03/29/2007: "" by Michael Corbin

It's Sunday morning and I've just finished springing forward for daylight
saving time.

Despite the hour lost, I had plenty of time to flip through the New York
Times and some glossy magazines. Sunday mornings are the times when I do my
clearest thinking ... I think.

As I was flipping through the glossies, for the first time in a long time, I
felt myself being detached from what I was seeing. I love glossy magazines
and get immersed and carried away by them instantly. However, not this
morning. I looked at a Times supplement pullout that has the actor Richard
Gere on the cover. I was struck by how much older he looks. His hair is
silver-gray and he has a lot of wrinkles on his face, however in his case,
they're character lines. Do you know the difference between wrinkles and
character lines? One simple word ... Grace. When you accept the REALITY of
a situation, it gives you the opportunity to be gracious and at peace. This
guy seems to be aging gracefully. Isn't that what we all want?

Anyway, I continued to flip through several magazines and critically viewed
these advertisements of beautiful people in beautiful surroundings ...
photos depicting lives of incomparable beauty. Somehow when we look through
these magazines, we forget that this is what we're SUPPOSED to be seeing.
Advertisers want to sell their products and the best way to do so is by
promising something that no one will ever get ... the perfection of their
ads. Consumerism at its best and worst.

What this comes down to is pure, unadulterated, BULLCRAP! What makes me so
angry about bullcrap isn't the bullcrap itself or the fact that advertisers
are selling it, but the fact that I actually buy into it. When am I going
to stop doing this? It's everywhere! It's at the car dealership where I
recently bought a new car that I'm not loving as much as I did a few months
ago ... it's on the job where the bosses tell you one thing, but really mean
another ... it's on television where reality shows are not even close to
real. And whether we want to admit it or not, we're ALL co-conspirators.
You know why? Because WE ALL WANT TO BELIEVE IN PERFECTION. The beautiful
thing about our society is that it remains aspirational. We can still
believe in our dreams and strive to reach them. However, with aspiration
comes a lot of bullcrap.

So many things today are about bait and switch. I was recently shopping for
a flatscreen, LCD television. This was the week before the recent Super
Bowl in Miami. The major retail chains had some incredible sales going on.
Anyway, on this particular Sunday morning (clear thinking!) I took my
newspaper ad that promised the TV that I wanted and visited one of the
stores. To make a long story short, the sales guy was trying hard to sell
me a more expensive set. Clearly, he was concerned about his commission and
I'm fine with that. However, what the guy didn't tell me until I asked was
that they were ALREADY sold out of the TV that I wanted. I wasn't bothered
by the fact that the TV was sold out, but rather the fact that the guy
wasn't being honest from the beginning. He was playing bait and switch with
me. Bullcrap! Needless to say, I made a polite exit.

When we promote bullcrap we don't give ourselves or others the tools to deal
with sometimes harsh REALITY. Perhaps we think that we're protecting people
by creating this fantasy world where everything will be okay. I don't want
that. Do you? I say, be up front with me. I can handle it. Level with
people and after that, they're responsible for their own choices.
Forewarned is forearmed. This actually helps you lead a better life.
Better is far from perfect, but it's far better than dishonesty.

I'm reminded of some single, female colleagues who recently said they went
out to a club. Just for fun, they all pretended to be different people with
different names and occupations when they were talking with the guys in
attendance. I didn't say anything, but this seemed like a silly (if not
dangerous) mind game. Who has time for that? What happens outside Vegas
gets around! That's why I love talking with older people. For them, time
is even more important than money and they don't want to spend it foolishly.

Which of course, brings me to art. You knew it would! I have never had an
artist play bait and switch with me. I don't think so, anyway. I have
never been disappointed by a work of art that I've acquired. It has always
been what the artist claimed it to be. I've recently received paintings
from artists Matthew Beall, Joseph Kucinski and Tatiana Rusakova. Each
painting is EXACTLY what I expected. I think that true artists are driven
to express and then make sure that the expression is a true representation
of who they are at that given time. Why would anyone want to mislead their
own audience ... or dare I say, customer? If they're a huckster, that's one
thing. If they're a true artist and person of integrity, that's quite
another.

Artist Scott Andrew Spencer once told me that art is his "one true thing."
I totally agree ... from my side of the picture. Contrary to what some
non-art people think, art is not bullcrap. Unlike so many other things in
life, it doesn't play bait and switch on you. All it requires is that you
sit your ass down and spend some time with it. If you do this, you'll be
nourished and replenished all the time. It's the exact opposite of bullcrap
which constantly violates you. Bullcrap stresses us, ages us and creates
all of this unnecessary junk in our lives. It's a waste of our time. Can't
we just cut to the chase? Let's cut the bull!

