Dumb things people say...

[EJB]

There was a brief article in the recent ART CALENDAR magazine in which the author described some of the rude, obnoxious or otherwise just dumb things people say to artist trying to sell their work. Things like, 'Do you make a living at this, how much do you make a year?', 'How long did it take you to make?', 'How much did your materials cost?', 'Why should I buy that, my kid could do one just like it", etc. I was reminded of this phenomenon during the recent ARTWALK in Venice, California. While in an artist's studio I witnessed this guy, who failing to negotiate a half-off deal with the artist, took out his camera and took a picture of the piece stating that he has a friend who will make it for a lot less. I've personally never had anything that bad but pretty close. What other things have people done or said in response to your work for sale that was just off the wall. I think this could shed some interesting light for those contemplating the business of ART.

[JasonGillespie]

This is not, unfortunately, uncommon behavior among "the great unwashed". (I use this term lovingly") I have heard a few such questions. "What good is art?" "Can you draw pets?" "Are you a starving artist?" Some are earnestly seeking information without realizing they sound ignorant and then there are others that just want to be "witty". I can say I've grown accustomed to most comments and can keep a straight face when asked these gems, still, it is bothersome that these remarks are a barometer of our culture's disconnect from the arts as a whole.

Flip side is that I have many people who tell me the oft heard phrase, "I can't draw a straight line". They then go on to tell me how lucky I am that I can do what I do and how much they wish they could. This tempers my outlook a bit. Despite the aforementioned disconnect, many people seem to understand that there is something magical about creating something out of nothing.

Obviously there are those that want to belittle your creation out of some deepseated envy...these are the ones I really don't pay much attention to. Most likely they also criticize people in other fields that are unrelated to the arts. It is, in my opinion, a character flaw.

[Araich]

"You could put a light in there and sell it as a lamp".

[iron ant]

Jason,as usual well said,and Araich I have herd the lamp bit too.The most freeking asked though is always about the money.How much do you make,how much is it ect.Sometimes It feels good to look at these people and tell them your sculpture cost more than the car they are driving,because they probally buy there art at walmart.Opps I forgot to mention I used to be part of a county art tour,and that is where most of my experiences like this came from...... :)

[jvc stone]

Here's a good one for you---

I previously posted about the Sculptor's Dominion Show in San Antonio. This year some one (anonymously) call the zoning department complaining about a yard sale that had nothing but junk for sale. Wanted the city to shut it down.
The resulting media coverage was sure good for the show though. :p
JVC

[PeterG]

Last year, a woman was admiring one of my sculptures when her partner (why is it always the men?) dragged her away, saying "I could do that in a couple of hours"!

It made my day when she returned later, purchased the item and apologised for his behavior, suggesting that he could have done it except that he lacked the talent, imagination, knowledge and equipment to do so....HA!

I have also had the "turn it into...a light...shower...gas heater...barbeque...outdoor wine cooler....and even a bloody boot scraper!
Needless to say, my tounge is covered in tooth marks....

[obseq]

With comments like these, there is still such an instsence that "art is for everyone??"

Some of things I read below are such a slap in the face.

"You could put a light in there and sell it as a lamp"

'Why should I buy that, my kid could do one just like it"


"....and even a bloody boot scraper!"

:eek:

[GaryR52]

I'm reminded of the time I was photographing another sculptor's monumental abstract in front of a shopping mall and overheard the following conversation between a couple of women who were watching me:

"Why would anyone take a picture of that?"

"I dunno. What is it, anyway?"

"I guess it's supposed to be some kind of artwork or somethin'," after which they both laughed.

Welcome to Oklahoma, folks.

Gary

[Tilly]

Hi all...I don't really remember the time when I laughed so much while being in a forum, you guys are great, and I do really pity a bit persons that put some much soul in their work and in the end hear al kind of "pearls" like those mentioned here..I bet the most common is " I can easily do that by myself", just don't take it too personally:)
By the way, I have something for you too..I used to sell furniture and all kinds of statues in a salon and the most common and annoying question I heard regarding some sculptures of Greek Gods was : " Why does he have that " thingie" so small? I don't want this mutant in my house !! ;)
And for God's sake how could I answer to this question??
Keep on writting, it's really entertaining this topic.:P

[bluedogshuz]

I dunno I wondered about greek penis too? But then again I don't recall a godess with pendulous breast... That woulda been my answer! I have 3 people in my gallery say Im a lousy painter but my sculptures are great. Everybodies a critic! My neighbor used to tell me to have a "tag" sale on my lawn to sell my marble sculptures... I politely told him I would bury them in the back yard that way future civilazations could appreciate them for what they are...

