Art and the” Man Made Continent of Trash”, a Photographer’s Fantastic Story.

• Art and the” Man Made Continent of Trash”, a Photographer’s Fantastic Story.

I was in Seattle visiting my son and his girl friend and while waiting to go out and take in the sites of Seattle while they ran errands I read about Photographer Chris Jordan’s Photographic series “Running the Numbers One” in the Seattle Sunday Magazine. Jordan uses images to create matrix designs based on the numbers of things. An image of two large breasts popped off the page in juxtaposition to a detailed image of Barbie Dolls arranged in patterns that make up the larger view of the breasts. Jordan used 32000 Barbie Dolls to depict the number of breast augmentations preformed each month in the United States. When I got back to Montana I looked up Jordan’s website and found another one of his Fantastic Number Stories,

• “Gyre” 2009 by Chris Jordan, an image of a Great Wave made out of 2.4 million pieces of plastic that represents the amount of plastic that enters the world’s oceans every hour.

The image, made from plastic debris collected from the Floating Continent of Trash in the Pacific Gyre, is part of, Running the Numbers II, Portraits of Global Mass Culture another photographic series by Chris Jordan.

http://www.chrisjordan.com/

• The Pacific Ocean Gyre contains a floating continent of Plastic debris estimated to be twice the size of the Texas.

I first read about the Gyre in a story about Captain Charles Moore who was on his way home from a sailing trip, from Hawaii to Los Angeles when he decided to cut across the area, little traveled by seaman on his way back to California.  Moore explains the Gyre as a Spiral that moves in a clockwise rotation created by ocean currents. The natural spiraling current traps debris and holds them in place. Moore estimates that plastic started showing up in the 1950s and has grown to an alarming size, thousands of miles across. The plastic floats submerged just below the surface of the water, undetectable from satellite images because of the reflection caused by the water.

• Garbage had historically broken down in the oceans until plastic came along.

Every year this new man made material increases its presence in the ocean and the Trash Continent in the Pacific Gyre grows. When I read the story, images of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty flashed in my mind about how the twisting currents of the Gyre worked on this manmade continent of trash. As I read more about the Pacific Gyre the more captivating, its relationship to the idea of entropy and natural systems is to me. This continent of trash is an unforeseen result of human behavior at work in the natural system. Un-natural materials discarded in a thoughtless manner now have grown to unimaginable levels that are affecting the eco system and sea life.

This Man Made Structure, this Continent of Trash is not only an extension of Smithson’s ideas about entropy it is at the center of the Chris Jordan’s idea of Global Mass Culture. Jordan helps us put into perspective the volume Global Mass Production through his imagery.

• As an artist I am struggling with the concept of such a large structure whose mass rotates in a natural form, the spiral.
  

But by reflecting on whirlpools and eddy’s in the river where I live I can envision such a fantastic structure created by the forces of nature. The image of such things takes me back to the late 1970’s Robert Morris installations where he used cotton fibers to create seas of cotton waste from the textile industry with mirrors calculated to continuously, reflect the surface into an infinite image of volume and mass. Morris was part of a group of process artists. (Process artists were involved in issues attendant to the body, random occurrences, improvisation, and the liberating qualities of non-traditional materials such as wax, felt, and latex. Using these materials, they created eccentric forms in erratic or irregular arrangements produced by actions such as cutting, hanging, and dropping, or organic processes such as growth, condensation, freezing, or decomposition.) These ideas seemed radical in art, difficult to adjust our thinking too back in 1970s and 1980s. It clear now that the minimal and conceptual ideas of artists like Morris and Smithson is a reflection of the natural systems at work in our earth environment. Unintended or manufactured the only differences are intent; the results are mirror reflections of the outcomes, like Morris’s fiber and mirror installations and Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Chris Jordan helps us to understand the Numbers by bringing perspective and Volume to the size of Global consumption.

• Out there off the coast of the Untied States in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is the result of a random occurrence of the accumulation of man made materials creating a New Continent of Floating Trash; a Floating, spiraling continent of Our Own Making; which will exist for an immeasurable measure of time.

Jordan’s Photographic images illustrate the fact that this new continent is sure to grow in mass and volume daily. It will grow unlike the Hawaiian Islands that Captain Charles Moore sailed home from, created by volcanic activity. Our New Continent will grow because of Human activity directly related to Global Mass Consumption without thoughtful contemplation of unintended results and because of our inability to understand the abstract ideas of volume and mass, our lack of understanding the numbers.

Links About:  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Capt. Charles Moore Ted TV

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html

Chris Jordan on his Photography Ted TV

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats.html

Chris Jordan Website

http://www.chrisjordan.com/

Man Made Continent of Trash a Fantastic Story by David Eubank February 2008

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/man-made-continent-of-trash-a-fantastic-story/

Want to have some fun use Google Earth

http://earth.google.com/

Just type in “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” and see the size of our new continent and where it is located.

Filed under: Art, Art News, Earth Sculpture, Environment, Journalism, On Art, Politics, Trash , Charles Moore, Chris Jordan, Continent of Plastic, Enviro, Great Pacfic Garbage Patch, Pacific Ocean, Plastic in the Ocean

Do the Arts Need a National Bailout?

Do the Arts Need a National Bailout?

Times are tough for the Arts in America. Even the 50 million dollars in stimulus money won’t help much as endowment funds nationwide are trashed. Robert Lynch, points out the 50 million in new money will do little to cover losses art organizations have suffered this year. Lynch uses San Francisco as an example, where art organizations have lost an estimated 40 million in state funding alone. The current loss of revenue in the arts nationwide will surely amount to billions of dollars.

Conversation with Robert Lynch, NewsHour post by Jeffery Brown

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2009/03/conversation-robert-lynch-president-americans-for-the-arts.html

Floyd Norris asks the question “What are art organization suppose to do”? He points out that many small organizations are devastated today and they have little financial power to offset their losses. He points out colleges are in the same boat. I would point out that the Big Art organizations are too.

In fact, I would suggest our largest art organizations may be in more trouble than our small ones. The big guys have big budgets and have suffered big losses. Big organizations also have the need and expense of large staffs. A small organization can in many instances reduce paid staff and maintain functional viability with a volunteer work force until the economy improves. Big organizations simply cannot or could not function without their professional staffs. Two very different worlds exist today where reality and needs are dramatically different as are fundamental funding realities. Many large museums spend more money on one exhibit or performance production than small organizations spend in their yearly operational budget expenditures. It may turn out that the weak market survives this crisis and in the end comes out much stronger.

The Money is Gone Now What by Floyd Norris NYT

“There was outrage earlier this year when Brandeis University announced plans to close its art museum and sell the paintings. The university’s endowment was devastated by bad investments.

What do people opposed to the sale of paintings think suddenly poor institutions should do? Close? Seek government bailouts? Should Brandeis close down a few academic departments, or cut back on scholarships, to keep its art?

Brandeis is hardly the only college whose endowment has contracted sharply. I suspect that when the final numbers are in — and colleges are not exactly rushing to disclose the sad details — it will turn out that colleges as a group did far worse than the stock market while the market was doing horribly”. Floyd Norris NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20norris.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

The question remains “Do you sell off your assets to meet your budgetary needs”?

As Ford W. Bell says in his letter to the editor, to do so would violate the public trust.

Letter to the Editor from:

Ford W. Bell
President
American Association of Museums
Washington, March 23, 2009

“Allowing a museum to peddle its collection to cover operating debts would be like allowing a financial fiduciary, such as a bank, to raid assets held in trust to cover a hole in its own balance sheet”. Ford W. Bell

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/opinion/lweb31museums.html

The fact is the Banks essentially did exactly what Mr. Ford says museums should not do, they raided assets held in trust for their customers through a series of bad investments. Just ask your elderly parents who’s retirement accounts are now only worth a fraction of what they were a year ago. Just look at your IRA or just about any other secure investment account you have, even trust funds. The reality of the facts, the reality of the depth of this economic crisis is reflected in the figures. It is no different for the Arts.

