capitalism and being an artist

Couple of days ago started thinking about selling artwork - why do it?

Throughout history the artist has by and large been subservient to wealthy patrons e.g. Medici. The artist has created artworks that are now collateral in our banks. These banks exist not for the safe keeping of our money but to maintain the status quo, a status quo where the gap between rich and poor is increasing. To take another slant, we proport that life is freer 'the free west' but we at every corner relinquish our freedom, for example the right to demonstrate. I can demonstrate but face possibly deportation, loss of earnings, and none coverage of any medical inquiry arising from demonstrating. I am labelled with many different numbers. My ability to live outside of society is near impossible. It is possible, many we regard as drunks, or drop outs, do live to a large degree outside the regulations of society. A society that is increasingly fitting into the model of a city life. The city with many regulations that control people to a much greater degree than in the countryside.

Now the artist is ever increasingly emulating the business man, or the corporate culture; web site, resume, corporate clients. Public Art, another slant, on how artists serve business. The site on which public art is placed increases in value. Artists themselves move into studios where they are a property developers dream, they again increase the property value and get kicked out for higher paying businesses to move in. Artists again another cog of the capitalist business model.

Even now after the financial crisis, governments are ineffectual in transforming the system to benefit the majority of the populous. There are many compelling reasons to support the financial industry but on a true playing field business that fail should be allowed to fail, (not thrown money at), therefore allowing better perhaps more cautious business to come to the forefront in the situation.

The artist a willing participant in this game of commercialism. I hate private views of my own work. I wait around chat to people, the power is not in my hands. Waiting around for someone to snap up my work. I will know nothing of this rich person who can do whatever they like with my cared for artistic babies. Should i now continue to sell my artwork? Let it be possible colateral in a bank vault? No, maybe I should just give them away to whoever I consider should have them. A real connection. A real exchange.

thought process lucinda104

thought process lucinda104, originally uploaded by lucinda104.

this me trying to figure stuff out

recent things

pleased with how things are going at the moment. art wise feel much clearer. Time away from rest of the world is hard but does make a difference.

this is only part of it - as i couldn't fit all of it onto the scanner but it communicates enough. i liked the curved of the paper and then the stick attachments really worked for me - there are only three which made it super cool.

This is Pia's photo which she gave to me when she left China. I really love it as an object with the removal of the surface at both top and bottom and the slightly folded corners. Feel that it is important 

idea for later

theo's painting

straight edges and squared paper

gone back to diagrams again but looking forward to having some more fun photographing them.

Like the contrast between selecting areas of composition for the photos and the page framing things for me in the actual diagrams. 

Using a Chinese account book that has lots of rip out pages I have been cutting them up and rearranging them. I see several abstract artists in my head when I make them. Not just Martin but Mondrian too. But, something different from Mondrian. Want to try to add some colour maybe this blue that I keep wanting to use.

Inbetween these works I went back to some hand drawn family tree like diagrams. Can't decide if I want to use serious colour in these or just to stick to greys and creams. Not sure.

sort of feel that I am constantly wobbling between the clinical humanless (but human - a contradition I know but bit like the photorealists in a way) and the fragile falable human line. Also, have same problem with colour - keep wanting to add riotus joyous colour but generally don't like the results - it doesn't have the inside of a church emptiness sort of feel that I want ... most of the time.

SUPREMATISM ////// \\\\\\\////\\//\\//\\\\.....//..\.,

Really feel happy today as re-looked and thought about Suprematism, specifically Malevich.

(this is from a blog - personally this one is too colourful for me)

What I read today - in more a list/note form than formed sentences - but quotes from 'Styles Schools and Movements'

art of pure geometrical abstraction 

trying to liberate the world from the ballast of the representational world

supremacy of the world greater than the world of appearances

reception of art was an independent spiritual activity, not political, utilitarian or for social purposes

'sensation of infinity'

creating and illusion of space and movement as the elements seem to float in front of the canvas

I am particularily interested in the white on white series - for the floatingness.

 - from MOMA website (or another blog that got it from there)

I'm interested in this extremely sensitivity, banality, where nothing is done but so much is said. There is something really important, to me, about this cool white on the warm ground. The other way around isn't the same at all.

Well what I am getting at is..... this play with surface, pure geometry is something that I am doing in the installations, in the diagrams + with the photographs. I feel that Suprematism is a sort of anchor to my practice - stopping me from going off too far on wild overly imaginative jaunts (which I have a tendency to do do). I don't feel that my work is just about geometry, it is about reducing words and symbols to the level of geometry, about leading the viewer into it and leaving them no where.

todays lines and more lines and some rectangles

Today, like yesterday I was struck by how much I liked the debris around rubbed out pencils lines, or just the effect before you brush away or the tiny pieces of used up rubber. Sort of reminds me of ploughed fields.

Went on to do lots of lines. Trying to generate space, but a subtly too. Not such much vanishing point but lines going across akin to lined paper, but not as regular. Keep thinking of SciFi movies for some reason. Anyway partly pleased with todays piece. Again I am going back to diagrams on paper as apposed to works that are purely photographs in their own right.

Though these look perspectival, the camera is just on the surface paper. The work is just lines going across the page with a rectangle or a square at each lines end.

Rather liked the white on the cream paper. The white paint that I have isn't white enough for my white paper, comes out cream and not the coolness that I want. On cream paper it works fine.  This moves me on nicely to my next post.