by and try their wonderful food and see what new art is going on over there! Their website is: 

http://www.jamesandthegiantcupcake.com/

They are the best people to work with for a show. They are easy to schedule with and take good care of the work and go out of their way to provide a great space to set up an opening. One thing I was really impressed with was the amount of foot traffic they can get during business hours. It gives the art a lot of exposure. This was definitely a great experience for all of us to show our work!   

Coming soon will be a new series I am workingon interviewing artists. My first interview is going to be Kiyomi - a wonderful musician from New York who is on Itunes and has the exquisite music and lyrics that you could ask for. I am going to be talking with her about music and hoping to learn some of the similarities that we share as artists, despite being in two different mediums like music and visual arts. If you are interested to preview Kiyomi's music, her website is:

http://kiyomimusic.com/

Thanks for all your support and check back soon!

Contemporary Art - My Point of View

**NOTE: If you think my blog is interesting, please check out my new one that I am working on now as well - http://theartofthinkingcreatively.blogspot.com/

I read an article this morning in the online magazine "Art In America: International Review" and I was thinking about what this article meant to me, personally, and in general to the community at large. Let's face it, art critic magazines get read by a small percent of the population. I would guess I could ask 10 people walking down the street if they had heard of the publication "Art in America" and I would get 10 "no" answers. What does that mean? Well, art has multiple levels of meaning, or status, however you would like to put it. You have these critic magazines, such as "Art in America" and they review contemporary and nationally/internationally recognized artists. Who does the reviewing at these magazines? Art critics, most likely. People who write about art. They may or may not practice art. Let's face it, art is extremely popular, and it can be extremely valuable. How much it is worth depends who says what about it and gives it a great review and then it is influenced as to where it can be entered (such as galleries, museums, competitions, etc.)

What determines an artist's success? That depends on what each artist defines as success. I have had this conversation with so many artists and it is very interesting. Most artists I have spoken with do not take their art to the deep and intellectual level that most historians or critics would argue. If you have ever sat through an art class critique and listened to what is being said by people, I think it would be clear. I come from a family of artists. I have sat down with all of us and had entire family discussions about art. We, my family, mostly agree, art is something that comes from the intuition and should reflect your own self and style. It is generations of tradition. I think we, myself and my family, would agree art comes in all forms, sizes, and ideas. That does not make any one art more valuable than any other.

Having said that, I believe that art is most powerful when it reaches the masses and makes a difference to them and brings meaning and inspiration to them. One of the great things about this age of art is that there are so many styles and trends, it allows artists to explore new ideas to express themselves in new ways. I tell my family of artists that I think if we educate ourselves and can talk about our choices intelligently, then that  is half of the battle. We have to be able to place our own work in context even as we work intuitively.

I immensely enjoy the academic articles on art, postmodernism, modernism, etc. However, I wonder what the artists really think as they sit and create their work. It is unfortunate that so many artists do not write about their work and or their thoughts, then we would have a better idea of their thinking process.



Sometimes it is hard even to get them to talk when I engage them face-to-face. Others are quite ready to talk about their work. The bottom line that we have to think about is that all art has a story, but what it's value is depends on so many factors, it is hard to figure that our readily. I have been in art discussion boards and read many arguments about these type of topics, and I feel like there is a large disconnect between artists and the way their work is interpreted. I think the academic language that is used in these art magazines creates a wall between the common public and the art that is out there.

Let me give an example of going to SFMOMA with my wife. She wanted to understand the work that was displayed there, but since she had not context to frame her viewing, it was hard for her to really enjoy it. Even when she read the statements and cards by the curators, it was hard for her to understand where it was coming from. When I explained the context and background of many of the movements and ideas, it instantly became much more interesting for her. People want to understand art, but if there is no frame of reference for the viewer, it becomes quite difficult for a viewer to appreciate a work of art.

In education, we use what we call accessing prior knowledge. I think artists would be wise to try to access prior knowledge of more viewers so more people could understand their work. Their should not be different classifications of art, even though there are such labels. There is elite art, academic art, illustrative art, comic book art, popular art, art of graphic design, and the list goes on. Then there are labels within the art world such as postmodernism, modernism, minimalism, figurative, Bay Area figurative, and so much more.

What would my advice be for any artists who are trying to make it out there? I would advise them to learn how to interact with people and talk about their art intelligently. Learn some art history and know how to place it in context. Understand your thinking and processes and be able to discuss your choices. If you can do these things, you are well on your way to getting more appreciation by a larger audience.

**NOTE: If you think my blog is interesting, please check out my new one that I am working on now as well - http://theartofthinkingcreatively.blogspot.com/