| |
Thursday, September 28th
A NEW WHITE CANVAS
 I’ve just removed the painting I’ve been working on from the easel: a girl with one hand on her chest holding a white sheet that partly covers her body is peering through a half-open doorway. We don’t know what she is looking at: our only hint being her astonished and frightened expression.
It may seem odd, but often the painter doesn’t know much more about what is going on in a painting than the spectator.
This means that everyone can come to their own conclusions and, in some senses, complete the artist’s work, which is why I often say that the act of painting does not ‘recount’, but rather ‘represents’; it represents something around which the viewer constructs his/her own story.
Alberto Sughi on 09.28.06 @ 09:16 AM EST [more..]
Monday, September 25th
ME? WRITE AN ARTBOOK?
It all began with my inner conflict about taking notes during art museum and
gallery visits.
"Why am I taking notes?" "What am I going to write?" "If I write
something, who on earth will read it? I'm not an art scholar!" Your inner
dialogue can either land you in the psychiatric ward or inspire you to
actually try something worthwhile. I decided on the latter. Actually, I
had no choice. I became overwhelmed by this need to write about art from my
own personal experience. I've always loved art and wanted to share my
enthusiasm for it, so I began writing. "Hmm, that seems decent," I thought
after writing my first essay. So, I started contacting various art websites
about carrying my writing. I think that it has become a win-win situation.
People get insight into a collector's viewpoint (free of charge) and I get
outlets for my extra-curricular creative urges.
Michael Corbin on 09.25.06 @ 10:18 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, September 21st
Doubts, Questions & Certainties
 I think we all agree that in our work we face constant doubts, ask heaps of questions and end up with hardly any certainties. Doubting and questioning is what keeps us busy – the certainty is merely an illusion we run after… and hopefully never reach. Our work is the register of our quest.
The questions we ask and the certainties we seek are our very own, they vary from artist to artist, according to too many circumstances and conditionings worth wasting our time over discussing here. To question the validity of an artist’s doubts and questions is a pointless pursuit. I trust you’ll agree.
Jose Freitas Cruz on 09.21.06 @ 01:24 PM EST [more..]
Sunday, September 17th
Is Rome bad for itself?
Last year, I spent six months in Rome as part of a student exchange. I was able to really become an inhabitant of the Eternal City and not just a tourist. During my thesis research on a contemporary art exhibit on show in the city, I came to realise the major difficulties that Rome has with its art. All the reasons for which millions of foreigners flock to the city have now become a real problem for the aspiring contemporary artists.
As an example, on the first weekend of the opening of the exhibit « Burri. The artists and the matter 1945-2004 », there were barely fifty people spread out through the different rooms. The publicity surrounding this particular exhibit was huge as well, all over the subway and the buses. But still, barely a few people « braved the crowds » and came to admire the Rauschenbergs, Burris and Dubuffets.
Alice Cavender on 09.17.06 @ 07:45 PM EST [more..]
Monday, September 11th
Wake-Up Call!
Just hearing someone speak those numbers still gives me a slight sense of dread. "9-11."
It's like the alarm clock that SCREAMS seemingly way too early in the morning. The reaction is always the same. "Damn it! Is it time to get up already?" "That can't be right!" But, of course it is. Our wake up call called.
Now, years after that awful morning jolt, the panic, the confusion, the fire, the death, the dust and the stunning inhumanity of the attacks, has anything changed? Well, billions of dollars have been spent, the conflict rages on, suspects remain on the loose, security remains a hot issue, we've grown more suspicious of one another and "The Towers" haven't been rebuilt. You do the math.
Michael Corbin on 09.11.06 @ 07:42 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, September 7th
Recent Changes
 On July 7th I awoke at around 6 am and began loading my truck to make the 7 hour drive to Chicago to visit family and friends before boarding a plane at O’Hare for Cordoba Argentina. My brother and I had been invited to exhibit drawings and watercolors with Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery in Cordoba and I was to fly the artwork down in advance to have the show framed. As I made a few last minute additions and subtractions to my luggage I was experiencing a little indigestion…a bit of heart burn. By about 7:30 I was feeling very strange, the heart burn was getting worse and feeling less like heart burn and more like a band tightening around my chest making it hard to breath. I knew, even as I labeled it heart burn an hour or so earlier, what was happening. But I was arguing with myself about schedules, the tickets which were a large expense, that this physical symptom would soon pass and that I shouldn‘t let it hinder my plans. By 8 a.m. I finally picked up the phone and called an ambulance. I immediately took an aspirin, grabbed my cell phone, closed all the windows and locked the doors and went out to sit on the front porch to await the squad. A day and a half later I had a stent in my heart to open the artery and allow the blood to flow and a bill for $30,000 plus for a heart cath and angio-plasti.
Walter King on 09.07.06 @ 07:31 AM EST [more..]
Monday, September 4th
Clients, Rich and Otherwise
 Whether you're representing yourself, or whether a gallery represents you, you will in time be dealing with a variety of clients-assuming that you want to sell your work. As you deal with them, remember this: the wealthy collector, the moderately wealthy collector, and even the not-so-wealthy collector all have one thing in common: they want to connect with your work. The somnolently wealthy you can forget about, since they likely won't come around in this lifetime, nor possibly even the next.
Paul Dorrell on 09.04.06 @ 09:42 AM EST [more..]
| |
|