[GaryR52]

I'm reminded of the time, back in the early eighties, when I was trying to sell my abstract paintings and had created a business card for them, with a full color reproduction of one of my Abstract Expressionist paintings on the card. I was in a jazz club one night and was in the middle of a conversation with a woman to whom I had just handed one of my cards. The reaction? "...and I HATE your art!" the very instant she saw it. I just smiled and said, "Ummm....okay," then turned my back to her and started talking to someone else.

Then there was the woman I invited to my apartment, about the same period, who only frowned like she was looking at aliens from Alpha Centauri when I showed her my sculptures. When I showed her a large chicken wire armature for a non-objective piece I was working on in plaster she just said "What IS it?" When I told her it was an armature for a sculpture she again asked, "But, what IS it?" I then said, "You mean what does it represent?" She said, "Yes, what IS it?," then I had to explain to her the entire history of the modern art movement of the twentieth century before she finally understood that not all artwork has to be representational. We've got some swift ones down here, let me tell you. ;)

Gary

[oddist]

Gary,

They're all over...

And here in New England Massachusetts just announced it was cutting funding to its Art Education Program.

So..."What IS it?"

[GaryR52]

I'm not surprised, Oddist. I was working on a teaching certificate in 1995, toward teaching art at the high school level...until I discovered that there not only was no demand for art teachers anymore, but that most school systems all over the country had either drastically cut back or eliminated their art programs, or were planning to do so. It's a far different world than the one I grew up in. I had art education throughout my school years. These poor kids today are being short-changed. What a disgrace.

Gary

[bluedogshuz]

Oddist,
What is it? It is yet another failure of the education system. If we want to educate people about ART we better get on MTV instead of HGTV. Artist have good reason to be angry (although I am totally Peace loving). I live in St. Petersburg Florida and we are going to be "the ART city", why? Because it increases REal Estate Values, thats why! I remember Jaggers line about NY, Yea, take a bite of the apple... don't mind the maggots! What good is Art if nobody knows what it is? Talk about giving it away, we have to educate, wipe off the rotten tomatos, spend our resources etc. Iget really angry... especially with the school system, and in New England don't tell me there is a shortage of cash... cause I lived up that way and City Hall got those gold domes off the working class people... disgusting :mad:

[GaryR52]

This reminds me of where I live, Edmond, Oklahoma. In Edmond, a bedroom community of some 80,000, just north of Oklahoma City, we have an annual art budget, approved by the city council, and there have been a number of outdoor sculptures placed as a result. In fact, recently, there was a concern that our small downtown area was becoming rapidly glutted with outdoor sculpture, or, as the mayor put it, "we have more sculptures than we do buildings in our downtown area." But, even though Edmond's on the ball, as far as promoting art goes, it's what they are choosing that concerns me. Maybe it's just my bias, as a modernist, but, I'm a little apalled at their tendency to use only lifesize figurative sculpture, mostly by the same artist. I don't know the artist's name, but he is a J. Seward Johnson wannabe who does wholesome Norman Rockwellish tableau (a kid in a tire swing, a boy on a bicycle delivering papers, a man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper, etc.). The whole town has become just a portfolio of this guy's work. To be fair, there is one piece, recently installed on a thin center median on the main street through downtown, and it is clearly by a different artist and in a less realistic style. It's a wolf, oddly enough, seated on a high pedestal and positioned right between lanes of traffic. It's the oddest thing I've seen them do, yet. The wolf is highly stylized, so it's difficult to tell if it's intended to be a wolf or a German shepherd, but it looks more wolfish to me. My question to the city council is, why this subject and what is it supposed to signify? All the other sculptures were obviously chosen to give the town back some of the late 19th century charm it once had, though the attempt is feeble and ill-conceived and has been accompanied by the installation of new light poles, here and there, that are styled to resemble 19th century gas lighting. The whole thing is so embarrassingly contrived it makes me want to scream. Aside from the wolf, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of any abstract sculptor slipping a piece or two in anywhere within the city limits. As for Oklahoma City, I haven't seen any new original sculpture installed anywhere since Alexander Lieberman had a large outdoor piece installed in front of Leadership Square in the downtown business district, but that was back in the early eighties.

