why the art world would benefit from consolidation

This trend had been noted before, but lets not lose sight of the ever-declining value of overdoing things...or rather bludgeoning them to death and then putting their mangled carcasses on podiums: why is the overwhelming feeling that almost every contemporary gallerist is trying to squeeze the last buck out of color blocked, dreamscapes? Half architecture, half mountain? Half rainbow, half sunset? I haven't found the best coverall term for it yet, but I hope you catch my point well enough. In painting and or drawing the need to color ramp the dirty, destroyed stripmall-construction site into the rainbow (the rainbow usually taking on the bendability of the rainbow leading to the pot of gold), is desperately looking like the powerline-bird situation. The reason for this trend leads me to consider one of four things:

1. You're an artist primarily for economic return in which your method is to stay the tried and true course as tightly as possible. In this case I can understand the method, but its still kinda dumb because you're an artist primarily looking for an economic return-- wrong field.

2. You're an artist exclusively interested in imitating what everyone else has already deemed interesting. In this case you're really in the wrong field.

3. You have no identity yet.

Any of the above reasons, albeit depressingly appropriate, are also causing a massive backup for the advancement of exciting and interesting works on paper, so we might want to move right along. Past the graphite fall-away, past the kool-aid colored dimensional mountain ranges, past the diamond rainbow halos, past the split-level train tracks leading nowhere but to insanity for the viewer because this is not a urban outfitters t-shirt design contest, its an exhibition they drove or somehow traveled to in a messy rush since most gallerists haven't caught on that art openings do not double for dinner parties, so why the fuck do they start at 6 pm and end at 8pm? (sidebar: annoying hours = annoyed viewers = less viewers, less interest. Smart galleries have started having their openings on nights Th-Sat start 7-10pm at minimum, much more reasonable, Sunday openings can easily do the 6pm-9pm for more conservative types).

Now that we've hit on the topic of openings, the gang up of art openings in inconvenient locations (i.e.. scattered, not all within a few blocks), is ridiculous. I understand it creates the illusion of many, and its an event, however, it does little for the galleries outside the few blocks and makes viewers have to pick and exclude. And a bus, shuttle, or hoarding devise doesn't make it any better. It makes better sense for galleries to have their own openings singularly in terms of turn out. True, there is power in numbers, but in this case with the specific geography of venues outside of tight city centers (walkable blocks) for example, its more like divide and conquer. And why should scheduling flaws hinder art anyways? Its not about convenience...its not meant to be a drive-thru event. If you're interested in going to an art opening to begin with, you've already made the decision to make it a destination within your night, so I don't understand where the huge emphasis on convenience comes from.

And just incase your line of reasoning is the non profit argument, lets be clear: no matter how non profit you profess to be, artists are living breathing people who need to eat and create and be compensated in some form, and non profit doesn't mean let yourself go. There are plenty of npo's vying for the same cash you are, so its never a given. Unless your idea of a good time is showing unsellable work to a non buying audience in a sadly wood paneled shack, in which case I don't get why you'd be in a field so predominately powered by image in the first place. I think its time for a hasty restructuring. We could cut the bad taste and tactless practices in half if many galleries would just join forces. It would be: managable in sheer numbers, less of the same, and bring out more of an interested (and possibly interesting) crowd. Thus, the art world and everyone in it: artists, buyers, curators, writers, directors, would all benefit from consolidation.

K.I.T, even after you're pissed.

please do, cause it changes the world.

4 real luv.

I've been so kindly asked to keep a log of my thoughts on contemporary art, maybe review-like segments sans the structural normalcy of an art review, that's olden anyhow. But this is casual, and I claim no conclusions only thoughts.