From Michael Buitron of Leap Into The Void:
In my mid-residency review for my master’s at CalArts, I told Sam Durant that the things I was being evaluated on and expected to do for my mid-res show–make objects, install them in an aesthetically appropriate fashion, light the work, advertise it, talk about it, write about it, invite faculty, cater an opening reception–all amounted to CalArts being a finishing school to the social graces and conventions of the art world. “I would hope so,” was his response, “We don’t want you to leave here without those skills.”
He’d prefer not to. (more)
From Susanna Bluhm of Getting To Know You Better:
I would love to go on some kind of massive research expedition to explore this very question. I want to know details about how other artists are making ends meet and making things work. I don’t know if it’s for commiseration or inspiration, or purely because no one ever talks about it. It was an unmentionable even in my grad school program, this “how to survive” issue. Is it because you don’t? Or at least not by doing art? I’ve heard “There’s always teaching,” but really there isn’t. Teaching art at the college level is extremely competitive, and in order to get a stable teaching job, MFA graduates must first be willing to (typically) move anywhere in the country to adjunct part-time at near-poverty wages. (more)
How to get covered by a daily newspaper:
Step one. Create a blog. Step two. Without taking off your pajamas, announce a contest for cities with your results. The smartest. The sexiest. The greenest. The most fat. Publish your top ten and send a link to your targets. Newspapers fall for it. The most desperate put you on the front page. In the rush to get your survey into print, mistakes are made.
From Fail Blog:
Good news after the fire: Less damage to Helio Oiticia’s life’s work than first reported.
From Greg.org:
Note to self, the Brazilian media & world’s wire services: the guy standing outside his burning house and saying he lost everything does not, in fact, know that everything is lost.
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Gay kiss-in from O My God Seattle here. I love flash mob art, so evocative of earlier models.
I’m so with Leap Into the Void. Artists do their work and then do other work to live. If on top of that, they have to do everything else associated with having a show, well, that sucks. Isn’t all that what curators and dealers and critics are for? Everything else?
God, there must be some middle ground – I love Buitron’s blog (thanks for sharing) and see his point, but at the same time too many artists are released into the wild without a clue. So I have to disagree with him. I’m probably the worst to talk – I’m an obsessive attender to detail and don’t mind being a workaholic. I like knowing everything that goes into a thing.
That said, if I could I’d drop that M-F 10-7 in a heartbeat. It would be awesome to focus only on my art career (and things that go into things).