For those of us who live immersed in the digital world, which certainly includes you as an Absolute Arts blog reader, it is most likely nearly incomprehensible how a modern day artist, or businessperson of any sort, could not be partially, if not fully, connected in the social marketing world. Truly, these days most would think how can anyone serious about getting ahead not be wholly represented on “The Social Marketing Grid” with a Facebook page, Twitter and Linkedin accounts et cetera?

The reality is there are plenty of people with serious careers and serious career ambitions who have not and are not interested in joining the minions on the great social networking experiment that consumes so many others. Is it really possible to be successful or to grow a meaningful career without issuing a single tweet? The simple answer as always remains yes.

Here’s a last century example that remains germane to the argument today. For many years, I sold advertising and show space for Decor magazine and its sister Decor Expo tradeshows. Both served the art and picture framing industry. In the day, Decor’s annual Sources directory and Atlanta Decor Expo shows were huge successes on every level. Quite simply, anybody who was anyone in the decorative art and picture framing business would never consider not robustly participating in both. To do so would be career suicide by being obvious by one’s absence.

There is a direct correlation today between the implied “must participate” in those vehicles as there is in being fully active in the social networking arena. However, then just as now, there were artists and companies that chose not to go along with the crowd and consciously avoided participating in what seemed to all others to be an apparent choice.

Back then, much to my confounded consternation, there were artists and publishers I knew who were enjoying success that would be the envy of many of my regular advertising customers and show exhibitors, yet they were not spending money to promote themselves in the splendid and effective marketing vehicles I represented. It took a long time for me to realize that just because the evidence seemed to irrefutably prove participation in such activities paid results there would be those who would resist the opportunity.

So, despite my eloquent presentations and urgent pleas to not miss the ship about to sail, there were holdouts that steadfastly refused to be motivated. Their reasons were not always the same, but I think the primary reason is not unlike what you see today, which goes like this: “Yes, I can intellectually grasp there is opportunity in what is being offered. However, I’m doing just fine without the bother. And, despite the powerful lure those things have for many people, they have no interest for me.”

It was harder then for me to grasp their choices. Perhaps this was so because then I had a financial stake in persuading them. Being more involved and invested in their participation made me more passionate about my attempts to evangelize them into partaking. Today, with more maturity and less at stake, it’s easier to accept there are those who have no interest in getting a Facebook page and who are equally willing to suffer the consequences of not playing a part in the social networking revolution.

The question for artists today is can they have a successful career without having a Facebook page, a blog, a Twitter account and so forth? Despite what current proponents of these and other social marketing tools have to say, I believe it is completely possible. Admittedly, I am one of those proponents. You can find plenty of articles among the 200+ blog posts I’ve published on my Art Print Issues blog that encourage artists to get involved with these tools.

Despite what I think and promote regarding advancing an artist’s career, I deem it is possible for an artist to achieve notable success without having much more than a phone and an email address. While I think it makes the proposition of attaining success more difficult for most, I am convinced that it’s not impossible or even implausible to gain notoriety and perhaps even museum collectible attention without being a card carrying member of the social networking movement.

Of course, if the artist is not a willing participant, it still would be a great benefit if his or her benefactors, i.e., gallerists, reps, dealers and collectors promoted the work in online social spaces mentioned here. But, at the heart of it, a long running successful art career is built one brick at a time. And, that can be done in a variety of ways, not all related to the digital world. In fact, in spite of my cheerleading for Web 2.0 type involvement, I think it would be foolhardy for most artists today to focus exclusively on social marketing while ignoring traditional forms of marketing.

When I was repping Decor and Decor Expo, a regular question was, “How do I decide where to allocate my marketing dollars?” It remains a viable question today. My answer has not changed much. That is, decide what you perceive to offer the best return on investment and give it the biggest chunk. Then spread the rest available, within the realistic constraints of what an individual or small business can do with time, financial and personnel resources, among all the rest.

