As an artist, the last thing that I want to be bothered about is the art scene. I don't have the time to show up at all the right parties, at all the "important forums," at the myriad art openings, at all those occasions where I am likely to meet the people who can make me or break me. Like many artists, I'm too busy creating art that in all likelihood will fade into obscurity.

But since you asked, I can tell you what won't help the scene--the self-satisfied mugs of self-proclaimed movers and shakers who, as hardworking and dedicated as they might be, already hold sufficient power over the artists who need their support. Though the event I'm referring to was disingenuously promoted as an opportunity to bring attention to the artists themselves, it was embarrassingly clear by the name of the event who actually received top billing. And what did the artists themselves receive for their fawning participation? The Medici may have been vainglorious tyrants, but at least they paid a generous rate for flattery.

It is true that this exhibit attracted a large crowd, and was touted as one of the most successful exhibits in recent San Diego art scene history. That may not be surprising; when movers and shakers indulge shameless fantasies of celebrity, they will inevitably attract schmoozers, sycophants, and party sniffers to their coattails, if at the same time discouraging artists less tolerant of that kind of vulgarity. I understand, of course, that marketing is important, but genius and marketing are estranged siblings, and should always remain so, even in the same person. You’d do best to stop trying to negotiate a reconciliation between them.

Furthermore, this insistence by promoters to fuse the San Diego party and art scene is ultimately self defeating. Art carnivals, with their live bands, body painting, fortune telling, et alia, are certainly great fun, but they do little to bring the art scene to the attention of the serious buyer. Can we not have faith in the public to appreciate art on its own merits, or faith in the power of the art itself? Frankly, this circus repels many artists with more sensitive constitutions, who live more introverted lives, who are more comfortable holding a paintbrush at home than a glass of wine at a Saturday night soiree. True movers and shakers would move beyond the pool of those artists more tolerant of the social game, and shake out talent amongst the disagreeable and unsociable, amongst those whose work challenges their assumptions about art itself, and about what is marketable. And a true mover and shaker would write and talk about this art, with seriousness, with thoughtfulness, without fear of causing offense to a friend, and with a willingness to become as unpopular as some of the artists themselves. That is how a scene is made.