Art as Authority

Life is full of surprises. Sometimes it is that last drop of rain that causes the levee to break, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back, the stare down in the bar that ends up in a fight. And while they may not all have the best of outcomes, there is a brief moment of elation as the adrenelin kicks in before the reality sets up like the concrete around your feet. But damn, for a brief moment, anything is possible. Words are like that too. Bukowski once said, "it takes a lot of desperation, dissastisfaction, and disillusion to write a few good poems," perhaps it takes a few good words to cut through the murky waters, to express one's opinion that ends up being the opinion of many others who simply couldn't shake those very same words from their mouths. Take Mark Murphy for example.

He gave us a reply to an apparently innocent request, a demand you yourself may have received, which became a catalyst for a series of responses clearly outlining a need, the constraints of satisfying it, and a possible solution. Murphy's insight is electrifying. Since the exchange was made public via email to several individuals, artists and the like, and after a brief discussion with Murphy, I decided to post the responses for one specific reason: "to build a stronger arts community in San Diego" through dialogue, clarity, and purposefulness. Kevin Freitas

by Mark Murphy with permission


Question: CityBeat

Hey guys and gals,

Thanks!

Answer: Mark Murphy

Just a polite heads up :

Hello : I think the idea of artworks laying around by passionate artists is
inappropriate : straight up, there is a lot of value that you folks take
advantage of in regards to receiving artwork that has little or no pay : and
I know you will combat me with the concept of "exposure," but honestly san
diego does not purchase original artwork as a community in droves : this is
a tough community where galleries and artists can mutually thrive :

Politely, I encourage more thoughtful calls to action, community based
inspiration and a true love for what you are trying to convey and move
beyond the atypical cattle call : essentially, MORE celebration of the arts
as a integral partner with your publication is fair and essential to
building a stronger arts community in san diego :

Thanks for listening :

Mark Murphy
author : publish : design
www.murphydesign.com
http://murphydesign1.blogspot.com

Thanks for speaking.

but wait, there's more...

Response: CityBeat

1. We feature local art our cover every week. Does anyone have a problem with that?
2. We do pay if we use your work. We do not only offer "exposure" as you say.
3. By saying "laying around" I meant work that is already completed. I do not want an artist doing a new piece just for our cover because we don't pay enough for that.
4. How about you come up with a more thoughtful call to action, Mark?

Addendum: CityBeat

We only pay $50, which is why I ask for work that is already completed
or "laying around" as I put it. I don't want some young artist doing a
new piece just for "exposure," which I am fully aware isn't enough for
anyone these days.

We feature a visual artist every month in our paper and I challenge you
to find a publication in San Diego that writes more about the visual
arts than we do. You put out pop-surrealism books and how often do they
include SD/TJ artist?

And on a personal note, I am a collector of art in San Diego. I own
about 20 pieces of original art and I've been putting on art shows
under the name Adapta Project for the last two years in both Tijuana and
San Diego. I know personally how difficult this city is in terms of
selling art. I've invested and lost hundreds of dollars doing these
shows. But I can tell you that a few of our cover artists have gotten
shows from being on our cover and probably a few more have sold pieces
because of our cover. We feature kick ass artwork on our cover and
remind people that these artists exist right in their own community.

So all that said, I've been to one show you put on and it was fantastic;
although, it featured mostly LA artists.

So, anyway, thanks for the "polite heads up" but why don't you challenge
yourself.

Response: Mark Murphy

Challenge accepted :

All of the books that I put together reward the artists no less than, $5000
and upwards to $30,0000 (and up) per artist contract : All of the singular
artists that I represent receive 50% of the sale of art and/or are
commissioned directly : Often times, collectors/public commissions are
found, at no commission to me for the artist to benefit :

Secondly, I am happy that you attended the show, (which one?), you can be
assured that most of the artists are world based : In other words, every
show I have every put on represents over 5 countries minimally, and
typically celebrates emerging artists, as well as the big names that I
personally sponsor : In relationship to San Diego, I am fully aware of most
people creating art, I teach in the community, participate in national art
events and curate exhibitions in museums : This kid knows what it takes, and
have collaborated with some of San Diego's finest :

+ Rafael Lopez, Charles Glaubitz, Pamela Jaeger, Matt Stallings, Raudiel
Sanudo, Andy Howell, Rich Jacobs, Dave Talbott, Joshua Krause, Katherine M.
Brannock, and many others : They have been featured in my books, "Heaven and
Hell," "Dialogue," "Guapo y Fuerte" and in exhibitions SuperHero, Heaven and
Hell, Dialogue and Miami Art Basel :

Lastly, I am one person who has worked with over 700 fine artists from
around the globe and sponsor, promote, publish and commission original
artwork with a budget that rivals most small firms made up of 10 people :
This could not be done without an artist community who I care deeply about,
San Diego, Los Angeles and otherwise :

There is no doubt that "I consistently challenge myself," and author highly
original content, while partnering with passionate artists who celebrate
what they do and provide for their families, as a direct result :

Your note deserves a response, so possibly you learn, that $50 is not fair,
nor is it ethical to feature an artist for a cover for a weekly magazine
that is distributed to attract advertising, readership and business
sustainability :

If you look up ALL Weeklys and look at what they pay artists for front cover
features, whether Photography, Fine Art, Illustration, Digital Arts, etc. I
am sure you will find numbers all over the map and beyond the original $50
reward : In fact, I have no doubt that a single payout is equal to one
personal and one want ad per week : Possibly you should grant the Artist a
full page ad in exchange for a full page cover :

I am pleased you responded, but feel that there is a need for your
publication to deliver a larger vestment, as there is more at stake for your
organization not to promote "Kick Ass Artists," and thus deliver inspired
content, as a result : The dialogue has begun and I am sure there will be
more :

All best and enjoy :

Defense: James Ivey

Sorry, but I gotta but in.

1. If you get the cover of any publication it looks good on the resume to
get into shows and is a great way to advertise your images without having to
pay for ads, postcards, etc......A gallery wants to see what you have done.
2. If you make art only for money and not because you are
obsessed..........................????
3. CityBeat has done stories on a number of us and I would give them a free
cover because of the exposure they gave me for free. I can get into shows
and I cannot help but to think Kinsee's support played a huge part in that.
4. Mark, I have sent you numerous emails with no reply versus a reply
everytime I send Kinsee an email. Being a book publisher I am sure you get
innundated with emails and maybe you just simply think my work is shit.
Art is subjective, that is cool. But my point is, Kinsee truly does support
the scene.
5. Mark- Idea for a book- New art south of LA with every artist linked to
this. Also, thanks for the books you have released. I have found a lot of
inspiration between the covers of a lot of them

Over and out, my two cents,

James Ivey

Final word by who, I can't tell...

I think that all of you should negotiate for more value : I think exposure is cool,
but San Diego needs to understand that original thinking is inspired value.

and still more...

Defense: Sean Newsome

Hello Mark,

You might remember me from classes I took at City College in 2003.
Back then, you “hired” students for zero pay. I remember students
working for you for nothing. Are you still doing that now, because it
completely conflicts with your position on this issue with Kinsee. Are
you paying your interns a lot more than $50 for each piece they create
for you that brings in revenue?

Last year, we hired about eight high school and college students to
work for our company and each one made at least minimum wage. I have a
second interview with an SDSU student Monday who will be very
surprised when I hire him AND pay him $11/hr. I will get superior work
from him since he is invested in the quality of the end product.

Kinsee is looking out for the artist community in San Diego by doing
what she can with limited resources in bad economic times while
keeping her company afloat. She’s doing $50 more for one cover than I
saw you do for a 40-hour work week.

If you are paying all of your employees fair wages for their work and
have abandoned working interns for no pay, then I stand corrected.
Otherwise, you should be thanking Kinsee for all of her efforts to
promote local artists in San Diego and giving them an opportunity to
at least pay for the ink to print their work.

I am a firm believer in Karma; what comes around goes around. If you
give nothing to someone for their work, you deserve nothing for their
efforts. If you feel so strongly about Kinsee’s approach, maybe you
might consider subsidizing the cover with a $100 award for the artist
selected. Act, or stop pontificating.

