For example, if you do end up making work that contests the war or, for that matter, any “politicized” artwork, a gallery or a museum is the very last place it should be shown. It should end up in the hands of a buyer/collector who sympathizes with the cause and then can facilitate its exposure to a larger social network. Or it should end up on the street, in front of hundreds, to be debated and discussed like thousands of different opinions everyday.
A friend recently told me about an exhibit she organized after 9/11. She opened up her gallery to the public, left art materials and frames on the table, and let anyone, anywhere, at any time – express themselves. She quite unassumingly said, “People need a place to process.” It occurred to me that the processing of too much information and the sometime visceral emotions it can produce has put the artist and the public at the very same crossroads of stifling any substantive response or differences, and in those rare occasions when they do succeed, there exist very few places where it can be safely shared. For all the freedoms a democracy gives us, they are just as easily regulated by reactionary conservative policy. Which, by the way, most artists don’t do well surviving underneath.
I don’t doubt the integrity of most work made by artists; what I do question is the efficiency of the content and message within the artwork that has been lobotomized by the environment in which it is contained – i.e. the galleries and museums. Should it really matter where we see good art? Take the importance off the institution and sales, and look what is left – the art. Why not let the museums archive? Let them be the keepers of the Holy Grail, the sacred and the profound; let the art fairs and biennials expand and encompass the latest artistic movement or technology; build larger and better cultural centers that encompass all the arts, dance, theatre, et al – places where people come to study, create, live, and work. Let galleries die off, let the art of education and the education of the arts reign freely in public and educational institutions, vote into office candidates sympathetic to the arts; and finally, for those who buy and collect, let them, of course, via access to a data bank of images and stock.
In my dreams, right?
If we’re dreaming, why not make it a reality? The reality is that it may start with the artist, but it doesn’t always end with the artwork. The work and the artist have to have something, that little extra something, a little magic that comes from within their soul – it is the only thing that is going to make them unique and recognizable. Art can’t lie, it never could; if it tries, it fails, no matter how hard you try to paint it differently. If it fails, it fails us. Let’s change the system, let’s make something good, don’t be so selfish, and don’t rely on others or the marbled hallways to justify it. Make art because it’s you — your technique and style are just the tools to get the job done. The medium is the message. What do you have to lose?
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