Exclusive......rant.....

So, I recently was told that a local non-profit art space was going out of business and that an Executive Director search was going on. Having been a veteran of a particularly successful small arts non-profit I said naively - "Gee - why didn't I know about all this...I would have been interested in applying." I was told "oh, it was a very "exclusive" search...they were looking for someone with their own money..."!!! What the fuck!!! Since when were non-profit ED's supposed to be people of privilege? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was the board of director's role...to be "in" the moneyed crowd and speak on behalf of the organization to raise funds. Have boards forgotten their roles in arts non-profits? My observation is that most boards are willing to sit around and graze on their social luncheons and say what fabulous work "their" organizations are doing while they are actually doing very little for the organization in question. Too many cases in point here in my local art market...what is it like in the rest of the small non-profit art world...thoughts?

Masking Identity

Several recent experiences have me thinking about identity and the sharing of the true self. I'm terribly disturbed by the apparent phoniness I see around me and indeed perpetuate myself in the name of being a polite member of society. These masks are part of the everyday compromises that we all seem to be willing to make in order to feign survival in the wholly unnatural social order that is the world of earning our livings and fitting in. This is the reason that people don't speak up and tell oppressive or even misguided individuals our true thoughts when asked for an opinion when money is in play. Pure simple survival. The very real fear of judgment and the repercussions of truly speaking ones mind in the environment of business causes us to create sub-personalities to deal more gracefully with these situations. How do we cast off these masks to become truly effective communicators who stand up for our ideals without completely alienating the other party?
Thoughts?

Art Studio Sale!

Several Unfair artists and I are planning a holiday studio sale - low prices on high art!
Dates / Times TBA - but plan to attend.
I'm studio-cleaning and have some treasures that I'm going to be letting go of for low, low prices to make room for new, fabulous work.
Stay posted!

Back in the darkroom....

Ok, I've be lazy an in absentia. Well, not really, I've actually been working my tail off which hasn't done much for keeping this blog updated.

So here's the low-down...
I've just completed study sketches for a new body of work and I'm totally jazzed to get photographing and printing. The work will be dealing with the themes of cloaking identity and shaping our outward appearance for public consumption.

The images I have started prepping will be very different from my older work. I'm looking for a clean, simplified expression of identity vs. the more lush, ornate work I have been accustomed to. I think this will be challenging for me because I'm so used ornate imagery and using the less is more philosophy is very new to me but feel that is one step I need to take to grow as an artist.