Because I appreciate Kinsee’s efforts to promote local artists and
advance our art community in difficult economic times, I publicly
pledge to reward the selected cover artist with a $100 reward above
the City Beat stipend (out of my wallet).

Thank you,

Sean Newsome
Global Sales Manager - SeaBotix

Response: Joe Nalven

Hi All:

Not to make an interesting discussion that much longer, but here are two
more cents worth.

These comments help to revisit and expand on topic, especially as it plays
out in San Diego.

Yes, there is value in getting one's art out; yes, there is value in
recognition -- paid with $$$ or glory or infamy.

And yes, we are all in different places in the continuum of career and life,
which makes all of our responses interesting. And maybe we are all Slumdog
Millionaires if we take a sufficiently broad perspective
of our existence on this planet Earth.

My only complaint is one of notice. Why the race-race to play this game? I
understand the dynamics for the publisher and those involved in getting the
news out. If we -- the artist -- are simply doing a graphic illustration and
trying to place something meaningful in it (rather than having a clump of
items in a pot and one is picked out as a couch at Jerome's), well make it
easier. The art is not the hard part. Except for that minor complaint, I
like being included in the solicitation process.

BTW, the notice circulating about petitioning Obama for a Minister of
Arts -- hey, why not continue this discussion into a Minister of Arts for
San Diego. Not one that springs out of the minds of local politicians, but
out of a coherent force for art in San Diego.

I'm always thinking titles for exhibits. We could have an exhibit called,
The Minister of Arts and Kinsee could put it into play from City Beat.
Anyway, just a thought before the Super Bowl.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts,

Joe Nalven
Editor/DAG webzine
www.digitalartguild.com

Response: Mario Torero

MOST OF US ARE STILL FRUSTRATED WITH THE ECONOMICAL SITUATION, THOUGH THE PAIN HAS GOTTEN A HOPEFUL FLASH WITH THE OBAMA ELECTION.

THANKX BE TO 'CITY BEAT'/KINSEE THAT HAVE BEEN CONCERNED AND ACTIVE ON THE LOCAL, SD/TJ ART SCENE, A RECENT PHENOMENON IN COMPARISON TO THE OTHER TWO, SDUNION & THE READER. SD, ONE OF THE RICH AND SIXTH LARGER CITIES, HAS HAD ITS MEDIA AND CIVIC LINE, KNOWN FOR NOT CARING MUCH ABOUT THE ARTS. ALL OUR PAST EFFORTS TO CREATE AN ARTS DISTRICT DOWNTOWN, HAS BEEN SQUASH BY GREED AND SOULLESS DEVELOPMENT. ITS RACIST EDGE HAS KEPT ETHNIC ARTISTS OUTSIDE OF THE 'MAIN STREAM' TO THE POINT THAT CHICANO ART HAS HAD ITS OWN 'FIRE' BECAUSE THEY HAD TO SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN, THEREFORE PERHAPS THERE HAS BEEN A HYBRID ART DEVELOPMENT OUTSIDE OF THE BOX, WHICH HAS FOUND NEW GROUNDS, SPECIALLY WITH THE ENERGY AND POWER THAT HAS COME OUT OF THE MEXICAN SIDE, STILL MUCH ALIEN TO MANY ON THIS SIDE.

BUT ARTISTS DON'T DIED, THEY JUST RE-ADAPT, SURVIVE AND MULTIPLY. OUR MEMORIES ARE ALIVE AND WE ARE FINDING OUR NEW STRENGTH IN THE EVENTS UNFOLDING. I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT ARTISTS ACTUALLY GROW BETTER UNDER HARSH CONDITIONS, WHY? WELL WHEN THERE IS LACK OF WEALTH, ARTISTS CAN BE THE SOURCE OF KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE, WITH OUR OWN CREATIONS, WE ENTERTAIN AND THE OUTSIDE PRESSURE ALLOWS US TO COME TOGETHER FOR MUTUAL SUPPORT. IF WE HAVE EXHIBITS AND THE ART DOESN'T SELL, WE WILL HAVE HAVE A GOOD TIME AND WE WILL FILL OUR SHOWS WITH OTHER ARTISTS AND FAMILIES AND THAT VIBE HELPS THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY AT LEAST FEEL A SENSE OF HUMANITY WHICH IS WHAT ART CAN DO.

FROM THE FIRST (NY?) TO THE TWELFTH LARGEST CITY, ALL, IF NOT MOST, HAVE AN ARTS DISTRICT THAT DRIVES THE GROWTH OF THE LOCAL ECONOMY, ALL EXCEPT SAN DIEGO BUT THE TIME HAS COME AND THE NEW ARTS DISTRICT IS BECOMING BARRIO LOGAN. WE, AS ARTISTS ARE A MULTI-GENERATIONAL ENTITY WHO KNOW WHAT WE WANT AND HAVE A DINOSAUR TYPE OF MEMORY AND EXPERIENCE THAT SERVES OUR NEW GENERATIONS TO BUILT SOMETHING NEW ON OUR OWN CARCASES. WE ARE HUMANS FIRST AND OUR CREATIONS REFLECT THAT HUMANESS THAT'S NECESSARY TO CIVILIZATION'S EVOLUTION. WHEN WE ORGANIZE AND ACT, ITS 'REVOLUTION' IN THE MAKING AND SOONER OR LATTER THE REST OF SOCIETY CATCHES ON AND WE ARE THRIVING AGAIN.

LETS GET INVOLVED MORE IN COMMUNITY, 'ARTIVISM' AND DIALOGUE. THIS IS OUR TIME AGAIN TO RAISE OUR FLAG AND CLAIM OUR LIVE/WORK SPACES, FROM MAGAZINE COVERS TO CULTURAL CENTERS, WHICH IN TURN WILL ALSO RAISE THE AWARENESS OF OUR NEIGHBORS AND HOPEFULLY OUR CIVIC LEADERS, YET HISTORY HAS SHOWN US THAT ONLY WE CAN DO IT, WITH OUR FREEDOM AND VISION FOR A SANE PLANET.

THANK YOU PEOPLE FOR THE INSPIRATION.

JUST LOVE THE PRISM OF HER MERCY.

mario torero

858-774-1286 cell
619-299-2840 studio
http://www.fuerzamundo.org

Response: Perry L. Meyer

i wish i had as much support at my gallery as well as others..as you have
given this situation,

that's all folks

Perry L. Meyer Fine Art
2400 Kettner Blvd, Suite 104
Tues -Thur 11-5 Fri-Sat 11-6
or By Appointment
San Diego, Ca 92101
Phone: (619) 358-9512
Cell: (619) 708-7210
fax: (619) 578-2762
Email: info@plmeyerfineart.com
Website: www.plmeyerfineart.com

Response: Mark Murphy

Nice email threads everyone : glad everyone is talking in a proactive way :
I am copying you all on the response to Sean/Marliis Newsome, as I noticed
it was not shared with all of you in response to the failure to fact check :
so here are the facts if anyone is interested : have a good weekend :

Sean :

Funny letter : I never worked with anyone at city college for "0" pay :
actually, 2 people worked with me for $20-$30 per hour : Chris Conway and
Lisa Wilson : So unfortunately, your entire letter is wrong : Not sure where
you learned this information : And besides, I never hired students while
they were in class : I am not sure there are many companies in the entire
city that offered internships for pay, accept me :

To fact correct, I work exclusively with Ninthlink, always have, 8 years,
and all of the projects are shared equally between the two of us, so not
sure where all of this information comes from :

While at City College I worked at Miriello Grafico for most of that time and
never hired interns : So it seems that you may have me confused for someone
else as, my specific instruction to all of you gifted students at City
College always recommended to never work for free : In fact, I had an entire
lecture per class about freelance, exchange and value building :
unfortunately you may have missed out on this information somehow :

Pontification, is no where close to the my personal message and in no way
reflects on me, as mentioned in your letter : In fact, I work with over 100
artists per year, at no less than $1000 per artist and upwards up to $30K :
So good luck with that concept : Not sure where you get this either :

Good fortunes with your career, as there are few in the entire industry that
empowers more artists on a local or world level : you should look at my blog
and consider that every artist that I represent earns 100% opportunity all
the way through : You should have fact checked before writing :

