bemusings

The Brewery Art walk was this last weekend and I missed it. I go as often as I can in an effort to reinforce my snarkiness towards emerging artists. This event is the highest level of mediocrity in terms of contemporary art in Los Angeles. Making a living from selling your own art is one of the most difficult ways to earn a living. Coomodification of individual expression in the face of dwindling disposable income notwithstanding, how do you convince a significant portion of your art-viewing audience that your production is worthy of purchase and deserving of repeat business?

A menagerie des artistes is the Brewery's answer. Sign up a gaggle of wishful dabblers, add food and music to create a modern version the European tradition of Sunday family through the local bedlam. The inmates provide as much entertainment as the artwork on display. The open studios also offer a glimpse into the secretive studio universe. Storage solutions, small living quarters arranged to maximize work areas- these are looked at, vying for the attention of the artistic oevre that is intended to be the focus.

The event at the Brewery is a side show. The artists participating reveal their need for attention and exposure like beginning poker players. Established artists with real resumes are rare items- mostly due to the tendency of mid-carrer artists moving to more personal studios as soon as their paychecks start coming in more regularly. These artists are occasionally spied during exclusive studio tours such as the Venice Art Walk or museum patron events. It's not that the quality of the art at the Brewery is poor or unappetizing, the sheer desperation surrounding the event is so palpable it creates an aura of failure...or impotence. Yet I still go, looking for nuggets of creative brilliance and flashes of unconventional ingenuity. For me its a huge flea market without the dust where I can poke around, meet up with aquaintances I should see more often and then slip on down to Phillipe's for a lamb dip with blue cheese and a pickled egg.