Well I had this long post written about storytelling and digital narcissism all typed out. I quoted H.P Lovecraft and talked about my favorite moments in Seattle. Then with one refresh the entire thing was gone. So while I have my tantrum under control I think I’ll post some more art from the last show. Stupid Google Chrome… I swear it was deep and philosophical… IT WAS!
Just go in my refills for my copics so I’ve been going crazy!
Spent a little time doing some traditional work. I’m working on Copic brand paper for a change, which is new for me. The paper I was using was much thicker and thus prone to feathering and bleeding. Which is no bueno when you’re trying to stay in the lines. Overall I like the new paper! It’s smooth and has removed pretty much all of my marker bleeding problems, which is also good for conserving your marker pigments. I ordered my paper from The Drawing Board which was awesome. I got a 25% discount plus free shipping. Rad.
Here’s a little sketch I did on the same paper.
Working on show stuff now, exciting! Next show is October 14th, hope to see you there :3
Whoever said “money can’t buy happiness” didn’t live during a recession. No, money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy peace of mind. And I don’t know about you, but peace of mind makes me pretty damn happy. At 26, many people my age are unemployed or desperately underemployed. Others are hiding out in school, living off their student loans and waiting for the economy to improve. The idea of the American Dream has become a joke to our generation, as well it should be. Flocks of highly educated youth with nowhere to go, nowhere to work. Waiting for our lives to begin, American Nightmare is more like it.
Many try to sell things online: art, crafts, clothing, anything. Just trying to supplement our income. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that trying to sell things online is quite like pissing into the ocean. No one is going to notice. You’ve got a million people trying to sell macrame crafts they themselves would never buy. And the more people who are trying to sell online, the fewer people can afford it.
On places like DeviantArt I see artists selling their wares for “points”. Usless fake money that can only be redeemed for stuff sold by DeviantArt. Selling their work for literally pennies on the dollar. The forums are flooded with job postings. The second someone posts an offer, even as low as 10 dollars, the place is crammed full of artists striving for a job. Any job. They post their portfolios and list off their previous satisfied customers. But all I hear is:
Help me. I need this. Help me, I need to buy textbooks, I need to pay my power bill I need to put gas in my car, please, I need this, I need that, please help me.
And it makes me sad. To think so many of us are raging against mediocrity. Wanting to be more, wanting to recognized for being talented. The American Dream is no longer Suburbia and white picket fences, it’s being able to make living doing something you love. Working a job that doesn’t demean you. And so many of us will fail.
For my drawing class this term, we watched Basquiat, a film about Jean Michele Basquiat made in 1996. My teacher’s idol whom he proclaimed was the greatest artist of his generation… okay. I have a tremendous amount of respect for my art teacher, he’s awesome. But this… nnno. I’m sorry. If this movie is to be believed, and he assured us, although romanticized, it was accurate then uuhh…
The only thing this movie proved to me was that a.) Jean Michell Basquiat could not draw, and b.) Jean Michele Basquiat was a total douche. The movie itself was incredible! Benicio del Toro, David Bowie as Andy Warhol (!!), Christopher Walken, this movie was up to it’s balls in talent. All to fictionalize the life of a man who painted like a 3 year old.
I have issues with abstract expressionism in general. It can be beautiful, it can be powerful OR it can be smearing white paint on stacks of tires. After seeing the film, I understand the symbolism, like, I get it. But I had to watch a whole fucking movie about this guys life to even begin to get it. I know there are those who would say, “Oh you need to open your mind, you just don’t get it.” This is a classic artist snub, and I call total bullshit on it. First of 
all, Jean Michele started out as a graffiti artist. If you have a really strong message or something powerful you want to convey to the world-they have to be able to understand it. You can’t draw a tin can on the side of building and then chastise the public for not understanding your genius. In the world of graffiti, the neighborhood that you tag is your canvas, that community is your public. And if they can’t understand what your trying to convey- well, that’s your problem.
BUT LO. Jean Michele was discovered by Andy Warhol, and launched him into super stardom. My opinion of Andy Warhol is withheld here, for fear some graphic designer may reach through the internet and tear my eyeballs out through the socket. He went from living in a box in a New York park to being rich beyond his wildest dreams. Like a Disney Princess! Eventually he overdosed on heroin and died at the infamous age of 27. People really thought he was an artistic genius. I don’t see that. I see a guy who cooked his brain on drugs, who may or may not have been mentally ill, and got rich doing very little work. In fact, I see this man’s life as more of a work of art than his real art. He lived in New York in the 70′s, the son of a Haitian immigrant. He endured all the ugly racism of the era, and the snobbery of the art community, only to rise up as their master. He drew total crap, which because of the right connections was interpreted as genius by rich, white dipshits. He got rich and got the white man to praise him for doing absolute crap. Now that is artistic genius.
