Jon Coffelt, highly acclaimed artist, activist and curator, is a former gallery owner living and working in Manhattan. Coffelt decided to keep his distinctive Southern drawl.
Seems everything is a competition these days from “American Idol” to “So You Think You Can Dance.” Everyone is pitted against everyone else and competition is a given rather than an option. Voting seems to be the new way we maneuver our world these days. Sadly, art organizations and public not for profits are now having to compete one against another for funding from multinationals like Chase bank and Pepsi. When I heard on NPR, just the other day, about so many getting on the bandwagon, I knew there was some reason for it. I mean, some of these concerns got public funds just to ride out the downturn in the economy and now they are all high and mighty deeming who gets a pittance from them and who doesn’t based on popularity and nothing more. I feel there are some organizations who are very important who need the money who will not be in the running because they are not popular and are not part of the common denominator. These organizations only do this as a way for you to go in and vote to get your personal information as an advertising tool for them. This, in and of itself is a very selfish act. By pitting organizations against one another they are the only winners here and we lose once again as a society. Popularity contests are only good for some things and not for others. In this era of “us against them,” I hope we realize who is in the “win” seat here and who becomes pawns in their multinational game of chess.
Being there myself a few times, I know how it is to have a physical situation that keeps one from where you mentally and physically feel that you need to be. I also understand what fallow means and sometimes we just need to let things be. Be what they are to strengthen us.
My hope is for you get back to where you want to be but in the meantime I want to give you something to think about.
I remember when I was out of physical sorts and so worried that things were just not gelling for me. I was getting behind, or so I thought, only to understand that spiritually I was getting ahead and things I could not figure out before just sort of came pouring to me when I wasn’t physically drained.
Sometimes we have to remember that we are functioning on so many levels that it take one getting off kilter for the others to kick it up a notch. To be fallow in one area only means to grow and develop in another. Let the fallow parts replenish then you are working on all cylinders, so to speak.
This is my hope for you:
Keep making that wonderful work and keep your heart intact. Be mindful of this reflection of the moment and let it carry you to your next phase. A most productive and fruitful one it will be. Keep on keeping on because over the next horizon is your city of gold.
Go make great art. You demand it of yourself but be easy too.
This is just a way for you to reconnect with what is really important to you.
We say we want to try new things but we find reasons not to. We say we want to go to distant lands more yet we hold ourselves back. What is it about us that wants to hold onto the present longer than it actually exists or, at some point, even has meaning? Sometimes what we hold onto the longest is the weight that pulls us down. The very thing that becomes our biggest obstacle, our biggest fear. Have you ever stopped to think what it would be like to make a 180 degree turn?
Well, arguably the world’s best known graffiti artist, Banksy, the renowned has struck again. This time again in New York City. Michael Skolnik of Global Grind has posted Banksy’s newest displays of affection. http://www.globalgrind.com/channel/cultu… Four pieces have been sited since May 1 around New York City. The pieces are the freshest thing out there. Banksy is the Brit who is just as big inside a gallery as on the raw streets. Police have been chasing him for years and collectors have broken up the concrete on sidewalks where his work appears and selling it for hundreds of thousands of dollars yet Banksy’s identity remains a mystery. Is “a shroud of mystery” the new black? Anything that stirs the heart and effects the public is what gets our attention. There are definitely things we can learn as an art community based on the covert actions of an artist like Banksy. What does one conjure up with ideas as legitimate and Illegitimate as those of the unknown Banksy? http://www.globalgrind.com/channel/cultu…
Street villain/Gallery/babe, Graffiti tagger/legitimate lauded artist All juxtapositions. All Banksy. Arts expectations are concurrently changing and morphing. Where do we fit in?
I have asked myself this very questions so many times of late. Do we, as artists, comprehend opportunities that present themselves to us? Are we too jaded to see them? Are we blind to the fact that they are all around us? What is it that quantifies an opportunity? Are we only looking at sales to boost our bottom line? Are we only seeing the surface of things instead of digging down deeper?
Personally I see so many opportunities and for me this is much more about having the time to implement these ideas into positive change for me and my work. I sometimes feel pulled thin with wondering what to pursue. I have so many pans in the fire but this can sometimes work against me and I need clearer boundaries or I get so much in my head that I am no longer clear to make the right decisions.
We are all products of our environments in so many ways and to understand how we can take obstacles and turn them into stepping stones is very important. What quantifies an opportunity for you?
