The Day After The End of The World

Body

I was at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts week ago, sometimes I go just to see if my painting is still up,it is. The painting is 9 feet wide and 5 1/2" tall it seems quite small in those huge rooms next to one of those giant protractor paintings by Frank Stella. But the painting is still very good if not better than in the early 1990's when it hung for about 3 years. The color is better or my eyesight is different, the painting was made 30 years ago. I know my eyes are'nt what they once were and this is a painting I doubt I'd make now, too much close work and too intense a theme the over all and underground comics. Must have been some good weed back then (1975). The seventies have gained status for a number of reasons but one big idea was how art took risks artists looked in some pretty unusual places. Whereas the 1980's seemed corporate and minimalism was the dominating other styles and developments and the 1970's was more wild and experimental. As well what lasts what persists is of interest tends to be something unique not the average sort of piece but something that is one of a kind.If you think back to the work that got your attention when you first walked though an art museum it's very personal but it's also what's unique to a collection like say the Lautrecs for me at the Art Institute of Chicago. The relationship between what you see and what you make is a very key thing and an issue of balance between the part of you that consumes art and the part that makes art. It's this consumerist obsession in the current society consuming far out distances hand production. Indeed hand made goods are seen as an anachronism, the old way of making art. Truth be told as the population grows so too does the uniqueness of the hand made one of a kind art object. Of course existence doesn't by itself provide enough muscle to keep something in a fine arts collection. An art work needs to create a reason for it's preservation. Like people loving the art, or the art having some historical value. For me it's something mystical that is sought in art. In a world so tecnologically dominated by machines and devices the survival and power of antique media present an alternative view oif the world.