Original artwork from San Francisco artist, June Yokell
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  • « Giving and…………….
    Taking Heart »

    Confessions on art

    “From the moment that art is no longer the sustenance that nourishes the best, the artist may exteriorize his talent in all sorts of experiments with new formulas, in endless caprices and fancy, in all the expedients of intellectual charlatanism.”-Picasso’s Confession, Origin 1964

    Apparently when alone, Picasso, like Cezanne, had his doubts. Picasso doubted that what he had accomplished was comparable to the great artists, Goya, Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt, and that he Picasso, had traded in his talents to entertaining the public with his fancies of mind.

    How does the artist who has not reached the depths of Rembrandt or Goya or the celebrity of Picasso make her way in the world? How does the artist stay true to that initial impulse that drove her to make art when that art is not producing enough of a profit to continue the perpetuation of her work or is unable to maintain her finances to support her studio?

    Two days ago, my dear studio mate informed me that he could no longer afford to stay at the studio and that he was giving notice and would be moving out in two months. We split the studio and the rent and without him or someone else, I must leave as well.

    Leaving the studio was something that I had discussed with Tom a few months back after my brother Mike had gone over my finances with me where we did a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet that lays out your intake of income and and your output of income is a very handy tool for showing you exactly where you stand and where you’ve been kidding yourself-and it was clear from the spreadsheet that unless suddenly I was able to increase my income dramatically, I would not be able to stay at the studio. I had Open Studios lined up and the sale at SFMOMA artist’s gallery, and thought well perhaps I will sell enough to stay and still I have to keep the studio until these two events are over. Well although I had many attendees at Open Studios, I had no sales, nor did I sell anything at the gallery sale. Then I thought to myself, well maybe I’ll sell something at my show at LSarc Architecture-but to date, not a dime. And then I thought, well I’ll stay at the studio till September, because Tom will be showing at the Sausalito Art Festival and needed the studio to keep making his work, but instead, Tom told me he had to leave, and had given notice. It’s a wonderful studio, in an old schoolhouse, with lots of light and high ceilings and plenty of space and kind and talented compatriots. It’s a great location, easy to reach, easy to teach in, below market rate, but yet, but yet, I still can’t get that spreadsheet out of my head-it’s very clear what should be done………..I listen to NPR while working and hear many shows. Today’s shows that stick in my mind are two: one about a playwrite who said that “you can’t be considered big, if you don’t work big” and another about two people who had been out of work for over six months-one of them had been considering buying a house this time last year and now is sleeping on her friends couches and house-sitting. So how do you work big when you are sleeping on other people’s couches? How do you stay true to your heartbeat of art pulses AND sell your work? How does this work? How does one stay on track, stay solvent and still smell the roses?

    This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 9:38 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    3 Responses to “Confessions on art”

    1. Bill Says:
      June 18th, 2009 at 8:16 am

      “How does the artist who has not reached the depths of Rembrandt or Goya or the celebrity of Picasso make her way in the world? How does the artist stay true to that initial impulse that drove her to make art when that art is not producing enough of a profit to continue the perpetuation of her work or is unable to maintain her finances to support her studio?”

      Difficult questions. No easy answers. And you realize that even some of those artists that did reach the “depths” of their creativity were most likely not supported by their art. I’ve heard that Rembrandt at the end of his life was a pauper, indebted to his housekeeper.

      Gertrude Stein was once asked for advice from a struggling young writer. She replied, “Don’t think so much about your wife and child being dependent upon your work. Try to think of your work as being dependent upon your wife and child, for it will be, if it really comes from you, and if it doesn’t come from you… the you that has the wife and child and this street and these people… then it is no use anyway and your economic problems will have nothing to do with writing because you will not be a writer at all.”

      And then there’s the old Sufi story.

      “A man walking through the forest saw a fox that had lost its legs and wondered how it lived. Then he saw a tiger come in with game in its mouth. The tiger had its fill and left the rest of the meat for the fox.
      The next day god fed the fox by means of the same tiger. The man began to wonder at God’s greatness and said to himself, “I too shall just rest in a corner with full trust in the Lord and he will provide me with all I need.”
      He did this for many days but nothing happened, and he was almost at death’s door when he heard a voice say, “O you who are in the path of error, open your eyes to the truth! Follow the example of the tiger and stop imitating the disabled fox.”

      In difficult times… in the most extremely difficult times… if one is an artist, one will STILL be an artist, profit or no profit, with studio or without.

      What can you do to nurture the artist that you are? What have you done recently to embrace, not profit or economic well being, but the Muse?

      “The wind one brilliant day, called
      to my soul with an aroma of jasmine.

      “In return for this jasmine odor,
      I’d like all the odor of your roses.”

      “I have no roses; I have no flowers left now
      in my garden… All of them are dead.”

      “then I’ll take the waters of the fountains,
      and the yellow leaves and the dried-up petals.”

      Then the wind left… I wept. I said to my heart,
      “What have you done with the garden intrusted to you.”

      Antonio Machado (translated by R. Bly)

      Difficult questions…..

      Bill

    2. Bill Says:
      June 18th, 2009 at 8:32 am

      don’t understand why my comment is listed under “no comments.” Hope it went through.
      Bill

    3. June Yokell Says:
      June 18th, 2009 at 9:26 am

      Hi Bill,

      It was under no comments because I had to approve it first-and since I just saw it a few minutes ago, wasn’t able to approve until then. It’s approved now.

      Thanks you for your very thoughtful reflections. You always go right to the heart of things, which is where I need to remain.

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