R.I.P. Andrew Wyeth

Hi everyone:

Blogging music today: Def Jam's 10th Anniversary Box Set. This is one of only a couple of box sets I own, and I never get tired of it. Arguably the best collection of rap music ever compiled, by the world's most influential rap label. Public Enemy, LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys - the list goes on and on.

Well, the title of this post gives away the topic of today's blog entry. As many of you probably already know, Andrew Wyeth died on January 16th. Being from PA, the news made it to many of the media outlets, and I happened to catch an interview this week on NPR with the art critic for the New Yorker and an independent curator who worked on one of Wyeth's last shows. A debate ensued - one that has been going for a long time regarding his work, and I began to see a lot of parallels between his work and mine.

Admittedly, Wyeth wasn't one of those artists that I studied heavily during my career. I don't remember touching on him at all in art school and I never really gave him much of a thought. But then, I saw "Christina's World" in person, and I was completely blown away. The haunting nature of the work, the longing, the elongated limbs and exaggerated perspective - it is truly a remarkable piece - in my view, one of the greatest non-abstract paintings by an American artist of the 20th century.

The debate on Wyeth apparently has always been about how he shamelessly promoted himself and catered to his established audience with his familiar themes of rural living and the tough, hard-fought life of "ordinary" middle-class, working Americans. He was oftentimes viewed as conservative when anti-establishment was all the rage, and even voted Republican on occasion, much to the chagrin of other more liberal artists.

Seems to me that what people fail to realize is that he really was more "anti-establishment" than many of his contemporaries. He engaged in what many other folks though of as "realism", but his work could hardly be considered realistic in the traditional sense. In "Christina's World", he manipulated the landscape, figure, mood - breaking the conventions of realism to create a deliberate, personalized interpretation. He was his own man, not allowing himself to be swept up in trends he didn't find meaningful or attractive.

The part of the interview that really struck me was when a contemporary painter called in and basically said that Wyeth did nothing to advance the history of art. He wasn't on the forefront of anything, was arguably antiquated, and because he didn't work with contemporary, cutting- edge themes, he shouldn't be revered. In other words, it was a rant from a contemporary artist who hasn't gotten the attention he thinks he deserves and believes that only work readily identifiable as "cutting edge" (presumably in terms of thematics and medium) is worthy of mention.

The independent curator responded that while he may not have been addressing "sexy" contemporary ideas, all of his work was heavily influenced by themes with which we can all identify. Family, relationships, loss - crucial concepts to our very being. He kept kept returning to Maine and to PA for his inspiration and content - not because he was stuck in a rut his whole life, but because the connection he had with these places and the people in them is what energized his work.

For those of you who know my work, this probably sounds a little familiar to you. I definitely wouldn't call my work "realism", but I work with many of the same themes that Wyeth did. Loss, family, personal relationships and how they are connected to certain places, scenes and objects is at the core of my work. And let me tell you - I consider myself a contemporary artist and I think these themes will ALWAYS be valid. To me, the best of Wyeth's work accomplishes the rare feat of feeling both personal and universal at the same time.

So, Mr. Caller, if you're reading this, maybe you should try accomplishing that in YOUR studio. You may have a better shot at that fame you so desperately crave.

More to come next week...have a great weekend everyone!


-Marc

Distraction Jackson

Hi everyone:

I hope all of you are managing to stay warm. Definitely a bit on the chilly side lately - my Uncle was telling me that the last time he saw weather this cold was during Army basic training in the Rocky Mountains back in the '50's. He's told me all kinds of stories about it - guys eating snow, passing out along the trail, going to bed at 4:00 pm because it was too cold to do anything else, etc.

Blogging music today is "The Boss." Seeing him perform "The Rising" at the Inauguration on Saturday truly put the whole thing in perspective for me. Bruce, an acoustic guitar and a huge choir behind him - can it really get better than that?

So, as the title indicates, I want to talk about distractions. Not the "I'll worry about the laundry after American Idol" variety - something a little more valid than that (though admittedly, I'm a big Idol fan). I promised myself that I would focus on creating new work, not entering exhibitions, seeking out new representation, etc. After all, you need a cohesive body of current, kick-ass work to go out and promote with. But, I find myself being tempted by other things. I want to find that next perfect gallery/rep, and I'm getting impatient. I have no idea how long it will take to complete this "makeover" of my work, and I'm not sure I want to wait to explore until then. I guess this is something I'll just have to struggle with - perhaps a little "cheating" is ok, but as artists, it is really easy to do ourselves a disservice by promoting prematurely. I have to try and remember that and not fall into that trap.

I want to start shooting some new work this week or next week. I'll keep everyone posted. I've got this one spot I've been meaning to photograph for a long time now, but just haven't had the chance. I'm thinking the current snow on the ground might enhance things a bit - we'll see.

That's all for now. Stay warm in your igloos, and for those of you in California, keep your comments to yourself!


-Marc

Calibration Situation

Howdy!

Happy 2009 everyone! I hope you all had a festive holiday - hopefully we'll all have plenty of things to celebrate in the coming year.

I woke up with a cold this morning, so my brain is not exactly at functioning at peak level right now. But, I thought I would say hello, and maybe complain a little bit about something...(big shocker, I know)

So, I've come to realize that my laptop, where I do most of my image work (particularly related to the www.sirinsky.com site) displays color balance differently than every other computer on earth. Don't ask me why - I absolutely have no idea, but it's driving me nuts. The website can look perfect on my laptop, but it looks way off on most other comps. I've looked at the site on both Macs and PCs, and although they of course vary a little, it is certainly within the realm of acceptability. My specific laptop is clearly the problem.

That being said, I don't want to fully calibrate it because the majority of the people looking at the site will be viewing it on a monitor that isn't truly calibrated. But, I need to figure out something. I'll probably just need to find a machine that I can use as my "base" and adjust the color on my laptop to match it. We'll see. I spent hours this weekend adjusting the color on most of the images so they look good on at least my desktop at home. Hopefully, the site looks good to everyone else as well. If something seems goofy, let me know - always nice to have the feedback.

Other than that, not a whole lot of news. Show in Easton comes down next weekend and I was told by the gallery staff that the feedback was very positive. Not quite as good as a sale, but I'll take it!

Well, we're due to get an ice storm here, so I'm off to do a preemptive salt, etc. More soon...


-Marc