This past Sunday I was trying to help my youngest daughter with her college economics homework, she is an art student taking an economics course. I would compare my help to a monkey trying to perform brain surgery with a stick. I was going compare the monkey with a paintbrush in hand creating a master work of art to myself as an artist. I quickly realized that the monkey may in fact be far more skilled than I; in the creation of masterpieces and probably would quickly develop a profitable market for his art. I am looking for a monkey all I have is two old dogs who sleep most of the day and won’t work.

We were looking at the Elasticity of markets, Supply and Demand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand

The example we were using was the farm market. In the example variables increased production while demand remained the same. When demand is lower than production increases in supply drive down profits, so even if you produce more at less expense you still make the same profit or less. Only when demand is higher than available production do profits rise, but even then given the variables over all income can remain flat. For example if a natural disaster creates a loss of production the increased demand raises prices but the loss of production balances the profits.

So it seems to me that if for example museums start to sell off assets, works of art the fire sale will drive value and profit down and in the long run everyone will lose. Just look at the Auto Companies or the housing market. Great deals will emerge from the flood of art into a depressed market but the flood will devastate value and profit. Perhaps Art Organizations can learn from the lessons of farming. Farmers often store their grain until markets become favorable.

Perhaps as bad as it will sound Museums and other Art Organization should temporarily close or reduce schedules until the viability of the market returns. They then would still have their assets. Many large organizations could use their collections or their talent in better or more efficient ways to reduce operating costs and maintain profits. Maybe they could find other ways to generate income from their collections and at the same time help smaller organizations present exhibits and performances that are more dynamic.

As an example, a big organization could loan artwork to a small organization. The two could share revenue generated by the exhibit as partners. Done creatively smaller organizations could increase the quality of their exhibits and stimulate increased attendance/audience. The big organization could create income from under utilized parts of their collection and increase audience and income. After all most big museums only exhibit small portions of their collections at any given time. Activity creates income for everybody.

I am sure Brandeis University could find another organization that would love to show artwork from their collection. They could also earn income from the loans of artwork even if the Rose Museum temporarily closed. They could possibly find more value in keeping their collection intact than they will earn by selling it off as a depreciated asset. Of course, they would have to figure out how to make a program work in a distressed market, but they are a university. Surely, someone on the university staff can figure out a smart (Creative) way to proceed forward and create a profitable program.

Maybe they could ask the folks over at the Museum Loan Network for advice; they have been working with large organizations for years, helping those organizations use their collections more effectively.

Museum Loan Network

http://dl.lib.brown.edu/mln/about.html

As an example: One organization reduces operational activities. They collaborate with an organization that is in better shape. They charge a reasonable fee to package and ship the exhibit. Then both organizations share revenue generated by exhibit. Movie companies have operated this way successfully for years. Your local movie theaters make profit from supportive activities, like popcorn and soft drink sales. Surely, the brainpower in the Arts can figure out supportive revenue programs combined with admission fees and memberships sales. Even the last two areas will produce profit when program quality and interest increase.

Small potatoes, well small potatoes can add up to big profits. Just look at what Matt Jones in Seattle has accomplished with his Mashed Potatoes program at Gasworks Gallery in Seattle. The Cooperative Gallery charges an admission fee paid for in potatoes or food for the food bank. They have raised millions of pounds of potatoes and other food supplies for the local food bank one potato at a time. http://www.mashedpotatoes.org/

Gasworks Gallery: http://gasworksgallery.com/

Matt Jones Delivers 50,000 pounds of potatoes You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=122fGSv4T8o

My advice to the Art Organizations of America is get creative and find sustainable solutions to your problems before you sell the cow for some magic beans.

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Culture Economey, How to survive as a Working Artists, Investing, Journalism, Media, Movies, News, Politics, Uncategorized , Art News, Art Organizations, Bail out, Bail Out for the Arts, Creative Art, Fundraising, Money for the Arts, Museum Management

Americas Cultural Treasures on Sale

Americas Cultural Treasures on Sale

• A Bill in the New York Legislature Would Regulate the Sale of Museum Art Collections. If the Bill passes, it would make it illegal for a museum to sell parts of their collections to cover operating costs.

New York Times-related article

Bill seeks to Regulate Museums Art Sales

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/arts/design/18rege.html

Link to a copy of the Proposed Museum Bill

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/arts/03182009-bill.pdf

• The Question

Can or Should a Museum be allowed to sell parts of its art collection to cover operating expenses?

This is not a new question today just because many museums find themselves facing financial deficits in today’s economic crisis. It is a long-standing question has been unanswered by the law. Most Museums operate under a voluntary code of ethics that governs their decisions based on the principles or standards set by the industry. But the code of ethics has few teeth except shunning by other intuitions and professionals in the field and the code does little to stop un-sound or un-ethical practices.

Quoted from NYT article by Robin Pogrebin

“The two notions of deaccessioning and debt have to be de-coupled,” said Anne W. Ackerson, the director of the Museum Association of New York. “It seems that when some institutions get into financial trouble, they look to their collections as a way to get out.”

“Deaccessioning to pay the bills is strongly condemned in the museum world. The Association of Art Museum Directors, a national group, strictly prohibits the sale of artworks to cover anything but the acquisition of art. The group imposed sanctions on the National Academy for its sale, advising other institutions not to collaborate with or make loans to the academy”.

Link to the Museum ICOM Code of Ethics 2006 Document

http://icom.museum/ethics.html#intro

• An example of the problem is the case of Brandeis University. In January, they announced that they would close the Rose Art Museum and sell the collection to balance their budget.

The management of Museum collections is a difficult task fraught with many obstacles and often occurs behind closed doors out of the publics view. These often-secret deals are the very issue of the proposed law. When a decision such as the sale of the Rose Museum collection becomes public a lot of attention is focused on what is happening and why. Donor’s like the Rose Family get upset and as word spreads other donors out there in the world start to ask important questions about their donations to not only the museum in question but to museums they support.

Rose Art Museum To Be Closed

http://media.www.thejusticeonline.com/media/storage/paper573/news/2009/01/27/News/Rose-Art.Museum.To.Be.Closed-3599143.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

Rose Family Condemns University

http://media.www.thejusticeonline.com/media/storage/paper573/news/2009/03/17/News/Rose-Family.Condemns.University-3673802.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

• Every museum regardless of size or type has the problem of collection management.

Every collection has as in the case of Art Museums, Artworks that do not severe the scope of their respective collection and exhibition programs. Often artworks come into collections as donations past and present that have no real importance to a museums focus. These artworks are often just stored if they represent a direction, the museum may develop in the future. Sometimes the artwork fits the museums mission but is in a condition that prevents it from being exhibited until the artwork can be stabilized through preservation or restoration. Other times the artwork is simply not of value to the collection because it just doesn’t fit current or future plans of the museum. In that case rather than just store the artwork museums opt to deaccession or sell the artwork to another museum that has a collection the artwork would be a value too. Or they sell it to a collector if there is no other buyer.

Sometimes artworks are traded if a trade meets the needs of both parties. Some museums will loan artworks to other museums that need the artwork to exhibit with their collection in exchange for restoration or preservation when they cannot afford the cost themselves.

When work is deaccessioned, sold the money is ethically spent to either buy new artwork that meets the collection needs of the museum or used to pay for the cost of preservation of existing important artworks in their collections.

