I may be attending this opening on Sustainability in a World of Consumption but in any case want to highlight the event.  I often get contacted by groups and artists telling me of their openings and I have been remiss in posting them often enough.  I had an excuse lately – traveling and being extremely busy with Social Media Analytics.  In fact, I was in Exeter, UK just last weekend, the very place this blog is hosted from – but missed connecting with the publisher of ArtNewYorkCity.com while I was there.

Sustainability in a World of Consumptionis  first exhibit claiming to explore the presence of excess exists in our day-to-day lives, but often hides behind masks of disposal systems, social acceptance, and misinformation.

You can also help  raise money for this organization by buying it’s art.

Art for Global Justice group seeks to use the power of art to create social change both locally and globally. Youth workshops, art exhibits, and an art exchange program will facilitate this movement towards seeing other perspectives and creating a more just world.

Information about  Excess and Environment: Sustainability in a World of Consumption

The presence of excess exists in our day-to-day lives, but often hides behind masks of disposal systems, social acceptance, and misinformation. This exhibit explores the idea of the impact of excess on our natural environment both visually and theoretically.

The art involved will relate to the effect of mass consumption and waste on the environment. All sales of art will benefit the non-profit organization, Art for Global Justice.

Opening:

Friday, April 16th 2010  7:00 pm to 11:00 pm  AE Studios LIC, 39-06 Crescent Street (off the corner of 39th Ave.) Long Island City, Queens, NY 11101 7, E, V, N, R, or W trains to Queensboro Plaza

Exhibit will be open by appointment from April 16th – April 23rd Free admission

Contact 212-537-5869 artforglobaljustice@gmail.com artforglobaljustice.org for more information

Artists showing work include Chris Jordan, Eve Mosher, Walter “Tinho” Nomura, Justin Gignac, Akirash, Mikal Hameed, Erwin Timmers, Paul Villinski, Joseph Heidecker, Tyrome Tripoli, Michael Yinger, Austin Shull, Olek, Chanika Svetvilas, Chris Sollars, Miles Wickham, Beau Stanton, Destroy and Rebuild, Christina Chobot, Laura Larocca, Trash Track, and more.

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?