Having read the New York Times article tonight -  For Annie Leibovitz, a Fuzzy Financial Picture i’m reminded of Michael Jackson’s financial troubles (mainly self inflicted) and, hard times befall even the most successful artists, and this is a complicated story that leaves as  much unsaid, as what it says.

“…On July 29, Ms. Leibovitz was sued in State Supreme Court for nonpayment by a company that had lent her $24 million, and which demanded access to her homes so it could begin the process of selling them to satisfy her debt. Ms. Leibovitz had taken out the loan last year, pledging as collateral properties in Greenwich Village and in Rhinebeck, N.Y., her negatives and the rights to her photographs. The lender, Art Capital Group, claims Ms. Leibovitz is behind on hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees associated with the loans.”

Artists are notoriously bad with money; I don’t want to compare Annie Liebovitz to Rembrandt’s financial problems, but that’s what comes to mind.  Maybe, what the real problem is

It’s harder to keep track of large amounts of expenses if there’s no business manager to make many of the business decisions – and it sounds like that’s what Annie Liebovitz needed – she scaled past what she could personally handle – according to the New York Times article 

The company she got the loan from, Art Capital Group, appears to thrive off of artists who can’t manage their own money.

Not sure what the resolution will be  – but it’s interesting to note that both the very poor and very rich often have similar problems,  just the scale of them are different, and of course, the quality of life, is different.

Just thinking about Jean Baptiste Greuze “Aegina Visted by Jupiter” here at Metropolitan.

Aegina is unfinished, and I like it that way, better.

How much good painting and natural feeling gets covered up by trying to paint to please someone else, like the French Royal Academy.

And how lucky we are, Greuze never finished this painting.

What more did it need?

This is an abstract I have been working on for the last week or two, on my iPhone, using the Colors application.

Did something a little different here, can you guess what?

I am painting tonight in my studio, finding myself working on older work.

Reminds me, over a year ago, friend Drew Knapp came by to look at the work I did up to that point; he liked a fee pieces but council me to make more of a commitment to my work.

Btw, writing on the IPhone, no links, sorry.

It didn’t have to do with time spent as much as a willingness to re-examine and rework paintings that might take time and perspective to finish, like this one, that I am reworking today.

Uprising – 2009 Marshall Sponder – Acrylic / Oil Pastel on paper 22? x 28?

Could say much more about this painting – but I grew up with the concept that art can speak for itself – if it’s good enough, art could stand on it’s own merit – it doesn’t need an explanation (though explanations can enhance work though they can’t sustain a work, alone).