For artists to achieve success the goal, whether in the 21st Century or the last, remains the same: Seek to build a viable dealer/gallery/collector base to grow your business. Then nourish and replenish with vigor. Make it part of your business plan and every work day in some fashion. If you are fortunate to have someone working for you, make sure it is an even more important part of their working day. The slow steady pace of the turtle in the race is still the sure way to succeed in business. To do otherwise is foolish. For instance, hoping to become an overnight success is the equivalent of buying lottery tickets as a financial plan.

Adding a dealer or gallery here, finding a few collectors at a show there. Digging up media support with press releases and participation in charity and other notable events and sending direct mail can all be done without ever tweeting a word. An artist who has motivated quality reps on the road making old fashioned cold calling presentations still works. While advertising in consumer and trade magazines and tradeshows may not deliver the same impact as when I was in my heyday with such vehicles, they nevertheless offer opportunity for artists who effectively utilize them.

Although I offer an alternative perspective, I still encourage artists to join me on my Art Print Issues blog, to get a website and blog of their own, and to exchange tweets with me at www.twitter.com/barneydavey or to friend me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barney.davey. I will fully understand if you choose not to engage in social marketing. Further, I will happily support you and may even be one who chooses to publicize you for the quality of your work and for achieving success while going your own way.

Barney Davey
www.artprintissues.com

Created by Barney Davey On 07/16/09 At 03:16 PM

Over the last three months, the CAPC contemporary art museum in Bordeaux has played host to the French artist Jean-Luc Blanc, organising a vast retrospective of his work.

Born in 1965 in Nice, Jean-Luc Blanc started his artistic career by drawing, gradually venturing towards painting. This picture-lover takes constant inspiration from the numerous media that our society puts forward, gleaning images from magazines, newspapers, postcards, and films. After a frenzied period of collecting and accumulation, several pictures ‘impose’ themselves to Jean-Luc Blanc, and he selects these to paint. Transferring a small picture to a larger-sized painting allows the artist to give a second life to the image – he says himself that photography is an execution, painting a resuscitation. Giving pictures selected from our everyday life a new purpose, cancelling their first meaning, bringing anonymity to stars, conferring new-found glory on John Does – this is Jean-Luc Blanc’s game. With this somewhat simple and repetitive technique, the artist masterfully allows the spectator to come across a new image, free of its past, and open to interpretation. Discovering Jean-Luc Blanc’s work allows us to come to terms with our own personal way of looking at art.

Along with over two hundred of his paintings and drawings, forty-five other artists have been brought together by Jean-Luc Blanc and the Parisian curator Alexis Vaillant to be part of this retrospective.
Indeed, when invited to create a retrospective of his work, Jean-Luc Blanc couldn’t conceive his canvasses without the production of other artists, contemporary or historical, that have influenced him throughout his career. Add to that antiques and anonymous objects, artworks from the municipal museums of Bordeaux, and you have a fully blown ‘Opera Rock’, an eclectic collection of the desires and inspirations of Jean-Luc Blanc, set out in thirteen rooms of the second floor gallery of the CAPC.
Along with sound effects orchestrated by Mr. Learn, and the phantom of the French writer Marguerite Duras hanging over the exhibition, the CAPC has successfully managed to give you the feeling of entering into Jean-Luc Blanc’s mind and understanding his approach as an artist, his world of imagination and creation. This 3D version of his brain is characterised by a diversity of techniques, a medley of generations and nationalities, and a multiplicity of truths.

Works by Michel Blazy, paintings by Dan Attoe, bestial sculptures by Laurent Le Deunff, and photographs by Diane Arbus dialogue with installations by Vidya Gastaldon, hand-crafted objects by Shannon Bool, shotgun paintings by William Burroughs, videos by Brice Dellsperger and lithography by Odilon Redon. All of these accompany the enigmatic paintings of Jean-Luc Blanc, communicating as if old friends.
Portraits face abstract oil paintings, delicate porcelain ornaments sit side by side with ancient mummy hands, wooden silhouettes talk to metal-wire spiders… Almost three hundred artworks share the space of this exhibition, an original and quasi extensive portrayal of the thoughts of Jean-Luc Blanc, a way to understand his art differently and to combine backstage (the inspiration of the artist) with the stage itself (his own production), symbolised here by the tall black screens (as if in a theatre) that accompany the visitor the further he ventures into the exhibition.

