Hello to all my readers and subscribers. There are some new ones among you so let me explain. This is the 6th in a series of regular posts discussing what’s on my mind concerning the newsletter, its future posts, their subjects, and the sources of my interest. if you want a more succinct description of what The Other Side of the Desk is about, go here.
Today’s post is titled “The Conversation Continues” because I want you to consider this series a frequent opportunity for us to talk. It’s an expression I had years ago when I met a new friend. We would start one long conversation that never seemed to end. It could last a few days or a few weeks. Talking is what friends do best. I’d like to think of these letters as an extended conversation. They are in fact threads, to which anyone can reply. Some have. I’d like to hear from more from you.
So, what’s to be the subject of our conversation, the one that flows into the future, that involves all that we are and will become? I can only bring my part to it and hope to inspire you to respond. A conversation begins with a shared experience combined with a slight difference in perspective or opinion. I am certain that among the many of you there are many different opinions. For me, subjects are intimately connected to the artists and artworks from my past experience, the books I’ve read or wanted to read, and the stories I’ve wanted to tell. Whether I saw art in a museum or in a studio is of little difference. The aesthetic event is the same. Once I start to write about any subject it becomes more knowable. Yet I feel a more equal knowledge is possible when investigating the artistic oeuvre of young, or if you prefer, working artists. There may in some cases be considerable hype, but there is no larger-than-life aura. There is however complexity enough to be found.
There was a time when I walked and talked and breathed what was exhibiting in galleries. It was the Nineties, and the Internet did not yet exist. We got our art listings from the back pages of Gallery Guide. Hype was in the mouths of everyone you met walking around or working in galleries. Everyone was an artist or had a best friend or romantic partner who was one.
A new season of art is upon us, but it’s hard to imagine taking public transportation just yet. Galleries are, I hear, requiring advance calls to schedule visits. I’d have to observe a strict schedule, and I don’t know how that’s possible. Traffic and transportation can both be unpredictable. What this means is that my engagement with art, both new and classic, will remain online for now. That’s fine with me, because my interests are ranging farther afield, into art scenes of which I have no otherwise understanding except through friends online. One of the new projects I am investigating for The Other Side of the Desk is a series of posts about scenes in other cities, places like Chicago, IL, and Santa Fe, NM. I want to edit articles with multiple contributors or threads with the same, though in that case it might be more spontaneous. Given the complexity of each scene and the number of persons and venues involved, each location might generate more than one post. We’ll have to see what happens. I like the idea of a form of engagement organically generating a sequence of connected conversations. I’m not quite ready for podcasts but this might be an equitable middle ground I can manage as a form of event documentation if not writing in itself. I’m interested in more than having my voice heard. I want to link up the different communities and get them talking. I once organized a series of artist lectures presenting their art works in a public sphere. For the first time I was curating artists and not just art objects. It was an exciting experience. Here on Substack I have the opportunity to curate conversations.
As I have stated before but will repeat for emphasis, I am planning a few different series of articles, some of which will be profiles, or interviews, and each series will be committed to a different theme or subject, including works made on or with paper, genres of abstraction, and innovative photography.
Now here’s the sell. There’s going to be more content very soon, and in advance of a push to go full-subscriber in 2022, I am offering affordable Monthly and Yearly rates through this year: $5 per month or $50 per year gains you access to the complete archive of my writings back to 1997, and also all future bonus posts, some of which I have mentioned above.
Engaging with art online may be considered the default now. It will be interesting to see the kind of virtual spaces we create to make the experience more immersive and engaging.
As a start to a new conversation, I'd love to introduce my own work. I'm a self-taught artist, exploring my world with a sketchbook. As a person who's never had a gallery display their work, substack and instagram have been primary ways to communicate what I am doing, and what my work is about. I find it an interesting equation to communicate on my terms, in my words, and without the patronage of a local 'network'. As an immigrant in all the places I've lived in the past 10 years, virtually sharing my work is all I've known!
Excited to see what kind of content you create!
Engaging with art online may be considered the default now. It will be interesting to see the kind of virtual spaces we create to make the experience more immersive and engaging.
As a start to a new conversation, I'd love to introduce my own work. I'm a self-taught artist, exploring my world with a sketchbook. As a person who's never had a gallery display their work, substack and instagram have been primary ways to communicate what I am doing, and what my work is about. I find it an interesting equation to communicate on my terms, in my words, and without the patronage of a local 'network'. As an immigrant in all the places I've lived in the past 10 years, virtually sharing my work is all I've known!
Good Idea, David