you know I like to talk to myself a little, while I am in my little impromptu studio spaces ...
and every now and again , I manage to string together a set or series of words that actually resonate as an articulated truth , I consider the perspective of that truth , and every now and again I will discuss those topics of appraisal with fellow humans as they drift into the little impromptu gallery spaces and exhibitions that I hold ( because art for me , aside from being a therapeutic means of conveying evidence of an existence lived . is a means of engaging with a bewildering herd animal known as the general public )
and then when I am in a state of forced transience, at some train station , bus station , airport , waiting for a lift ( that's how I generally manage logistics , since we had to murder like a million people in some middle eastern country for the sake of maintaining the status quo , I personally refuse to own and operate my own road vehicle ) I find the time ( although it is often a bit of a rushed job ) to rant and rave on this digital page .....to reflect on some of those conversations , engagements and ideas ...
and that really has become the whole premise of this blog !!
Now I have been discussing matters at length lately , with a few fellow Artists , practitioners and producers , and there are some things that are abundantly clear !! one of which is Differentiation or the seeming lack of it !!
the whole modern age , is as my friend Hunter Thompson once suggested ' the land of the weird ' and there such evidence of that in this thing we have come to know as Democracy !!
as the title suggests , I have been considering at length the differentiation of Artists and Painters, now it seems to me, that Painters offer aesthetically pleasing veneers , they white wash walls , paint pretty pictures of dogs and cats , they really offer a beige version of the world for an audience to barely even look at , its a way of covering cracks in a broken and battered cladding .....don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that ! but it has its place ..... personally when I am in a beautiful set of sceneries , I can find the inclination to make a visual record of that , I can fill sketchbook pages with little visual diary entries of places seen and visited, but this is not what I would consider to be my ' Art work '. on the contrary , they are merely drafts , simple impressions , personal notes ... and that is about it !!
Artists , now Artists do something quite different , they reflect on imagery , and they use it as a vehicle to convey ideas , complex premises , arguable notions , they offer a perspective that you can either agree or disagree with , thus incorporating and extending the line between practitioner and viewer ! and hopefully if they have done a good job , not necessarily restricted to technical excellence, but certainly emphasised by it ! they have offered a window into the human condition , into thoughts , feelings , notions and ideas that should engage the audience ... and to keep the spirit enthralled or appalled , all great artists and philosophers alike have dealt with three real .... and they are real human concerns and perpetually baffling notions .... that of love, life and mortality !!
Now I was recently in what some people assume an art gallery to be, a place full of pretense and bourgeois bullshit , and it was perfectly nice , but as I stood there amid some very expensive artworks and renderings, sipping a glass of perfectly pleasant white wine ... I was looking at two images that were side by side . One was a cartoon by the relatively well known painter Brian Pollard , it was a picture of Plymouth Hoe with smeaton tower and the surrounding green , and it was all bright colours and there were whimsical renderings of whimsical things, of cats and kites and sailboats and icecreams .....
next to it was a Painting by the late artist and personal friend Robert Lenkiewicz, it was dark and it was moody and it was full of questions. there was a semi clothed model , a depiction of a mirror , that offered a glimpse of the Artist at work , the space that the image conveyed, that themodels were situated in was dirty and broken and a little grimy ....
Now if you were to take these two works , and indeed the two individuals that produced them .... I think its a stark statement in itself as to where we are with a great many things in our current culture !
So Brian Pollard, with his friend base and social circle of well paid, uninteresting, followers and collectors , that ensure ' gallery stockists ' a great return and turnover of a very beige product,
Or indeed Robert Lenkiewicz ?? hypothetically speaking as if he was still alive ! well Robert never panted a tramp with an ice cream, lazing on the green in front of smeaton tower .... because he was engaged in something else, the business of living ! and observing the many facets of that, that took guts , and struggles , and indulgences and trials .... and it really spoke, even if some of the images are not that aesthetically pleasing, they are a means of offering a reflection , that is much more thorough than a youtube video .... or a Brian Pollard Cartoon, and yet Robert Died in Poverty!!
this is the real Democracy , and we have sold it to the better presented , the more marketable , the more cash affluent version of the thing !
Coca Cola ? or local Spring Water, that ensures and justifies a well maintained water table and natural environment within the region that the consumer actually lives ( fracking ahem )
McDonalds ? or locally produced sustenance , that ensures and justifies a healthy environment that that same consumer must live and engage with
Whistlefish ? or independent local Art Gallery , that ensures a means of distribution and support for a wide range of local expressive's ,facilitating the keeping of communities diverse , varied and interesting
Donald Trump ? or Bernie Sanders , I know that there is myriad party allegiances and infighting that muddy the water here , but its the same question as Tory or Labour ( and not the corporate balirite personal investment squandering thing that the latter has become )
so watch your ass , and just as importantly watch your expenditures ..... support that which is actually worth supporting,and be wary although the better advertised, the better financed will offer you all manner of slogans and assurances to invest in their super duper gargantuan brand , to a large extent , due to the apathies of the baby booming generations all of that capitol was garnered through questionable means .... I don't begrudge Brian Pollard giving up Medicine to pursue a bit of a painters career, but I wonder why , in an age such as this , he found the healthcare system so draining , so terrible , so intrisicly ghastly , to inspire the want to go and paint cats and icecream cartoons , instead of offering comment or insight into the horrendous situation that Plymouth , or the nhs finds itself ?? he took his salary cash and pension provision , and his sphere of influence , and decided to offer a view of a veneer , a falsity .... one that offers no insight , no real reflection and no prospect of change ...its the supermarket gift shop , easily digestible propaganda , that spews from every revenue hoarding charlatan out there ..... keep calm and carry on !!! make America great again !! Coke for life !! Army: be the best !!
Artsist can be painters, but Painters can rarely be Artists , there is a time and a place for both, but not at the expense of each other x x x