A museum that has a good collections management policy will create deeds of trust that governs the accessioning and deaccessioning of artworks. These documents are legal and binding and require that Museums make good and solid judgments when choosing artworks for their collections. But in the case of many older institutions and also new ones these agreements were not or are not part of their policy and artworks were accessioned into collections for a plethora of reasons. Often the reason was political to keep a major donor happy. Fifty years later, when the donor is long gone the museum still has the artwork and has little or no use for it today. As the organization, the museum matures and develops a sound; collection management policy, they still have the issue these types of artworks, these gifts are still in their collections. The deaccessioning of these treasures must be, dealt with in an ethical manner to preserve the purpose and function of museums as a whole. This is where the law can help museum professionals manage their collections and their Boards of Directors or at least their decisions.

• The dynamics of a Board change continuously and I think is the most difficult part of managing a museum or for that matter any corporation private or non-profit.

Attracting and retaining good Board members is an art and requires skill, hard work and above all Strong Policies. Boards can act in ways that are disastrous and harmful to the organization with out proper regulation, rules or by-laws that govern their behavior legally. Perhaps we can create a new term “The AIG Factor”! The rules that govern museums and other organizations established in their corporate structure vary widely.

• In the case of the Rose, the Director was informed of the decision to close the museum and sell the collection after the decision was made.

The Director had no say or input into the decision making process. In some organizations, this would not be the case, but even under the best of circumstances, the Board of Directors may in fact have the last word. They can just fire the Director who opposes their decisions.

Today many organizations are challenged by the current economic crisis. It is important to remember that there is always going to be good economic times and challenges in the future. Museum’s are here for the long haul and museum professionals have to protect the integrity of their institutions for the greater public good. Too, allow boards simply to sell off the collection assets when the going gets tough is not realistic long-term management.

Like in the case of the Rose, once the museum is gone it will be gone for good, as will be the treasure in your local art museum if it is sold.

In this instance, the Law if created would only govern New York State. I think it is time for a national uniform set of laws to govern the public trust. I have certainly understated the complexity of the problem and an issue here, what I have attempted to do is simplify a very complex and real problem that is widespread and concerns every art museum in the nation.

• What Happening in your Art Museum?

Do the Arts need a National Bailout?

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/do-the-arts-need-a-national-bailout/

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Culture Economey, News, On Art, Politics, Uncategorized , Art Collecting, Art Collections, Art Law, Museum Code of Ethics, Museum Managment, New York Museum Law, Rose Art Museum

Is this the Beginning of Another Cold War?

Wen Jiabao

The New cold War is Not with Russia and Not an Arms Race. This time the opponent or opponents will be the nations that reach long-term sustainability first. The opponent will be the nations that address their countries Energy, Education, Infrastructure and Healthcare.

 

 

 

This morning as I watched the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao speak at a Chinese National Press Conference aired on CSPAN I realized that the Cold War of the future is going to be about the very issues President Obama is trying to set as a national policy and the direction for the future. Premier Jiabao addressed what China needs to do to maintain its economic sustainability and how China plans to do it. He identified Healthcare Reform, Infrastructure, Education, Energy and Financial Responsibility with Appropriate Regulation, Oversight and above all Transparency. Premier Jiabao made it clear at least to me that the need to address all of these issues now and in the long term is the trump card for the rest of the century. If China or any other international power is going to be able to sustain their global presence in the future, they have to fix these problems to be competitive. I am sure Premier Jiabao is looking at the ambitious Obama plan and sees his country’s adversary in the race for a sustainable economic future. He who creates a sustainable system wins and all others will be out of the race if they fall too far behind.

 

Being competitive in the Global Market Place not only requires intuitive insight and smart business management it requires a vision of the playing field projected far out into the future. It seems to me that this is a difficult abstract idea for many of our political leaders. (I will use this to get an Art Dig in) Maybe those politicians should have had more exposure to the Arts. The Arts help teach Abstract Concepts.

 

At issue, here in America is the idea that we do not need to look forward into the future and address issues that are going to maintain a sustainable future as President Obama is suggesting. But that we need to only address the current crisis as the Presidents detractors suggest.

 

The question I am asking is this, if we do not address our long term sustainability now, if we wait to begin the reforms in Healthcare, Education, Energy and Infrastructure will we fall to far behind those who understand the competitive importance of such ideas.

 

If America fails to take on the tough challenge to create real sustainable competitiveness we will fast become the New Third World. The future is like a Freight Train rolling down a 6% grade and nothing is going to stop it from arriving at the bottom of the hill.

 

An Effective National Healthcare Program would give American business not a competitive edge but a level playing field. We are the only major industrial power on the planet that has failed to address National Healthcare. We are the only MIP that does not have National Healthcare. Just look at the legacy benefit structure of GM compared to Honda or Toyota. Don’t you want a healthcare system that will allow you access without the fear of bankruptcy. 

 

Energy, do I really have to say anything here. Our over use, inefficiency and dependence on foreign sources is a disaster. America failed to act three decades ago because the future was too far away to be concerned, well tomorrow then is here today.

 

Where would we be today if we had taken the steps forward President Carter wanted to take on energy, instead of taking the convenient political road the industrial corporate complex lead us down with the help from politicians?  What if we don’t take the road President Obama is proposing to us now, what will our children and grandchildren write about us? Will they be able to write?

 

Education Reform will create the intellectual capital to ensure a competitive edge. If America falls behind and our children cannot gain the intellectual skills necessary to address the future we are Doomed. Every child deserves by right an education. Our competitors understand this, just look at that rise of China, India and the Middle East. They all invested heavily in education of their populations over the last three decades. That is why they are at the forefront in Energy, Industrial Production and Technology. They educated their workforce.

 

National Infrastructure not only includes Bridges, Roads, Dams and Buildings it also includes a Healthcare System an Education System and Energy System along with an Agriculture System a strong sustainable Monetary System a viable Cultural System and a National Security System. I know I have left other important areas out of the statement, you fill in the blank.

 

All of these issues are interconnected and they all need to be addressed now.

 

Let’s look at National Security. I would make the argument that every area I have mentioned is a National Security issue and every area plays a major importance in our National Security.

 

You may think that National Security is about protecting us from known and unknown enemies, while this is true the statement does not define the word enemy. While we search out Terrorists, we failed to search out the Bacteria in Peanut Butter that killed many Americans and sickened many others. The result was not only devastating for the victims it was also the largest product recall in American History that caused untold financial losses to American Businesses as the Peanut Butter made its way throughout the American Food Chain in a time a economic crisis. Food Safety is National Security and Infrastructure.

 

My point is this; America has a very large and complex system that requires a complex infrastructure with oversight and forward planning. It is just too big for the quick fix that would make a lot of people and politicians happy. The truth is we need consistence, persistent holistic measures to address a sustainable future.

 

The problems we face today usurp Politics and require courageous sustainable leadership.

 

Now I am going to go make a PBJ for lunch, well maybe not.  

 

Turn Off FOX and Tune into CSPAN       

 

 

Chinese Premier Worried about Investments in U.S. Washington Post Article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031300006.html

 

Filed under: Environment, Journalism, Media, Politics, Uncategorized , China, Cold War, Doom, Economy, Global Economy, Obama, Wen Jiabao

Is Art Dead? is this the End

Don’t worry Mr.Stubbs is just Acting

You might think so if you read the plethora of articles written on the end of Big Art and Non-Profit Art Organizations.

Auction Houses are reporting poor sales and the values of previously valuable artworks are in decline or on the skids altogether. More over the fate of many Art Museums and Non-profit galleries are simply stated unknown with their endowments devastated by the financial turmoil that is everywhere. Other Arts Organizations from symphonies to seasonal festivals are canceling their entire seasons and Universities are closing their art galleries and museums and talking about de accessioning their art collections to raise capital. Collectors are in a panic as their wealth is failing and want to rush out and sell the treasures in their collections at drastically depreciated values.

You the average artist might get the idea that the end is indeed here for the Art Market. That might be the case for at least parts of the big art market, but I believe that Two Art Markets exist in two very different Art worlds. Just as I believe that two financial systems or economies exist in America.

