Face

Pastel on Bee paper/18" x 24"

I  read an article in a recent edition of Art in America last night. The editors had circulated a questionnaire to persons (all unknown to me) with apparently some gravitas in the art world and asked the them to write  responses.  Some of them answered each question in detail, others gave sort of a generalized response.  The questionnaire was essentially a request to comment on the direction(s) art and artists were taking at the early part of the 21st Century.  Not having had significant academic training in the arts I was left to wonder what some of the responses were all about....references to cultural trends, social justice issues, politics, somehow blending (or not) with the work of those just beginning careers in art, etc.  The high cost of living in New York City and the art markets influence as creative workers try to make instant success perhaps at the expense of thoughtful growth.  I was left with the impression that marketing was the new art academy and that rolling over one thing after another could bring the next "new" thing and that fifteen minutes after that the search begins again.  It all sounded tedious to me.