In 2008, I worked with over 178 artists, 0 interns, 11 designers and 44
engineers on paid projects : Not to mention 110 artists represented at Miami
Art Basel, the publishing of the LA Illustration Annual (220 artists) and
the Laguna Museum's Low Brow Celebration-"in the land of retinal delights,"
(190 artists) not to mention books for Jeff Soto, Ray Caesar, Kathie Olivas,
Brandt Peters and Cathie Bleck :

The past 9 years of my career have empowered many artists locally and my
career since 1991 has celebrated over 11 museum installations and over and
54 exhibitions : the world needs more people who love the arts at a high
level as well as more people with the drive and dedication :

San Diego needs to step it up, $50 reward is not fair for a cover, and my
opinion still stands, while I congratulate you to reward people $100 of your
own investment on behalf of the newspaper, very admirable : Good fortunes :

PS : you may want to share this letter with the entire group, as your letter
is not 100% incorrect in all of its factual data, and you may want to
correct your position, as none of what you stated about my hiring habits are
true :

All best,

Mark Murphy
author : publish : design
www.murphydesign.com

619/743-0405

Defense: Jamie Roxx

Okay everyone, quit being all philosophical and get back to work. Kinsee
is just trying to throw a bone out there. again we're talking about
City Beat, they only have a budget that is so big. That's why she was
being cool and said hey if you have something that will work. Don't
knock out something new.

A big problem (a perceived problem with so many artists here) with the
arts community in san diego, is that everyone has to be all weird and
van gough out. Everyone has to try to be an "Artist" and out "artist"
everyone else.

I don't know how many of you folks do this for a living, but there has
been a couple of days of wasted enegery in "oh we're being messed over
by such and such. It frankly sounds like everyone has a lot of time on their hands.
Let's just get back to work. Kinsee has been a better friend than
most in helping/supporting etc etc the local scene. She's once again
trying to help and do what she can. So say thanks, help her out fit
in her bone into your marketing plan (or don't) and move on with your
day and finish our work.
~Jamie Roxx

Apology: Sean Newsome

Hello Mark,

Actually, I just got back from a round of disc golf with my son and
was composing this letter...

Thank you for the thoughtful response. as I stated in my letter, if I
was mistaken regarding interns, I stand corrected and I owe you a
response. As you know, the issue I raised has been in practice here in
San Diego (and elsewhere) and it always bothered me that this was
occurring. People need to be taught there is value in their work, even
if there is only a nominal return early on in their career.

And thank you for the positive feedback on my career. Now, if I could
only wrestle the graphic design away from one of the co-founders...

I'm still pondering your calling out Kinsee's call to artists,
however. Maybe I'm simply missing your point. I'm not sure why,
especially in these economic times, it would be inappropriate for an
artist to have some excellent pieces laying around? If you need to pay
the heating bill and you've got a piece that matches Kinsee's
description, why not take advantage of it and get a little exposure?

My offer still stands for a $100 reward to the selected artist and I
pledge to continue to find ways to support the local arts however I
can and within my budget.

Thank you,

-Sean

Support: Don Hollis

Great dialogue. There's nothing like a common goal to raise the bar. Hell, art may be a better investment than stocks these days. Kinsee rocks like no one else, Mark kicks ass, and we all benefit from the collective repetition and frequency of quality cultural happenings in our region.

Glad to be here,
Don Hollis

Support: Sake

Alot of talent in this email chain! We should get toghter and throw a massive art show in San Diego.

Regards,
Sake

thesaratogasake.blogspot.com

Response: Sean Dietrich

This has been a funny email chain...lots of good, funny, bad and really bad points brought up. First of all, if there was any professionalism from City Beat I wouldn't be receiving 30 emails, because a professional knows what BCC is. Anyways, I thought I might jump in and throw out a few opinions on this topic and the art scene as well...

Yes, I've submitted artwork to the cover of the magazine several times, so I do realize the exposure aspect of getting a piece of artwork printed on the cover. Unfortunately though the quality of the cover art and the print resolution has been horrible lately--I don't know if it's just a laziness issue or a printer issue, but wow...these last few covers really do convey the point that Kinsee makes in that she wants artwork that is laying around. I do agree that City Beat has helped in the past--they ran a little blurb about my show last year during the comic con, so it's not all bad. But it doesn't matter if the art is laying around or not--the attitude that is conveyed when you say something like that is one of laziness. Push the artists in this town...half of them shouldn't be in the industry in the first place--so push artists to put something new out for the cover, or if they do have something already finished, then be accepting of that, but don't just make it out to be as important as some lazy, chain smoking pregnant mother telling her kid to get her another beer out of the fridge. This is the magazine you work for, Kinsee, you are the art director, act like one.

The problem being is that the San Diego art scene, as some of you have hinted at, is one of the saddest in the nation--it's growing, yes, but still filled with Shamoo, La Jolla landscape paintings and pet portraits, which aren't exactly the height of innovation. I've lived in many towns and have had the pleasure of growing up on the East Coast near the National Gallery, and so have had the privilege of growing up in cities that offered not only an incredible gallery to look at, but a local art scene that was full of innovation and creativity. This city, no matter if you think you are in it just to be an artist, thrives on the monetary aspect of our craft. I do a minimum of 22 shows a month--5 weekly live painting events and several monthly showings so I get to see a pretty good cross section of the art community and get to interact and talk to alot of the people who come to this event, and it is sad to here them say "We've never seen anything like this before." It's also sad to see galleries that charge the artist up to a few hundred bucks to get into a show and then take a cut--that is one of the most appalling things I've seen so far. I give thanks to those of you who have put in the effort to get out there and push to make this art scene a better one, including Kinsee and City Beat who have done a bit as far as reporting on the art scene, but don't ever back yourself up by only saying 'find another magazine who has written more' about the local arts. That to me is just bullshit. That's like an artist saying "I do more paintings than any other artist in this city"--yet they are all shit. It's not the quantity, it's the quality, and City Beat lately has been lacking. I deal with a lot of magazines in Europe and the difference is that when I submit for a review or an interview and they agree, the follow up and the work gets done in a timely manner, and the enthusiasm is unmatched. They are actually excited about the quality of art and the artists and I get a minimum of 3 follow ups to see if they did a good job on the article or if they can do something else.

Enthusiasm is what lacks in this community--I see too many artists concerned about the 'fashion' aspects of the art scene. They throw a show with some sub par art of theirs, but the real show is when they walk in looking like some red carpet abortion from the Oscars. They put more effort into their looks and their lame choice of cocktail than they do the quality of their artwork, and then strut around like they own the fucking town. There is no enthusiasm in their game though and the show ends up looking like every other art show--a few bored people sitting around looking at the art, wondering who the artist is because he/she is at the bar with their close friends not giving a shit.

And I will give credit to those who are throwing amazing shows...Schugariver and the Dope Show put on some of the best shows I've ever had the pleasure to be apart of--and of course Ginger who's trunk shows help start my career in this town as a live painter so many years ago. They truly are visual feasts and span every form of art from the fine to the freakish. They put effort into their shows, they take the time to promote correctly and when someone walks into one of these shows they are able to talk with artists that love what they do and are willing to let the person pick their brain about techniques and styles etc. Yes, you will always get one or two artists that fall into that category of laziness and pompousness that I wrote of earlier, but nothing is perfect. All I ask is that you spend more time realizing that what you do for the San Diego art scene in important because it is small as hell and the quality of artist is few and far between, so if you submit something to Kinsee to put on the cover of the magazine, make sure you put some effort into it--this is going out to many, many people and this is what many see as the face of the San Diego art scene. So to Kinsee, I understand what point you were trying to make, but please don't tell artists to throw you something they have lying around...because they will. And to the artists, make something new for the cover because your newest should be your best (and then just lie and say you had it already finished from last year...hahaha)

Anyways, thanks for the time to those who read this, and if anyone is interested in doing an art show, let me know, I know events that are always looking for new artists to display. Drop me a line sean@industriacide.com

Sincerely,

Sean Dietrich

STUDIO INDUSTRIACIDE
Phone: 619.634.3804
Email: sean@industriacide.com
Web: www.industriacide.com

Support: Kenny Sanchez

soo many people rowled up about this.