Let yourself be drawn into this artist’s space – you won’t be disappointed.

Jean-Luc Blanc, Opera Rock
From the 25th of March to the 14th of June 2009
CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, France

Created by Alice Cavender On 06/04/09 At 03:20 PM

Brett Whiteley was the painter that pulled the curtain back for me. Before Brett Whiteley I thought painting was either boring old portraits, pretty landscapes, or weird stuff that I didn’t understand. His was the first art book that I ever bought and I still have it today, even if it is a little beat up and paint spattered.

Anyway, I went to a Brett Whiteley exhibition today called “9 Shades of Whiteley” at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery. It’s like a mini-retrospective of his career that touches on all of his big themes or periods.

It took me back about 16 years to when I was a 17 year old falling in love with his art for the first time. He got me hooked on art and I have been a hardcore user ever since.

Brett Whiteley – The 15 great dog pisses of Paris 1989
(He obviously had a sense of humor)

Brett Whiteley – Big orange (sunset) 1974
(This painting wasn’t in the Newcastle exhibition)

Brett Whiteley – Christie 1965
(This painting is from the UK serial killer John Christie series)

Brett Whiteley – Woman in bath 1963 (reworked 1964)
(This painting wasn’t in the Newcastle exhibition)

There’s an education kit here in PDF format for those that want to learn about the artist. See the official Brett Whiteley website here (his studio is worth a visit in Sydney too).

Flounder Lee is a photography professor at the Herron School of Art & Design at Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana. I met him there after I did a presentation about my first book, “Art In King Size Beds: A Collector’s Journal.” I thought that he would make an interesting interview subject. I think you’ll agree. By the way, the attached photograph is a shot of him being interviewed in Serbia for his recent one man show there called, “ReMove”. After reading out chat, check out his website at www.photoflounder.com

MICHAEL: Hey Flounder. Thanks for agreeing to chat. First, let’s start with the question that I’m sure you’ve be asked a million times. Flounder is an unusual, yet very cool name. Is there a story behind it?

FLOUNDER: Hi Michael, I have definitely been asked that question a lot or at least some form of it. I can’t convince some people that my name is not Lee Flounder, especially businesses. I wish that meant I didn’t have to pay my bills! The origins of my name are shrouded in mystery but it came to prominent use in the Secret Snail Society. I should probably leave it at that. I legally changed it to Flounder in 2006. I find it helpful as a promotional tool and a conversation starter.

MICHAEL: Secret Snail Society? I probably already know too much. Moving on … I love your photography, but what I’ve seen isn’t photography in the mainstream sense. It appears that you splice and dice photographs to create totally different compositions. It’s almost like painting with pieces of photographs. Am I correct?

FLOUNDER: I don’t really consider myself a photographer. Maybe a photographic artist or an artist who uses photography. Sometimes I do video, sometimes performance, sculpture, etc. In my teaching I take a similar approach: I am teaching artists, not just photographers. My recent work has definitely been described as abstract painting. I think that some of it looks like Mondrian from a distance. Really what I’m doing lately is making work from a series of preset conditions. I’m taking as much control out of my hands to investigate the way things are instead of the way I want them to be. So if we stick with a painting analogy, it is more like programming a robot to do the painting.

MICHAEL: You just said you are teaching artists, not just photographers. Doesn’t that really get to the heart of the role of contemporary photography? I visit these art fairs and exhibitions where I see great photographs but they don’t necessarily rise to the level of “art” for me. It seems to me that even with preset conditions and lack of control, turning photography into art requires insight, physical manipulation and the introduction of unique elements. Perhaps my ignorance is showing.

