522. “Support the Arts…or your fired” Campaign……..

“2 Views” 2011

“It’s a beautiful evening and it’s great to stay here and I want to dedicate a super-sexy song to you.” Mark Sandman’s last words

She told me I was dreaming…my only response was because I wanted to…never had and thought it would be a great idea…they were moving north..so he could sail…I was staying fixed until the oysters…became more real…and when I squinted my eyes and opened them it was there….not here…I knew that was going to take some time…some changes…and a more realistic way of checking things off…bundled tighter…but they were sending samples….

seemed the insurmountable was finally over… I guess…I guess really I’d just clapped my hands kind of pushed it all away with a cover all that announced I wasn’t really interested any longer…and maybe it meant my fuse was shorter and faster…or that those times I was overly concerned could now take a well deserved rest…

I read a letter today about rejection and how as an artist we should get used to it…develop thick skin…all of the clichés that go along with being in a profession that in many cases is not taken very seriously…I’ve discovered if you’re not an artists…there is not a great deal of room in life for art and all of the overhead swirling stuff that is part of art…

I once fired my dentist because he didn’t support my business…he never attended my art openings or purchased my work…even after he said he liked it a great deal…yet he sent me a reminder every 6 months about my upcoming dental cleaning and…all of  the future work that would be required in my mouth…and approximately how many thousands of dollars  it  was going to be…as he’d said…(he had a kid in school and needed to keep working)…really what he was saying was…”You need to make sure and make your appointments…get all of the work I’ve recommended…because I need you Robert to help pay for junior to attend the high-priced school back east…that I write the check for“

and after my last postcard was mailed to the dental clinic…my show had closed without an appearance by my DDS…at my next appointment I asked him …why he thought it was acceptable for me to support his business while he felt no need to support mine…he had no answer…except “I couldn’t tell you“…that was enough for me…when we were done…I shook his hand and said politely “I’m firing you as my dentist, because if you won’t support me in my endeavors…I can’t support you in yours”….I’ve never heard from him again…I guess he really didn’t like my work after all....

I think artists need to take what they do very seriously…align themselves with those who on the serious scale…take what they do equally as serious…as well…and endeavor to persevere ( Abe lincoln said that to the “Civilized Tribes”)….

Paul Gauguin traded paintings for boat passage…one of Cezanne’s many still life with apples sold for $7,000 in 1949…”Who the &%$# is Jackson Pollack”…finds a women truck driver who purchases a Suspected Pollack at a thrift store in California for $5.00…gives it to her friend who doesn’t like it because it won’t fit in her trailer…it is confirmed to be an original Pollack and last estimate of it’s worth is 22 million dollars…hmmm…

that’s the beauty of being an artist…I don’t really know if I get a gold watch…a pension or any of things…that everybody else does…who knows I may be molding Alpo into the shape of a turkey in 20 years and calling it Thanksgiving…and all of my artist friends are just fine with it…and always make sure to invite me to every potluck…

really though the ability to produce art that makes people think…uplifts them…makes them question…sedates them…occupies them…angers them…stimulates them or does anything that they don’t normally experience is a wonderful thing to have happen and be a part of…

so my new approach is firing everyone that does not support me as I support them…I realize it narrows the playing field significantly…limits who I will work with and who will work with me…but it’s the whole support issue…be there or be square…

this leads me to Art show support…I’m guilty of this I know…most all of my friends are artist and invite me to openings…that often I don’t attend because of some reasonable reason at the time…which in hindsight is never very reasonable…so I’m thinking of a way to make openings without making all of them…this is my idea…it’s sort of like what I did on Facebook…if we can call each other…and really go out and have lunch without it being weird…then each of us can attend the others respective art opening…and who knows the whole lunch thing just might be the catalyst to great friendship….a future of art openings…and a list of dentists mechanics…doctors…plumbers…lawyers…cooks and miracle workers…who are willing support the business….of art….sounds like a winning situation all the way around….I’d say….

“Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.” – Erwin Rommel