Let me start with the value of Art. One market professes that the value in art is an investment and it operates much like the stock market. The perceived values of artworks are abstractions that are difficult for even the top experts to understand. What makes a Damien Hirst or a Jeff Koones worth millions? Is it the aesthetic importance or is it a rare commodity. Is value a false premise to begin with? The world’s great art treasures certainly, have real value but are they really worth the hundreds of millions of dollars paid for them or are their values just as abstract as the values of stock derivatives.

The values of these treasures are as unreliable an investment as mortgage securities or stock derivatives. In fact, I would compare the Money that everyone is so upset about losing including me is a close cousin to Conceptual Art. It the money exists inside our minds as an idea without real substance. This money is simply numbers on paper or in a computer programs and has no real value except in the idea that is actually exists. In fact, recently when AIG was called (as in poker) to pay out insurance claims against losses they insured against they did not really have any real money. Their wealth was a concept on paper.

The same deal is going down in the Big Art Market. Values of artworks, endowment funds and the real value of all of these abstractions are now becoming Representational or Realistic, and the picture is a scary one to say the least. I guess because like the experts I just don’t get the whole concept and don’t know why it works or doesn’t for sure, maybe.

So where does that leave you the Artist, Writer, Musician, Actor, The Arts Worker. It leaves you with the second Arts Market and the Second Economy. Maybe I should just call it as I see it the real Market Place.

The Real Market is where real things get done, where actual work is preformed, real things are produced, and where real money, goods and services are exchanged. This is the market where the real value in what you produce exists. You write a book and you sell that book to someone that wants to read it. You sell a painting to someone that wants to hang it on the wall in their study because the real value is, they enjoy looking at the painting, it brings real pleasure to them outside it’s monetary worth.

It is where you take the money you earned from the sale of your painting and you buy lunch at the corner café. You tip the waitress and she takes the money she made waiting on you and buys fresh produced grown by a local farmer to feed her kids dinner.

The kids spent the day at the local Art Museum on school fieldtrip learning about art and making art projects and they share their new knowledge with Mom at dinner.

After dinner, Mom is amazed that the kids are forgoing TV and doing their homework. Johnny suddenly gets the math problem that was a conceptual enigma, but after seeing an abstract Artwork that the Docent explained to his class, he sees the math.

Jill is working on her English homework writing the poem she had been putting off but because the museum had, a poet read to the class she is inspired to write her own poetry.

Jimmy is in his room practicing his music lesson because at lunch, the museum had a drum ensemble perform and he too is now inspired to make music.

Mom decides that it would be a good idea to sign the kids up for more art experience classes and becomes a member of the museum that she pays for with the tips she earns from many different customers at her local restaurant.

Years later, her kids grow up and never forget the childhood experiences that the arts provided for them. They go to galleries and buy art, join museums and buy season tickets for the theater and local symphony.

And we all eat, drink and prosper. That is the value of the real economy. By now, you get the idea and if you think about it, you can insert any real product or service into the equation. It is this very simple premise, the exchange of goods, services and ideas that makes the real economy real and is where we Artists can find success.

How do we make this second economy work?

Once you begin to think about creating a real value economy you will figure it out, let your creativity your artist out to play.

I do not believe we can go it alone as independent artists.

We need to work collectively to create an Arts Presence. Places where multiple artists of every kind work in visible ways. We need to create a presence in our community, like an arts district. Even if we all cannot have a studio or shop, we need to create the availability a connection to each other. Some artists have formed co-ops where they work as a group and share the costs and work load.

The co-op does not have to be just visual artists. It could be a combination of disciplines. You could have a visual art gallery and a music center or performance component like dance or theater where the combined talents could offer dynamic combined events.

Examples of Artists Co-op’s

Tennessee

http://www.clarksvilleartists.org/

On-Line Co-op

http://burningartist.com/

Colorado

http://www.commonwheel.com/

West Virginia

http://www.icehouseartistsco-op.com/

Idaho

http://www.forestcraft.com/

Other artists have created Phantom Gallery Networks.

Before the current Boom and as business’s moved out of older Downtown areas for new digg’s in newly developed retail areas empty retail space became a problem across America. Many cities and towns had wide-open, depressed retail corridors that presented a dismal picture of the community. Artists working together with property owners, city officials and businesses filled those empty spaces with art. The programs also created events like Art Walks to bring people into these depressed corridors stimulated the local economy.

Today as the economy worsens and businesses close up shop, a lot of space is going to be available.

It will take someone with energy like you to organize and build a successful presence. You can sit around and wait for someone else to do something or you can take the lead and make it happen. Art is your life your lifestyle and your business.

Examples of Phantom Gallery Programs

L.A.

http://www.phantomgalleriesla.com/DowntownLA.html

Butte Montana: This link is to the Montana State Travel Site.

http://visitmt.com/categories/moreinfo.asp?IDRRecordID=16816&siteid=1

I added this link because it is a great example of how a presence can create value. Butte is in between two large National Parks Yellowstone and Glacier. Tourist travel I-90 and the Butte Phantom Gallery program gives them something to stop in town for. Most tourist use the internet to pre-screen their trips and stops. Tourists buy Art and Lunch.

More Butte

http://www.montanastandard.com/articles/2006/07/07/newsbutte/hjjdjcjciijigc.txt

Tucson

http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/96/13/04_1.html

My wife and I lived in a loft in an old Hardware store in Downtown Tucson in the 1980’s Downtown was vacant and artists created a presence. One Saturday a month the local Arts Co-op sponsored an ad hoc art walk that brought thousands of people Downtown. It was fun and changed the perception of the Downtown area.

Now with the economy again bad, folks in your community are going to be looking for something to do that is fun and free. Local business will like the idea too because they want people to come out and spend money. In Tucson, the little shops and restaurants sold a lot of merchandise along with art.

Another way to go is to use existing businesses as exhibit space. Café’s, Banks, you name it, will hang art on their walls and you can create events like art walks that will bring people out and into those businesses. Everybody wins.

Art Spots

One thing that another Montana Artist and I did in Kalispell Montana years ago was start an Art Spot program. Marshal Noice a local painter/photographer and I the Director of a local museum made Art Spot flags. We got all of the hardware together to hang a flag at an art location. We charged each location the cost of the flag, hardware, and publication and hung Art Spot Flags creating an Art presence throughout town.

We created and printed a simple two-sided card with the Art Spot business names and address on one side and a corresponding numbered map on the other side of the card. If you visit Kalispell Montana the program is still working. Tourists can easily locate local art businesses and museums following the flags.

Note: Kalispell has a sign ordinance that restricts signage that is why we chose a flag. Most cities do not restrict Flags but do restrict signs and banners.

We had had a vision of doing something statewide with signage on the interstate to locate art hubs in towns across the state. It could still happen.

Art Spot Link

http://www.hockadaymuseum.org/Links.htm

The Internet

Today the internet is a very good place to start a collective or Social Network for Artists in your town, county, state or across the nation. I started a Montana Artists Network a couple weeks ago. The purpose was to create a site where anyone interested in the Arts Artists in Montana could communicate with each other to network and promote the arts.

I used Ning, which is a social networking platform to create the site. Ning is free for anyone to use and you can create your own network with ease using Ning. http://www.ning.com/

I want to stress that this type of social network is very different from a website. The format is far more interactive and flexible. Members control their pages and can do a variety of things to communicate and promote their art. Members can up-load Photos, Videos, create discussions, chat, list events, blog and many more. This type of format is dynamic and easy to use and it is free.

Examples of Ning Type Networks (I am a member at all three)

Montana Artists Network

http://montanaartistsnetwork.ning.com/

Brooklyn Art Project

http://brooklynartproject.ning.com/

Arts for Arts Sake

http://artsforartssake.ning.com/

We need to work together and create real value for our communities and our customers.