....just be happy to have your work on a cover of a mag. It's pretty cool to be chowing down on a Crane Asada burritio at your favorite taco shop seeing your work in the Citybeat stand next to ya.

Thanks for my cover few weeks back, no complaints here.

Kenny Sanchez
http://threefourmedia.com/

Spun by Art as Authority at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:51 PM | Permalink

from the press release


Meet The Artist: Becky Cohen this Sunday, January 25th

1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Becky Cohen will give a brief talk about her work. Light refreshments will be served. Please R.S.V.P. so we can prepare for your visit.





Photographer, Becky Cohen, resident of Encinitas, is best known for the photographs she made for Robert Irwin Getty Garden, published by The J. Paul Getty Museum, which earned her rave reviews in a wide range of publications. Independently, both The Times of London, and The Los Angeles Times Book Review called her photography for Robert Irwin Getty Garden, “exquisite”. Shot over four years, this body of work also provided images for a second book, The Plants in The Getty’s Central Garden, a plant encyclopedia in handbook form.





An Alfred Eisenstadt Awards 2000 winner, Cohen’s photographs have been collected to major museums worldwide, including The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; The Los Angeles County Museum; The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; and have been published widely including in LIFE, The New York Times, and Architectural Record.





Noel-Baza Fine Art
2165 India Street San Diego, CA 92104
619.876.4160
noel-baza@cox.net

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:27 AM | Permalink

by Kevin Freitas


It appears Cupid’s arrows have been laced with oxytocin and vasopressin all along. It is what I imagine after reading a report in the New York Times* by the neuroscientist Dr. Larry Young. Martial bliss of any kind can be a wonderful thing apparently if you’re with the right person, and have the right drugs.





Oxytocin is a hormone released naturally in fertile mammals, or in the case of Dr. Young’s research, in prairie voles, occurring naturally “during labor, delivery and nursing” aiding in mother-child bonding and also to one’s mate.

Vassopressin on the other hand, stimulates the desire for nesting and bonding (released typically during sex and in some cases when injected artificially) which is found in male prairie voles. All this research has led Dr. Young to imagine a drug one day in the not too distant future that would enable humans to “fall in love” as easily as getting a yearly booster shot. Unfortunately until then, love in all its mysterious apparitions, joys, break-ups, and expressions will be found in poems and at the cinema. Read the article here to learn more about love’s evolution.

This leads us to Scott Bourne. From his bio we learn he was born in North Carolina, is an avid voyager, a professional skateboarder, and was a columnist for SLAP Magazine. He’s a poet, writer, and one time inhabitant of Mongolia where he chronicled his adventures there into his book Dirt Ollies. Adding to this are his travels on the Trans Siberian Railroad and more recently, as a novelist, publishing his first book entitled A Room with No Windows. He currently splits his time between the City of Lights and the City by the Bay. He is a vagabond of the heart and road, a lover who has been loved by women and loved many more in return. Wanderlust can be very seductive, for some of us it means we simply cannot sit still; for others it is to escape (something). For Bourne, suffering from what he described as “a wicked mean case of heartbreak,” wanderlust sent him to France. The end result is Cheating on the Metronome.

Published last year by Work in Progress GmbH and carhartt, Cheating on the Metronome composes and plays for the reader a brooding melody of love conquered and then lost in a heart-wrenching anthology of verse, texts, and poems of what is left of that heartbreak, and the residual black stained memory. Alfred Lord Tennyson, may have felt “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” but Tennyson never realized there are no winners in love’s trial by fire, only those conquered and left for dead, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind and warning signs never heeded.

Helas, until Dr. Young perfects a love potion or something to prevent love’s side effects, we will continue to take risks and gamble on the one we love – at any cost. No one knows this better than Bourne in his poem entitled Convince Me:

I use people and let myself be used
Because I want to know
What life is composed of
If it is not passion
Let it be lies
But let them be convincing

In all fairness, Bourne undoubtedly has a daunting task before him; the thousands, the millions of poems and treatises on love written throughout our history have made it difficult to hear any voice, let alone Bourne’s, make sense of it all. Perhaps it isn’t important for him to convince me or anyone else, perhaps his uniqueness lies simply in the fact that he expressed the loss he feels. Art will always remain a personal expression so long as it does not become universally understood. Is there some amount of solace in knowing this?

I much prefer Bourne’s voice in a poem entitled, A Hard to Get Kinda Poem. Here's a sampling:

It was a hard to get kinda poem
Which meant
You had to go through it
To get it
Long nights
With no reply
Sleepless nights
Awake in a bed but dead
Waiting in the grave
For the soil
To cover your face
A hole you can not crawl from
Some call it love
But to me
It was a hard to get kinda poem
It rides down the street on a
Ten speed with the bars turned up
It has no brakes
No mistakes
Looks good on the boulevard
But just won’t stop for the lights
Moves off along the block
Till it meets with a swift collision
A bad decision
And like a satellite falling from the heavens
It comes back to the earth
It was a hard to get kinda poem
.......

Cheating on the Metronome can be ordered through Spacejunk Gallery in France, bound in luscious black leather, gilded pages, and a gold monogram of a metronome on the cover, recalling the Transamerica Pyramid building in San Francisco and the Eiffel Tower in Paris – Bourne’s adopted home(s) away from home. It is filled with emotion and words that make poetry. Believe it for yourself.

*thanks to Richard Gleaves for the Times article

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

from the press release



click for larger image


USD Ethnic Studies, Calaca Press and the Red CalacArts Collective present:

Deportation Nation: History Repeats
A cultural series highlighting the issue of deportation in America

Deportation Nation: Visual Migrations
January 31 - March 8, 2009
Opening reception Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 7pm - FREE

Centro Cultural de la Raza
2125 Park Blvd, SD, CA 92101

Art exhibit addressing the issue of deportation featuring work by Berenice Badillo (SD), Doris Bittar (SD), Chikle (SD), Isaias Crow (SD), Celeste De Luna (Harlingen, TX), Gerardo Quetzatl Garcia (San Antonio, TX), Xochitl Gil-Higuchi (Tucson, AZ), Nuvia Crisol Guerra (SD), John Halaka (SD), Ricardo Islas (SD), and Gabriel J. V�lez (Scottsdale, AZ). Curated by Cal A. Vera of Calaca Press. Opening reception music by Gabriel J. Velez. Plus, a panel discussion with Deportation Nation artists and SD City College Chicano Studies professor, Justin Akers Chacon.

Deportation Nation: Cinematic Migrations
Thursday, February 5, 2009 - 6pm - FREE

USD Mother Rosalie Hill Hall - Warren Auditorium @ Soles
5998 Alcala Park, SD, CA 92110

Movie and lecture by filmmaker Isaac Artenstein and his work: Break of Dawn. Break of Dawn depicts the story of Los Angeles musician, radio personality and activist Pedro J. Gonzalez and his deportation for speaking out against the mass deportations of Mexicans in the 1930's. Introduction by SD Mesa College Chicano Studies chair Mike Ornelas.

Deportation Nation: Spoken Migrations
Friday, February 6, 2009 - 7pm - FREE

SD Central Library Auditorium
820 E St., SD, CA 92101

Poetry and Spoken Word related to the experience of deportation and migration. Featuring: Francisco J. Bustos (San Diego), Olga Garcia Echeverria (Los Angeles), Ken10 (San Diego), Viet Mai (San Diego) and Amalia Ortiz (Los Angeles). MC'd by Cal A. Vera of the Red CalacArts Collective. A small collection of poetry and prose called Deportation Nation will be given away free to the first 150 Deportation Nation: Spoken Migrations attendees.

Free parking at 5 Star Parking lots 12 and 64!

This event is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

Deportation Nation: Musical Migrations
Saturday, February 7, 2009 - 8 to10pm - FREE

USD University Center
5998 Alcala Park, SD, CA 92110

Musical program featuring Los Alacranes, Quino and Son Sin Fronteras with a jam session by all musicians playing the Woody Guthrie classic Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee). MC'd by USD Ethnic Studies professor Jesse Mills.
Organized by USD Ethnic Studies, Calaca Press and the Red CalacArts Collective. Sponsored by the Centro Cultural de la Raza, SD Central Library, USD AChA and USD MEChA. Support provided by the USD Trans-Border Institute and 5 Star Parking. Deportation Nation graphic by Chikle.