FLOUNDER: I think it does get at the heart of it, I don’t think the sort of contemporary photography that I’m making or trying to teach is just photos. It isn’t about how pretty your sunsets are or how good your photoshop skills are, it is about the idea that drives the work. But that said, I think they generally need to be somewhat technically proficient and formally pleasing because we are past the conceptual 1970s. Dave Hickey helped change the notion that beauty is a dirty word in the art world. Work can be engaging and beautiful.

MICHAEL: I had the pleasure of walking with you through your exhibition called, “Own.” It involves old Native American lands, map making and photography.
It’s beautiful, engaging and has a powerful social and moral message. What’s it all about and where did you get the idea?

FLOUNDER: It is always good practice showing someone around a show, so thanks for coming. In the current work, I am mapping treaties between the US government and various American Indian tribes. I have European and Native American ancestry. Most likely it is Choctaw and/or Cherokee, but it is really hard to trace when your family narrative says that they were the ones who hid from the government to avoid moving west and tragedies such as the Trail of Tears. I’ve never been raised with any real awareness of my family’s history, but it fascinates and conflicts me. I have ancestors taking from ancestors. Not really sure how I decided to pursue this now, but I was mapping the borders of Los Angeles when I moved to Indiana and I wanted to keep mapping so this came up somehow. So far, I’ve mapped the treaties in their actual locations in five states. I find the original maps, import them, and follow the borders using GPS. I photograph at one mile intervals at set points in the four directions. This removes as much of my hand as possible from the equation. I want to show what is actually there, not what I want to be there. So if there is a casino or a Wal-Mart a quarter mile down the road and an empty field where my GPS says to shoot, I get the empty field.

MICHAEL: What you’re doing incorporates photography, artistry, anthropology, sociology, politics and travel. It all makes for very heavy subject matter that will inspire some and incite others. Yet art is your venue. I liked the exhibition, but you obviously know that pitching this to collectors or even curators can’t be easy. In short, it’s not “entertaining” and you know how much people want to be entertained … that’s assuming you can even lure them into a gallery. Is this a concern?

FLOUNDER: I make work that is important to me. Quite often it will be important to others too. I sometimes make work that is more fun or entertaining but that is not generally one of my primary goals, except maybe when I’m doing performance art. I honestly haven’t had many encounters with collectors at this stage in my career, but I’ve shown this work a few times already. A curator of a show in Europe liked it enough that she invited me to come make more work there for the show. I’ve also used this as a platform for teaching others about this history, including my own family. Even still, the patterns of images that emerge from my work can be enjoyed without knowing the history of what the work is about at all.

MICHAEL: Flounder, this brings up what I think is a great question. When you’ve busted your butt to make your art meaningful and true, isn’t it a little irritating to have people look at it and say, “I like the colors!” or “Will it match my sofa?” I’ve even heard artists reduce the work of other artists to simple whims. You’ve done all of this work and they’ve missed the entire point.

FLOUNDER: Artists aren’t the only source of meaning for their art, so art is going to mean different things to everyone. How’s the saying go? “You can’t please everyone.” Well, things are going to be pleasing to people for their own reasons. I want some people to get my work but know not everyone will. I really dislike a LOT of art, I don’t get it, but know other people do. I don’t think this is an issue really. I’ve always thought that colors and matching and such are just levels to the work. Maybe levels that I don’t care about, or even care to know about, but levels none the less. My wife isn’t an artist and she is definitely more concerned about artwork fitting in with our other decorations than I am, she doesn’t understand how I don’t really worry about color schemes and the like.

MICHAEL: Many of the artists I know are totally “consumed” by art. Many, if not most artists consider art synonymous with who they are as individuals. Does this describe you?

