Endless Summer Ending
This should come as no surprise to any of you, probably doesn’t bother you in the least, in fact more than likely you are relieved that Summer 2007 is coming to an end. It was hot, too hot, for too long. The Minnesota Baseball Twins were mediocre at best, frustrating even the die-hards to pray for the beginning of a different sports season. A few Republican operatives resigned, but none wound up in jail or on the gallows. Years of infrastructure neglect were made horrifically evident once again when a freeway bridge malfunctioned and plunged itself and about one hundred commuters into the Mississippi River. And I had a baby. Which meant that I was unable to traipse around town delighting everyone with my self-deprecating humor, over-indulgent indulging, and Chevy Chase-style physical comedy. I apologize.
In the meantime, we here at the Artworks have been perusing YouTube’s vast array of “How to change a cloth diaper” videos, perfecting the art of sleep deprivation and gambling online - college is right around the corner. Also, our hearing has been permanently damaged by the screaming and then there was that one day that my back went out while walking the kid around the block with her in my arms. A nice way to meet the neighbors. Don’t get me wrong, I totally love her, but I need to return to civilization. That is why I am so happy that summer is finally over.
Of course this doesn’t mean that I am abandoning my family, heading back to the bar, chasing broads around Northeast. But it does mean that the fall art scene is picking back up, and I am determined to stalk it wherever it goes. Who else is going to talk some shit? There is plenty of brown-nosed ass-kiss “criticism” on the internet and in the papers about the art exhibited in our local galleries, plenty. We need some accountability though. Artists can make whatever they want, you and me included. But if what they are making is vapid cut-n-paste eye candy, or self- deluded identity in a glass jar, or nobody cares pictures of pretty but maybe they will hang them above a couch in the Warehouse District, I am going to say so. Somebody needs to say so.
Mostly, I am excited about getting out to look and talk about shows, writing about the art that people are looking at, good and bad. I need to get the laptop off my growing lap and get back to pounding the pavement. I am planning on doing features of artists and galleries and publications, presenting them here and elsewhere for you to digest and them spit back in my face if you have good reason. I am getting plenty used to spit, so let me have it. Feel free to contact us if you have any ideas or thoughts. By the way, stay tuned for my feature, “Everybody Has an Idea, So Let’s All Stop Thinking.” It should be good.