going to open up a bit here.
the nature of blogging has changed for me over the years. what i used to single out as the coolest art i could find is now being circulated through sites like colossal, my modern metropolis, boooom and of course, tumblr, and fed directly into the newsfeeds of millions of users everyday. i'll see an artist i considered to be a well-kept secret go viral with facebook likes and be posted again and again in the same day, only to end up somewhere so far out of the art world that even common buzzfeed and pinterest users- and the entire tumblr universe- are aware of the image. but never the artist- no, don't give them the credit.
it depreciates the work of art in question since its "aura" - the notion which gives art its value, that there is only one of them in the world - has been compromised by its mass exposure, its popularity.
i question if it's still worthwhile for me to post the spectacular art i find (like the majestic glowing caves or glass sculptures below), since i no longer know that my blog is the first place you're going to see it. katy's canvas is supposed to be dedicated to the out-of-the-ordinary, the things you don't see everyday. now i worry that everything i post you have already seen somewhere else - not on a gallery website, or another unread blog, or in the divine corridors of an actual museum- but right on your facebook or tumblr where you didn't have to do work to find it. it's become a part of the mundane, and if i post it again, i'm just adding to the over-saturated world of media, creating another copy of the same image only to chip away at its value.
although adverse to my open and loving spirit, i for some reason think art should only be allotted to those who seek it. who really appreciate it. i guess what i already knew, but am realizing again, is that keeping art esoteric is what keeps it precious. finding art should be an adventure, an intimate and challenging journey. call me pretentious, call me the duchess of cook county- guardian of les artistes- but i believe your personal contact with the work is what gives art its meaning.
photos of glow worms in New Zealand's caves by local photographer Joseph Michael
who is now internet famous
but probably won't ever exhibit in a museum :/
you see, my blog is just a starting point.
take these artists' names, and go on a treasure hunt!
for example, these multilayered glass sculptures by Ben Young
what else does he do? who inspires him?
how does he inspire you?
while we're on glass, below is an artist i found on a trip to Ken Saunder's in the West Loop gallery district (right outside of my new office)
talk about an artist whose work needs to be experienced in person-
these glass sculptures reveal and conceal themselves based on the angle by which you view them
(making them very difficult to capture them via lens)
working on your flow? we all have been - since the beginning of human history:
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