Art appreciation in Putnam County

Well, not long ago, I was asked to juror a member show at the Putnam Arts Council. Maybe a couple hundred artists who had entered their work into this annual exhibition. So much fun getting to see such a wide range of art and creativity and soooo hard to judge. I mean, who the fuck am I to judge this stuff?!? But they were paying me a few shekels to do it and I can always use a few shekels, being an artist myself. So, I dropped the humility and self-doubt, stepped up and narrowed down. From 200 or so pieces to 5 or 6. And a grand prize winner. Which was a cat portrait that I just kinda loved. After I got home from this happy day of judging, they asked me to write something about the judging. And so I did. And I liked it. So here it is:

 It’s the best job in the world and the worst job in the world at the same time. Pushing my personal whims and tastes through a room full of beautiful art made by inspired artists. What goes, what stays? What are my feelings today? Am I in an abstract mood or a representational mood, did I just have a bad experience with a squirrel or get in a tiff with a photographer? Are my emotions a little bit close to the surface because I didn’t have any breakfast and the coffee was weak and my blood sugar is low? 

There are so many factors that affect any person’s feelings at any given point in time and I beg you all to forgive me for the state of my artistic tastes as I walked through this room a handful of times the other day trying to decide what art I was especially liking at that particular point in time.

 

Take (artist’s name here, please) who painted this cat. Seriously, it’s a pet portrait and I’m mostly not crazy about pet portraits, but this one is different. Something about it grabbed me the first second I saw it and wouldn’t let go. I can’t tell you where its power comes from but i also can not deny that it has a power over me that made it my favorite piece in this show.

 

Or this artist’s book entitled “(please insert title here)” by (artist’s name here, please). So beautiful an idea and so delightfully executed. The drawings are unique and ownable by this artist and the story they tell is so fun to move through.

 

There are so very many pieces I loved in this show . . .  this spare yet engaging figure drawing by (artist’s name here, please), this really remarkably rendered squirrel entitled “(please insert title here)” by the ridiculously talented (artist’s name here, please) or this fantastic bird painting by (artist’s name here, please), which, though not a style I am especially drawn to, is so beautifully painted that the talent alone made me keep coming back to it again and again.

 

Finally, there’s this portrait of a woman. It’s a little bit reminiscent of Balthus, whose figures each tell a story and evoke interpretation in much the same way as the Mona Lisa. Who is this woman? What are the clues the artist has given us as to her identity? What is she looking at? Thinking about? It’s a wonderful painting and as I sit at my desk back home, I’m not so sure that it wasn’t my favorite of the show but hours earlier, it was not. 

 

So here we are: the ever changing whims of art appreciation. It’s one of the most wonderful things in the world to experience a piece of art differently upon different viewings or listenings or tastings or whatever. It’s why art can give us so much joy on a daily basis and it’s why choosing which art should be in an awards show and which art should not is the worst & best job ever.

 

I hope everybody keeps making their art and want to thank you all for sharing it with the Putnam Arts Council where I was so lucky enough to see it.

Big ideas - You don't know the whole story

In first grade, my kid Daisy went to a nice private school in NYC's West Village. It was so lovely. Expensive, but lovely. There were a lot of very wealthy people who sent their kids to that school and the Steuben's (Names have been changed here just for kicks.) were some of them. She was a little mousey and sweet and, I think worked full time as a mom to their kids, and he was the son of one of the richest men in the world and, I think, worked in the family business. He had his own driver take him everywhere in a huge black Suburban and, well, ok, even if that seemed a little bit much, I guess that's what rich people do, so, whatever. Now, I'd spoken to him (let's call him Robert) some (we each had a kid in the same class) at school events, fundraisers and whatnot and he always seemed friendly enough in those situations, but in a daily, casual situation, it was completely different. And it was irksome.

He and I would pass each other a few times a week in the narrow hallway as we were walking our kids to class or leaving afterward. And I would always give him a nod, a little smile and upward shake of the head as if to say "hey! There you are! We know each other! Hello!!" and he would just ignore me. Over and over and over again. So I started doing a more exaggerated nod and a bigger smile and probably even engaged my eyebrows in the silent salutation. I'm sure I eventually looked like an aggressive clown in my attempts to get this chauffeur driven douchebag to return my greeting. But he never did. And I started to see him as a dick.

One evening, in the midst of all this, me and the missus were out for cocktails with John and Olga and we were dishing on the school and the other parents and whatnot and the subject of the Steubens came up. And how nice they are and how they're so supportive of the school and whatnot, and I shared my dissent: that he's a douchey snob who can't even engage in the common courtesy of returning a hallway hello. I shared my story of ever-escalating nods and smiles and eyebrows and getting ZERO in return from this Robert guy. I shared my opinion that he was NOT a nice guy at all but was, rather, in fact, kind of a jerk. Everyone appeared surprised to hear this, including my missus who, when I'd finished my mini-rant, turned and matter-of-factly said to me:

"You know he's legally blind, right?"

I did not.

"Yeah, he even has a driver, 'cause he can't really see."

Yeah. Huh. No, I did not know that. Any of that. And I was kinda shocked. And maybe a bit embarrassed. But I got this story out of it, anyway. A great story. Illustrating that, ever-so-often, you just don't know the whole story. One doesn't know the whole story. OK: I don't know the whole story. Which is actually a great place to be, 'cause if you're there, then it's possible that you might just learn something. Or at least, get schooled.