For more information contact Brent E. Beltran.
calacapress@cox.net
(619) 920-1713

Spun by Art as Authority at 11:26 AM | Permalink

by KAI ONE

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo CNN

Spun by Art as Authority at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

by Richard Gleaves

Spun by Richard Gleaves at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

by Richard Gleaves

When I heard Ray at Night was being thrown to the cars, I thought maybe this was it. But by all accounts the show went off as big as ever: party, crowds, even art.

I hate Ray: for its circus carny atmosphere, for the way it denies contemplation its place in art, and for that supremely cheesy shop that shows that same tasteful oil of that same giant orange on that same damned wall for month after month after month after month after month.

I love Ray too, for the great art I've seen there (most in galleries long gone or off Broadway).

Gustaf Rooth is Ray, so I hate and love him too. And all of it — hate, love, absurd laughter, and sincere gratitude — is neatly encapsulated in the above video, wherein Rooth accepts his Academy award for Largest And Longest Art Event.

Mad props to you sir, in all your unspeakable glory. Continue!

Spun by Richard Gleaves at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

CHANNELING: An Invocation of Spectral Bodies & Queer Spirits
*a touring film and video program curated by Latham Zearfoss and Ethan White*


Agitprop
Monday, January 19th at 8 pm
2837 University Avenue
agitprop.events@gmail.com
619.384.7989
$5 admission at the door



click for larger image


DESCRIPTION:
CHANNELING is an entryway into the spirit realm and the queer body politic: a program of experimental moving image work that calls up the ghosts of the past and the specters of the future. The intent of the program is to re-imagine film and video as occult technologies that allow us to connect with the bodies, experiences, and emotions that are often invisible– ghostly, even–in everyday life. The works in the program take a personal approach in dealing with the political and historical problems that haunt the queer experience: the AIDS pandemic (Renwick, DiStefano), the body in transition (Montague),the idealized nuclear family (Pena, Robinson), and the narrow cultural standards of desirability (EMR, Moulton). CHANNELING presents emerging and established artists critically engaging with these concerns on their own campy, poetic, sexual, humorous, and even utopian terms, using a variety of aesthetic approaches such as digital video, homemade effects, saturated 8mm, home movies, animation, green screen, and more.

Please visit http://channelingqueerspirits.wordpress.com for news, tour info, and more information about the artists and works included in the program.

RUNNING ORDER:
Vanessa Renwick - 9 is a Secret (2002, 6:00, video)
Elliot Montague - Well Dressed (2006, 10:00, Super 8mm on video)
Shana Moulton - Whispering Pines #7 (2006, 5:00, video)
Michael Robinson - Carol Anne is Dead (2008, 7:30, video)
EMR (Math Bass & Dylan Mira) - Somethings Gonna Soon (2008, 4:00, video)
Aay Preston-Myint - Some Ghosts (2007, 2:00, video)
Jillian Pena - Compromise (2005, 10:00, video)
John Di Stefano - (tell me why): The Epistemology of Disco (1990, 24:00, video)

Total Running Time: ~68 min.

9 Is a Secret - Vanessa Renwick (2002, 6 min)
Renwick recounts a sad time in her life, when a friend was dying and she suddenly became aware of the presence of crows…[Renwick] craft[s] a lyrical and moving essay that works its magic through poetic accretion rather than narrative logic. -Holly Willis, L.A. Weekly

Well Dressed - Elliott Montague (2006, 10 min)
This experimental documentary meditates on the space between two bodies and explores three key bodies in transition: the erotic "cruising" body, the transgender body, and the pregnant body. In depicting moments of change or redefinition for these physical bodies, Well Dressed imagines unexpected points of convergence. –Elliott Montague

Whispering Pines #7 - Shana Moulton (2006, 5 min)
In this episode of the Whispering Pines series, Moulton's character Cynthia is confronted with a distorted mirror image that slips between the grotesque and the exotic, depending on her posture. While Cynthia performs her nose-pore cleaning routine in front of the mirror, a sphinx appears and sings a song from the animated movie "The Last Unicorn," which laments becoming a woman. –Electronic Arts Intermix

Carol Anne Is Dead - Michael Robinson (2008, 7 min)
"Robinson recycles his family's home movie version of Poltergeist, made when he was ten, into a raw look at the performative." – Onion City

Somethings Gonna Soon - EMR (Math Bass & Dylan Mira) (2008, 4 min)
EMR has created a sigil, a magic sex symbol abstracted from the words TRUST ME (NOT) TO HURT YOU that is spread across rituals of the beast. Discordant sound and psychic image imagine a cross formation, speak from the hole, say nothing. Untie the knot and let down the pony, somethings gonna soon. –EMR

Some Ghosts - Aay Preston-Myint (2006, 2 min)
Some Ghosts incorporates embroidery and stop-motion animation techniques to create a colorful dreamscape in which an unwitting spaceman looses angry spirits from a haunted medicine cabinet. Audio production was done in collaboration with Alexis Gideon. –Aay Preston-Myint.

Compromise - Jillian Peña (2005, 10 min)
I locate my video-based work within the dance community with the proposition that dance is an embodied shift that can exist without a represented body as its location. Casting the audience as subject and performer, I desire to generate a hyper-self-awareness in the viewers, who join the performance by gazing at their selves. –Jillian Peña

(tell me why): The Epistemology of Disco - John Di Stefano (1991, 24 min)
(tell me why) The Epistemology Of Disco is an often humorous, at times sarcastic and poignant look at the role that disco music has played in the formation of gay male identity. The tape challenges the notion of disco as merely a "leisure activity" by positing disco as an important cultural space created as an expression of gay sexuality. –Vtape

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:55 AM | Permalink

Now for something completely different. Joe Harris. I first came across Joe on the pages of Blogcritics, a website dedicated to writers of all literary persuasions covering politics to culture. It was a recent article entitled "Bagger on Fire" that got my attention. Now, I'm no literary critic, 'I just know what I like' and as much as I hate hearing this statement, especially in the visual arts, I like how Joe writes. It fits my temperament and recalls other authors I also enjoy reading such as Bukowski.

What Joe recounts is indeed accurate, brutal at times, harsh and unsympathetic but refreshingly honest - he speaks his truth and I respect that. So with out further ado and with Joe's permission, I'll start everyone off with an earlier piece he wrote in 2006. Enjoy! Kevin Freitas




photo: www.mitadmissions.org





by Joe Harris


I see a line of cars and they're all painted black. Paint the walls with my brain. The arches are fool's gold and their doors lead to Third World wage abominations. Welcome to McDonald's, now turn off that goddamn diesel engine so I can take your white trash order.

The blackening of the evening sky brought cool air as well as the foreboding of the torrential nightly rush. We cashiers loathed them all, the hooligans, drunks, snobs and savage overemotionals. In the chaos of a rush I might be unsettled enough to despise all customers. I became disgusted by every ethnicity, including my own for uncertain reasons that became logical as my overwrought mind and frayed nerves succumbed to desperation. A rush often convinced me that all customers were the enemy. This belief was only 89 percent grounded in reality.

Am I insane or do I just need a cigarette? Will I ever get off the clock or is this rush eternal? Another in an endless stream of automobiles rolls up to the speaker. I know this because my headset has beeped in my left ear. That nerve-racking beep that has come to feel like an ice pick thrusting into my brain, thereby destroying the region of my cerebrum that enables me to feel hope or give a rat's ass.

I've been languishing in this isolated drive-thru booth for four solid hours now. It feels like 15 hours, I wonder if my watch has stopped. The usual massive rush has been unrelenting and the customers have been wildly contemptuous. I try to think of myself as a machine--a hate machine, perhaps. I hate rude people and annoyances alike, but I wouldn't be so disdainful if there were only a dozen to contend with. The procession of lowlifes is seemingly infinite while the rush's typical duration precludes one from feeling hope. My mind is being battered by the consuming maelstrom of; cars, headset beeps, repetitive action, diesel engines, shouting people, whispering people and the vainglorious smirks of those who are clearly my intellectual inferiors. I can only feel desperation and vehement disgust.

