I had several reviews of my work recently - and that process (opening one self up for being seen and commented on) threw me for a loop - so to speak - the way I see myself and my work is much different than how others see it and experience me.  I suspect,  most people see themselves and their work in a different way than the world sees it - and every so often, it’s good to get feedback - even if that feedback does nothing but throw you back on yourself - as it did for me.

I suspect that most guidance and direction really needs to come from “within” - that even well meaning people, often give the feedback and criticism from the prospective of what “they” would do, what they “like” but what an artist needs to do is filter that feedback, and decide, by going “within” what is right for that person.

I believe the best teacher is oneself - one’s own inner self - and feedback that comes externally will only be valuable as it echos in one’s inner voice.   Perhaps, the best thing to be said from external critiques and schools of art, is that the refine your technique and perception, perhaps also helping in forming social networks and communities the artist can draw on later - but one’s inner voice is where the real seat of wisdom lies - and that can’t from from anyone else, but you (me) - at least, for me it’s that way.

I also ended a friendship, more or less, last week, and that was and has been painful for me, but I’m getting over it (and who knows if anything really ever ends?).

At any rate, here’s a new work, something I did yesterday, did it differently, taped two sheets of paper on the wall and I’m not really sure if it’s really done - or if it even matters.   I just want to have fun with it - and maybe, that’s more what I need to do anyway:

I’m not really sure what I’m painting - but I know I need to do something beyond what I have been - just don’t know what. 

I guess that’s the challenge for Artists in this 20th and 21st Centuries that’s somewhat different than the past - there really is no established path, and in fact, no real “social need” for Art - and yet, there’s still Art.

Why?   I don’t know, perhaps it’s a fundamental need of ours to create - to comment on our lives and what we think of it all.

As I wrote recently in Webmetricsguru.com about Interesting post on the value of Blogging and the difference between internal valuation and external valuation; the value of Artwork is determined by at least two factors:

1. Your own self valuation
2. Valuation of Art Authorities, Museum Curators, Communities

At the end of the day, Artists need to believe in themselves and their own vision - and all work, I believe, should be done out of self development, self growth and not for money - money really should not be part of the equation - not for doing the work.

On the other hand, the value of work we do is determined by externals, by supply and demand and fundamentally, by what communities of influentials believe your work is worth - and while the Art Market can be, and has often been gamed in the short run, in the long run, it can not be - as time shows a truer picture of what’s really valuable (to the world) and what’s not. 

And all of that - involves community and Social Networks of influentials - there’s no way around it - it’s an ecosystem one can’t really avoid - might as well embrace it.  

Someday, I’ll write a book on this, but I’m not ready yet - the ideas are still forming in my mind, as I write.

Read about the “Late Titian” show at the Kunsthistorisches Museum from MICHAEL KIMMELMAN of the New York Times in an article titled - Business (Some Unfinished) From Titian, 1500s C.E.O.

Kimmelman poses a question about Titian’s late style of painting that I find interesting:

Titian - “Jacopo Strada” Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

“..Does Titian’s late style betray aging infirmity or maybe impatience, or does it imply that pictures like this aren’t finished? Scholars have pondered this question for years. The truth seems to be that Titian, running a very busy workshop, painted differently for different clients under different circumstances. He recycled images, concocted variations that allowed him to make short cuts, had assistants do work when the assignments weren’t for kings and doges. Like the chef of a four-star kitchen, he might drop by at the end to touch up the results.”

“….Clearly Titian painted one way for the king, and his epigones turned out other works for lesser clients.”

So Titian really paid more attention to pictures when they paid him more money or were for really famous people, like a King, than the average patron.  Interesting - it hasn’t been said quite that way before - but it’s undoubtedly true:

“..Titian reminds us, among other things, that art is a business but it’s also a calling, or else it’s not really worth anything in the end. “

What’s interesting is that Art was a business in the 16th Century and it’s still a business in the 21st Century - as much as things change, they also stay the same:

“…The current system seems rigged to make rich people richer. Meanwhile Mike Kelley, the American artist, over lunch the other day bemoaned how students and many newly minted art stars seem to take for granted that art is just a business now. I’ve heard the same complaint often, mostly in private, cynicism taking hold so firmly in art circles that complaining of this sort tends to peg the complainer as a fogey and nostalgist. “

I happened to pass by and see Danielle Mailer, “Queen of Dreams” @ Umbrella Arts + Projects  www.umbrellaarts.com last Tuesday evening while walking around in the East Village - I hadn’t known about her show, or that Danielle Mailer is the daughter of recently deceased Norman Mailer.

In fact, The New York Times published an article on Danielle Mailer earlier this year - A Woman With a Rich History, Making Art and Teaching Children :

“…Ms. Mailer, who lives in Goshen, is the daughter of Norman Mailer and the abstract artist Adele Morales Mailer. Her life has also been lived in silhouette, or “low profile,” as she prefers to call it.

“I’ve kept a low profile because there’s always that sense that you want to make it on your own,” said Ms. Mailer, 49, who has a full-time job in Lakeville as chairwoman of the art department at the Indian Mountain School, a private school for prekindergarten through the ninth grade.

“I’ve just been quietly doing my thing,” she said.”

I had no idea Norman Mailer had such an interesting life, and so many wives (and children) - hmm..

“…Adele and Norman Mailer split up in 1960 after a highly publicized event in which Mr. Mailer stabbed her at that last party with a penknife. She was the second of Mr. Mailer’s six wives. In all, Danielle Mailer has eight brothers and sisters, including Elizabeth Mailer, who is also the daughter of Adele and Norman Mailer. “

I saw the Queen of Dreams show and liked it - every piece was finished - I couldn’t help feeling torn about liking the work more for the object I was seeing in front of me - or as an illustration in a book or magazine, where many of these images would also play well.

Been very conscious of “finish” and “craft” in works of artists that are mature - I had not always made that distinction before - but I can usually tell, based on my own experiences as a painter, when others work is done in a consistent manner - vs. when they might be groping for something but not really having it.

I didn’t feel any of that in Danielle Mailer’s work - every work was at the same level - also liked the colors; again, many of the paintings and cutouts would also work as illustrations - but that takes nothing away from the painterly qualities of all the works.

Overall, a good show that I’m glad I did not miss.  And that just goes to show that I go where I’m supposed to go, meet whom I’m meant to meet and see what I’m meant to see - I believe that with all my soul - and I just stumbled onto Danielle Mailer’s  “Queen of Dreams” at Umbrella Arts in the East Village, NYC the other day, so it was just where I was supposed to be.