Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Artist Myths

Can you count how many myths about artists are in this video clip? You are an artist if you are:
  • smug
  • male
  • socially inappropriate or anti-social
  • say and do things to shock and/or hurt others
  • abuse alcohol and drugs
  • physically abuse self and/or others
  • promiscuous or into kinky sex
  • suffer way more than other people do
  • a slave to your muse
  • make art that sells comercially
  • make art that isn't really art
  • disdainful of non-artists wannabe's
  • arrogant
  • unwashed, unkempt
  • pee in Peggy Guggenheim's fireplace
  • con the public with crap
  • can't spell or write clearly
  • disenfranchised

This video is the perfect example of why I hate calling myself an artist although I clearly am one. Have I left any other myths out? Oh, yeah...artists shouldn't have kids.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

June 2009 Graduates

Big Congratulations to all my artist friends at The Art Institute of Boston for this June 2009 residency especially the new graduates. I went up to Boston to see the new work of the incoming students and listen to the thesis artists talks given by the June graduating class. As always the artist talks were riveting and the new work from incoming students amazing. I'll start posting some of the wonderful art I saw.

First two of the fifteen June 2009 MFA Graduates

Lynda Schlosberg's large acrylic paintings 55"x110" were mind blowing.These huge intricate lovely paintings conceptually asks the question, is space really empty? She visually explores what space might look like if all the energy surrounding us collapsed into one plane of reality.

Lynda Schlosberg

I loved being close to these large paintings as they read totally different from viewing them from afar. The color changes were spectacular up close, we are looking at the upper right corner in this detail. I know for a fact, she worked for months on this one painting.


Melissa Kulig knocked my socks off with her drawings as she seeks to confront the notion of a woman's appropriate behavior in society and how those boundaries have shifted since the 19th century. The emotional connection to the dark side makes her drawings compelling. Shown here is her thesis drawing, a large pencil drawing showing a raging woman. Look closely at what the dress is made of. Melissa was also the recipient of the scholarship award my graduating class left as our legacy at The Art Institute of Boston. Double congrats to Melissa.

More new work and images to follow, stay tuned!

Melissa Kulig