P.S.: I take that back. There have been some new sculptures installed in Oklahoma City more recently, including a land run commemorative down at the banks of the newly renamed portion of the North Canadian (now, in downtown, referred to as the "Oklahoma River") and there is a bison grouping under a Centennial Expressway overpass, plus a whole slew of identical fiberglass buffaloes all over downtown, painted in garish schemes by local artists.

Gary

[bluedogshuz]

as far as public art goes we simply have wimpy leaders that are as myopic as the public. I am not sure that even has anything to do with education, it is the culture you are in. I lived in Torrington Connecticut for a while. When I first got there one of the things that struck me about the town (besides it was on its knees financially) is that someone had the courage to build a Vietnam memorial that was abstract granite fountain, very surreal. I don't know who commissioned it but I bet some Vets form Nam liked the fact that it was quite surreal and ugly/beautiful in its statement. Or how about Mayor Daly the mayor that lived in the same bluecollar neighborhood even though he was one of the most influential politicians of the 60's deciding the city needed one up on NY and installed a huge Picasso in the middle of the City. The residents of Chicago werwe horrified! The mayor stood by it and now it is the symbol of Chicago. People asked Daly what is it and he said "Picasso told me it is a woman" and G..damn it I believe him" (he didn't really say that but you know what I mean).

[GaryR52]

Well, seen from the front, it looks sort of like a woman's head...er, Picasso style, that is. Actually, I think it's a pretty fair adaptation of his cubist paintings to three dimensions. But, I've often wondered what it looks like from the side, though. ;)

P.S.: I just found this page showing the process of creating the Land Run piece I mentioned above: http://www.crownartsinc.com/land_run_photos.htm

Gary

[bluedogshuz]

OH my God!!!! You need to move to Florida or New Mexico or something. Do they also make saloons with bronze barmaids out front so the tourist can take pictures? I'm sorry but I thoght Florida was tacky........

[GaryR52]

Now you see what I mean about this "cowboy and Indian" stuff? ;)

Seriously, though, it's supposed to commemorate the Land Run of 1889, which founded Oklahoma City (as well as most of the other towns of Central Oklahoma) literally overnight. The morning of April 22, 1889, there was a rolling prairie with no one at all and by nightfall of the same day, there was a tent city of 10,000 people. Pretty unique in the annals of history. But, my people were living in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan at that time. My parents moved to Oklahoma City in 1950, after they married in St. Louis. I was born in OKC in 1952, the first of the family born in Oklahoma. Growing up, I always wished I had been born somewhere else. But, I have to admit it's got its benefits, too, like the fourth lowest cost of housing in the nation and the second lowest gasoline prices. Not much in the way of abstract art, though. There is only one gallery I know of that caters exclusively to abstract/avant garde art (Independent Artists of Oklahoma's gallery). No wonder Edward Rusha went to New York (he's also from OKC).

What gets me is that anyone who is 1/285th ________ (fill in the blank with any tribe's name) can pass himself off as an "Indian artist" here (or "Native American," if you prefer, though the Indians here call themselves Indians, not "Native Americans." In fact, one Choctaw website says, "we're not P.C., here and like to refer to ourselves as Indians."). So, the strange thing is, while abstract artists are underappreciated in Oklahoma, if you're an Indian Artist, like Veloy Vigil, Edgar Heap of Birds, et al, you can do abstract impressionist paintings and people will buy them because you're an "Indian Artist." It's kind of like Kenny Rogers' definition of "country music": it's whatever "country people" listen to, he once said. Hmmm...so, if some hillbilly is listening to Rachmaninov....???