In Philadelphia, a Group of Artists are Bartering, Art for Goods and Services.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090308_A_barter_economy_for_art_in_Phila_.html

Many of these ideas are not new they just faded away with the boom times of the last decade. These Gorilla Marketing tactics grew out of need during the last down times, some hung on while others did not.

Today as we again face economic challenges in the arts, we need to explore ideas outside of what became the Box.

Looking for a new gallery may be the real challenge in today’s market. It might even become impossible as galleries scale back or close their doors along with museums and other non-profit art organizations.

You might just get a show if that gallery owner sees your work hanging in a vacant window a Phantom Gallery he or she walks past on the way to work.

As for the Big Art Market, most of us never got there to begin with. That market has been a far away illusion that made sensational headlines and captivated our dreams of fame and success. For the majority of us our market is still right here in front of us. All we have to do is create value to find success.

Success is measured in many ways, your success is personal, what do you really want from art, what is success to you.

The value of the arts is like a spider web, woven in many directions touching many places.

There are no limits of what we can do together only our imagination will limit us or free us. Put your creative thinking cap on and let your imagination fly.

Do the Arts Need a National Bailout

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/do-the-arts-need-a-national-bailout/

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Culture Economey, How to survive as a Working Artists, Investing, News, On Art, Painting, Photography, Politics, Uncategorized , Art and the Economy, Art Co-op, Art Marketing, art sales, Investing in Art, Phantom Gallery

The Art of Propaganda and Tattoo Removal

Cutten the Pork

As the Senate labors to pass the 2009 Appropriations Bill, H.R 1105 the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 John McCain labors to derail spending for the federal government because of Pork Barrel Earmark Spending. This Bill Funds the Governments Budget for the rest of 2009 and has been in the legislation process for more than a year. The Congress couldn’t get their act together last year to pass the budget and enacted a continued resolution that runs out today. They did today get it together enough to continue the funding resolution until next week so the government could continue to operate.

 

 

http://appropriations.senate.gov

 

John McCain offered the Senate his top ten list on earmarks as evidence to support his failed amendment to continue level 2008 funding for the 2009 budget year. Well as many Senators pointed out, we are already half way through the 2009 budget year that runs from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009. McCain was like the Rancher who tried to call the Ponies home after the coral gate was left open and they all ran off, only in his case the Ponies ran off last year. One earmark that he repeatedly pointed out was $200,000.00 for Tattoo Removal. Quickly the propaganda machine noticed his qua and Bill O’ Riley vomited that he hopes Angelina Jolie didn’t show up to get her Tat’s removed because she can afford to have that done on her own. And of course Sean Hannity jumped right in with his profound words of wisdom to pan the Tattoo removal program. Now all we need is Rush to lead us to the chosen land.

 

McCain’s Top 10

http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2009/02/27/earmarks-john-mccains-top-10except/

 

This wasteful Earmark was pork added to the bill by California Representative Howard Berman. http://www.house.gov/berman/index.shtml

 

The Earmark is $200.000 to purchase a Tattoo Removal Machine. To be used to remove Gang Tattoos and other types of Anti Social Tattoos that prevents people from moving on with their lives and becoming productive citizens. The program that would receive the funding removes these types of Tattoos free as part of a violence prevention program. The Providence Tattoo Removal Program helps former gang member’s reform and enables them to become employable and productive. Local Law enforcement praises the program for its success.

http://www.providence.org/losangeles/services/tattooremoval/default.htm

 

What is an Earmark? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmark_(politics)

 

An Earmark Specifies that specifically identified funding must be spent on a specified program. This is how the congress has maintained power over the Executive branch of Government in regards to spending. That bridge you crossed on the way home might be an Earmark. This is how the Congress works and has worked for many years. Yes it controversial. On the other hand, it is how your representatives take action on your business. These Earmark programs are real programs and they provide real benefits to you the taxpayer in most circumstances. That is not to say there isn’t room for improvement or a better system. Like an open budget, that Obama just proposed.

 

Ok so I had the Flu this week and spent a lot of time watching CSPAN. So I watched this whole thing unfold as I lay on the couch whining or whimpering because I was sick.

 

However, what really pissed me off were John McCain’s top 10 and his remarks about the Tattoo Removal Earmark. Pork I hardly think so!

 

So now, here is the rest of the story.

 

Back in 1984, I went to work as a vocational instructor in a one of those wasteful spending programs in Tucson Arizona, John McCain’s district.  I worked with Juvenile offenders, gang prevention; in a program that provided vocational training, we had a print shop. Being an Artist, Printmaker, Photographer I taught kids the basic skills to design and print Tee Shirts, Bumper Stickers and Signs. But most importantly I taught them how to work, how to keep a job. We also offered these kid’s the opportunity to get a GED and many did. Many of our kids had Tattoos, Gang Tattoos. This was before Laser Tattoo removal had been invented and they were just stuck unable to move on. You see Gang Tats are specific to cultural geographic areas and if you live in a specific area, your Tats are a big sign hanging around your neck.

 

So one day in mid 1985 I went to a Dermatologist for a skin check, to get a mole removed. On my upper right arm was a Tattoo. It was a military Tat that I wasn’t real happy with so you can imagine how I felt when the Doctor asked me if I would like to get it removed for free. He told me that a Doctor from the Cleveland Clinic was coming to Tucson to train him in Laser Tattoo removal and that he needed people to volunteer to let him work on them. He told me he had been in Cleveland and practiced removing tattoos on Pigs whose skin is very much like human flesh. Well I was in, I agreed to let his experiment on me after all it worked out for the pigs. I always wondered what kind of Tats do pigs get anyway and where do they get them?

 

So to make a long story short I showed up at my appointment and became the second person in Tucson to have a Tattoo removed by Laser although as it worked out I think the Doctor used a Phaser. The Tattoo was gone and so was a significant portion of my arm, vaporized. Turns out the new machine was a little to hot not like today’s machines and instead of a bad Tattoo, I had a horrific scar after seven months of painful healing. The Doctor felt terrible and offered to attempt to reconstruct my upper arm, but I had had enough pain and opted to leave well enough alone. From there the Doctors perfected the Laser and treatment we have today, which works just fine in most cases.

 

Ten years later in 1995 I was again working with at risk youth in Tucson still John McCain’s district. The Gang problem had grown to epidemic proportions in ten years and every part of Tucson faced rising gang violence. As I was told over and over by the kids we worked with your either in a gang or your nothing. Kids are constantly recruited to join gangs in the neighborhood where they live they live in fear or join. Once you become a gang member there is no easy out. Gang tattoos are more like brands on cattle, the gang owns you period. Other gangs just see the Tats as identifiable targets and target you. Only your gang can protect you now, that is unless you leave and that is not allowed.

 

I remember a young man, about 18 years old who came to our program to get a job. His hands and face disfigured he told us a story about what happened to him. He quit his gang and so his old friends became enemies and kidnapped him. They took him out into the desert and removed his Gang Tats with a screwdriver, gouging away at his fingers, neck and face until the symbols were gone. Then they burnt him, ran over him with a car and left him for dead. The kid just wanted to finish school and get a job. Well he did. He was one of John McCain’s constituents.

 

But he never got any help from John “No Pork” McCain. After tens years working on the streets of Tucson, I can’t say many people in the Barrio have gotten much help from Big John. In his defense I have to admit that one of his aids in the Tucson Office was a great community asset, Lillian Lopez Grant did care about the people and tired her best to do the right thing for people who couldn’t change there own circumstances.

 

The fact is McCain is out of touch out of date. He has no idea what the people need and what is important for California or for that matter Arizona. That is why California elected their, own representatives. Yes John, Bill and Sean Tattoo removal is important and necessary for those people who are locked into the violence of gangs. They need help to move on and break the cycle of violence that has dominated their lives and the lives of generations of family members and the communities they live in. Don’t you all want these people to change to become productive citizens? 

