I was thinking about the events, conferences, technologies and industries I’m involved in both from a Web Analytics, Social Media and Art Perspective.  I’m also thinking about weather it makes sense of me to maintain a studio that I hardly ever use (over at Brooklyn Artists Gym).

Maybe, I’ll take a breather for a few months to decide if I really need to create anything there, anymore, or my sketches and spontaneous works,  most of these I post here, are enough for me.

I don’t know – but I do know that Art, Art and what it means to be a Artist, today, needs to be re-defined.  I’ve never really fit into the Art World that well – I feel more like someone that goes back and forth between different realities, at the same moment – that’s unlike most people, that put on one hat, take it off, and put another one on – I don’t.

I wear all my hats – all at once (I guess that doesn’t make a hell  of a lot of sense if we were talking about “hats” and not something else – which has little to do with “hats”).

I was “tweeting” (using Twitter) today to mention an Mashable Event I went to last night – here’s the Tweets:

	webmetricsguru the challenge of an artist, today, is to redefine what art is, in light of all that’s happened about 2 hours ago from web
	webmetricsguru and, now, where it’s happening might not be location as much as it’s a process, site, idea, network, community about 2 hours ago from web
	webmetricsguru as an artist, for example, painting, the act of art, perhaps Art, needs to be redefined, in light of all of this about 2 hours ago from web
	webmetricsguru I’m near the center of “it”, even if my role is less visible. it seems to me, today, our Rennisance is Internet and Social Media about 2 hours ago from web
	webmetricsguru feel pretty good about some of the social media reporting I’m doing, new ground I’m coming up with. I like that much of what is “happening” about 2 hours ago from web

Was kinda thinking about the idea that “painting” doesn’t really excite me that much -  probably never did – it’s more the idea of “connecting” and painting feels to me like a bridge to that.

To the extent Painting, and Art, promotes “connecting” I think it works for me.  To the extent that it doesn’t, it becomes a detractor for me.

And that reminds me – today Paul Krugman wrote a post that reminds me of my Tweets – that we need a new vocabulary for Art, just as we need a new Vocabulary for Economics – We need a new business cycle vocabulary

The point, I think, is that the traditional definition of recession only worked well in the face of a jagged business cycle; if we now have smoother, longer curves — maybe due to better inventory management, or whatever caused the Great Moderation — the question, “Is this a recession?”, no longer means much.

And, I think, the same thing holds true of Art.  What’s painting … anymore?  Does anyone know?

How about Drawing?  Sculpture?  Cinema, Directorship?

Does anyone know?

Maybe we need to sit down, and re-define all of what means  – today.

I, for one, don’t want to spend my time, creating things that no one really wants – most artists do – it’s only the force of their personality, their own Social Networks, that make the difference between success and failure – the money thing is only the indication of what has already happened, or didn’t.

Being “influential” in a satisfying way, via Self Expression, is something that artists always wanted – I suggest we re-define what that means in the 21st Century (instead of letting some Museum Curators, Gallery Dealers and Art Publications decide that – maybe the “Artists” that feed all of this ….  maybe They should be one’s to decide, what Art is, today.

Richard Diebenkorn painted Large Still Life in 1966 and I like this painting much more than the others in MOMA’s collection because it reminded me of Henri Matisse, and I think that’s a good thing, in this case.

For me, Large Still Life is totally satisfying as a painting, yet it has many abstract elements of color handling and texture that are much different than Matisse, even though the Large Still Life hearkens back to the French Painter. I kinda wonder what the paper near the foreground is …what does it have written on it? I guess we’ll never know.

Giorgio de Chirico’s The Song of Love is probably much more romantic in it’s name than what the painting represents.

The Song of Love is more of a mathematical formula, an enigma, or a cryptic dream – full of symbolism – what works for me best is the cloud peaking out from behind the plaster cast of a head. The hanging glove reminds me of “slap in the face” ….like….”take that“! The Ball….well, I’m not sure what it means in this painting and the image of the building tops – exquisite – it evokes feelings in me – like a reminder of something past.

Pierre Bonnard’s, The Bathroom, was painted in 1932 and is one of my favorite Bonnard paintings. When I got close up to the painting I saw a lot of detail in bursh work that is lost in the photo – not to worry – you can always go over to the MOMA and see the painting – it’s wonderful.

Well, I think that’s enough posting about MOMA’s collection tonight – I have more to post about this trip over the weekend.