Popcorn, Pretentious Artists, and Titties!

1. Popcorn.

Let's take a trip back to the Elk's lodge. I work there. Did you know? It's been triggering quite a few ideas for me this year and here is one more. Popcorn. Everyday we make a bunch of popcorn that no one really ever eats. At the end of the night we throw all the uneaten popcorn away. There is almost always enough popcorn left over to fill at least two plastic grocery bags to the bursting point. I will make something with this corn. In a week I could have a garbage can full. In a month I might be able to fill a closet. So popcorn. Discarded. Wasted. Every single day. Seven days a week. Sometimes an older man comes in and takes the leftovers for the birds. But he is the only one who wants to re-purpose it... until now!

2. Every artist who reminds me who I do not want to be. (aka excessively pretentious artists)

What is it with artists? Why do we exhibit narcissism, act pretentious, and generally roll around like we da best? ...because we are? Throughout art history the self portrait has shown us a high interest in the self among visual artists. I have done so many self portraits to date I'm tired of drawing my face. Self portraits aren't really the point. Acting pretentious is the point. We all do it at some time or another. I think it varies in the intensity and overall effect from person to person. Why do some artists internally decided they are significantly better than everyone else? Is it a defense mechanism? We create. We are sensitive. I have never seen such self consciousness paired with such attitude. We all want to be the best. We all want work that sticks out. We all want to put on our swag.

Ultimately we are a community. There is no reason for such ill will and nasty comments. Saturday I went to the Sculpture X conference in Ohio. There was a 'round table' discussion. Ya know, just a place to share opinions and gain new points of view. But it never really ends up that nice nice nice. Someone gets upset. Raises their voice. Acts a fool. The end. Sometimes it's okay to keep the snarky comments to yourself. One individual at this discussion rubbed me deliberately the wrong way. Maybe I offended him. I thought we were just mulling around some opinions about 'selling out.' He vehemently disagreed. Too abrasive. I left.

Why do we do this to ourselves and each other?

Can't we all just get along?

It is encounters with artists like the one at the conference who remind me of the person I do not want to become. It is hard as artists to balance our emotions. But ultimately we are in this together, and against each other. But alone our powers are much less significant than they are as a cohesive community.

3. Titties!

I used to get ArtNews. I think my subscription expired. Maybe I'll get on that. Anyway, in a recent edition there was a little blurb about some girl Andy Warhol knew. She made a 'tit print' on someone's piece. That's what the ArtNews said, "tit print." You know how sometimes you look at art and say, "I could do that." Well, I said that. I'm doing that.

On my cyanotype I added a tit print. The process is actually super hilarious. You can imagine how that goes down. I have this giant canvas I want to fill with 'tit prints'. Aside from the slightly outrageous fact that it is a print of one's breast, the 'tit print' actually has some visually interesting things going on. So we'll see what happens. This semester is the semester of art purging.

Everything. All the time.