Ironically, these feelings kept me going. I resolved that these senseless animals cannot break me or make me run away like a little bitch. Notwithstanding such colossal irritants, these feelings may have been extreme. Assuredly, McDonald's Dalrock after dark was an exceptionally extreme place to shovel shit.

The position of cashier/ordertaker is a fast-paced juggling act that quickly becomes painfully repetitive. In addition, people are far more likely to be combative and debasing from the security and perceived comfortable distance of their vehicle. They have nothing to say on the street and little to say on front counter, but sit their fat asses in a car and they sprout a set of erroneously used balls. "You need to turn up the volume, son. I can't understand shit you're sayin'." A so-called man under the mistaken impression that I could "turn up the volume" on the ordering speaker shouted this at me. Such degrading remarks were commonplace. A woman working at the second window had her life threatened on a separate occasion. They might even yell at the cashier on the hunch that their unprepared order would be botched by the grill crew. I now guarantee that it will be royally botched.

Attending to customers without gratuitous bloodshed was only one facet of the job's frustrations. The winter of 2000 proved that Hell can freeze over. My drive-thru window faced an open field from which freezing winds in excess of 15 miles per hour typically pelted my flesh. Closing this window at any point during the evening was unfeasible due to the nightly bumrush. The open window transformed my station into a wind tunnel as temperatures in the booth fell below 45 degrees, according to the thermostat. Bulky overcoats were too cumbersome and gloves obviously weren't an option.

The relentless wind rendered my hands, face and groin completely numb. The numbness of my face could make my speech sound like that of a stroke patient's. Frigid walls of wind gave my skin a burning sensation and caused my eyes to water. If I opened my mouth widely while speaking, the wind would stimulate my gag reflex. Each winter night I resigned myself to these discomforts and progressed beyond the point of shivering. Add these conditions to the perennial customer insanity and you get a desperate register slave on the edge.

I hate you, me and the rest of the world and I was going to kill myself when I got home, regardless. Adequate provocation for my leaping from this window to savagely beat your ass would earn you my eternal love.

I eventually left that hellhole in favor of a similar one. My reasons for rotting there for 13 months remain ambiguous. Eleven of those months were spent in the booth, which resembled a dismal cage at the zoo surrounded by unsupervised children. After some 40 hours a week at that store, I am confident that no future job will be worse or pay any less. I am equally confident that Ronald McDonald's lacerated corpse will be recovered from a North Dallas dumpster.

Spun by Art as Authority at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

from the press release





On Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 7:00 p.m., Poetry & Art in the Museum of the Living Artist hosts another poetry/visual art combination slam for writers, artists and performers. This is a winner-takes-all poetry competition with a slight twist: Performers who bring and show visual art connected in some way to their poetry will earn extra points. Performers may also use (and are encouraged to use) artwork hanging in the museum's current exhibit. Simply pick a painting, and we'll display it front and center for the audience while you read. Winner takes home $300.

What is Poetry Slam? Here is the official word from Poetry Slam, Inc.: "A poetry slam is a competitive event in which poets perform their work and are judged by members of the audience. Typically, the host or another organizer selects the judges, who are instructed to give numerical scores (on a zero to 10 or one to 10 scale) based on the poets' content and performance."

Signups start at 6:30 p.m., but performers can pre-register by emailing poetryandartsd@gmail.com. Slam starts at 7:00 p.m. Due to the number of participants in our previous slams, this time we will put all names in the hat for lottery and take only 18 performers. Top three finishing poets will be considered for a full feature in the Museum of the Living Artist. Come on down and slam, judge or simply enjoy the show!

Entry is $5, free for members. Event takes place at SDAI/MOLA, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Contact Michael Klam at mkklam@gmail.com, 619.957.3264 (direct) or 619.236.0011 (museum) for more information. To learn more about Poetry Slam, visit www.poetryslam.com. Please visit the museum Web site: www.sandiego-art.org.

Spun by Art as Authority at 07:45 AM | Permalink

video by Michele Guieu





Art Produce Gallery
3139 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
619.584.4448
lynn@artproducegallery.com
www.artproducegallery.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"FRONT CURTAIN"
Richard Gleaves

Opening Reception: January 10, 2009 / 6 - 9pm

Art Produce Gallery
3139 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
619.584.4448
lynn@artproducegallery.com
www.artproducegallery.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

"FRONT CURTAIN"
Richard Gleaves

Opening Reception: January 10, 2009
6 - 9pm

Art Produce Gallery
3139 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
619.584.4448
lynn@artproducegallery.com
www.artproducegallery.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Larry Caveney


It’s 5am and Scotty rolls over to look at the glowing clock radio and the face of his lover next to him. He gets up, scratches his ass, and stretches his huge frame of a body. It’s still dark, but Scotty uses the flashing street sign outside to make coffee and get ready for his day.




Scotty the Blue Bunny



After coffee, Scotty grooms himself in his too-small bathroom and too-small mirror. Scotty is about 6’5” and weighs 305 lbs. He shaves his head with a straight razor in the dim light of that New York morning. Moving over the scars of past miscalculations, he smiles at himself with mischievous satisfaction. Clean, propped up, and shaven, Scotty opens his closet and pulls out a huge worn bunny costume. He squeezes himself into the jacket of the outfit and zips it up. The sleeves extend themselves into rabbit paws that he can poke his fingers out of. The bottom half of the outfit is fuzzy lavender bikini briefs, with a mid-size pom-pom for a tail.

Scotty sits on the bed and pulls fishnet stockings over his large shapely legs. His lover wakes and asks, “Are you doing community work today?” "Yes, go back to sleep," Scotty replies. After the stockings, Scotty slips into his 5-inch heels that make him almost 7 feet tall. At loss to where his headdress could be, Scotty has a flashback moment and looks under the bed. Scotty pulls his rabbit ears out from under the bed and crowns himself with the final touch of his bunny fantasy. Scotty checks himself in the mirror and beholds the magic lavender fool he his become; the fool as performance artist that he has spent years creating.

Scotty, when dressed in the bunny costume, becomes a porthole for a surrealistic break in linear time. His intentions on this day are to interact with people on the street, his way of giving the public something to laugh about as well as creating a myth for them to share. Scotty moves from the world of vaudeville for one particular audience to the streets to a more interactive exchange with audience.

Scotty the Blue Bunny sacrifices his own body for the prospect of humor and dark kindness. He is just one of the artists in this survey that use the fool figure in his performance art. Other artists that use the notion of the fool are Leigh Bowery, Reverend Billy, and William Pope L. In this paper, I will define how these four artists are using post-modern interpretations of the fool for social intervention, just as the court jester did in medieval times.

To define the term “fool” becomes a very expansive endeavor. According to Beatrice Otto, the author of Fools Everywhere, the term fool has multiple meanings:

The term "fool" has a broad range of synonyms: clown and harlequin, jester and joker, buffoon, trickster, vice, even devil and demon. But these words do not offer consistent qualitative or quantitative differences that might separate fool types from one another. Etymologies of these terms are similarly overlapping and general. The implicit meanings most common in the late twentieth century identify jesters as verbally witty, buffoons as stupid, clowns as common circus figures providing visual foolery, and fools as dupes or fops. Finally, motivation for their actions distinguishes self-serving tricksters as mischievous, vices as malicious, and devils/demons as evil. Yet because the differentiations associated with these terms are hazy and even subjective, we will not use them to delineate types and will use the term "fool" to represent the entire group.1

Initially, the role of the jester was to entertain royalty. The fool or jester found favor with the king or queen through humor. There are accounting logs that show which jesters were awarded the most gifts. Both the terms jester and fool are interchangeable for the royal subject that holds this social position of court entertainer. For the most part, the jester was a nomad who was always struggling to maintain a place a role in his community.

Apart from providing a balance to the royal hubris, the primary function of the court jester is to provide comic relief from the everyday stresses inherent to the throne. Max Gluckman reminds us that the jester for Queen Elizabeth "did her more good than the medicines of all her physicians, and the sermons of her chaplains" 2

Humor allowed the fool to be the messenger of bad news to the king. The jester was always seeking favor from the king in order to sustain a position in the court. William Somers was a favorite jester of King Henry VIII. He is believed to have had the most stable position in the history of the court. William was a natural; he humored his way into the heart of the king.

