Watch out NY, Berlin and London here comes "the six-story former factory building already housing Cox Purple Eye , Copy Cats Gallery , Leopard Strikes Paydirt ...the alternative art scene truly has a new center of gravity..." What we mean by alternative are spaces that house our frenz that show their frenz. The image is from Wim Gershits at Leopard Strikes Paydirt. He uses cool things like spray paint, house paint, enamel and collage on found furniture, scrap wood and cardboard. HOT!! Weeeeeeee!
11 comments:
I don't think the folks at "Leopard Strikes Paydirt" have made a penny since they've started (and that was never the point). They are merely a group of artists who came together in order to make it possible to show their work in Philly without being "represented" by a "real" gallery. So, why don't you promote the creative artists that you think really deserve attention rather than disparage those who are just out there trying?
Dear Vicki,
You are sweet and right in a way. The artists have no responsibility if we choose to promote them before they even opened and have never let up for a second, they must just think they are the hottest!!! Who cares if we left out countless other shows in the meantime? They are better artists than anyone else out there and they have excellent press releases too. And we like it that they hang on the coat strings of of Cox and the other insiders all clustered together in the new art center of Filly. Now we don't have to travel beyond this building to actually see what else is out there.
As for showing good artists. That's not our job. We are trying to help out the community in another way whether you get it or not. You should start a blog and try to do it in a more fair and balanced way, if you think that is cool!! We love blogs!!!
As much as I like satire, it might also be constructive to blog about the stuff you actually like among the “countless other shows”.
Maybe you do that in another non-anonymous blog somewhere out there in the interweb...
Dear Anon,
I don't remember us saying countless other "good" shows. But if they are all bad then what's the difference? And if there is a show out there better than one of our frenz show, we purposely ignore them.
You guys keep harping on us being anonymous, yet you are Anonymous too.
We like the word interweb, it's funny. Hee, hee!!!
I guess I was addressing that comment to the satirist, not the character played by him/her. And it was meant to be constructive commentary, to boot.
Oh well!
The point is, if you really feel there’s an “in-club” and that the above satirized blog represents that club - and I don’t dispute it, since I haven’t been in town long enough to know the ins and outs of the Philly art scene - then satire might not be the ONLY response or even the most productive response available (though probably the most fun).
Artists and shows get publicized because someone writes about them.
So write about them.
Shows happen because someone opens a space, or curates something and finds a venue, or opens a gallery.
That is within the scope of your capabilities as well.
This town is small enough that the actions of an individual do have the ability to change the art ecosystem.
Nepotism is hardly a problem unique to the Philadelphia art scene and it’s not going to go away. It’s built into human nature. Precious few curators or gallerists are blind robots that analyze artwork for “quality” independent of the artist, arrange studio visits by demographic scatter charts, or otherwise work to make their choices neutral and blind.
Nobody elected them judges, after all, and they don’t owe us a fucking thing. They pursue their own visions for their own highly personal reasons, and more often than not their choices are based on what frenz tell them, what their own preferences are and so on.
It’s not fair, sure, but asking them to be different is kind of beside the point. If you want to see a different vision presented…
Then DIY. Honestly. When the Philly art ecosystem is large enough to support many filters and subscenes, then the whole nepotism thing kinda becomes pointless to talk about. It’ll only get there by proactive, constructive work to provide alternatives.
Hi Remaining anonymous as long as you are :)
You are really showing your seams in the most ugly way Anon. Supporting nepotism, cliques, unfair practices in judging IS WRONG! Most people who find these things tolerable are the ones who benefit from them or engage in them.
There are ways to make things fair and anybody that doesn't know that is either ignorant, dumb or lying.
Different vehicles get different results, each medium has limitation and strengths. This one works for us.
You suggestions as to what we could be doing besides this blahg presumes too much.
If you write again and use the "F" word we won't publish your comment. See the post on Ground Rules.
Harry, the serious one
Hm. I don’t recall making any qualitative statements for or against nepotism/cliques per se. I thought I was pointing out that human beings are human beings, and “nepotism” is hard-wired, and the the people we’re talking about here belong to the human species. We’re tribal. One look at MLB ought to confirm that.
"There are ways to make things fair and anybody that doesn't know that is either ignorant, dumb or lying.”
What are they? What would you change?
I sincerely would like to know, no kidding around. Any real suggestions are welcome. I offered mine (presumptuously, apparently), which admittedly amount to “start your own tribe”. Not exactly original, okay. Let’s hear something better.
Seriously,
Anonymous
Extrapolate, e.g.
Local judges = Bad
Reviewing same 8 places while excluding the rest = Bad
Insulting other people's religious leaders = Bad
Tribalism = Bad
Fair play = Good
Merit = Good
you get the idea.
Yeah, okay…assuming we accept all the above points as true…
How do you make those things fair? How do you change them, other than by offering alternatives?
I guess that’s more what I was asking when I responded to:
"There are ways to make things fair”
Not what’s unfair, but what the ways are to rectify the issues. Since I don’t know, I’m either ignorant, dumb…or lying…so humor me. A satirical blog can be one way, assuming room is left for actual debate (which I think would be a practical outcome for whatever this thing is).
On that note: What’s fair? Who decides what’s meritorious?
If the current crop of “deciders” were suddenly replaced with a different gang tomorrow selected personally by you, would my not getting any coverage or shows from them entitle me to declare them unfair?
If you have to ask then you are hopefully not in a position to be the decider, George.
But we at artblagh are not here as spiritual advisors. We are here because there is no accountability and some people are talking advantage of that and things are getting even worse. Will exposing them help, we'll see.
So go out into the world grasshopper and find that guru you need or follow your conscience like the rest of the world. Do the right thing. Then there will be no reason to shine a light on you.
Fixing competitions by stacking jury = bad.
How to fix?
Don't stack jury.
Gangs bad. Don't start, don't join.
Don't you get it?
Read this blahg closely, it will help.
Pllleeeeeeeeeeeaaaassssseeeeeeee. Maybe we should turn your IP over to the conscience police.
Gee, you’re really not interested in reasonable conversation, are you? Or coming up with actual solutions either, apparently, beyond bitching about the state of the world.
Oh well. See ya later!
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