Gary

[ironman]

Hey GaryR52, Yeah, you got the 2nd. lowest gas prices but the worst WASHBOARD ROADS in the whole interstate system.
I recently drove through there on I40 to I35 to Topeka. Everything was smooth sailing until I was about 20 miles west of OKC. From that point on it was BA-BUM BA BUM BA BUM BA BUM BA BUM BA BUM until I was about 10 miles north of town.
My P/U was bouncing up & down, My trailer was bouncing up & down and the worst anxiety of all was watching my top heavy sculpture bounce up and down and flex at the narrow part that connects the top to the bottom. Guess I should have planned for your lousy roads, eh!
One weld broke but fortunately the larger weight bearing weld held up and the good people at Washburn Univ. in Topeka had a portable welder for me to use to weld it back together.
WARNING TO ALL SCULPTORS: DO NOT USE THE INTERSTATES AROUND OKLAHOMA CITY, THEY ARE AWFUL.
Have a nice day,
Jeff

[GaryR52]

LOL, yep, you've got that right, Jeff! The short stretch between NW 63rd and I-44, headed south on Broadway Extension is one of the worst in the state, and that's right in the heart of Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, we've always seemed to have a problem with road repair funds disappearing into the pockets of corrupt officials here.

I know that exact stretch of I-35 North that you're referring to. I once drove up to Minnesota on that route and found that, once I crossed the Kansas line, the pavement was smooth until I hit Iowa, which was even worse than Oklahoma. Hat's off to Kansas, though. Missouri's kind of a mixed bag, too.

Gary

[jvc stone]

Just passed through OK myself on the way back to Texas from Chicago. There ARE some rough streches like you describe Ironman. F-450 Flatbed with no load was bouncing all over the place. However to be fair, there has been quite an improvement these past few years. Not soooo long ago, the entire interstate system in OK was like those areas are now.
BTW--Anyone know why there are so many toll roads in Oklahoma? Is it because since no one actually wants to visit there, it's the only way for the state to pick up tourist dollars?? :D
Just kidding ;)
JVC

[GaryR52]

I don't know how Oklahoma stacks up with other states, as far as the number of toll roads goes, but, yep, we do have a bunch. That's been another thorny issue here. The turnpikes we have were supposed to have paid for themselves ages ago, yet they are still charging for access. The newest one in Central Oklahoma is the Kirkpatrick Turnpike, which is ridiculously short and has little traffic, comparatively speaking, yet it's entirely toll supported. The most laughable thing about it, though, is that Memorial road parallels most of it's length and you can get away with driving almost as fast on that road, going either direction (although there are stops along the way). I never use Kilpatrick at all, since I can use Memorial and save my money. But, yeah, I don't blame anyone for bitching about our roads; we're bitching about them, too. ;)

Tourism has long been yet another thorny issue, here. The state has had a campaign to bring in tourist dollars for quite some time, and, to our credit, we've had some success with it. There is an office charged with the task of bringing in movie productions, for one thing, and several films have been made either in part or entirely in Oklahoma locations. Then there are the improvements made to downtown Oklahoma City over the last decade or so, which have drawn in lots of tourists from around the country and around the world, but, aside from the Bombing Memorial, there still isn't a whole lot here to see and do. Bricktown is okay for a place to eat out or party, but I have scarcely been down there. One surprise, to me, is the dragboat race scheduled to occur soon on the "Oklahoma River" (actually a renamed stretch of the North Canadian that had to be engineered at considerable expense to improve its size and flow. Before that, it was so clogged with sand bars, due to its age, that there was hardly any water flowing unless there were torrential rains).

What has always chapped my ass is this emphasis upon the state's wild west history. Fine, that's our history, but it's not the only thing Oklahoma should be noted for. We're also a center of meteorological research, medical research and aviation, although none of those are big tourist attractions, unless you're into air shows, that is. But the cowboy image is what bugs me, because they keep promoting it, like it's supposed to improve our image or something. In fact, all it does is reinforce the attitude the rest of the country has that we're just a bunch of hicks.

Gary

[ironman]

Hi JVC, I hope the roads to Waco TX are in better shape. That OKC experience reminded me of the old BQE in NYC and what a horror that was! It was nothing but potholes. I35 from the OK/KS line to Topeka cost me $13 or $14 each way but if that's what I've gotta pay for a nice smooth road, so be it.
Have a nice day,
Jeff

[GaryR52]

Waco should be a breeze, comparatively speaking. It's on I-35 and that's pretty well maintained in that area, I think. Once you're off the interstate could be another story, though.

Gary