When I say fight the man, it is implicit in my mea...

2007-10-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

When I say fight the man, it is implicit in my meaning that I do so in my own special way. And I am all about effectiveness. So for instance, when the police come to a GDI showing and announce, "You're going to have to shut this down." And I inquire gently which laws we are violating, and point out we are on private property, and get out my copy of the statute they are citing and point out parts of the statute that clearly permit us to be there, and it is all cordial (though sometimes a little tense), and the police go away with usually some last admonishment, I am fighting the man and fighting for art.

I know that some folk have allergies to grim-faced protest, and endless kevetching about the dominant paradigm, etc, and that the prospect of fighting the man -- or fighting anyone for that matter -- is uninteresting. I hear that and share a certain sensitivity to the same old ways of protest. But ever hopeful, I think resistance and making change does not have to be a dull monocrop.

Here are two question that I hope will illustrate why I am interested in not only making art, but making change:

1. Have y'all had the experience yet where you are doing something fabulous for your community and the authorities unbendingly stop you with no apparent precedent or reason?

2. Have you had the experience where the unconventional is tolerated -- but as it begins to affect real change in the way we interact with the world, it comes into conflict with the powers that be?

Speaking only for me, I am less interested in art as a way to pass time. As they say, at a minimum, I want it to hold a mirror up to the society in which we live.

I think that to those in power, art is okay as long as it stays in its place, provides an amusing distraction, or delves wholly within the realm of commerce. As soon as it steps out of its assigned place, you can expect resistance. Whether we greet that joyfully and creatively or grimly is up to us.

fuck juried shows. fuck membership fees. fuck ar...

2007-05-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

fuck juried shows. fuck membership fees. fuck art directories. fuck open fucking studios. fuck supporting the arts. fuck arts benefits. fuck studios and galleries. fuck waiting for anything.

if someone wants to have a show, I say they should set up a temporary galley right on Pacific for the day.

con·spir·a·cy1 : the act of conspiring together2 a...

2007-04-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

con·spir·a·cy
1 : the act of conspiring together
2 a : an agreement among conspirators

con·spire
to act in harmony toward a common end

I like the idea also of subverting the idea of art. You know, ART those objects that sit in galleries. I make them now and then and so do you. But I'm less interested in those objects than the process -- the creative uncommodifiable process -- it takes to get there.

Ya? Wha chu think?

Comments on Santa Cruz Art: SCART: What exactly is this?

When I say fight the man, it is implicit in my mea...

fuck juried shows. fuck membership fees. fuck ar...

con·spir·a·cy1 : the act of conspiring together2 a...