FLOUNDER: Yes, I think it does and I’m sure my wife would agree. She has a hard time grasping that my work does not really have any sort of set hours. I can just be playing online but it is usually at least tangentially related to my art. I’ll either be looking for blogs to submit, looking up new artists or shows, reading about mapping or science. I never know where my new ideas are going to come from so I keep constantly looking. But even all that said, I still take plenty of time to do other stuff if I can find it. I love to camp, hike, cook, and garden (although I rarely do most of these activities without a camera).

MICHAEL: You said earlier that you dislike a LOT of art and that you don’t get it. Do you think this is more of a reflection of your personal taste or the artists’ failure to communicate effectively? When people read my writing, I find it somewhat upsetting that they missed my point. They don’t have to agree, but they do have to get the point, otherwise we’re not really communicating.

FLOUNDER: I think sometimes it is a combination of both of those things and also the fact that some art really doesn’t carry a lot beyond its surface. Art means a lot of different things to people and sometimes it is purely a visual exercise. Of course this is the art that I generally don’t like and it rarely receives any sort of critical praise, but still might be popular with many people who think the best a painting can do is look like a photo and the best a photo can do is look like a painting. Ha! I like art that gives you something on multiple levels, it has the surface stuff that you can appreciate, but it has a depth to it that allows you to explore. Writing is sometimes similar, just because something is funny or exciting, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have depth of meaning. I’m currently reading a couple of books about geography and history. One is textbook type writing and I can barely stay interested even though I love the subject. The other is narrative style and I hate to stop reading it to do anything else, but I still feel like I’m learning a lot about the subject.

MICHAEL: When it comes to art, what do you think you’ll be doing 20 years from now?

FLOUNDER: Well I’m really hoping that they come out with Dream Recorder by then because I think my dreams are really where it’s at. Otherwise some sort of digital media and installations probably. But honestly who knows, 20 years ago I was 10, playing on a playground wanting to be a rocket scientist. That desire got me to 19 when I left the University of Alabama’s aerospace engineering program to take a year off and move to Florida where I got my degree in photography.

MICHAEL: Sounds like the sky is your limit. Thanks for chatting Flounder. Don’t forget to check out Flounder’s website at www.photoflounder.com

MICHAEL CORBIN IS AN AVID ART COLLECTOR AND AUTHOR OF THE AWARD-WINNING BOOK, “THE ART OF EVERYDAY JOE: A COLLECTOR’S JOURNAL.” CHECK IT OUT AT WWW.ARTMAESTROGALLERY.COM

Created by Michael Corbin On 04/06/09 At 10:59 AM

Brian Sherwin from MyArtSpace has created a list of tips for artists looking to be seen online. Some of his tips include..

• Answer email that you receive about your art promptly.
• Be smart about how you list your contact info.
• Have a website or online community profile that is devoted to your artwork.
• Create free accounts on online art communities.
• Maintain an active blog for your art.
• Establish yourself on social networking sites.

Read the rest of Brian’s artist tips over his My Art Space Blog. He’s also involved with the online art galleries at My Art Space and New York Art Exchange.

If I could give just ONE tip to an artist looking to create an online presence it would be to create your own website, with your own domain name, on your own web host, built by yourself. If you’re too cheap to have your own website, you probably aren’t that serious about being an artist.

If you’re only presence online is with a free service (Blogger, Geocities, etc..) or even an online art gallery that charges a monthly fee, you’re cheap and you don’t take your career as an artist seriously. I’m not saying don’t use free services or online galleries as they’re very useful networking tools for artists, but they should come after you have developed your own online portfolio WithYourOwnDomain.com.

>> Being an Artist, Art Marketing

The Art Newspaper spoke with the British artist Keith Tyson about how artists are starting to take control of their career, rather than simply handing the reigns to the art dealer and hoping for the best. It’s a theme that comes up more and more lately.