In a world full of bait and switch, I'm thrilled to say that like the
character lines on Richard Gere's face, art is the real deal. It's a
straight line in a crooked world. I would like to think that my art is
aging me gracefully.

Hopefully, that's not bullcrap.

MICHAEL CORBIN IS AN AVID ART COLLECTOR AND AUTHOR OF "ART IN KING SIZE
BEDS: A COLLECTOR'S JOURNAL," NOW AVAILABLE ON AUTHORHOUSE.COM.

Replies: 8 Comments

on Monday, April 2nd, Ellen said

I finally realized that I don't have to use my first and last names: Ellen Fisch! Mark, I've been complaining for a long time, but as you pointed out, I only complain at appropriate times. Like you, I try to be honest and make a valid point.
Jose, I admire your teaching style and decency towards other artists who may lack skill, but still need to show their work to validate their efforts. But consider also the person(s) who provide the space. The cafe owner/gallery/museum director may think that the art that you feel is not up to standard is the best thing he/she has ever seen. Remember the flack that Peggy Guggenheim got for Jackson Pollack. I'm not evaluating Pollack's work, but at the time, people thought Guggenheim was crazy. I once approached a gallery owner who looked at my work and laughed. He told me that I was not an artist and he would never consider soiling his gallery's name by having my work on his walls. After a messy divorce, his wife asked me to show in the same gallery which she received as part of the settlement. It's hard to tell how much the commercialism Michael writes about factors into the shows mounted by the people who hang them. Or if they just don't know quality art: whatever that is. I see a lot of art that seems to be "hobby" art hung in coffee houses, restaurants and galleries. I wonder if it is a marketing ploy to attract customers who are friends of the artist. At any rate, my cousin gave me the gift of a wonderful saying that has become very much a part of my life: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them!" I think that goes for advertising (once you figure out the REAL deal), art, gallery owners, etc.

on Monday, April 2nd, jose said

Michael, I do agree with you: art speaks the truth. But, and this is a big BUT, to whom does it speak the truth? A very poor exhibition of work such as I found with my workshop students over the weekend at a nearby cafe didn't fool us... but it kept the usual customers happy. We were made to feel uncomfortable for debating why we felt the works just didn't 'touch' us. Were we being elitists? Was our 'inner necessity' of a different kind and requiring a different vibration? It is very hard to tell. Extremely hard to judge.

I tried to bring some sense into what was happening by telling them that perhaps we shouldn't be so judgemental. The work didn't provide us anything, but it must have given the person who did it some measure of satisfaction - it must have conformed to her inner necessity at this time. I also told them that the artist and art in general, especially at the cafe level, cannot be judged in this way, as if what we were seeing was the final crystallisation of what this person's art was going to be. Art was a process, I told them, and for this person, at this stage, this was what she was able to do. Her inner need, her capability to access it, and her technical ability to make it manifest were at that level. Was it ART? Was it the true expression of her Being? Who were we to say?! It was an attempt at tapping in to her deepest self and bringing forth what she felt a need to share with us, and that in itself was bold.

It ended up being a very significant coffee break to our workshop theme. As we went back to the studio we discussed how this could be bettered and I told them that they should always be willing to sweat extra hard to develop and master new techniques so as to have an army of tools ready to bring out what they felt they have to let loose - and to not fear what others will say as long as they have poured themselves out on to the work. What Robert Fripp says about music applies to us artists too - the head, the hand and the heart have to join in harmoniously.

Who are we to judge others? If it doesn’t speak to us, move on. No need to spread out our egos and show to the world that your inner need does not match that of a fledgling artist, or any artist for that matter.

