Back in October at the Envisioning the Future reunion bash I ran into my old friend Julie Kornblum. She is a talented fiber artist, eco artist and chair of the SCWCA's ECO ARTs sub group. And a swell person. Really. She told the group what she was up to and like everyone else I was impressed. Working, showing, dealing with important issues in her work and rubbing shoulders with the elite of LA's art world. She is doing good stuff as well as good work. We talked, blah, blah. I told her that I have an interest in a lot of the same issues. In addition that I have been gathering information about things like safe studios, green art and artists' health (see previous post for proof). I'm starting to gather information on responsible painting and studio processes with some attention to the big picture, the real cost of doing what we do. The damage to us from the processes, the sources of our materials and tools, the impact of all the stuff we make and the role of artists as, well, role models.
The Question is are we modeling smart, safe, logical and responsible behavior or are we killing ourselves, trashing the planet and doing it with the lights on and the camera rolling, inviting the world to watch and imitate us in some boho narcissistic orgy? This question made more important because of the central role of artists as cultural avant guard, teachers, gurus, mentors and parents. Killing ourselves would be sad and stupid. Killing off those who trust us and follow our lead, that would be criminal.
Boho orgy? Right. Have you any idea how sane all us mostly-vegetarian, research driven, living large but cheap artist types look right now? Nothing like pulling the funding on an entire wing of society to teach us how to tighten our belts and work as a team. And the guys in the suits, Bankers, button down financial types, now those guys look like the wackos. "American Psycho" is looking like industry profiling. In our wildest nightmares we could not imagine trickle down economics running this wildly amok.
Rather than artists being the lunatic fringe, arrested development, tax wasting, social luxury we often are dismissed as, I think that the opposite is true. It seems to me that the concerns that the rest of the world are just now waking up to, the economic realities, the environmental concerns, the impact of globalization and runaway corporate greed, marginalized populations, racism, sexism, agism and all the rest, have been front and center at most museums, galleries and studios for 50 years or more. The work that has been done from "The Dinner Party" to the "Road to Aztlan", has been prophetic and dead on the mark regarding the world at the end of the Bush years. We thought the world was going to hell and the good news is that we were right.
Uh, the bad news...
Oh hell.
In my own timid way, I shared some of my thoughts on the above with Julie in October. She is doing amazing work with art made out of trash, but, amazing and beautiful stuff, not fish heads and coffee grounds. Here is a link to her SCWCA page, see for yourself. SCWCA Artists' Registry Entry for Julie Kornblum
And despite the slightly crazed and manic edge that this issue brings up in me, she invited me to share a bit on green studio processes, artist health concerns and my work with her group.
In an email to me she labeled what I do "Responsible Painting", which sounds so grown up that I let her. Trust me, there are a bunch of folks I'd invite if I could prove in one presentation that I am a "responsible" painter. The posts that follow are, bite by bite, me chewing over the word, responsible and all that it might mean.
cheers, right back atcha
0 comments:
Post a Comment