Here’s a couple quotes from the article..
“Galleries will promise you the world in terms of production costs but it comes at the price of complete control. There’s a conflict of interest in having the people who retail your work being the same people that help you with production because they will try and own it.” Keith Tyson Quote

“The bottom line is that you need to be in the centre making the decisions with the gallery working for you, rather than vice-versa.” Gavin Turk Quote

I have no sympathy for the art dealers. I appreciate that running an art gallery is a tough business, but I’m happy to see them lose some of their power over artists. Most artists will probably still stick to the traditional artist/gallery relationship, but it’s good to know that you don’t have to sell your soul to one art dealer if you don’t want to.

The Internet and business superstars like Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons haven’t been good for traditional art dealers. It makes me think of the music business and their unwillingness to change.
>> Being an Artist

One of the best ways to learn how to be an artist is to talk with other artists.. people that are in the trenches and know how to survive. It’s fine to listen to a university lecturer talk about being an artist, but they’re at best an artist/teacher hybrid, which is also fine if you enjoy teaching. But if you want to paint during the day and relax at night (rather than teach during the day, paint at night and have no life), you should learn from those that are doing just that.

I read artist biographies, artist interviews, collect artist quotes, and pick the brains of any successful artist that comes within talking distance of me. Artists are generally an open bunch of people that aren’t good at keeping trade secrets, so you just have to ask if you want to know something.

The Australian artist Hazel Dooney has been making quite a name for herself nationally and now regularly has works appearing for sale at major auction houses around the country. She also has one of the most interesting artist blogs online and is very open with her experiences as a working artist.

Hazel has kindly allowed me to share some excerpts from her diary. It’s a small insight into some of the challenges that an artist faces when he or she becomes a full time working artist..

A Year Of Thinking Dangerously
Excerpts from a Journal – Hazel Dooney

11th February
I was getting impatient for the base coats to dry on a large enamel piece, so I started work on a new series of watercolours on paper. I am really bad at doing nothing.
Putting down the first marks of a new work is always hell. I suffer a flood of anxiety and self-doubt, and the initial effort is always terrible. I try too hard. My lines are tight. I am hesitant about how and where to use the paint. I waste a lot of time pacing around instead of working. I have to force myself to finish the damn thing. Then I lie it face down and try to forget about it.
When I’m not happy with my art, everything in my life is fucked. When it’s going well, everything is perfect. It’s irrational and unpredictable, and it’s downright unpleasant for everyone around me.

4th April
I spent at least half this day sick or sleeping off the effects of using enamel paint. My tolerance to it has declined in the year or so since I last used it. Tomorrow morning I’m going to my favourite industrial paint store to buy a protective suit and some fresh chemical filters for my mask. I’d take a photo of myself in all that gear here but it’d feels too ridiculous. Then again, the ramifications of not taking it seriously are anything but ridiculous.
I’ve been reading about the German-born American sculptor, Eva Hesse. She worked with lethal material and was diagnosed with a brain tumour, probably caused by the carcinogenic fumes wafting around her studio. She died in 1970, aged34. I love her work: she made impermanent, unbeautiful media incredibly tender.
I think I understand – maybe too well – why she didn’t change materials even when she understood their toxicity, even when she knew, in the end, they were killing her.

15th June
At the opening of my solo show, I overheard two young women, both artists, discussing my work. One of them was visibly upset by the graphic sexuality of some of the images, and the undercurrent of violence. She wondered aloud about my mental and emotional stability. “Well, I guess we all feel that way from time to time,” her friend replied. “We just don’t feel the need to paint it like she does!” Which got me wondering, if an artist wants to avoid the conflicts and contradictions of their interior life, what’s the point of making art at all?
The conceptualist American artist, Jeff Koons insists that art has been too subjective in the past, too concerned with the messy, emotive sprawl of self-expression, as opposed to what he calls objective art, art so sanitised of the germy interior life of the artist that his or her only role in its creation is an idea. The actual making of the finished work, the elements of craftsmanship, are, for him, best left up to others, preferably others who have no real interest or engagement with the artist other than interpreting his instructions with as much technical precision as possible
I am so not into this approach. The work I’m drawn to most often – in art, photography, music, literature or film – is intensely personal and inextricable from the artist’s every day life: if anything, the more diaristic it is, especially when it comes to words and images, the better.

