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Posted by:

vinegartom

Date:

May 17th, 2007 4:15 PM

Header:

What are we all doing wrong?

Bulletin:

I just read that a Warhol painting just sold for $71 million dollars, specifically his 'Green Car Crash' piece. Personally when I read something like this I thank whatever god there is that I don't do this style of 'fine art' painting. In my experience, albeit limited, with that flavor of art career I have discovered it to be a game which makes a claim of representing for the masses while being controlled by the few. While Warhol's work, a commentary on certain aspects of mass culture, makes a closer approximation of our field he arrived too late in an American art scene too heavily altered by men like Greenberg. He and critics like him succeeded in forging a disconnect for the public regarding what art was. Between Duchamp and Warhol, the art community is still playing catch up; revising and reorganizing their history so that it doesn't stink quite so much anymore.

I attended the Maine College of Art like a decade ago and while I was there it slipped to a few of my professors that I was interested in comic books as a career possibility. I was asked why in the world I would ever want to do something so foolish. That same school last year invited Scott McCloud to speak and is currently working in conjunction with James Sturm's Center for Cartoon Studies. Is that crazy or what?

While I can't seem to convince art faculty about the need to reconnect with a public they can't seem to understand they've lost a long time past, every time I mention it to someone who is separate from that community they immediately know what I'm talking about. I think the best chance artists and the art community have of finding their way back into everyday acceptance is through elements of media from our culture. I, for one, would rather play at a game that is controlled by the many... for starters, competition allows for a broader range of quality control. Also I drew another image and included it in my gallery if anyone wants to know. It's in B&W because it was for a tattoo design for someone who lost their child.

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