Somers was, in Tudor parlance, an "artificial" rather than a "natural" fool: that is, he was not what his contemporaries would have labeled a "simpleton" nor a "madman" nor a "freak," but rather, he was a talented performer. His specialty was verbal wit more than physical antics, though he could mug funny faces and bizarre gestures. In centering his humor on clever play with language and extemporaneous versifying, he can be considered at the very least the first notable comedian of the English Renaissance, a jokester for the humanist age. He was also the first whose fame greatly outlasted his own lifetime.3

At first William dressed in the traditional jester’s costume, but later he became more fashionable often dressing in finery usually only afforded the king. William was so popular that he was included in a group portrait with the king. Williams carved his way into a position of respect.

We now tend to picture the court fool – the traditional jester in cap and bells- as belonging in a special way to the middle Ages and to western European culture. But his origins, though hidden in unrecorded antiquity, may be as old as kingship itself. For wherever forceful and ambitious men or women have attained a position of auto power over others, there is often at their side an insignificant person of obscure origins who, whether given the formal title of ‘fool’ o not is seen to fulfill equivalent function.4

Two of the major categories associated with the jester are the innocent fool and the clever or artificial fool. The innocent fool is usually mentally handicapped and is used for the purpose of humoring the king. The innocent fool came from mythical place in the minds of those who witnessed his lunacy.

From the earliest times, natural fools, of whom the madman represents an extreme in his near-total loss or abandonment of reason, have provoked a strangely mixed set of responses comprising (in carrying proportions) fear, pity, contempt, laughter, and awe. In certain cultures, the madman is thought to be in communication with a world of spirits and is attributed with powers of clairvoyance and prophecy.5

The artificial or clever fool is conscious of his foolery and uses it for his entertainment and survival. The clever fool had more social mobility than the innocent fool did. The clever fool would use his relationship with the king for his personal benefit.

The clever fool understands only too well the risks he is taking in the communications of hard truths, and is obliged to adopt more subtle approaches. He is most effective ( and funny) when he contrives to hold a mirror to the king in which his patron can see a magnified image of has won attitudes and decisions, and recognize for himself the folly in them.6

Subjects that were born with dwarfism were used in court as jesters. Dwarf jesters could be either artificial or innocent. Dwarfs were in big demand in the court during the 1500s. The queen would pay handsomely for the services of a dwarf. Families would experiment with dwarfing their children in order to make a profit from the queen. Little documentation is given about the dwarf jester, mostly represented by royal ledgers or paintings, prints.

The earliest known to us is the Negro dwarf jester in the court of Pharaoh Pepi. This jester could “dance the God” and in an appeal to the pilot who should bring the boat with the soul of the king to the islands of Osiris. The Pharaoh claims identity with his jester and hopes that it will ensure his soul a fair voyage and a welcome reception in the other world.7

The role of the jester within the royal court came to an end during the Elizabethan period. Jesters moved on to sideshows, the theater, or they became street entertainers. When the jester was finally liberated from royal patronage, he found freedom within his own expression. Jesters found community in sideshows, the streets, and the theater. The freedoms exercised today by contemporary artists such as Scotty the Blue Bunny, the late Leigh Bowery, and the Reverend Billy come from past village idiots that had the courage to act out their fantasies. All five post-modern fools profiled in this paper could be described as the artificial type.

Scotty the Blue Bunny embodies the idea of the jester as the humorist. Scotty does not have a king to answer to; therefore he takes his refuge on stage or in the streets. Progressing from being the king’s entertainer and sometime advisor, the jester moved from the court into the public domain about the latter part of the 17th century. Scotty is a good example of the fool as artist because he plays out his fantasies in the street. He does this by projecting his created persona and attracting attention. Scotty's massive body in his blue bunny suit, complete with Speedos, aids his fool as jester representation by using humor to get what he needs. The jester as fool understands that humor is a social lubricant. Humor allows the fool not to take issues too seriously by objectifying the reverent symbols of culture.

This special trust leads to the principal hallmark of the court jester -- his license, widely and explicitly acknowledged, to speak freely, to challenge, question, provoke, tease and mock, even on sensitive points or matters of policy. Jesters were not revolutionaries seeking to topple the king, which is partly why they were allowed such latitude, and their words were often heeded by their so-called superiors. They were usually the king's ally, while also being on the side of the people -- like a good friend who tells you what you may not want to hear, but which other people might only say behind your back. In this way, they would intercede on behalf of victims in individual cases of injustice and also on behalf of the populace as a whole -- the reduction or removal of unfair tax being a frequent target (one particularly well documented in China).8

The following interview is an interview with Scotty the Blue Bunny, by Larry Caveney, on the role of the jester in contemporary times.

Larry Caveney: The Jester was the one who had the King's ear...Social intervention through humor. Where do you fit within this description?

Scotty the Blue Bunny: In that sense, I would have to say, that maybe I play the role of the people's jester - I report to the audience at the "king's" expense. The humor of my image lies in its juxtaposition from the normal. I offer myself as a focal point for which the audience can see their own exceptionality, and gain some immunity from the status quo. By giving people permission to laugh at me, we enter into an allegiance, which is ultimately an opportunity for me to be suggestive, provocative, and to enact social intervention.

LC: What the difference between performing on stage verses the streets?

SBB: Performing on stage is completely different from working on the streets, mainly because of time. On stage, I get to set the pace and finesse issues and techniques of performance. I can communicate through lighting, music and imagery, where as on the streets, it is fleeting and instantaneous. The stage is where I get to be an artist in the fullest sense of the word - all my skills are brought into play - sewing, choreography, prop building, etc. On the streets is where I get to be a Personality.

LC: Where did you get the idea of the bunny?

SBB: As far as where I got the idea to use the bunny motif - I am at a loss to explain my own phenomenology, or to rationalize the creative process. The real question is not why I am a bunny, but why did the Bunny choose me. I had a dream and followed my heart -- a muse is a muse is a muse.

LC: Is ritual involved in your process in becoming the bunny?

SBB: There is no particular ritual I perform in order to get into my character, as this is not something I do, but rather who I am; I do not consider the Bunny an alter-ego, but rather a hyper-identity - it makes me MORE of who I am, not completely different, or emphasize a sublimated aspect. There are things I do in order to perform, i.e. rehearse, warm up my voice, deep breathing, etc, but that stuff comes AFTER I'm in character, backstage. As a matter of fact, I don't think I would even use the term in character, in my case it's "in costume."

LC: I know that the bunny is the part of you that plays the sacrifice or fool to the public. Which part of you is the straight guy? Where's the contrast that helps define your image?

SBB: The contrast that defines my image is the juxtaposition with the audience. However, it is not an either/or situation, it's more of a both/and situation. I am different from them, yet the same, or of them, and I let them know. I speak in a collective sense, using words like "our" or "we" - I give them permission to participate. My fantastic reality doesn't alienate me, it endears me. There is no fourth wall -- I turn being looked at into an aggressive act -- it's completely interactive.

LC: Are you constantly the bunny? What's typical day for you like? AM-PM?

SBB: A typical day for me is one of fluid identities -- I may identify myself as Scotty the Blue Bunny on the phone, but I really only dress as such at performances/appearances. Otherwise, I talk to my friends on the phone, negotiate performance opportunities, go to the supermarket, and forget to buy toilet paper. I'm an independent artist, so I pretty much do everything myself, from working on the website to sewing my costumes, to making my lunch.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The late performance artist Leigh Bowery is the next example of the artist as fool. Bowery defined the jester as fool when he used his body as a means of sacrifice. The jester, as sacrifice, is the fool who uses his body as a mirror for others to project their fantasies and fears upon. The fool is the placement of matter that threatens reality. At the same time, the fool sacrifices himself while defining the difference between the concepts of right and wrong by acting as the fool. It’s a device that functions as a pressure release within the context of a “civilized” community.




