Purchase Application
Powhida & Dalton
Graphite and colored pencil on paper
Graphite and colored pencil on paper
2010
We will be selling this work to whomever makes their best offer based on their approximate income and rationale for ownership. There is no fixed price point and we won’t be insulted if (a) no one wants it, (b) you can only offer what you can afford, or (c) you end up paying the same as your Marc Jacobs handbag.
We will be selling this work to whomever makes their best offer based on their approximate income and rationale for ownership. There is no fixed price point and we won’t be insulted if (a) no one wants it, (b) you can only offer what you can afford, or (c) you end up paying the same as your Marc Jacobs handbag.
I had taken "fucking idiots" to be a term of endearment…but this exchange gets at the heart of something else we simply must explore in #class, which is the mythology that artists are a class of people with identical interests.
We talk about "artists getting power" as if they'd share that power democratically, rather turn on each other in some fashion that made "Lord of the Flies" look like Sesame Street.
Nothing unites disparate people like having a common opponent…nothing tears such fragile unions apart, though, like throwing something worth fighting for (i.e., power, resources, authority, fame, recognition, right of authorship, etc.) into their midst.
First of all, a general point: We are all fucking idiots.
Specific responses follow.
William, Jennifer, and Edward:
Thanks for your considered replies and best of luck with your show. I genuinely hope it's a success, and I'll be watching with interest.
Jennifer:
It's not that I don't like the drawing. I do. It's just that I thought it open to some criticism, which is not particularly valid criticism either, as it consists of how I'd do it differently, which leads me to…
William:
As I mentioned in my post above, I realise I'm not in any position to complain about what you did with my suggestion. What you do is up to you.
However, I thought what you did do with it was funny, and said so. I also said how I'd've done it differently. (Note that I mentioned I have no intention of using the idea myself.)
But this is rehashing what has already been said, and is boring. Let's assume that each other can read.
I'm a little surprised that you seem to expect your show's visitors/participants to be mostly working class salt of the earth types who need to be coddled. I'm not familiar with New York demographics but imagine that those who have an interest in art but who can't normally afford it wouldn't be working class as such.
Ye gods, if you can draw in a predominantly working class crowd, that'd be a real achievement, something no-one's ever managed yet. The cry would resound throughout the land: 'Hats off, gentlemen!'
Regardless of the composition of the crowd, though, I think that making things easy for people does them no favours. Nietzsche didn't just come up with a good line, but was on to something important, when he said:
To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities – I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not – that one endures.
And, yes, continuing points of contention are also a good thing. It's good to see that you and Jennifer don't see exactly eye to eye. Hopefully, that will be fruitful.
Edward: You've hit the nail on the head. On more than one occasion in the past I've been told that I shouldn't hassle other artists, or say mean things, 'because we're all in this together' or some such hippie nonsense.
Live at war with your peers and yourself!
Oops, the above comment was reposted, and I should've changed 'my post above' to a link or something.
Damn your blog or mine shenanigans!
David,
As Ed can attest, I've made most of my career by being 'disrespectful' of artists, dealers, critics, and collectors; successful or not. It's the ability to reject the nobility and their limitations that allows the individual to find some freedom, often in the base that Neitzsche describes. I've been enduring Lionel Trilling's book "Sincerity and Authenticity" and find it a fascinating take on exactly what you are talking about.
And man, yes, most of the people that come to look at art in New York are themselves working class people, even if they are artists. Education itself doesn't make you middle class. It's also not just a tax bracket, but most of the people I know, including myself, can't possibly afford the art that we often admire. Like to see that change for a few weeks. In all honesty, Ed has admitted that he can expect about ten collectors in during the course of a show that buy from him. The market is tailored and supported by the smallest percentage of its audience. We'd like to interrupt that, however briefly, not to celebrate the working class, but to acknowledge our own place in the hierarchy.
So, I will take fucking idiot #1 as a term of endearment. I think Jen and I prefer to call ourselves such now. Your antagonism doesn't invalidate the criticism either, and as others have suggested, our show will be terrible if everyone is too respectful. Deference be damned and we will give as good as we take!
That's an excellent response.
There's nothing for me to add.
IMHO the world brings more than enough suffering and anxiety for people to endure. We can't justify being shitty to each other on the basis of building character. I understand the desire to offer a challenge, but I prefer to offer that challenge from a position of respect. (William and I are honing our "good cop / bad cop" routine. How's it look?)
The war brand "Operation Enduring Freedom" comes to mind. In the words of the great David Rees, how are you "enduring" your "freedom?"
Jen (F.I. #2)
I'll swap it for a British Baliffs letter. A list of all the artists househeld goods taken away, because they couldn't pay the bills.
Bought from Apex 2007.
info@pittstudio.com