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Advice from VoyageMIA
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them? Earning a living from the sale of work is hugely difficult. Success as an artist cannot be measured in economic terms. Too many worthy artists work in relative obscurity and support themselves by other means. Art is an inexplicable force that comes from the center of the earth. It has nothing to do with the worldly concerns of sustaining a career. Nevertheless, the biggest challenge an artist may face is sustaining the quality of will to work over the span of a lifetime — to stay working in the face of parades and recognition that may pass them by. Some artists choose to only work on the work and some artists choose to strategize a career. It’s possible to do both. But the primary relationship must be to the work itself. Follow the work, follow the work, follow the work … and help other artists, for success raises all boats. By Julia Cameron
"I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow." p. 65 "In my experience, the universe falls in with worthy plans and more especially with festive and expansive ones." p. 65 "Answered prayers are scary. They imply responsibility." p. 62 "We're much more afraid that there might be a God than we are that there might not be." p. 63 "We say we are scared by failure, but what frightens us more is the possibility of success." p. 66 "Kate McCarthy’s sculptures and paintings are soft distortions of the everyday, bent through the lens of emotional memory. Through these translations, her art depicts an interplay of emotions, textures, colors and forms. By painting playful creatures, armchairs, and bathtubs, McCarthy gives the viewer a chance to see how our feelings might change the way we look at our everyday items."
From Matthew Rachman Gallery Artist Statement
Link "Chicanx, Punjabi, Hawaiian: weaving is about strange combinations. Teal penetrates magenta. Gold interrupts. Handspun wool twists with glitter, only to get trapped in cotton. As my mother likes to say when she sees a surprising multiracial body: “who invaded that guy?” Materials erase, seduce, replace, choke as they wind their way through a warp, under weft, are put under tension or are set free of it. 3/8 Indian. 1/8 black and white. Authenticity diluted by eighths! What are you? I am a weaver of ends, of each generational end. I am a promiscuity of culture in rayon and knit caught in the warp of a backstrap loom, picking out the pattern in a Mapuche poncho. But are these my stories to tell? I am Hollywood Hawaiian. My work is a tribute to my grandmother Lawhaii (Kikume) Johal. That’s Hawaii with an L. She grew up believing her family was native Hawaiian. Her uncle was Chief Mehevi, Chief Rakos, the authenticating bodily presence of the savage and of the exotic in the jungle movies of the 1920s-50s. What are you? Check the box. Are you human? Type the code. The “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart” (CAPTCHA) is the puzzle that compels me to choose as I navigate the web. Prove you’re not a robot. But there are too many seams, too many constructed cultural affiliations sutured together. This is the performance of the unassimilated without homeland: please check one box only. Mark yourself as Other." "The actions of Deana Lawson, Aperture, and Frieze raise critical questions about the relationship between living artists and scholarly, critical apparatuses. Do artists understand the clear benefits of myriad views of their work? Is it possible that Lawson and those who would serve as her makeshift publicists are not the best interlocutors for her work? I was an artist and graphic designer before I became an art historian. Even decades after making my professional shift I know that I am not the best interpreter of my visual work.
Such rejections also bring up questions about the editor’s relationship to both artist and writer. Who should have the final word on the writer’screative work? Despite the protestation of the artist, critics and scholars often provide important insights that change how we understand an artist and her oeuvre. A wonderful case in point is Michael Lobel’s essay on Richard Prince’s early work. Not acquiescing to Prince’s disavowal of his early production, the art historian wrote the piece he wanted to write, and the Neuberger Museum, which published the catalog, supported Lobel’s endeavor. The final essay appears with holes where the artist’s images would have been. We should do things like this more often." From Hyperallergic. |
Art of the DayThis blog is to organize art I've seen, books I've read, and advice I've received. Archives
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