 

There can be No change at the expense of political propaganda.

 

John, Bill and Sean count on the fact that you won’t seek out the real story the real truth. They rely on the political sound bites to enrage you to mislead you for their own political or entertainment ratings gain.  There is real power and real danger in the Art of Propaganda. You and I are the victims of false truths.

 

John held up H.R Bill 1105 and said look at the size of this bill over a thousand pages with over 9000 earmarks. Well frankly, it is big; it is a big Budget Bill for a very big country that has a big government that costs big money. Maybe John should have read the even bigger manager’s reports that accompanied the bill; maybe he would have learned something from their hard work to produce content to support the legislation. No John, never read the Bill or the Manager reports, he said so I watched him say it as part of the congressional record. It was just too big for him to understand. Well that’s why you guys hired the managers to oversee the complexity of the legislation.

 

More Frankly, John why didn’t you and your crew go to work to eliminate the Pork last year or for the six months you have had a continuing resolution? Why now at the end in the last minute is it now so important? The process the earmarks is the current system of congressional government at work John you have had nearly 30 years to fix it if you wanted too. You didn’t you haven’t so move forward.

The Old Ponies have all run off and they isn’t a cumin back, so lock the corral now before the New Ponies run off. If you don’t like earmarks then change the way congress appropriates funds. It seems to me that is what the President is trying to do with a fully transparent planned budget. We will see how that works out.

 

I hope the Provident Tattoo Removal program gets their new machine.

 

It is worth every Penny! 

 

Howard Berman if I were you I would post that Earmark prominently on my website for everybody to read, you should be proud you supported such an important program.

 

 

 

Filed under: Culture Economey, Ink, Investing, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, Tattoo, Tattooing, Uncategorized , Art of Propaganda, Barrel, Congress Spending, Earmarks, H.R.1105, John McCain, Pork, Senate, Tattoo Removal

1934: A new Deal for Artists.

Franz Kline 1910-1962

• 1934: A new Deal for Artists. A retrospective of American Art of the Depression.

 

The exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum showing now through January 3, 2010 is an example of what a government stimulus program can do not only for the arts but also for the country. The selected works tell the story of the Great Depression through the eyes of American artists of the time. President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration created the first government program to support the arts nationally. He and his administration understood how art could sustain the American spirit during a time of crisis and great hardship.

 

The program only lasted six months from December 1933 to June 1934. Artists were paid to depict “the American Scene”. Many public artworks were as we know them today site specific like percent for the art projects. Others were created throughout American in cities and in rural America. Artists not only had an opportunity to earn a living through the program during the depression they also were able to serve their country in a time of crisis.

 

You can see the exhibit on the web at http://americanart.si.edu/

 

One thing I noticed is that many of these artists went on after the program and had very successful and influential carriers like Franz Kline.

 

Once you are at the Smithsonian site, you can click on the link to see the Flash Program of the exhibit. I had trouble with the Flash version and you may have to adjust your computers program to view it if your security program blocks the application. I have included the link to the Non-Flash page that I found worked just fine.

 

Non Flash Link

http://americanart.si.edu/education/picturing_the_1930s/non-flash.html

 

Take a little time and look at what artists did during the last depression a time of crisis not unlike today’s financial crisis in America. It is clear to me as an Artist that the Art’s can sustain the human spirit in times of crisis and that Art can give us not only hope but purpose in our endeavors.

 

Enjoy the 1934: A new Deal for Artists Exhibit

 

http://americanart.si.edu/

 

http://americanart.si.edu/education/picturing_the_1930s/non-flash.html

 

 

 

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Culture Economey, How to survive as a Working Artists, Journalism, Media, On Art, Painting, Photography, Politics, Uncategorized , American Art, Art of the Depression, Depression, Franklin Roosevelt, Franz Kline, Obama Stimulas Plan, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Stimulas

Copyright Fair Use and The Transformative Factor

Orginal Manny Garcia Photo with Faireys Hope Poster

The Question?

Can you the artist use, transform a copyrighted image in whole or part into a new work of art without permission of the original author.

That is a question that Shepard Fairey is about to answer.

Boy this guy Fairey is really mixing it up, with his recent arrest for graffiti in Boston and what I believe is a very important law suit in New York. The Associated Press wants credit and payment for Fairey’s Obama Hope image. They contend that Fairey violated Copyright Law when he used a photograph taken by Manny Garcia to create his famous poster of Hope.

I have written a lot about Shepard Fairey recently because his work in general is tied to a history in art that is of great personal interest to me. His work is connection to political propaganda and the Dada movement. And I think he does a good job as a image maker/artist.

I don’t know if Shepard Fairey intended to set landmark legal precedents in law when he started making images or when he made his now famous Obama poster, but that is what he is doing.

The reason this is so important is that the outcome of his argument with the Associated Press may in fact have a major impact on you and me as an artist. At issue is the Fair Use clause in copyright law.

I want to make it clear that I am not attempting to defend Shepard Fairey but I am attempting to defend his right; the right of Fair Use. Fairey is a convenient source because of his current case. Furthermore, I hope you will use the links I have provided to the related articles and the actual court documents to make your own argument about the issue.

That said, I have some issues I want to share with you not only about the Fair Use law but also about how the story is being presented.

First AP claims infringement of copyright over the use of the original image. What they don’t claim is that they in fact may not even own the copyright to the image. Manny Garcia the photographer may own the rights. AP never contracted with Garcia for ownership. He was a temporary hire with no contract by him or AP that would transfer ownership of the image to the Associated Press. Therefore, before AP has any claim they will have to establish ownership. And that may be another legal case in itself.

Second, is the fact that the current image in the press shown around the world is not the entire photograph that Manny Garcia took of Obama? The original image was of Obama sitting beside George Clooney. He was at a fund raising dinner for Darfur relief aid, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C in 2006. The image Shepard Fairey used and altered is a cropped version of the original.

Third is the fact that Fairey took the cropped pose and significantly altered it. He not only altered the image by transforming it into a very graphic and abstract version of the original, he altered the content or purpose. He created new work of art based on the original by adding new expression and meaning.

Why is this important, because many artists use other people’s images for inspiration and transform those images into new works of art? Any body who has clipped pictures out of a magazine to make a collage has done exactly what Shepard Fairey did. Those old wallpaper design catalogs count too.

Equally important I believe is for the press to get the story right. Why didn’t they print the original photograph that I found in a link to court records, provided by the Mercury News? It took me about 5 minutes to find a version of the image I could use, when everybody else published the cropped version.  I think the image they used unfairly slants the story and implies a different approach to the work Fairey created, inspired by the original image.

Copyright law is as complex as image making today. With new digital technology and the internet, available images have multiplied by a thousand fold and fair use is a major issue for artists everywhere.

I also want to note that Shepard Fairey has openly given Manny Garcia credit for his image and the inspiration the image had on Fairey’s work. As an artist have you ever been inspired by another artists work? Have you ever used another artist’s work as a starting point for your work?

The history of art offers many examples of fair use and transformative images, just look at an Andy Warhol image of a Campbell’s soup can. Campbell’s tried to stop him from using their trademarked image and lost. Warhol transformed the Campbell’s image into a new work of art that was inspired by the original. Warhol added new expression and meaning to the image.

I don’t think the Associated press has a case and I think Shepard Fairey is rightfully protecting all of us with his legal action against AP.

Read the actual court documents and related articles below.

Tell me what you think, add your comment, it is important.

