Having Trouble Selling Out?

Then some of you may find this helpful, or at least interesting.

"The Web 2.0" has given us blogs, myspace, YouTube, flickr, and a host of other community-based personal networking sites where one can promote themselves, share their work and meet others like them all over the world. There's even Xpeeps, a personal networking site exactly like myspace but for... porn stars (!), both professional and amateur. ..

In the same vein, the notorious British ad-executive-turned-art-gallery-superbrand) Charles Saatchi has started up a personal networking (you show me yours I'll show you mine) site for young contemporary artists. Called Stuart, (a mashup of, I assume, the words Student and Art) the site works kind of like myspace, except far less fluidly. Nevertheless, I posted a few images on there last winter and so far I have recieved minimal spam, updates on ways I can sell my soul to the Saatchi enterprise, and, actually, some helpful feedback on my work from people in other countries. I was recently asked by someone who saw my work on Stuart to be in a show in Berlin.

The best thing about Stuart is that you can scan student works from hundreds if not thousands of young student artists. While a little nauseating, Stuart is one way you can Art It Up in the global sphere while seeing what else is out there.

Just puttin that out there.

Art Open House May 5 & 6 1951 Market St photos

photos by Renee Parenteau Photography

Waking up

Lately I feel that it is my responsibility to make artwork the addresses current socio political situations. Specifically pertaining to the War in Iraq. I have been ignoring any sort of heavily weighted work having to do with the war in my work over the last several years. My work has tended to be more personal and introspective since 911.

Do any of you feel the same urge to make work that addresses specific current events or situations? In a sense I do feel as if I'm waking up out of a fog. I'm hoping others are ready to wake up too. Or maybe I'm the only one who has been asleep?

GIT YER ART BLAWRGS ON!!!!

I would say we have a nice little art blog in the works here. In cooking terms, I d say its marinating. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I have been toolin around the old art blog-o-sphere for a few years now, mostly as a participant/commenter/peanut gallerist.

So whats the deal with artblogs? Well, for me, they have been the artnerd equivalent of jailhouse porn, meaning that, until recently, I havent been able to find too many flesh-N-blood art relationships around here so I have been gettin some from the old double click. So, just on a mushy, emotional level, artblogs have helped me from feelin' lonesome (especially those nights when i turn the lights low, get out the linseed oil, and have me some hot, art chat session with someone who "says" they're an artist... " Hey baby! Wut R U Wearin'....to the art opening?" oh yeah!!)

Um...okay that was wierd, anyway, this post is about the benefits of art blogging and some of my favorite ones that dont suck. I already mentioned the sense of community one gets from art blogging (not as rich as a real community I know, but hey you take what u can git). But, also, one can learn a great deal from reading and participating in artblogs. Market info, career tips, details about certain art scenes, lots of images and info about shows and other artists are just some of what you can learn. Most of the information is extremely current, wide ranging, and many of the views expressed are extremely insightful. Some say that artblogging has or is replacing traditional art journalism, especially with newspapers (even the NY Times) cutting their arts coverage very drastically.

How do I know that? I read it in an artblog!

In addition to all that, artblogging can be a really great promotional tool! I was offered a solo show in LA after the gallery owner visited the link to my portfolio website found in my blogger profile. So I made some random, probably assinine, comment and got to go to L freakin A! Stardom is just a click away my friends!!

Okay so there are also some benefits that arent so random and chance-ridden. Each of the major and many not as major art cities have multiple art blogs. Keeping up with these is a great way to scope out the different scenes, discover new galleries that may dig your work, all that. Sometimes you get insider info on certain players in the scene so that if you were to try to enter that scene with your work, you have some info to go by (who's who, what's what, etc). And its possible to make some really great connections in those cities- people who could show you around and introduce you to others whom you wouldnt normally have access to.

So here are some of my fav art blogs:

Edward Winkleman-- run by a gallery owner in NYC, some great inside info, tips, and random stuff
Modern Art Notes- a DC based one, LOTS of info bout museums and crap
Critical Miami- get the scoop on those wacky Miamians!
Detroitarts- Heres a secret: Detroit ROCKS! They are a good model for us Jacksonvillians, i think.
Bad At Sports- The super funny and informative podcast about the Chicago scene. Great to listen to on yer ipod in the studio or wherever.
Fette's Flog- Run by this sooper cool girl I met in LA! She and her husband really get around and document TONS of LA shows. Most of this blog is images of these shows. Check out the archive and just sit back and be amazed. THIS blog shows the diversity I think Jax should aspire to- urban art, conceptual, painting, everything!
Vernissage TV- Wonderful video tours and interviews showing ALL the artfairs and TONS of european art stuff. Very cool!

So thats a good start. I bet sum of you cats have some fav-o-rite ones also and some ideas about artblogs in general.. so what are they? Come on, times a waistin'! I got to get back to my OTHER favorite artblogs. Now now, JaxCAL (that IS still the name right?) dont be jealous! I still love you too!

(You have to be very sensitive to artblogs' feelings)

Contempoary Installation Art

Takashi Murakami

Is he an art star or a marketing genius? You certainly can't deny his success. And you can't deny his likable images either. I look at his art and I really really like it... aesthetically. I feel he uses all the tricks that make you like it. You know, all those things you learn in school about composition and color and how to produce an emotion by using these visual tools. Those things that work in advertising.

But is it good art?

Some say he's popular for bridging the gap between East and West. I came across this interesting statement he made that was in an artnet.com story.

(Murakami) repeatedly laments that Japanese artists don't understand that art-making is, and should be, a commercial activity. "You cannot create an art piece unless you know how to make and sell it."

I'm not sure where I stand on his art. In some instances I think it's powerful and then sometimes I think he's a bit of a hack. Anybody else follow his work?