Thursday, May 28, 2009

Salon des Refuses


If I see one more bad lighthouse painting I'm going to be sick. ©evertson 09

Let me preface this post by saying this is not a put down
of any particular artist media rather an observation of
the "I know what I like" mentality.

"I'm sorry but we're not accepting 'computer' art this year
because we don't consider it fine art." 'Rita's' disembodied
voice informed me that I would not be exhibiting in our local
East Hampton art show. I had called to sign up for this years
show and in all fairness Rita had that nervous tone of a
spokeswoman not used to issuing group opinions she didn't
necessarily share. She was quick to add that her daughter
did some "interesting things" on the computer ;)
Last post I related how I had spent the last 6-7 years re-tooling
my art with the liberating infusion of all things the computer
has to offer the artist. A whole new palette of color, brushes
and techniques. Sadly, here in my hometown the local art
league seems a bit less impressed. I exhibited last year for
first time in their art show, ignoring my feeling that this
really wasn't my normal venue; but since it is my town, why not?
I did get some of the strangest comments and questions.
Q. Where is the original?
A. On my hard drive.
Comment. It must be easy to make these with the
right software; do you use the program that turns
your art into paintings?

R Garriott, a fellow blogger, had an amusing post on the
13 things not to say to an artist.

I'm not heart broken and don't feel the need to educate
anyone that "fine artists" don't necessarily limit themselves
to oils, acrylics or watercolor. I'm pretty content as a 50
something artist with a decent resume and enough exhibition
opportunities to keep me busy. I can appreciate both traditional
media and new media and have worked in both. So while Rita
asked if perhaps I had some oils to pull out, I think not.

11 comments:

Owen said...

Interesting discussion Bill... the old question : Yes, but is it art ? Seems to me people need to expand their "boxes" just a bit. Are they accepting photographic "fine art" prints, which could have been printed from any source and modified at will ? So, you don't do lighthouse paintings? Drat, I was hoping to see a few here... something akin to where I've said in a few previous posts that I don't do "postcard" photographs... or try not to, anyway.
Have a great weekend...

PS I did do a lighthouse photograph not too far back, now that I think of it... I hope you weren't too appalled. :-D

William Evertson said...

The lighthouse remark is a bit of a snarky metaphor perhaps for a certain amount of cliche I find locally. Connecticut is after all "the state of steady habits" I just googled 'famous lighthouse paintings' and came up with 56,100 hits so perhaps I would do well to keep quiet on the subject. Your lighthouse photographs at Pointe St. Mathieu certainly didn't keep me from returning to find that you have a great range of subjects and interests; in fact I've even learned to tolerate clowns ;)

Owen said...

One may tolerate clowns, but should never trust them !

Art said...

While rather lame on their part, it does spare you some funny/offensive questions.

jafabrit said...

OMG!!!!!!!!

that is all i have to say, for now!

Okay, screw that, I have a cheeky suggestion, why not print your image on canvas and then do a few minor highlights or bits with acrylic and call it multi media, ahem!

jafabrit said...

be kind of sweet to sneak a computer image into the show right under their noses, hee! hee!

jafabrit said...

oh talking about funny comments, I actually had a local person tell me they didn't know I was trying to have an art career, they thought I was just doing it for fun, OH VEY!!!!!!!

William Evertson said...

Hiya Corrine, I know you've been around the block a few times with this type of art snobbery. Your wisdom will go undergo serious consideration. Ouch, Ouch; kittens with mittens are trying to scratch me to death ;)

jafabrit said...

I would love to see you get it in under the guise of mixed media, I sure hope you consider it.

William Evertson said...

Ah Corrine -The image on the blog is just a 'sketch' for this post. I was intending to show some other recent pieces. I'll take the high road and act professional but images of having myself executed with a firing squad of paintball armed, beret wearing bored housewives keeps creeping into my head. Blindfold? Cigarette?

Owen said...

Hey Bill, just for the heck of it, I have "tagged" you, I know you had nothing else to do tomorrow than answer a tag in these pages... or day after tomorrow, you can take your time... stop by my place to see the instructions and pick up the questions ! Have fun !