Is the New Role Of the Artist to be a Community Manager?
If an artist does nothing else, at least you can say the artist communicates. Maybe you hate it, maybe you really like it. What if what an artist is, is a community manager... a conduit for communication between people? Admittedly the artist would shape the tenor of the communication through the character of their work and the quality of their interaction with the community.
I think of some of the very 'successful' artists: Damien Hirst, Mirakami, Jeff Koons, Warhol. I like them all. The situation is that their work is grandstanding to one degree or another. I think it is demanded of them in order to be successful, and it is probable they would do the work they do anyway. At least I think Warhol would have.
But take out the galleries, take out the big money, take out the museums, and the demands change. The conversation is me to you, you to me. The scale is more human. It becomes important to be real, and not be pushing some big idea of yourself or your work.
So, the question is, who is the artist communicating with when they conceive of and produce their work. Is it you?
What have your experiences been with artists? What would you like them to be?
So who are you creating your work for? Do you create it for you? or for your public?
That is a good question. I definitely create the work because I love it. I do listen to what people say about it. I love hearing the individual responses... things I would never expect!
Since this site is new there are not many stories here yet, but I aim to design it so people will contribute their thoughts and stories about the images. And for this reason I never put a 'story' of my own on any of the images.
I took this work to a portfolio review event in April '07, PhotoLucida in Portland, OR. I got all kinds of responses! A few were things I may or may not do with the work: 'make it uglier', or 'have it be more issue oriented', for example incorporate imagery of desecrated lands. I decided to ignore the 'make it uglier' one for now.
I am working with the idea of transforming the ugliness of desecrated lands into a thing of beauty, and have some photos taken with that idea in mind... a few of them are from around Taos, NM -- broken glass glinting in the sun.
I would love to hear from you (and you, too!) about ideas for new images...