Last nights episode of Work of Art, the next Great Artist, in my opinion was the weakest yet.

I don’t have much time to write because its a work day but I will say that I simply can not understand why Jamie Lynn did not get cut and why Nao did. Nao can be obnoxious but her piece was the only piece that illicit ed any reaction at all, it was disturbing and confusing which is more than anyone else did, nothing at all was shocking, and that was the premise, make a shocking work of art. Sex is not shocking and Jacklyn’s soft core porn pic with yellow stars is similar to a gazzillion of images on the internet, its only redeeming value was her using Eric’s idea to put a jar of sharpies available for people to write graffiti on the images, that was conceptual but not shocking. Boring.

Need to think about it some more, but got to get to the gallery, its a work day

Edit: I have to say, its great fun watching the show and love the various discussions over the web. Jerry Saltz one of the judges does a recap each week and in the comments Jaclynn defends herself: “Critique my piece as you like, but do not suggest I lack self-awareness without first reading my thoughts on the piece. If you still hate it, fine. If anyone watching the show is really interested in myself or any of the other artists – rather than just trashing us – go to our websites, read our blogs, then make your assessments.”

I still think her piece wasn’t strong enough to be in the top two, and the eliminations were not well chosen. Jamie Lynn should have been cut, her piece was not at all interesting or shocking, and neither was the girl in the rabbit suit.

There was some very funny moments throughout and I enjoyed listening to Serrano.

I almost got scammed! Be aware artist friends and don’t be a victim…It felt too good to be true to me when a woman wanted to purchase 950.00 in paintings, her urgency, her awkward spelling, her insistence that I use a specific courier, her need to use only a credit card, not pay pal, and her willingness to pay 452.00 for shipping.

The more I thought about the request for a purchase of art from a lady from Belarus the more I started to feel apprehensive and decided a little while ago to do some research. I am now confident that its a scam and I will not be going forward with the transaction. some of the examples I read are very similar to the interaction I had. The biggest indicator was her insistence on using a particular shipping courier who I could find no info or website about online (they made up a story about a fire etc). I am so glad I did some research. Fair warning to you my artist friends!:

Do you know how to protect yourself? Get the scoop on the latest Internet art scams and learn how to avoid becoming a victim…

Unfortunately, con artists are becoming more sophisticated and fraudulent activities are on the rise. Local police departments and federal agencies such as the FBI are overburdened with mounting cases of identity theft and fraud. Banks and shipping companies are also aware of these scams, but seldom intervene on your behalf. Thus, it is becoming increasingly important to learn how to protect yourself from these threats. While you can’t entirely control whether you will become a victim, you can take some steps to minimize your risk.

Ways to protect yourself from becoming a victim of a scam:

1. Be skeptical…
Artists are increasingly being targeted in Internet scams. After all, what artist hasn’t dreamed of being “discovered” and selling several works of art to an admiring collector or a wealthy buyer? A few tell-tale signs to look for in any email you receive from a prospective buyer: misspelled words, poor grammar, and an urgent overseas buyer (particularly one from Nigeria). They also typically want to make the shipping arrangements themselves or have someone pick the work up for them, rather than have you ship it to them.
Examples of email scams aimed at artists »
More info about art-related email scams, including known scammer names & email addresses »
2. Never ship your artwork to someone without making sure the payment has cleared.
Be aware that even though your bank may give you cash for cashier’s checks and postal money orders, they can still be counterfeit. Cashier’s checks and postal money orders can take up to a month to fully clear. If the payment turns out to be fraudulent, you could be held responsible for the entire amount withdrawn from your bank.~~~~~~~~~~~~
Art Scams

“Ear”

Need to focus and finish up stuff for bOdY PaRts show, due next week.

I’m still bummed about the baby dove, the momma keeps hanging out and looking for it.

I know this is not art related but I feel like I should follow up about the dove and I promise to be back on the art track by this afternoon!

Baby Dove died last night. I saw it an hour earlier and it was opening its beak over and over and I thought it was hungry so I checked dove cam and it appeared that the momma or the male dove (who helps with feeding) had fed it about an hour earlier, but I guess it just wasn’t enough food, and the feeding had been infrequent and sporadic. I went online and found that I could feed it diluted gerber high protein baby food and I was going to go to the store and get it and try to feed it and bring it in from outside because it was too cold out and momma dove had not been sleeping with it to keep it warm. According to what I read it needed to be in 85 to 90 degree warmth, so they said use a light. by the time I went out to retrieve it (it was about an hour only) it had ants all over it and was dead. I cried a bit because I felt so bad that I failed to read all the indicators and should have read the detailed instructions sooner. I kept seeing its little beak opening and closing, which now I realize meant it was dying. I think I should not have put the nest on the ground but I was nervous that it would fall down from the pergola again, but I think the momma would have slept with it if I had left it in the pergola, maybe she was confused and thought it was at the stage where it was ready to fly because it was on the ground. I don’t know but it was really sad. If it ever happens again I will know exactly what to do, I mean those mourning doves nest about six times a year and have used the pergola over the years often. Anyway I wish I could quit thinking about it.