The most wonderful thing about art is that it is always changing. What is new becomes old and what is old becomes new again. This pulse, if you will, is what keeps art alive and interesting. News headlines create a sense of fashion and taste and are made to sale newspapers and magazines. Media outlets need information to come in and out of fashion in order to exist. What is most fitting to me is that we have so much information coming at us at any one time and I understand that art is a way we focus and clarify what is going on around us and what is the pulse of the day.
Art is the spiritual realm of commerce. Artists are the shaman. Artists change things. Art changes attitudes. It opens doors and it certainly changes minds and mindsets. It is the artists ability to make sense of it all. We take this undulating information and absorb it and release it to the masses. Art allows us to actually live and not just exist. As an artist, if you feel that you are just existing then you are doing something wrong. Change it up. Use a new different color or chord or movement. Kick out of the old set of rules and start applying something new that bends you and makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about yourself. Be malleable and elastic and push yourself beyond the limits of what you think is you. Only then will you feel the most alive. Be the change you want to see in this crazy world.
I keep hearing that the economy is indeed turning around. The housing market is getting stronger and in the past this has usually meant more sales and work for architects, landscapers, furniture companies and last but not least, those of us who do artwork.
Hopefully we will begin to see more and more sales as the year progresses and we slowly climb out of this debacle.
Several of my artists friends are seeing things turn around somewhat and are feeling good about the coming art season.
I am curiously expecting a miracle. What about you?
Why cant people just do the right thing? What is so complicated about following up on what one has agreed to? It seems that people just talk to get what they want and to hear themselves talking. They say and do things that have little or nothing to do with reality or what they really feel or mean. Does this make them feel good about themselves even at the expense of others? In Michael Moore’s words, We live in the new age of greed.”
We all understand that there is always two sides to every coin so how is it that we are told one thing and what really happens is quite another? Honestly, has this economy made people crazy? Do we ever consider the consequences or if something is even ethical or not? Is this why our society has to become so litigious because of a few bad apples? Many questions here but not many answers.
We are all guilty of a little greed at one time or another but this situation has become rampant especially the abuse in the art world and most especially among a limited few, the narcissistic gallery owners who cant pay their artists nor the people who have done all of the work for them. Yet they take all the praise and accolades without a second thought of who helped put them there. These vampires are giving all the galleries a bad name. Shame on them. One bad apple…well, you know the story. What do you think about this mess?
Seems things are beginning to look up or maybe we have all just decided to do something about it. Get out there! Make some new work!. Get ready to jump start this economy if you have to.
Art is still moving and people are still buying what they cannot live without. Key here is to make work that is the most valid and the best you can make. Give it your all. Paint like every piece will be in a museum one day. Thinking this way helps more than you may think. This technique opens the mind to higher possibilities.
We face the fact that so many of us had the wind knocked out of us and now its time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again. Fancy that!
Changing your mind. We’ve all been here. It’s just a part of being human. It is our prerogative. Sometimes it is a survival technique. All of us have at one time or another worked our fingers to the bone, dealt with other people’s freak issues and primarily, we are just trying to get through life. This has become the new status quo these days. Users impede us and as hard as we try not to let them they do their best to get in our way and trip us up. They annoy and dismay us to no end but what they cannot do is own us. We have the ability to tune them out or toss them aside. When situations seem overbearing, it’s time to rethink the situation and decide if it is really worth it or not. We do have the right to say enough is enough. Is it really worth asking someone to do something for you over and over again? I think this just wears us down and wastes our precious time and energy. Take a stand for yourself. You can change the dialog of your life, right here, right now.
Our expectations change over time. Maybe we no longer want to tow the line for someone else to get all the glory. Maybe we don’t want nor feel the need to be part of another person’s craziness. There’s nothing like hearing a blowhard toot their own horn at others expense. This is insanity incarnate. Just say, I have changed my mind and this ain’t worth it. Let them implode without pulling you in. You are worth more than their ego.
Letting go of prior commitments may at first seem irresponsible even unprofessional but I assure you sometimes its the only way for us to keep our sanity and integrity and get away from more damage. It’s your time to sweep out the garbage and trash in your life and start anew with people who really count and that you can count on. People who care about you and want what is best for everyone is the only way to go these days. Garner real friendships where mutual respect is assured and no one feels left out or slighted. Don’t let yourself be sucked dry by petty individuals. Just say to them, “I’ve changed my mind.” Then go and get your life back.