AP wants credit for Fairey Obama Image, Boston Globe.

http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2009/02/05/ap_wants_credit_for_faireys_obama_image/

Mercury News Article. Court Documents Attached PDF

http://www.mercurynews.com/newsspecialreports/ci_11666008

PDF at Doc Stoc. You can download the complete court documents PDF version with images free here. You just have to register.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4104616/Obama-artist-complaint-vs-the-Associated-Press

Excerpt Stanford Fair Use/Copyright Stanford University Libraries

The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use

In a 1994 case, the Supreme Court emphasized this first factor as being a primary indicator of fair use. At issue is whether the material has been used to help create something new, or merely copied verbatim into another work. When taking portions of copyrighted work, ask yourself the following questions:

Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?

Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings?

In a parody, for example, the parodist transforms the original by holding it up to ridicule. Purposes such as scholarship, research or education may also qualify as transformative uses because the work is the subject of review or commentary.

EXAMPLE: Roger borrows several quotes from the speech given by the CEO of a logging company. Roger prints these quotes under photos of old-growth redwoods in his environmental newsletter. By juxtaposing the quotes with the photos of endangered trees, Roger has transformed the remarks from their original purpose and used them to create a new insight. The copying would probably be permitted as a fair use.

Stanford Website/Fair Use

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html

Related Posts

The Art of Politics

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/the-art-of-politics/

A very well written article on the copyright debate and Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey is Not a Crook: by Steven Heller

Filed under: Art, Art News, Art Prints, How to, How to survive as a Working Artists, Journalism, Media, News, On Art, Photography, Politics, Shepard Fairey, Uncategorized , Artists and copyrights, Copyright Law, Fair Use Law, Shepard Fairey Associated Press Lawsuit

He’s Still a Gangster? Shepard Fairey Arrested in Boston

 

Well Shepard Fairey missed his big opening at the ICA in Boston he was arrested for graffiti.  On his way to the opening where his audience awaited the Boston Police seized their man. Seems Shepard spent the few days leading up to the show creating public art in unwanted places. The Police and as it seems the people of Boston were not too impressed with his work on private property. I found the most interesting part of the story in reader comments, in the Boston Globe article.

 

Many of his fellow street artists mostly because of his success have criticized Fairey. They feel he has sold out to the establishment. So is this why he was out tagging to redeem his rep? Or was this a publicity gag that worked. Maybe drafting on Obama’s fame and fortune has slowed down. Fairey got a lot of good PR out of his poster. He got into the National Portrait Gallery without a ticket and he got the Boston Show. Now we will see what he gets.

 

I like his work to be honest regardless of what anybody says. I like the fact the he steals from artists of the past like Rodchenko and Heartfield. I like the fact that he uses familiar images that bombard us, only he makes us pay attention to them. I like the fact that he has a social agenda, that he is a voice that has power. I like the fact is getting attention, but he may not be so happy if he lands in jail. But hey you can’t buy this kind of stuff on your resume.

 

When Henry David Thoreau was in jail for his civil disobedience, his friend asked him what he was doing in there. Thoreau replied, “What are you doing out there”? 

 

 

Story in the Boston Globe

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/08/street_artist_will_get_day_in_court_for_pasting_up_his_art/

 

Read the Comments, very interesting.

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/02/controversial_s_1.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed6

 

 

Related Posts by David Eubank

 

The Art of Politics

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/the-art-of-politics/

 

The Vocabulary of Change

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/rodchenko-heartfield-fairey-the-vocabulary-of-change/

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Art Prints, Culture Economey, How to survive as a Working Artists, Journalism, Media, News, On Art, Politics, Shepard Fairey, Uncategorized , Boston Globe, Shepard Fairey, Shepard Fairey Arrested, The Art of Politics

The New Age of Sputnik

Digital Montage by David Eubank

 

Iran launched a satellite the other day that has gone mostly unnoticed compared to the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1959, but make no mistake about the significance of this technological Madness.

The launch is a clear escalation; an intended demonstration of power and real danger. It is an ‘in your face’ threat to the civilized world that few realize. We have been desensitized today about the real danger of nuclear destruction now that the cold war is over, but the reality is a Clear and Present Danger.   

 

For most of my life, I have been interested in The Bomb.

Nearly fifty years ago now, I paid my fifty cents and entered a world of madness, a world of Mutual Assured Destruction at a carnival sideshow in Ohio. Hiroshima, a movie along with photographs of what the first Atomic Bomb had accomplished, was the show. Now as I look back and create a timeline in my mind I realize that Hiroshima was recent history at that time– only fifteen years earlier. The Bomb was real; it was part of the living memory of anyone over the age of fifteen. The images of Hiroshima were forever burned into my mind. Especially when we practiced Air Raid Drills in school. Maybe you have seen the pictures of such drills, where all of the students either get under their desks or go out into the hall and crouch down with heads down in protective postures. I went to grade school in an old stone building. The basement in fact was a designated Bomb Shelter. When the alarm would sound, we would all go very orderly, in single file, down into the basement of the school. I remember the long cavern-like hallway down there, no windows, constructed of reinforced concrete and massive stone. We would get down on the floor, our heads down facing the cavern wall until the all clear sounded. Back then, in the fifties, Bomb Shelters were everywhere, in almost any structurally reinforced concrete building. Those little Black and Yellow signs (some are still around today) identified safe places to hide from the bomb. After I saw the Hiroshima pictures, I knew that down in that Bomb Shelter, there would be no hiding. The invention of the Hydrogen Bomb upped the ante 10 fold and as Sputnik circled the earth blurting out it’s faint beep, we all knew, even the children, that death awaited humanity, if humanity still existed. Just ask anybody who grew up in the fifties. Just watch some of the old movies like On the Beach or Dr. Strangelove that today are bizarre; almost unbelievable snapshots of the danger we faced then and still face today. Only today, we all seem to believe the danger has passed.

 

My interest in The Bomb never waned; I watched every movie and read everything I stumbled across about the inevitable nuclear Holocaust. It was in the late seventies that I got my real introduction into the subject of Nuclear Strategy. I was in my last semester of college; I needed a social science credit to graduate. As an art student I really didn’t care for most of the courses offered, it was just another petty annoyance on the road to an art degree. Then I saw a course in the catalog: Nuclear Strategy. My advisor said the course would work, so I signed up. I thought this will be more fun B movies, but I was mistaken. On the first day of class, I walked into a room full of very clean cut military officers and political scientists. I can assure you I was the only longhaired hippy in the room and all eyes were on me. The professor was best described as a man in black. He was a well-dressed stately looking man, who I can now say was serious, extremely intelligent, kind and surely had a warped sense of humor because he invited me to stay. Professor David Lauscher, called me aside as he was handing out our reading packages at the end of class. He explained to me that the course was the real deal and that it would be a lot of work for anyone not up to speed. I felt like a donkey running the Kentucky Derby compared to the other students in the class who were serious professionals. After the professor and I talked a little more I assured him I would keep up with the required reading and briefings and that I was serious about learning; he encouraged me to continue. The reading load was incredibly difficult, the most difficult in all my years in college including graduate school. The volume included declassified defense department briefings, studies and history on Thermal Nuclear War. We studied how we as a nation arrived at our current Nuclear Policies and Strategies. We read Machiavelli’s, The Prince and Herman Kahn on Thermal Nuclear War and we studied their ideas in relation to current policy. We studied targeting strategies, damage predictions, and the importance of delivery systems. The information was sobering, frightening. Any hope for a satisfactory outcome to a nuclear confrontation, an actual nuclear war, was at best impossible. At worst, a nuclear war would mean the end of the human race. Machiavelli’s principles of deterrence lead to the current policy of Mutual Assured Destruction, (MAD). Simply stated, both sides said you will be totally destroyed if you attack and the stalemate of the Cold War was founded.

 

This one idea maintained the balance of power between the Soviet Union and the United States. Dooms Day, the stuff of B movies, was reality.

