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IN IT FOR THE MONEY
So, according to a shocked pundit, people are into NFTs for the money. Wasn’t that the point? Any pretentions towards promoting the work of artists went out of the window when every man and his dog jumped on the bandwagon in the thrall of the investment property syndrome and the potential of making a killing, as they say in stocks trading.
THE PRECIOUS HAND
There is a reality to being an artist today that seems to be at odds with public perception.
THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND
In the Divine Comedy, Dante entered the Inferno of hell looking for Beatrice. He was in a dark place, literally and emotionally. A dead Beatrice couldn’t help and sent the Roman poet Virgil to act as guide. Art was to show the way to redemption. In many respects the society we now live in resembles the hell that Dante created. Moral and ethical questions go unanswered in that traditional sureties offered by religion, government and monarchs have been substantially eroded through news media platforms.
ONLY DOCTOR WHO RECOGNISED A MASTER. FOR THE REST OF US ITS MERELY AN ACT OF FAITH.
As an artist I find myself increasingly unsure of what is art, what is not, and how to define or even recognise a ‘masterpiece’
DRAWING A LINE AROUND THE NAKED FORM. HOW BIZARRE.
The life drawing class I attended last week had a sign on the door telling anyone that entered that there was a nude model inside should anyone be offended. If the entire class had been naked [a bunch of elderly, misshapen bodies ravaged by life], I could understand the warning, but an attractive blonde perched on a stool – hardly.
THE COLOUR OF SUCCESS AND THE PRISMATIC QUANDARY
How do I know what the audience is actually seeing in terms of the colour I use? Do they even give the same names to the colours as I do? Are they seeing colour at all?
I HAD LITTLE TIME FOR STAFF MEETINGS AND THEY FOR ME. A WASTED OPPORTUNITY.
While art as a profession certainly wasn’t taken seriously, there was the belief that any student need train only once and could be in the same job with yearly promotion for life.
ALL ARTISTS LIE WHEN THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH. TRUTH AND LIE HAVE NO MEANING.
When we use imagination to create anything, how much is already programmed?
WHEN ELSEWHERE IS NOWHERE AND HERE AND NOW SOON DISMISSED
An art gallery owning friend was expressing her frustration with gallery visitors a few days ago. Many were in and out in two minutes
MY CAT IS AN ARTIST, BUT CHOOSES NOT TO PRACTICE.
I watched film some time ago of an elephant painting. It painted elephants and trees in startlingly observed detail..
GOOGLE AND IKEA HAVE A LOT TO ANSWER FOR. STEVE JOBS, NOT SO MUCH.
I have no doubt that visual artists are going to have to adapt and train themselves to use digital tools. After all, if an ageing David Hockney can show the way with an iPad as his main creative tool, then who are we lesser mortals to argue the toss.
ARTISTS DO MORE GOOD BY DYING THAN THEY WOULD HAVE DONE BY LIVING LONGER LIVES. Discuss.
Sadder still was the fate of Elvis and Tom Jones. The latter is still singing the same songs of decades ago on the stages on Las Vegas while elderly women queue up to throw their underwear in his direction. The last days of Elvis [fat, flat and sweating] were mostly an embarrassment. The plethora of Elvis imitators who gather annually in various corners of the world choose to remember the early songs and the white jump suit. The King died at just the right time to be inaugurated as a legend. Given another couple of decades and the world might not have been so kind.