My colleague and friend Renee has put together a book of art to help raise money for “A Place to Bark”, Bernie Berlin’s dog and cat rescue.

She says: “The auction is nearing it’s end. There’s less than 24 hours left and I’m hoping to get one last burst of promotion out there to raise the bid for Bernie and the animals.

Once again in case someone missed it…here’s the link for the slide show of the book
Renee Troy

And, here’s the link for the auction

Please pass it along to anyone who may be interested or will pass it along to someone else who will”.

I left the baby dove in the basket over night hoping that the momma would see it and nurse it. When I checked the dove in the morning it was limp and listless looking. Dh and I determined that the momma could not see it, because the two parent doves kept popping up on the fence and the surrounding area as if looking for it. So dh took it out and placed it in a more open area right by the fence where they could see it they still could not. Doves are not very bright birds and they are the worse nest builders. Anyway,, dh retrieved the baby again and tried to feed it a bug, which he should not have done, but while he was holding it the momma flew down and was walking right around him, so he slowly , super slowly let the baby down by her and then he sat like a statue and watched momma dove try to feed the baby which she does through her beak with regurgitated dove milk. She would nearly take the whole baby’s head into her mouth and shake it trying to get the milk in. Its not so listless now and she is sitting on top of it, while the male dove seems to be on guard. I am so happy she found the baby!!

This baby dove fell from out pergola over the patio and it looks like it may have had a sibling that was attacked and eaten because it dosn’t look wounded, but there is plenty of blood from something. I don’t know what to do, I just put it in a cardboard box in the shade, it can’t fly yet

I put the baby dove in this on a bed of grass and hung it by the original nest which is small and flimsy and I am worried it will fall out again. Now I am suppose to stay away so that the momma will come back and tend to it according to what I read online.

As you know I am watching this every week and can’t help but weigh in, cuz its fun.

“Last night on Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, the artists entered the gallery to find judge China Chow standing in front of a bunch of question marks. She produces a suitcase and asks everyone to pick a paint tube out of it. Each paint tube contains a word or phrase: some examples were monster, love, good vs. evil, and time travel. The artists travel to the other side of the question marks and find book covers of six classic novels: Alice in Wonderland, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Pride & Prejudice, The Time Machine, Dracula, and Frankenstein.

This week, each artist must create a cover for a classic book. Kathryn Court, president and publisher at Penguin books, came to talk about how important artwork on a book cover is. The winning design will be published on a penguin book which will be for sale all over America. They have until midnight that night to complete their work.” Mike Bandy

It kind of bugged me that the artists were so impressed by the possibility of being published that they stressed way more than in the previous episodes. I dunno it changes things, also, it was for a commercial assignment, so all the import given it sort of negates the fine artist.

What struck me with this episode was just how much the participants had to be more than an artist, they really need to be a jack of all trades, And given the assignment one needs some graffic design experience with typography.

Poor Judith, she really was acting a little crrrazzy. The pressure must have been getting to her. I learned this morning that Jane Austen would write letters to her daughter backwards. Had the judges known that, Judith’s piece would have had a lot more credibility and maybe she would not have been booted off.

Jaclyn’s piece was weak and and her sniffling after the critique was annoying. She seems to want to use her womanly wiles more than her brain, but most artist’s know you have to be thick skinned in the art world, I keep thinking of Tom Hanks saying, “crying, there’s no crying in baseball!” Well, crying under those circumstances is not impressive and I think Jaclyn is far too impressed with her body and it stops her from coming up with good ideas. Putting a semi nude, contemporary figure holding a black hat like in the movie “All That Jazz” is not a good idea for a period piece Jane Austen novel.

I have been disappointed with the critiques from the judges and the artists, some are harsh and mean spirited and in one instance, China Chow made an unnecessarily disdainful expression and her comment was snobbish. Snobbery in the art world is far to prevalent and not helpful. Giving constructive criticism without sentimentality or useless emotion, or rude remarks takes skill and intelligence and can be very helpful for the artist and also for the viewer to understand the elimination rationale.

I was anxious to see the interpretations for Alice in Wonderland, disappointing!

I can’t say there was any one piece that I thought was spectacular although, I have to say, Miles piece was very clever and visually attractive. I had to laugh out loud at the comment Nao made, maybe Miles will read for his piece, ha! (he literally read the whole book “Frankenstein” before doing his piece).

Study for a Lolita painting. Pencil on vellum, some photoshop, (color)

I’m fascinated with the images in this book,

a big trend in Japan, dressing up like Lolitas, the decorative stockings in platform baby janes, frilly pretty dresses, fetishisistic accessories and the “Whatever happened to Baby Jane-ness” of grown women in little girlly outfits with made up faces is both disturbing and fascinating. Many of the females playing dress up are seen in their bedroom settings with teddy bears and fancy dolls.

The inimitable Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson holding her Baby Jane look alike doll.

The psychological wierdness of it, draws me in. Bonnets, bows, gloves and little tiny hats. Hearts and flowers juxtaposed with tatoos, a visual irony.

The outfits have inspired me to draw and paint some Lolitas, starting with fight Club Lolitas which seems an oxymoron and not sure what they mean conceptually. As usual, its all lowbrow nobrow.