The Berlin Wall still stood and the British were engaged in the Falkland’s War with Argentina. That war was the first time modern weapons and modern delivery systems were tested in battle. Images of smart bombs and accurate missile guidance systems that can acquire targets became reality. The idea that a small rogue country who could acquire the technology and a delivery system and would emerge as a new nuclear threat was also reality. The professor predicted that in the future this new threat would become our challenge in the future and would require a very different policy than MAD. You see the balance of power between Super Powers was altered by Argentina. They had gained the ability to challenge a much greater force with limited technology and inflicted serious damage. Britain could have just wiped the Argentineans off the face of the earth, but that would have been a disproportionate use of power. The idea emerged that if a small country got the bomb and could deliver it, they would hold the upper hand in a conflict. Why? Because even though they could be ultimately destroyed, everyone else would still be here and have to deal with a 911 event of biblical proportions.

 

The hard part is not acquiring the bomb; it is delivering it to a target.

With nuclear weapons you don’t have to be accurate you just have to be in the neighborhood. Therefore, as the professor pointed out then, if Argentina decides to commit suicide and say attack San Francisco we could do little but destroy them and mourn our loss. Where as with the USSR, we would all be gone, as would they. In addition, we would have to consider destroying an entire country where many innocent people would die to deal with a rogue political leader. However, we all have leaders who pilot the car and we all go along for the ride. As you can see, things can get out of hand very fast.

 

The Iranian Sputnik is a clear demonstration that they have a delivery system and is a serious escalation in threat strategy.

They are now entering the realm of the possible along with North Korea who many believe have achieved the ability to strike a target in the Western United States. The North Koreans plan to launch an ICBM test soon according to news sources. I can only imagine what Dr. Lauscher would say, “I told you so”. He predicted more than thirty years ago the situation we face today would be our future if the then Soviet Union and we did not act to stop the proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Well we failed to act then and now the future of the past is our present. Pakistan, India, North Korea, Israel, the decentralized former Soviet Union and now Iran are threats. China has grown into a Super Power with the Bomb and the United States and Russia face new threats from many small nations. We no longer face a single enemy or a single threat and if things get out of hand, it is going to be very bad for all of us. The fact is the collective old Nuclear Powers have not developed a new strategy to address these new threats. In fact the Old School Powers (including us) have escalated, proliferated the technology for political and financial gain over the last three decades.

 

We have entered into a game of chess between Super Powers where small countries are the chess pieces. Control in the game is an illusion. Leaderships change as in Pakistan, as in Iran, as in North Korea and new players do not follow the old rules. They bring different ideologies, religions and different agendas than their predecessors. Without rigorous evolving policies, the world takes another step closer to the unthinkable. Perhaps it is as simple as human ambition and the thirst for individual power. If you want to sit at the big table, you have to have the Bomb.

 

The other big item in the news is the new Antimissile System, a missile shield scheduled for deployment in Europe; Russia is opposed to the deployment.

For decades, we had an ABM Anti Ballistic Missile treaty with the Russians. An ABM system could disable enemy missiles and give the opponent the edge in a nuclear exchange. This was destabilizing to the MAD doctrine because if you knocked down enemy missiles you might survive. However, today because of the widened threat, we seek that additional protection not from Russia, but from smaller enemies. The Russians sticking to current strategy see the New ABM system as a measured escalation, a threat as it is according to doctrine.

 

The final threat that my old professor predicted was non-state attached enemies, i.e. Terrorists, as we know them today.

These enemies are not part of a recognized government. They have no diplomats, no homeland soil to protect, and no fixed infrastructure to attack and destroy. They operate outside of the rules and they are organized. 911 was proof that they can cause great damage and we were unprepared to deal with not only the threat, but also our response. Our policies and our doctrine at the time lead us to take action against Iraq instead of Osama Bin Laden. Why? Because we are unprepared to deal with non-state sponsored aggression, we just had not really thought out what to do. Iraq was a convenient and logical target. They were an aggressor and we knew the address. As misinformed as our leaders were, they believed that Iraq was a host nation to our new enemy. Without a clear doctrine to guide them, our leaders made critical mistakes as they tried to restore the balance of power.  We face the same problem with small countries that have the Bomb. What is the proper response? Certainly Iraq should prove one thing. We are unprepared to deal with a nuclear aggressor like North Korea or Iran. If Iran gets the Bomb and decides to go suicide, we will be left with few options other than total destruction of a people or do nothing. If Iran chooses to proliferate nuclear technology to the terrorists, again what will be the response? Iran may in fact pose a larger threat to Europe, Russia and certainly Israel and the Middle East. Even if a nuclear conflict were isolated to the region, the effects would be felt worldwide as radiation spreads through the atmosphere creating poison air. Not to mention India and Pakistan where millions, even billions, would possibly die in a nuclear exchange leaving the rest of us to slowly die from radiation fallout.

 

Finally, soon the United States and Russia will begin new talks to reduce our nuclear arsenals.

This perhaps will be another step forward– an opportunity to develop a policy, a doctrine to deal with nuclear proliferation. It is hard to tell Iran you can’t have the Bomb when we have so many. But to change, to go back to a time when no nuclear weapons existed will take trust and confidence and a global effort. It probably isn’t in the cards anytime soon. As they say, it is hard to put the Genie back in the bottle.

 

The New Age of Sputnik has arrived and we as a species need to find a solution to maintain peace because the other options are impossible.

If you think Global Warming is a threat, the day someone starts launching nuclear-armed missiles you will wish for a little problem like too much carbon in the atmosphere! Yes this situation is serious, far more so than the media reports. Perhaps we have all became just too desensitized to the threat. Iran’s President continues to call for the destruction of Israel. The reasons why Iran hates Israel are complex and require super diplomacy to find a solution. If the world powers cannot convince Iran to stand down their nuclear program and seek peace, Iran will force Israel to act before Iran has a bomb, if the escalation continues. It is a dangerous game and the motives seem insane. From a strategic point of view, it would be better to defend one’s country before the enemy has overwhelming power. This is the idea that led us to preemptively invade Iraq. Even though as it turned out there were no weapons of mass destruction, our leaders believed there were.

 

I had an office in Tucson back in the nineties; it was in a row of old railroad houses converted into offices. The building manager Al had a little office at the end of the block. I don’t recall why I went to see him, but I remember it was my birthday, August sixth. Al looked sad and as we talked, he told me about his war experience. Al had arrived in the Pacific just before the end of WWII. A couple of days after he arrived we dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Soon after the Japanese surrender, he was sent to Hiroshima to provide aid to the victims the vast majority civilians, women, children and the elderly. Al’s face told the whole story; the horror of his experience was in his eyes. Al struggled with the why for all of his days. He said he just had to believe we dropped that bomb to save lives.

 

Have you ever wondered why there are no longer any Bomb Shelters in American cities?

 

I have been making art about The Bomb for more than thirty years now and as new members seek or join the nuclear club, I add them to my work.  I use monsters like Godzilla because he, like Frankenstein, is a result of science. They represent the uncontrollable creations of men that have not asked the right questions of nature.  Monsters created by ego and the need for power without fully understanding the consequences and human behavior. We may never evolve to a species that can fully answer these questions because we may destroy ourselves before that can happen.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5655143.ece

 

Related posts by David Eubank

 

How I Learned to Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb-philosophical-cinema/

 

Monster the Bomb and Modern Art

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/monsters-the-bomb-and-the-development-of-modern-art/

This February 4 2009 Times Article is a well-written synopsis of the evolving strategic situation.

 

"I Have Become Death"

Filed under: Art, Art News, Environment, Journalism, Media, News, Nuclear War, On Art, Politics, The Bomb, Uncategorized , Ahmadinejad, Atomic Art, Iran Nuclear Program, Iranian President, Neclear War, Nuclear Power, Sputnik, The Bomb, Weapons of Mass Destuction