40/2021
I posted this to my social media accounts today, but I think I’m going to make my blog exclusive to Substack, so watch out for those emails.
It’s an interesting time to be an artist. Artists wrestle with experience through the inner workings of their minds and hearts and offer them back up to the world through whatever medium feels appropriate, or more likely, whichever one is available. It’s a constant exchange. But it doesn’t always flow as nicely as we’d like it to, especially now that we’re asked to sell what we make HERE. These days there is no better way to reach the people who might be interested in it. But throwing spiritual work into what sometimes feels like a spiritual wasteland is a questionable decision.
I know I’m not the only artist who feels this way, but we must sell our goods somehow, even if it's between memes of a dude on a toilet and an exotic animal account. And the truth is, the dude on a toilet meme will get more attention than a book I worked on for four years.
On one hand it’s great — we all now have the potential to reach the world. On the other hand, it isn’t. We are obliged to be here lest we risk losing our places in an incredibly crowded market. Social media is now our art gallery, bookstore, radio station, folk club, newsstand, and theatre. For most of us, this is no easy relationship. I suppose if we take it as what it really is, one big advertisement, then the transactional nature of it becomes less painful.
Though social media is at times enjoyable, we also know, or we are at least learning, the harm it has brought us. Our little hand computers rule our days and these forums simultaneously richen and cheapen our experiences. But does anything and everything belong here? Toilet meme, Georgia O’Keeffe painting, weird goat… in that order?
I have no answers. Only questions. I suppose the important thing is to keep asking them.
Arrows Down.
AM
While every single thing you’ve said is true, and social media is looked upon as a bane on our existence (by me, as well), I don’t know where I would have been without YOU and all you gave in the initial year of lockdown. Everything you did, the shows, the art, the words and book, YOU are the number one reason why social media saved me during the pandemic. YOU saved me like no one else. With that being said, I will follow YOU, whatever path YOU choose.
Arrows down. JB
The guy with the toilet seat will get a lot of attention, yes. But it's what, even 15 minutes now? Hardly. Your book will have what's called "the long tail" - it will sit on bookshelves, be loaned out, make its way into Little Free Libraries, be gifted at Christmas. Nobody gives the new mother of a special needs child the gift of a guy on the toilet. But your book will give someone a roadmap who needs one. That's the very special thing about art in book form.