The local Artwalk – as usual, it’s far more work than you expect – but this one looked really fun! All my favorite people dropped by, and the weather was perfect ! (as usual)
I have always felt a certain ambivalence towards Art Faires – probably growing up next to Laguna Beach and seeing the Sawdust Festival and the And the rows of galleries with their palette knife sea-scapes and murky watercolors of a gull on a piling. And yet, i must admit to a morbid fascination…all the surreal quality of a bazaar with all the merchandise switched for imaginary items – uselessness by the acre – Kitsch punctuated by Fine Art, blender on liquify, you decide, the customer knows best, business is good.
Now that the pay-to-play international art market and all it’s obsequious machinery have pounced on them as a way to outsource their brick and mortar commitments and stir the hornets nest of commerce…I actually find myself longing for the naivete of my formative crapfests – It was certainly the first time the difference between craftsmanship, design, and conceptual aesthetics became sharply defined for me … So i’m not slagging too hard on the institution. My friends who know say : Fuck Art FairsBy the way setting up for one of these booths is hard work!
