Back to earth
Months ago I signed up for this cultural exchange arts seminar type dealie at Mass Art and Northeastern University. This weekend I woke up all early both days and headed into town to the campuses to attend presentations from people all over the world speaking about exchange programs for artists.
Like exchange students coming to the U.S. to stay with suburban families. But instead of students, it's artists of all disciplines who may get to stay at an incredibly serene rural artist resort in Oregon, or a beautifully renovated foundry in downtown Montreal, or a government funded museum-quality exhibition/living space in the art district of Shanghai.
I went into this the way I, being a small time guy, go into every setting: "How in the hell is a schmuck like me going to be able to achieve something in this environment?"
The international seminars were a little daunting and my doubts grew as the first morning rolled on. Then on Saturday afternoon I caught a presentation by a woman who spoke about exchange programs in the U.S. which are available to artists who are just starting out, emerging artists with a small following... all the way up to seasoned pros. I felt much better.
I went home Saturday with a ton of pamphlets and handouts and a healthy sense of "I can do this. I will apply to several places and possibly travel solely for the purpose of creating art."
Then Sunday morning I had a one-on-one session with the art director of an artist's collective located an hour from Paris, France. I showed my website to this dude. Who's name was Jean.
In a nutshell, I have... some skill, no real direction, and his favorite piece was not a painting but the mixed media "Hell On Earth" that I put together in photoshop. I confessed that it was my attempt at ripping off an artist named Sophie Toulousse.
Awesome.
I admit I walked around for a while by myself pretty crestfallen. Then I got home, pulled my head out of my ass and started working on commissions.
Here's the work I did on the Geisha tonight.
And Caity... I started on your painting. It ain't much tonight, but give me time.
I'm not a deep, emotional, tortured artist who paints from the soul about current events or timeless themes. I'm a douche from Quincy who's making cool paintings for people who have never bought original art before. I felt pretty down about that earlier today. Now after working for six hours in my own element I feel pretty shitty about ever letting that dude get to me.
www.hookermedia.com
Like exchange students coming to the U.S. to stay with suburban families. But instead of students, it's artists of all disciplines who may get to stay at an incredibly serene rural artist resort in Oregon, or a beautifully renovated foundry in downtown Montreal, or a government funded museum-quality exhibition/living space in the art district of Shanghai.
I went into this the way I, being a small time guy, go into every setting: "How in the hell is a schmuck like me going to be able to achieve something in this environment?"
The international seminars were a little daunting and my doubts grew as the first morning rolled on. Then on Saturday afternoon I caught a presentation by a woman who spoke about exchange programs in the U.S. which are available to artists who are just starting out, emerging artists with a small following... all the way up to seasoned pros. I felt much better.
I went home Saturday with a ton of pamphlets and handouts and a healthy sense of "I can do this. I will apply to several places and possibly travel solely for the purpose of creating art."
Then Sunday morning I had a one-on-one session with the art director of an artist's collective located an hour from Paris, France. I showed my website to this dude. Who's name was Jean.
In a nutshell, I have... some skill, no real direction, and his favorite piece was not a painting but the mixed media "Hell On Earth" that I put together in photoshop. I confessed that it was my attempt at ripping off an artist named Sophie Toulousse.
Awesome.
I admit I walked around for a while by myself pretty crestfallen. Then I got home, pulled my head out of my ass and started working on commissions.
Here's the work I did on the Geisha tonight.
And Caity... I started on your painting. It ain't much tonight, but give me time.
I'm not a deep, emotional, tortured artist who paints from the soul about current events or timeless themes. I'm a douche from Quincy who's making cool paintings for people who have never bought original art before. I felt pretty down about that earlier today. Now after working for six hours in my own element I feel pretty shitty about ever letting that dude get to me.
www.hookermedia.com
posted by Hooker at 11:47 PM
9 Comments:
I like your art, and if I ever buy a home with vertical walls, that are nice enough to deserve art, I hope to go from blog reader to buyer.
sounds good. i'll be here. you live in an attic?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Screw the French. Your stuff is cool, and you don't even have to have a stupid name like Jean.
I dunno, I thought Death dancing with song birds was a pretty timeless theme.
Oh man, never let anyone make you feel bad about your art or the value of what you are doing.
Also, nothing wrong with emulating styles of artists you like as you develop your mad skilz and try things out. Check out Picasso. He tried all kinds of things, starting photo-realistic, then moving on to playing with the impressionist style, blue period, pink period, cubist...
geez...i am typo princess....here's my original comment as it was meant to be: "I'm not a deep, emotional, tortured artist who paints from the soul about current events or timeless themes. I'm a douche from Quincy who's making cool paintings . . ." high five for that. you're the first damn artist i've commissioned a piece from. you should feel shitty for letting duder get to you. don't let it happen again.
that geisha is gorgeous already. wicked good.
don't stress. you don't need to go to france (though i love that place) to progress as an artist... you're doing just fine in quincy!
And oh yeah, just so you know, people (all people perhaps?) are mad for my truuuuuuuucks. Have heard many exclamation of delight, the kind that can't be faked. They are a thing of beauty!
It looks AMAZING!!! I am SO pumped!
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