On 9/26/2011 2:04 AM, Joseph McAllister wrote:
On Sep 25, 2011, at 20:52 , William Robb wrote:
On 25/09/2011 2:40 PM, Daniel J. Matyola wrote:
I don't care who said it, it is an ignorant and arrogant comment,
unworthy of a great artist.
Quite often, the great artists are both ignorant and arrogant.
They are, after all, merely differently gifted versions of ourselves, and they
have, by dint of their gift, more reason than most to be arrogant.
Why should someone who can slap paint on a canvas in a pleasing way, or press a
button on a little black box at the right time be any less of a human being
than anyone else?
Besides, it might have been said in jest.
I'll second Robb's explanation.
San Francisco in the 60s. One of my good friends, an amazing artist, at that
time using gesso and Rapidographs of the smallest wire, was drawing complex
miniature scenes on poster board that at first and from a distance seemed to be
a portrait, or a Haight street scene. Once you stepped in and studied it, you
became enthralled in the internal goings on. He has since moved on, and grown
into painting, sculpture, studied in France and God knows where else. He never
went to school after high school. After failing as a real estate magnate (never
started) and drug distributor, he never had another job. Everything was his
art, and being social enough to the right people who would buy his works, or
send him on his way to travel and paint, sculpt, etc..
I stopped by his studio some 20 years ago when I was in San Francisco for
MacWorld, thinking how great it would be to catch up after a long absence.
Found him working on the largest piece of jade I'd ever seen (could have been
something similar, but he told me jade) that a woman had shipped to him to do
with as he saw fit for her. He had fashioned it generally as the bust of a
Roman warrior, wearing a helmet with a crest that was tall in front, small at
the back. The crest consisted of a dozen elephants, each one smaller than the
one in front. Each was topped with the large, covered hathi howdah the Maharaja
would use, the drapings from that were detailed in bas-relief. Inside of each
was a person sitting on a supported pillow. The person was about 1/2 inch tall
and smaller, but had details on the face of a nose, eyes, mouth, and topped
with a hat. The rest of the helmet was similarly detailed, as was what showed
of his garment. The skin was smooth and flawless.
As I remarked on the piece, Jim blasted me with a long tirade about how I had graduated from art
school, but had wasted my talents by working for "the man", learning about technology, a
turncoat to the art world, a useless turd on the face of the earth. Followed by, "Get
out!".
That sound like a true artist? http://www.artwithin.com/art/d0/a19/
Actually? Yes, but I don't have a very high opinion of people in
general, let alone artists.
He used to be on Facebook. Not there anymore. I don't know if he is still alive.
Joseph McAllister
Pentaxian
http://gallery.me.com/jomac
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