It should be a documentary

For the last 6 weeks I have been scouting locations for an art show. I have covered every possibility except for the church across the street....and they are on my 2dew list this afternoon. The most interesting encounters I've had are with Art Galleries. I actually should have a secret mini CIA type video camera implanted in my left eye ball so that the verbiage could be preserved. Sometimes the verbiage turns into carnage and then all forms of human interaction take place. So far there have been no police calls and no one has become physical but that is only due to the fact that I leave the arena of confrontation....and rightly so, because it is their business. Their business is the magic phrase. Some art gallery owners are so out of touch with reality that I feel like they could become United States Senators without the slightest effort. I'm not talking about them not liking what I do, because generally they don't even ask to see my "stuff." I get the fact that snobbery exist in all areas of society.....but art gallery owners, and quite often the people who work at the front desk, have a UNIQUE position in the world of snobbishness. I understand how a person who is involved in a exclusive auction house or a world class museum can develop an attitude regarding the product they sell and display. I would most likely be an incredible snob if I was handling an original Renior for a family that needed to sell their $30 million dollar painting. If I ran the Tate Gallery in London I might be a total dickhead. The point of this is..... if you own a gallery in Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California.....you better be a really, really friendly person.....and you should go out of your way to welcome anybody into the gallery. Of course the homeless guy who hasn't showered in a few weeks does create a unique problem....but I've been to hundreds of galleries and have yet to see one of those types attempting to appreciate the art. Maybe someone should take the art to them in the streets.....they need help and art is created to improve the soul because in reality the soul has created the art. That might be the best explanation for who and what Basquiat was about. Back to the space hunt. And when you think about it.....hunting for space is truly a journey of its own. Obtaining a space to display personal creations is much more complicated than doing the work. IN FACT....making the art is not really work. It can be extremely frustrating and time consuming and mistakes can be made and anger can result, but when you are obsessed with something, that is coming from the soul ,and or, the deepest creative glands inside your body, then it's all about passion for your obsession and while it is referred to as the work.......it's much much more than work. It's a form of breathing. I would assume that most art gallery owners have been frustrated artists at some point in their life......maybe at 5 years old, maybe yesterday. They either decided that they could explain art better than they could do it, or they understood the business aspects and that became their passion. They might still do their art but it's no longer their lifestyle.....it's their hobby. Creating art is not my hobby. To be fair there are exceptions to all rules. Another extremely important part of the art game is the art critic. 30 years ago I created the following quote..... "critics come and critics go but critics don't put on the show" Some art critics actually consider their part of the show much more important than the actual show, because they are explaining what the artist is attempting to do and often times their explanations are even eye-openers for the artist. A critic attempts to tell a story that is either positive or negative. Does their story make you want to see the work or even better yet....own the work? Art gallery owners are the ultimate art critics....and they can make an artist feel amazing or they can make an artist feel like slicing a few fingers down to the first knuckle. In their minds they are the first line of defense when it comes to protecting the taste of the most important person they know....... THE COLLECTOR that buys from them. Personal economic ups and downs determine how and what gets spent on the acquisition of art. Collectors generally want to know the story behind the art. In other words....they would like to know the artist. If the artist is no longer in this physical reality then historic information becomes important. People are interested in what motivated an artist to create the art. Traditional paintings and sculptures generally need no explanation. A 20 foot wide Albert Bierstatd painting of Yosemite Valley only needs to be viewed, in person, to understand the power of the work. The back story of how Albert worked is quite interesting. Contemporary and Abstract art might need an explanation but often times the explanation can vary from person to person. It's like a giant frontal vortex puzzle. Is there something in the painting that I don't see? Is it disturbing? Is is pretty? Is it important? I have an opinion that generally people looking at abstract art don't consider perspective....at least they don't consciously consider it. Their brains and their eyes calculate perspective but their reasoning does not enter into the picture. The reasoning is the element that decides whether they like it or not. Of course sometimes people buy art because of the artist. And sometimes people don't buy art because of the artist. And sometimes people love the artist and hate their art but they will buy it anyway, because the gallery owner believes it to be a great investment. And sometimes people love the artist and hate their art and won't buy anything because it's too expensive. I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on stating the reasons people do and do not buy art work. But suffice to say....a contemporary modern abstract artist probably needs a snob somewhere in their immediate vibrational field of play. The snob can be a person or it can be a gallery. When a snob does not need to be involved is......when an artist sells their work for a very reasonable price. A reasonable price is a price that equates time and energy to monetary terms. Do not point out the Picasso line drawings at the end of his life. His signature was valued because his entire body of work was valued. He could have sold dots on a business card for thousands of dollars as long as he signed those dots. By purchasing a piece of art from an artist, at a reasonable price, one is basically saying I'd like to help the artist continue painting and I'm interested in what comes next.. My story is interwoven into the art and due to certain circumstances in my story, I believe that some of the work I've done is priceless. I'm an artist and I have the God given right to make ridiculous statements. I'm fairly certain I have a compelling story to tell and I'm grateful that the story includes some colorful explanations which exist on paper and canvas. I will find the right location to share my art and I will be sure to invite you to the show. There will be some dancing so be ready to shake it up. I will be inviting some snobs.......whether or not they show up, is out of my hands. If they do show up please don't step on their shoes while dancing in front of my pictures. (I liked that Steve Martin used the term pictures in his new book so I'm borrowing it for a moment) Michael Timothy McAlevey