1st September
Lately I’ve received a lot of emails from strangers. They begin by telling me they are “fellow artists”, then, on that tenuous basis, they ask me to help them market and sell their work. I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve found these requests so offensive, especially as I am not exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to self-promotion.
Then it clicked. There’s nothing in their emails that is actually about art, theirs or mine, and they imply that my focus is more on marketing and sales than creativity and plain old hard work.
Well, f##k ‘em. I make art not only because of a passionate desire to communicate but also a jittery compulsion to make real what resides only in my imagination. And when I have a body of work that is ready to be viewed, finding an audience for it is sure as hell very different to launching a healthier breakfast cereal or a gentler washing-up liquid. There is no demographic research you can (or should) do to identify a consumer niche. Whatever some people think (including an increasing number of critics and curators) it is not about brand development and key selling propositions.

11th October
Yesterday, I accepted three commissions for large-scale paintings which, on top of several other private commissions and exhibition commitments, have closed out my schedule for the rest of the year. I will now have to tell clients and galleries that I’m unable to look at any new projects before 2009 – and maybe later, if I decide to spend Christmas, next year, in Brazil, where I want to join a samba school and dance in one of the Carnival parades.
I am still a little gob-smacked by how quickly all this has happened. Eighteen months ago, I was working part-time in a clothing shop to make ends meet. I was living with my father and trying to recover from a debilitating mental breakdown. I hadn’t touched a paint brush in almost six months and at least a couple of artists and gallerists I knew were already talking about my career in the past sense. Hell, I was, too. There was nothing in my life then that suggested any reason for optimism.
What got me off my self-pitying ass was the opportunity to paint… a skateboard. Thanks to the American artist, William Quigley, I was the only foreigner among 75 artists and celebrities – everyone from Julian Schnabel, William Wegman and Tony Alva, to Peter Beard, Robin Williams and 50 Cent – invited to submit a hand-painted skateboard to be auctioned for the benefit of the Boarding For Breast Cancer charity. The boards were exhibited in a show entitled Style Sessions at Milk Studios on Manhattan’s lower West side and mine attracted one of the highest bids.
A month after the auction, I quit my job. I decided to leave Melbourne, too. For better or worse, I was committed to the idea that I was an artist. As I packed up my few possessions, I couldn’t help thinking of this passage from Goethe:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one element of truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans – that moment one commits oneself, then providence moves all.
“All sorts of things occur ton help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have dreamed could have come his way.
“Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin in it now.”

See Hazel Dooney’s Self Vs Self blog for more of her writing and art. I have also previously mentioned her Porno exhibition and Free artist prints to download.

>> Being an Artist, Contemporary Artists, Australia

I know this is old news, but I have been away from the desk for a bit. The British sculptor Marc Quinn has continued to use the muse of all British artists at the moment; Kate Moss. Miss Moss is now a life-sized solid gold sculpture titled Siren.

Marc Quinn has previously placed Kate Moss in an interesting bronze yoga pose. The teaser photo of the solid gold sculpture that every media outlet seems to have gives little away, so it could be a giant head for all I know.

In a BBC report Mark Quinn said “I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who’s the ideal beauty of the moment. But even Kate Moss doesn’t live up to the image”

Marc Quinn is the artist that used his own blood to cast a frozen portrait of himself, which is quite eerie. His marble sculpture of a disabled pregnant woman (Alison Lapper)was also a little different.

Lucian Freud and Banksy are among the many artists to use Kate Moss as a model. This Italian page here has a small gallery of other notable artists that have used the British model for art.

Coxsoft news and Balhatain also mentioned the Kate Moss sculpture on their blogs.

