I’m signed up for the revolution, the one Bernie talks about. He’s suggesting, I believe, a new definition of citizenship, the empowerment and sovereignty of average people, the redefinition of the term ‘self-interest’ to be broader and more inclusive than just grubbing for more money, and I applaud him for it. It’s visible on the horizon, coming this way, but it’s in a race. Other ‘interests,’ various forms of anthill collective, will try to get here first. In the face of this mortal competition for the fate of the planet and humanity, painters make their humble ‘drummer boy’ contribution, not carrying signs but deep in studios trying to bend the group mind all around them toward a more thoughtful self-regard, a more enlightened and communal self-interest.
For their influence to take effect their artwork must be seen, exchanged in the marketplace, fairly distributed in the community, and in the past the inability to even reach an audience has nullified a lot of studio effort around here, anywhere you happen to be. Average people have been excluded from access to art on purpose. Cultural elites control state-sponsored art, directing grants, supporting cultural institutions, with academics at all levels on payroll, and their guiding principle has been whatever seems offensive to the middle class and common sensibility can’t be that bad, must be good. This peculiar inversion, the less than glamorous hand-biting reflex of guilty dependency, was made into like a law about a hundred years back by Duchamp, favored genius of leisure classes.
Hear the call -- pull the plug, take back local control, see what happens. Imagine no NEA, and instead of immediate sympathy for pale hothouse grant-jockeys facing sunlight, consider the effect on the common citizen no longer baffled by artistic posturing, condescended to by salaried arts professionals, shunted off to athletic competitions while art remains a notch above, sophisticated and remote, over their heads. Would these six-pack people respond to the art created by area artists if they were to see it everywhere, everyday? Would average citizens begin to visit the serenely quiet non-profit galleries, even now, if they had an expectation of finding art they admired, perhaps by an artist they know or whose work they’ve followed? Maybe. Would artists give up the pursuit of establishment acceptance, grants, acknowledgements and awards, fame and glamour, and seek common ground with their neighbors instead? It could happen.
Political implications are clear, point made, agree or not, but the art would get a lot better, that’s for sure. Passion in studios, recognizing art on neighbor’s walls, warm clothes for artists in winter, and something to talk about besides ‘them cats.’ Bernie’s world.
For their influence to take effect their artwork must be seen, exchanged in the marketplace, fairly distributed in the community, and in the past the inability to even reach an audience has nullified a lot of studio effort around here, anywhere you happen to be. Average people have been excluded from access to art on purpose. Cultural elites control state-sponsored art, directing grants, supporting cultural institutions, with academics at all levels on payroll, and their guiding principle has been whatever seems offensive to the middle class and common sensibility can’t be that bad, must be good. This peculiar inversion, the less than glamorous hand-biting reflex of guilty dependency, was made into like a law about a hundred years back by Duchamp, favored genius of leisure classes.
Hear the call -- pull the plug, take back local control, see what happens. Imagine no NEA, and instead of immediate sympathy for pale hothouse grant-jockeys facing sunlight, consider the effect on the common citizen no longer baffled by artistic posturing, condescended to by salaried arts professionals, shunted off to athletic competitions while art remains a notch above, sophisticated and remote, over their heads. Would these six-pack people respond to the art created by area artists if they were to see it everywhere, everyday? Would average citizens begin to visit the serenely quiet non-profit galleries, even now, if they had an expectation of finding art they admired, perhaps by an artist they know or whose work they’ve followed? Maybe. Would artists give up the pursuit of establishment acceptance, grants, acknowledgements and awards, fame and glamour, and seek common ground with their neighbors instead? It could happen.
Political implications are clear, point made, agree or not, but the art would get a lot better, that’s for sure. Passion in studios, recognizing art on neighbor’s walls, warm clothes for artists in winter, and something to talk about besides ‘them cats.’ Bernie’s world.
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