More than Richard Gere’s hair, I admire the work he is doing with Tibetan refugees in India and in the Diaspora, I’m certain that lends a great deal to his graciousness. He comes across as a happy man.

on Saturday, March 31st, Mark said

Ellen brings up a good point, and one I have for the past year made a point of doing, complaining. I am not talking about whinning or being rude but just honest complaining. If we do not complaine when appropriate nothing will change.

on Saturday, March 31st, Ellen Fisch said

Hi Michael-
I was just thinking about this topic the other day. Having grown up in the "never trust anyone(over 30 or otherwise)" generation to being in a society in which everyone trusts everyone, is strange. I try to find a balance, but I still don't trust easily. The glossies, salespeople and the catch phrase of the day seems to be "go with the flow." We, as consumers are to accept the ads, the hype and the lies because it is what goes on today. When there is a screw-up, and there always is, we are supposed to be understanding because we live in a fast-paced world in which screw-ups are the norm.
Last year, my husband and I went to Florida for the first time in 35 years. When I was a child, my parents drove the 3 of us kids to Florida one summerin a 1950 Dodge (blue)and we stayed in a shabby hotel on 39th Street off Collins Ave: Hotel 39. We had breakfast at the Fountain Blue Hotel and I always remembered that morning as the epitome of elegance and style. I was 13 and it was 1959. Last year we stayed for one night at this fabulous memory of mine. It was $450 for the night. My husband also believes in fulfilling dreams. We did not know that the hotel was officially closed because it had changed hands. Our room was filled with cigarette buts and peeling paint. The service was excretable. When we complained, the manager told us that we hit an unfortunate night; we took his name. Back in New York, my husband persued the matter until the charge came off the credit card. He also contacted the new management this year when we went to Florida for my father-in-law's 100th birthday (He also looks good...like Richard Gere!!). This time, the hotel was renovated and we were given an exquisite 28th floor ocean view condo at a fabulous price for our trouble. Sometimes lemons do make lomonade when you keep pushing aside the garbage and keep squeezing the system.

on Friday, March 30th, Robert Stockton said

As Leonard Cohen says in his song "In My Secret Life":

I bite my lip,
AND I BUY WHAT I'M TOLD
FROM THE LATEST HIT,
TO THE WISDOM OF OLD.
But I'm always alone,
And my heart is like ice,
And it's crowded and cold
In My Secret Life.

My guess is that most of us are occasionally guilty of buying in to this "fake-promised-reality" from time-to-time, because it is made to appear so DAMNED desireable! The only saving grace I see here, is that, frequently, we realize what we are doing, and vow to try to not be so easily "taken-in" in the future.

on Thursday, March 29th, Gabriella said

A friend who works as a nurse one day told me this tale, absolutely irate. She was working afternoon shift and there were numerous people in beds waiting for their surgeries the next morning. One woman, 86 years old, was waiting for surgery to lift her eye-lids. My friend took a good look at her eyes and concluded that this was a case of frivolous surgery, and the woman was taking up a surgical bed when there are currently people on surgical waiting lists for months and years, people who have genuine medical reasons for surgeries. So much for aging gracefully! Women of all ages do the surgical bait and switch a lot these days, in fact it is almost expected that they submit themselves to artificial means of remaining youthful. Men like Richard Gere age gracefully, while women become hideous crones, because on them "character" and truth are a little harder to accept?
Same thing about antique art-works; people crow about old paintings being cleaned, their dull varnish removed and resurfaced, their chipped paint touched up - traces of survival magically erased. yes, art is the real deal, whether old or new.

on Thursday, March 29th, walt said

Michael,

having worked in advertising I could tell you stories...and maybe one day I will. Taught my kids how to watch commercials. I reminded them over and over that this is where young filmmakers get their start. There are some great visuals and wonderful visual storytelling going on in commercials today... so watch the art and pay no attention to the product. Read consumer reports if you want to know about the product.

I try as often as not to avoid sales clerks on the floor of any store. They just get on my nerves. And when I do ask a question I only want that question answered. I've walked out of many an establishment because what they wanted me to buy was not what I was interested in from the start. This goes for real estate salesmen as well as store clerks.

on Thursday, March 29th, Mark said

Michael,
I have this inexpensive painting here to sell....ooops....no, I already sold that one, but I do have this very expensive painting to sell....LOL.

I agree, trouble is, till we, the public, no longer fall for all the hype and glitz nothing will change, we as a group, people, we are sheep and will fall for anything. Individually I think we are smarter then that but as consumers, the group, we are not, how sad.

I have a pet peeve as well that thankfuly does not seem to be a part of the art world, that is extended warranties. My wife and I were looking to buy a new fridge, the saleman spent more time trying to sell us the warranty then the fridge, said "they don't make them as good as they used to." We told the saleman then we wouldn't be buying one regardless of how "wonderful" the warranty is, we left. Now when we look to purchase something and the extended warranty comes up we stop them in thier tracks, try and sell us a warranty and we leave.

Richard Gere, aging well, with graying hair (mine is near white) and character lines, mmmmm sounds like me, LOL.

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03/29/2007: "" by Michael Corbin