Leigh Bowery, http://www.alissongothz.com.br/leighbowery/



Leigh Bowery is remembered as an artist who used his body as a medium for expression. Bowery would wear costumes that contorted his body out of its natural alignment. In a 1992 interview, Bowery states:

Bowery chose to ignore the facts of his own gender and the construction of the male body, to use an organ formed for the expulsion of fecal matter as stand-in for an organ of procreation. That his work was about contradiction, outrage, challenging the idea of the normal, surely stemmed from this fundamental and original conflict. Like many other homosexuals, Bowery turned to fashion early in his career and this allowed him to play with cloaking the facts of his maleness with fantasy femaleness, a second and removable skin of fabric, feathers, glitter and extreme coloration. Given how loudly Bowery's masculinity broadcast itself even from his younger days, those early attempts at dressing up must have looked ridiculous, even absurd, leaving him the choice of either accepting his gender unvarnished, or to deny it through costume and makeup. Being an essentially honest man, as I believe he was, Bowery chose to shout out loud his homosexuality, and out of this he made a life and a body of work that could never belong to any other period than the 1980s and any other place than London. Those inspired by his example, such as the late Peter Tully of Sydney, simply appeared somewhat tragic by comparison. Leigh Bowery was the groundbreaker and sole true owner of the Leigh Bowery tradition.9

Like Leigh Bowery, William Pope L uses his body as a cultural projection. Unlike Bowery, William Pope L acts out and puts his body through rough conditions for the purpose of social dialogue. In 2001, he began his Broadway Crawl, a 22-mile journey up the spine of Manhattan that took five years.





Like Bowery, William Pope L also uses costumes as a device of the familiar. Costumes bring humor to William Pope L’s message. Pope uses his body, sometimes dressed as Superman, to make social commentary. His work often addresses social issues, such as his Eating the Wall Street Journal performance, in which he sat on a stack of the newspapers in a Boston financial district, downing pages and drinking milk in what has been called a "performative burlesque of contemporary consumptive modes [in which] “consumption is unnatural and food is anti-nutrition," states Pope. Barbara Pollack, journalist from the Village Voice, makes the following commentary on Pope:

Attention has come gradually to Pope.L, who has often worked just beyond the star-making machinery of the gallery system. One early work, "How Much Is That Nigger in the Window?" required the artist to stand on street corners or sit in performance spaces doused in mayonnaise. In another, "ATM Piece," he stood before a Chase Manhattan branch dressed only in a skirt made of $1 bills, which passersby were free to grab. In 1998, "My Niagara," his first installation in Harlem's the Project transformed the artist's body into a disturbing spectacle: splayed out on a rack, naked except for an orange ski cap and heavy yellow boots. "Eating The Wall Street Journal," performed most recently at Sculpture Center in 2000, skewers our reliance on the "bible of financial news," with Pope.L literally digesting the newspaper while sitting on a toilet mounted 10 feet in the air. These Fluxus-inspired performances combine influences as diverse as Joseph Beuys and Paul McCarthy with African bocio rituals and Richard Pryor routines.10

The creation of the actor Bill Talen, Reverend Billy began preaching the anti-consumerist gospel in the Times Square Disney store three years ago. Wearing a white dinner jacket over a black T-shirt and a priest's collar, and flashing a salesman's smarmiest smile, he confronted shoppers with the ugly news that Bambi had been built in sweatshops, and lamented the corporate monoculture that has conquered Times Square.





The Reverend Billy plays the role of the trickster as jester as he costumes himself with familiar attire (a preacher) and then uses that attire to seduce people into thinking that he is a preacher. This role allows him to voice his message of capitalism going out of control within our society. Billy is shown in the photo above performing an exorcism on a Starbucks cash register. On the street corner out side of Starbucks Reverend Billy bellows: “If enough New Yorkers wanted to protect our city from this company's assembly-line fake Bohemianism we could leave these cappuccino machines hissing alone.” Billy preaches against corporate evil and its abuses of power. "We are against the large transitional corporations that try to defeat the individual, the ones that attempt to replace freedom of expression with their products," Billy declares. Billy, like the trickster snares the audience in a familiar setting and then reveals his true objectives like when he preached against the Patriot act with his congregation on the site of ground zero in New York City. Based on Lewis Hyde's observations of the trickster, he states:

The trickster is very much the joker. Humor trips the trap of culture as well, by giving culture a surreal event that makes culture stop and notice. Trickster walks the middle ground in life. Humor allows the trickster to not take issues too seriously. The Trickster uses humor to objectify the reverent symbols of culture. The Trickster learns through his own initial mistakes and uses that information to trick others. Whether or not it is right to say that this story’s sequence of events describes trickster learning something, it is right, I think, to say that the story portrays a character living on the cusp of reflective consciousness. Trickster embodies reflection coming into being; in him we see both the need for reflective consciousness (without it he suffers) and the rewards of that consciousness (with it he exploits the world).11

Reverend Billy uses audience plants or actors for effect. He will hire actors to act out certain situations within a Starbucks setting, such as planting two convicts on parole and having them discuss the quality of coffee at Starbucks verses what they would get in prison. Billy as the trickster is based on the idea of the medieval artificial fool. The artificial fool pretends to be someone he isn’t in order to lure the audience into his game of illusion.

If William Pope L was left without the costuming or the humor, could his works be as effective? The humor within all the work of Leigh Bowery, William Pope L and Reverend Billy provide a familiar to their language. Without the humor in their work and the familiarity of their created persona, the assault of their message would be too confrontational and the audience could dismiss the majority of what is preached. What is the seduction of foolery? The Reverend Billy shows courage in the face of humiliation and jail. Why have these artists chosen humor as a means of intervention or expression? Perhaps they are “acting out” like children. Perhaps a child is more in touch with their natural instincts? The message and how it is relayed to the particular audience is a major factor in how the jester operates. The jester moves in and out of madness or idiocy to create new realities. This movement gives the jester an excuse to dance within the sublime and touch the face of the abyss.

"The grotesque jester," according to William Willeford, "is like other kinds of fools, is a mascot who maintains a relationship between the ordered world and the chaos excluded by it."12 The jester finds his own court in the open terrain of the public using their presence to speak out on issues of injustice, to define or to redirect socially isolated environments, and to sustain humor in this idealized culture of America.

In this essay, I have defined how Scotty the Blue Bunny, Leigh Bowery, the Reverend Billy and William Pope L are using some of the ancient devices of the fool for social intervention today, just as the court jester did in medieval times. These four artists all have a natural courage that allows them to seem foolish, and with that notion perhaps that is really how we should define the term natural fool. The natural fool as jester isn’t necessary the fool that is mentally stunted, but one that has a need to reveal his true nature so that others might join in. The fool as a subject of the court is obsolete; therefore he must make his own way in society. The sovereign artist as fool works within the periphery of our world using social and political interactions to maintain dialogue with the archaic self.


1) Vicki K. Janik, Emmanuel S. Nelson; Fools and Jesters in Literature, Art, and History Greenwood Press, 1998.2
2) Ibid 34
3) Ibid 406
4) South, John. Fools and Jesters At The English Court Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd.; (July 1, 1998)2
5) Ibid. 154
6) South, John. Fools and Jesters At The English Court Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd.; (July 1, 1998) pg.8
7) Willeford, William. The Fool And His Scepter. Northwestern Univ Pr; (June 1, 1969) pg.154
8) Otto, Beatrice K. "Fools Are Everywhere." History Today June 2001: 33. Questia. 10 Oct. 2004 http://www.questia.com/
9) McCormick, Carlo. HotWired Review. 1992 http://www.geocities.com/leighbowery/article1.htm
10) Barbara Pollack, Superman Enters the Culture Wars, Village Voice January 9 - 15, 2002
11) Hyde, Lewis, Trickster Makes this World: Mischief, Myth and Art, North Press: January 1999. .56
12) Ibid 15


Works Cited

Otto, Beatrice K. "Fools Are Everywhere." History Today June 2001: 33. Questia. 10 Oct. 2004 http://www.questia.com/

Willeford, William The Fool And His Scepter Northwestern Univ Pr; (June 1, 1969) pg.154

Hyde, Lewis Trickster Makes this World; Mischief, Myth and Art North Press: January 1999.

Barbara Pollack Superman Enters the Culture Wars Village Voice.January 9 - 15, 2002

McCormick, Carlo (HotWired Review) 1992

South, John Fools and Jesters At The English Court Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd.; (July 1, 1998) pg.8

Caveney, Larry Interview with Scotty The Blue Bunny Not published. September 15, 2004

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Axelle Rioult

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