The gold Kate Moss sculpture will be shown in an exhibition at the British Museum called “Statuephilia: Contemporary sculptors at the British Museum” from the 4th of October through to the 25th of January (3 days before my birthday!). Sculptors showing will include Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Ron Mueck, Marc Quinn and Noble and Webster.

Sometimes summer afternoons aren’t meant for lounging outdoors – they’re occasionally better spent finding artful surprises in bookstores.

Such was the case on this day, an unremarkable one until my wandering eye locked onto something of promising note. A book. By the way, most people would agree that they venture into bookstores seeking books. After my experience today, I must say that I disagree. People shop in bookstores because they crave surprises. Yes, in all likelihood, the thing you’ve been looking for will indeed be a book, but is it the book or the thrill of surprise that has you hooked? Hmm. Mystery and philosophy. Do questions never cease?

Anyway, as my gaze ventured down the frittering possibilities among the art book shelf, suddenly a love connection. I saw the book “Actors As Artists. “Hmm, I thought. “Let’s take a look. What a nice surprise.

First of all, “Actors As Artists” authored by actors Jim McMullan and Dick Gautier (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.) was first published back in 1992. That’s not so long ago, but they could certainly give it an update. It’s truly a remarkable book about actors, some more famous than others, who paint in their private time. I’ve just finished flipping through and reading some of it.

It’s really everything an art book should be. With every turn of the page, a surprise. I knew that Anthony Quinn and Jane Seymour painted, but did you know that Zero Mostel and Claudette Colbert were artists? I knew that Billy Dee Williams and Phyllis Diller dabbled, but what about Henry Fonda and Lionel Barrymore? I’m sure Drew knew, but who else had a clue? Mystery revealed. The book is wonderfully unpretentious and it’s so clear that the actors true love may not be acting at all. They paint because they love art.

As I’m sitting here writing and flipping through the book again, a reminder comes to mind. There’s no law of the universe that says we MUST do one and only one thing for our entire lives. In fact, it’s probably just the opposite. If you listen to your creative voice, you can do many things in a single lifetime. That’s how it should be. After all, we’re only here once. While actors get comebacks, no one gets to come back. THIS IS IT. Of course, being an actor doesn’t mean you can pick up a paintbrush and become Paul Gauguin in one stroke. It just means that you went for it. You heard your calling, gathered up the courage and got busy. When you follow your creative leanings, life is full of surprises.

Oh, another thing. Your career is what you do for a living, but what you do in your free time is who you really are. It may not be the WHOLE you, but it’s certainly the REAL you. It’s who you are down in your soul. If you’re an artist down in your soul, you’ve got it goin’ on. In a way, we’re all actors, but how long can you go on ignoring the role of your soul? Ahh, philosophy. What better time than on a summer afternoon?

One of my favorite passages in the book comes from actor Michael Moriarity who says, “Art is not an avocation for me. It is more like a periodic urge to pray in a different way. My pieces exist because there was no other way to reveal what was going on within in me.

In short, I think Michael is saying, “Who needs a Tony, Emmy and Oscar sandwich when you’ve got art feeding you? And let me say, “That’s quite a sandwich!

But seriously, I’m not an art critic, but as a collector, I must say that I’d be thrilled to own anything that I’ve seen in this book. Actor As Artists. I’m so glad that I found this book. You never know what surprise may be lurking around the shelf. Little surprises are the spice of life. One minute, you’re depressed and the next moment, you find something unexpected and you’re laughing at the foolishness of past thoughts.

John Forsythe, an artist? Eve Plumb, who played Jan on “The Brady Bunch, an artist? Who knew? One thing I know for sure Eve probably never yells, “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! in HER free time.

MICHAEL CORBIN IS AN AVID ART COLLECTOR AND AUTHOR OF THE NEW BOOK, “THE ART OF EVERYDAY JOE: A COLLECTOR’S JOURNAL.” CHECK HIM OUT AT WWW.ARTMAESTROGALLERY.COM

Created by Michael Corbin On 07/21/08 At 10:06 AM