New York, Art and Web

Mary, You wrote of your summer job. I'd like to write about mine. I have many. Here's a list of them:

1. Finish editing the fourth and final part of our Skyline painting movie.
2. Publish the video.
3. Research shipping options for shipping the painting.
4. Conduct an eBay auction of the painting.
5. Complete the book design and publish "Wing Lox On Bashevis Boulevard" (a book of 116 illustrations), the first product from the project I've been working on for over 18 months with the artist I once identified as "crazy".
6. Begin with Ruth our new 6 part painting project, "Rabbit Hill"
7. Make a portfolio site.
8. Organize my online identity.
9. Make and publish a resume.
10. Apply for work in San Francisco.
11. Search for an apartment in San Francisco.
12. Pack and move to San Francisco.

Along the way, I want to devote steady time in Second Life, as well as all the social networking sites I can understand.

This means I don't have time to do the following:

1. Storyboard, create a shooting script, cast, find location and shoot a movie of the scene from your play which you sent me.
2. Edit, soundtrack and publish video movies other than those apart of the painting project.
3. Look for music available for podcasting and begin a regular weekly podcast.
4. Go on a plein-air painting trip.
5. Learn to develop web art collaboration applications.

Those things will have to come later, in San Fran. I hope to find a place in Laurel Heights or outer Richmond. I hope the job is in the city, not down the peninsula. I'm prepared work ten more years, 'til I'm 72, but, of course, I'm hoping I won't have to. Whether through painting sales or web-presence income or something else, I hope to not need a job longer than five more years. Ruth may not have an income for the first year or two, but should after that.

Ruth will be working to start a "clubhouse" in San Francisco, she feels it's time now to bring what she learned at Fountain House to San Fran. She has contact with some families there that want it, she has support for this endeavor from the International body which accredits such places, California State and she's working on the Mayor.

Whether we get the move done by Fall or not, I'm hoping to not spend another summer in New York, although with the weather changing everywhere (so far this summer, we've had more monsoons than the ugly muggy days) I can't depend on New York being awful and San Fran being cool. I've been ready to leave New York for several years now, I was waiting for Ruth to get what she wanted out of it. Recently, she said the magic words, "I'm ready".

Rivers
Gibbes Museum

Lichtenstein
Milwaukee Art Museum

Pollock
Web Museum, Paris

Basquiat
The Art of Pricing

What I wanted to learn in New York was how to get that "easy" look that New York painting achieves so well. Historically, this look has come from painting smart (i.e. River) or from hiring others to paint for you (i.e. Lichtenstein). I'm not so interested in hiring a crew of "studio assistants", I wanted to learn to paint smart, without the troubled look that comes from an artist trying too hard.

Of course, achieving a breezy quality in art is difficult. The most attractive quality any artist can express is confidence. Confidence trumps competence every time. Most artists are too torn between the various issues in their life to confidently pursue art. Too many are so buffeted by the disapproval of others that their art expresses defensiveness. Becoming successful is not enough for some artists to maintain a confident flow of clear production. Popular artists are often torn apart by the snipes of critics, other artists and the public, they get so they mistrust themselves, sometimes implode into substance abuse (i.e. Pollock or Basquiat), their art loosing the confident quality which originally made it popular.

With great sadness, I can't say that I'm dealing with the ravages of popularity. I'm struggling with the balancing act between job, family, community, ambition and art.

I came to New York to learn how contemporary artists deal with the demands of difficult times in a difficult city. My expectations were fairly open-ended, allowing the city to teach me. I could not have predicted the lessons I have learned.

One of my first lessons was that I was unwilling to enter the social life of the Art world. This meant no gallery shows for me. A tough lesson.

The next was that I'd have to produce my art around a full-time job. A grinding, on-going lesson.

Since I had to work a job, I thought I should be learning skills useful in my art, I chose to be trained and to find work in internet commerce. A good choice, I think. As it turns out, I love the internet, it suits me wonderfully.

A weakness in my participation in web design is that the innovators and leaders of the field are willing to devote double-time to their work. My time is split between what I do for my employer, my own art-oriented internet development and my analog, physical world art work. The innovative internet developers are running circles around me, my internet art and my painting are moving at an snail's pace.

However, I'm proud that I'm able to produce anything at all in these three areas, that I maintain an interest in online merchandising, display and marketing, as well as the promise of collaborative web-based art production and my painting. Each artist's best attribute is their uniqueness, this is mine, no one has my particular combination of skills and interests, few artist of my age, rooted in 20th century American art are as active in the the Internet as I.