Fortune Teller photo collage Reading the signs: –        Art is not about ‘beauty’, it never really was, not even in the Renaissance: art is first and foremost a response to elements of life that must be expressed in ways which reveal their deepest meanings (for which words are inadequate) and their most profound impact (involving...Read More

Plastered  photo collage An artist recently forwarded to me a copy of a contract a gallery had sent her to sign. Unsolicited, the gallery had contacted her with high praise for her work and an offer to represent her. The contact it expected her to sign was seven pages long. In my opinion, it was...Read More

Building Home  photo collage             If artists are confident in their work, preparing dossiers should be a rewarding, even if demanding, experience. Done with attention and deliberation, the preparation becomes a valuable self-critical exercise that can reveal new ideas or clarify what must be revealed in documents.             Done properly, that’s the key, usually not...Read More

Packaged – photo collage  The art world is a mysterious and seductive place, alluring to image-makers. Getting there should be straightforward – there it is, after all, seemingly all around us, a tantalizing domain populated by the gifted, the visionary, the fulfilled, the admired, and the rich and famous. However, while it appears to share normal...Read More

Artist at Work photo collage            The practice of transforming an art gallery or a museum into a site where artists don’t just exhibit their work but also create it isn’t new, but it isn’t usual. Galleries and museums are generally reserved for finished work; they operate backwards from the surface...Read More

Learning photo collage I toured a group of three to five year olds through an exhibit of expressive paintings. The adults with them expected to spend fifteen minutes at most in the gallery; were they shocked when the kids listened and asked questions for over an hour! Even more, they were surprised by how much...Read More

Getting to Know you photo collage My experience as a curator has shown me that given the extensive history of art, the huge variety of media, the increasingly mixed cultural influences and the infinite variety of human experience, it is impossible for everyone to look at works of art, whether objectively or subjectively, and understand...Read More

Protection photo collage I have so many conversations with despairing visual artists it would seem that their frustration and depression are symptoms of a cultural disease of epidemic proportions.  The four most debilitating aspects of the infection appear to be:  1) The lack of a solid social infrastructure such as galleries, dealers and representatives to...Read More

See Me photo collage Many people seem to feel put down because they think they can’t afford to buy art; others seem to resent paying a decent price for art objects because artists love what they do; even others won’t buy art but are willing to re-mortgage the house to buy more electronics or fancier...Read More

Performance Anxiety photo collage             I was in a broker’s office recently talking business and staring at walls so bare and so… beige that I thought I was in Nowhere Land. There were a couple of badly framed things on the walls, diplomas or permits or something, and they conveyed not a feeling of accomplishment...Read More